Nursing: Evidence Based Practice

The Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN) defines evidence based practice:

"Evidence based practice (EBP) is the conscientious use of current best evidence in making decisions about patient care (Sackett, Straus, Richardson, Rosenberg, & Haynes, 2000).

It is a problem solving approach to clinical practice and administrative issues that integrates:

• A systematic search for and critical appraisal of the most relevant evidence to answer a burning clinical question
• One's own clinical expertise
• Patient preferences and values (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2014)

The EBP process is a method that allows the practitioner to assess research, clinical guidelines, and other information resources based on high quality findings and apply the results to practice."

Straus, Glasziou, Richardson and Haynes (2011) list and describe the five steps of EBP:

1. Assess the Patient - Based on information need, formulate a well-built question.

2. Acquire the Evidence - Find evidence to answer the question.

3. Appraise the Evidence - Critically appraise the evidence for its validity, impact, and applicability.

4. Apply to Practice - Implement a decision based on critical appraisal, patient values and clinical expertise.

5. Evaluate Effectiveness - Evaluate for effectiveness and efficiency.