Evidence-Based Practice - Coursework Example

Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing & Healthcare Introduction Evidence-based practices in health care are understood to be those that use the most recent evidences to make enriched contributions that fit in with situational circumstances of each patient, to assist in establishing effective treatments and diagnosis to clinical problems. In this process, patients’ values and preferences are found to be the major focus of making clinical decisions (Fineout-Overholt, Melnyk & Schultz, 2005: 335; DiCenso, Guyatt & Ciliska, 2005: 4-7).

This study attempts to develop a study that informs how evidence-based practice supports nursing and healthcare by exploring what this practice is all about and how it is associated to patients’ care and the value it adds in the process. OverviewEvidences are perceived to be different are dependent on geographical conditions, characteristics of healthcare services available, economic situations, and others which make the experiences of patients vary. It is developed that decision making processes in nursing involve defining: (a) outcomes of treatment administered and preventing negative outcomes such as pain, inconvenience, and side effects among others (b) rational treatment alternatives (c) possible positive outcomes of treatment that are beneficial to patients.

Thus, the effort to find answers that are linked to the three cases enables good judgments about the nature of treatment recommended. Evidence is used to determine this connection between the outcomes and alternatives in consideration to each patient’s experience (DiCenso et al., 2005: 155-158).Fineout-Overholt et al (2005) explains the evidence-based practice process. As described above, the first step involves asking clinical questions that basically cover the experiences of each patient.

This step is considered as one that is most significant and challenging to the nursing profession. That is, if the information gathered is not accurate, the entire process is faulted. The formulation of the questions is said should be searchable and easy to answer comprehensively from research studies, clinical expertise and patients’ experiences. The second step as appreciated above is the search for the best evidence that will answer the question raised in the first step. This question enables nurses or clinicians to identify relevant databases using keywords and also which studies are appropriate to review in terms of their quality strengths.

The other step is appraising the reviewed evidence in terms of the significance and validity of their results and the contributions they make to the patient’s situation. The fourth step is finding out the sufficiency of the evidence to make implementations in consideration of the clinical expertise and patients’ experiences and thereafter evaluating the outcome of implementing the evidence (338-340).ConclusionEvidence-based practice is a systematic methodology that is used to support the nursing practice by establishing specialized treatment and diagnoses to patients.

Specialized treatment approach has been found to be most effective in patient care. In this process, a problem is identified and research is conducted to gather adequate knowledge in regard to the problem. This knowledge is assessed and its implementation tested in terms of its possible outcomes using clinical expertise. Best treatment is recommended based on the knowledge that gives the best beneficial outcomes. ReferencesFineout-Overholt, E., Melnyk, B. M. & Schultz, A. (2005). Transforming Health Care from the Inside Out: Advancing Evidence-Based Practice in the 21st Century.

Journal of Professional Nursing, 21(6), 335-344DiCenso, A., Guyatt, G. & Ciliska, D. (2005). Evidence-Based Nursing: A Guide to Clinical Practice: What is Evidence-Based Nursing, Moving from Evidence to Action. New York: Elsevier Health Sciences