Evidence-Based Nursing

1
Evidence-Based Nursing

• Margaret Lunney, RN, PhD
• College of Staten Island, CUNY
• Paper presented at Hackettstown Hospital,
  Hackettstown, NJ, August 2004

2
Reaching for the Top Quality-Based Care

• Knowledge is essential
• Knowledge changes rapidly
• Knowledge is illusive
• Knowledge is multi-dimensional
• Knowledge is evidence for care

3
What is Evidence-Based Nursing (EBN)?

• Nursing care is deliberately based on knowledge
  or evidence
• Historical context EBP, EBM, EBN
• International and national efforts
• EBN is an essential aspect of ANAs Magnet program

4
Sources of Evidence for EBN

• Knowledge of what is nursing
• Philosophy of nursing
• Theories of nursing
• Standardized nursing languages
• Patient preferences and values
• Nursing other research
• Clinical experiences

5
Knowledge of What is Nursing

• Many different beliefs and explanations
• Nursing is complex and diverse
• Select beliefs explanations with best fit
• System-oriented beliefs and expectations
• Concrete terms in literature practice
• Diagnoses of human responses
• Nursing interventions
• Nursing-sensitive patient outcomes

6
Patient Preferences and Values

• People are individuals with unique needs
• Pattern of Unknowing (Munhall, 1993)
• Goal of EBP Partnership with patients
• Helping role of nurses
• Human response model partnerships

7
Research Findings

• Systematic reviews
• National guidelines
• International sources, e.g., Cochrane
  Collaboration
• Nursing research reports
• Research of other disciplines

8
Clinical Experiences

• Clinical experience related to
• Improved clinical judgment
• Intuition
• Holistic perspectives
• Recognition of complexities
• Fewer platitudes easy answers
• Essential ingredient Reflective practice

9
EBN Approaches and Methods

• System
• Describe the meaning of nursing
• Conduct literature searches
• Collaborate on relevance of evidence for specific
  practices
• Cite research evidence
• Support nurse-patient partnerships

10
EBN Approaches and Methods

• Individual nurses and units
• Develop partnerships with patients
• Collaborate with patients, families and others
• Obtain the research evidence for specific
  clinical situations (Library, Internet)
• Critique the research evidence
• Change daily practices based on evidence

11
Collaboration A Key Element

• Nurses working together
• Decreases the workload
• Minimizes the responsibility
• Contributes to comradery
• Benefits greater number of patients/families
• Improves overall results