Making Evidence-Based Decisions in Nursing

The demands of the current health care system provide a powerful reason for evidence-based practice. It is undeniably a responsible approach to providing best possible care to patients. Nurses are required to integrate evidence-based clinical decisions as they solve problems regarding patient care during the nursing process. Nursing knowledge, as well as patient values, expert opinions, and evidence on how best to care for the patient are incorporated during the nurse’s clinical decision making. Evidence-based nursing practice as a concept is widely embraced by nurses as a means to improve quality outcomes for patients receiving care. It is also identified as important to the nursing discipline as an expression of scientific competence. Evidence-based nursing practice allows nurses to apply the best knowledge in time to the current situation, but can continually question what is known to create new possibilities for moving patients toward health and well-being (Chinn P, Kramer M (2004) Integrated Knowledge Development in Nursing. Mosby, St Louis). There are multitudes of evidence-based resources such as research studies, performance improvement projects, systematic reviews, and clinical guidelines, that nurses can use to enhance or support clinical decisions; to improve quality care, contain cost, and promote patient satisfaction.