Abstract

Evidence-based practice has gained massive relevance in the field of nursing because of the need for accountability and efficiency among the nurses. The increasing demand for healthcare services in the global society has created a situation where nurses are no longer mere assistants to doctors. There are cases where nurses are always expected to make major decisions when handling patients, while the doctors are not available. Their decisions should always be based upon some evidence, which will affirm that they are doing the right thing. The evidence-based practice offers them the opportunity to make decisions that would help save the lives of patients under their care. For this reason, many nurses in the United States and various parts of the world have found it important to use evidence-based practice in their professional work.

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Introduction

Research is one of the important ways of advancing the field of nursing. According to Hoffmann, Bennett, and Del (2009), nursing is a very dynamic field that requires regular research to understand some of the forces that affect this field. Evidence-Based practice has gained popularity as nurses are faced with a new problem of having to make critical decisions when the doctors are not available. Cases where nurses are faced with serious incidents that require immediate decisions are becoming common today.

An example would be a case where a patient develops serious complications at odd hours when the doctors are away. A nurse would need to make a major decision to save the life of such a patient. Evidence-based practice is always very important during such cases. When making decisions, the nurses will need evidence that the decision made would be the best alternative that would help spare the life of a patient. According to Beinecke (2005), “Evidence-based practice entails making decisions about how to promote health or provide care by integrating the best available evidence with practitioner expertise and other resources” (p. 57). It does not only help in creating accountability among the nurses, but it also creates an environment where decisions are based on solid evidence when dealing with patients. Nurses should understand the relevance of empirically supported treatments, especially when handling patients in delicate situations. This will help the nurses make the right decisions, especially when dealing with delicate situations.

Evidence-based Practice

According to Drisko and Grady (2012), nurses play an important role in the health sector. In the past, they were seen as assistants to the doctors and heavily relied on the instructions from the medical doctors in charge. However, this is slowly changing, and nurses are finding themselves in situations where they have to make independent decisions without direct guidance from the doctors. The patients always spend more time with nurses than with doctors. This means that the nurses are always close enough to attend to some of their urgent needs.

In some cases, the need of the patient may require a major decision to be made to spare the life of the patient. When the relevant doctor is not reachable, it will be upon the nurse to make this major decision that would determine whether or not the patient would survive. When making such decisions, it is always important to use an approach that has worked before successfully other than using trial and error methods.

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Human life is very precious, and medical practitioners cannot afford to engage in experimental practices that have not been confirmed to be effective. Evidence-based treatment will be of high value for a nurse who is forced to make such a delicate decision to protect the life of a patient. It is because of this fact that evidence-based practice has been seen as an important concept that should be embraced by the nurses to ensure that their actions are guided by facts. This will eliminate cases where patients die or sustain serious injuries because of experimental decisions made by the nurses. As Adily and Ward (2004) note, the nurses will make an effort to ensure that their decisions are guided by some evidence as a way of maintaining accountability. This concept will improve the quality of the service they deliver to the patients.

Research Methods

According to Houser and Oman (2011), nursing is a very dynamic field because of the numerous chang


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