«Research, Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) and Global Health» - Free Essay Paper

Introduction

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a profoundly important aspect of the future of the nursing profession, which significantly impacts nursing education, science, and practice. The recent decade showed that EBP was effective in transforming the care provided by nurses by generating new practical knowledge and research of potentially beneficial fields of research. In the United States, EBOP has been on the forefront of the most innovative techniques and strategies used in nursing, which significantly contributes to the improved patient outcomes and the distinction of nursing as an independent profession with the comprehensive knowledge base. Around the world, EBP has had a similar effect and continues to be adopted in many countries because of a wide range of the provided benefits. The primary goal of this paper is to discuss how EBP contributes to the improvement of global health and describe the reasons why nurses should adopt the evidence-based knowledge in health care institutions.

Part A

EBP is defined by Scott and McSherry (2009) as “an ongoing process by which evidence, nursing theory and the health care personnel’s clinical expertise are critically evaluated and considered, in conjunction with patient involvement, to provide delivery of an individualized patient-centered services” (p. 1086). More recently, Cannon and Boswell (2015) slightly expanded the definition by stating that it involves “pursuing and evaluating the available facts, implementing a practice intervention as a result of the evidence, and evaluating the entire process for effectiveness” (p. 2). These definitions perfectly describe the most essential processes of EBP and their possible benefits for nursing profession. Currently, there are some well-known and proven benefits provided by EBP; they highlight the need why nurses should utilize such methods, including the development of new knowledge, enhanced nurse performance, and positive impact on nursing models and frameworks.

First and foremost, EBP utilizes the latest evidence from the nursing research to be implemented in practice to provide the best possible outcomes for patients. The innovative methods developed through EBP result in higher quality of care and the development of nursing profession (Brownson, Colditz, & Proctor, 2012). Also, the importance of EBP is highlighted by the transition of nursing profession into the age of knowledge, which prioritizes the transformation of knowledge into clinically useful forms that can be implemented across the health care institutions and measured in terms of performance and patient outcomes (Stevens, 2013). Therefore, the usage of latest practical evidence can be beneficial for improving the quality standards of nursing.

Second, it is important for nurses to utilize EBP because it has helped to enhance their performance through providing optimized and innovative techniques and methods. Also, the use of latest evidence in clinical settings significantly contributes to confidence, adaptability, and professionalism of nurses, thus improving decision making and overall performance (Stevens, 2013). The same author also claimed that EBP has helped to achieve higher job satisfaction and better group cohesion in clinics, which positively impacts the entire industry by promoting job retention. Therefore, the performance of nurses in clinical settings can be greatly enhanced by using EBP methods.

Third, EBP has led to a significant impact on nursing models and frameworks by providing a boost to developing new and enhancing existing ones. For example, the ACE Star Model of Knowledge Transformation was designed to provide a simplified and effective approach to transforming evidence into clinical practice. According to this model, one method to understanding the use of EBP in the nursing profession is to analyze the nature of knowledge and the needed transformation for relevance in health care decision making (Stevens, 2013). Instead of making the nurses research large volumes of clinical reports and documents, the model proposes to review the summary of all knowledge that is available on the topic. As a result, nursing knowledge base enhances the clinical practice, thus providing another reason why nurses should use EBP.

Part B

To be able to implement EBP, nurses should have an understanding of the research methods employed to generate the results (Cannon & Boswell, 2015). Many scholars wrote that nurses in different countries had limited skills in the area of article search and understanding the evidence provided in literature (Majid et al., 2011; Cannon & Boswell, 2015). Even though the nurses supported the idea of introducing the EBP, the use of these methods was significantly limited by the lack of knowledge of research methods, which prevented nurses from understanding the evidence. Apparently, adequate knowledge of searching the literature and research methods was critical to retrieving current, relevant, and accurate evidence.

The practicing nurse should understand the latest research methods of the EBP in order to contribute and facilitate its full incorporation and implementation across the health care system. First and foremost, having a clear understanding of research outcomes provides the ability to integrate them with personal experiences and client values in defining a truly patient-centered treatment plan (Cannon & Boswell, 2015). Next, although the nurse may possess great experience, each encounter with a patient is certainly unique and requires the appropriate methods of treatment. Finally, when a nurse can understand and interpret the research methods and their advantages and disadvantages, he or she can develop critical thinking skills, which correspond to the use of EBP in clinical settings. As the result of sufficient understanding of EBP by nurses, its implementation and incorporation in health care system will be accelerated, so this knowledge is critical.

Part C

To illustrate how EBP contributes to better global health, an article titled “Adopting Evidence-Based Practice in Clinical Decision Making: Nurses’ Perceptions, Knowledge, and Barriers” will be reviewed. The article was written by scholars from Singapore, Majid et al. and addresses the issue of adopting EBP in public clinics and describes the ways it enhances the provision of health care services in the country. According to the article, more than 60% of 1,486 Singaporean nurses that participated in the study expressed a positive attitude towards EBP and regularly employed it in their everyday practices. Although the primary objective of the study was to analyze the barriers that challenge the implementation of EBP, it also explored how it supported a quality provision of health care in Singapore.

Most nurses participating in the study have reported that use of EBP methods has allowed them to develop more patient-centered treatment methods (Majid et al., 2011). As the result, they improved communication with patients and were able to feel more confident and efficient in their practices. Moreover, Singaporean nurses that possessed sufficient knowledge of EBP and research methods have indicated that it allowed them to “conduct a critical appraisal of the retrieved evidence, formulate and apply the intervention, and evaluate the effectiveness of the applied intervention” (Majid et al., 2011, p. 235). Having reviewed this article and many similar ones on the topic, it is sufficient to claim that EBP has a positive impact on providing quality health care services in the world and needs adequate resources to be implemented.

Conclusion

In the sphere of modern nursing, EBP plays a critical role in enhancing the health care services and establishing nursing as an independent profession. By impacting the nursing education, science, and practice, EBP can be viewed as a facilitator of quality, professionalism and confidence among nurses. Even though the United States has been the pioneers in using EBP, its adoption is currently implemented in different countries all around the world. At this moment, the main barrier to incorporation and implementation of innovative practices in clinics is a lack of nurses’ understanding of research methods employed in EBP. Therefore, sufficient knowledge of research strategies was considered essential to the successful use of EBP in clinical settings.