Integration of Evidence-Based Practice into Professional Nursing Practice - Research Paper Example

Integration of Evidence-Based Practice into Professional Nursing Practice Pipe et al 2005, quoting Sackett, Straus, Richardson, Rosenberg, & Haynes,2000, p. 1, define evidence based nursing as “the integration of best research evidence with clinical expertise, and patient values”. The implications for nursing from such a definition of evidence based practice is the need for the integration of the systematic uncovering of pertinent evidence and critical examination of the evidence, with personal clinical experience and the values and choices of each individual patient, when arriving at solutions for the problems that nursing comes across in the care of patients.

Evidence based practice for nursing implies not merely using only the best research evidence in patient care decisions, but also includes the factors of clinical expertise, patient values and preferences or circumstances, and clinical assessment and history of the patient in these decisions (Finkelman & Kenner, 2010, p.380-381). Presented here is an example of evidence based clinical nursing practice. A patient was admitted to the ICU subsequent to a cardiac arrest. The patient arrived at the ICU on a mechanical ventilator, basically stabilized, and appeared to have no problems of ventilation and oxygenation.

After a short while the clinical experience of the staff nurse prompted her to call for support from an advanced nurse practitioner (APN), as she was not happy with the increased effort that the patient was showing in breathing. The APN arrived and found the patient struggling slightly in breathing, and the first impulse was to check, if the ventilator settings were okay and the ventilator was functioning satisfactorily. All was fine on that front, and though there seemed no reason for alarm, as the patient did not appear hemodynamically compromised, the APN decided to examine the patient closely relying on the experience of the staff nurse.

Closer examination of the patient showed that though the patient’s breathing rate was not enhanced, much more effort was being used in each respiration. The patient was not using the diaphragm, but rather the accessory muscles in breathing. This input plus the observation from the staff nurse that the patient’s mentation had deteriorated slightly caused the APN to call for a chest x-ray, which led to the diagnosis of tension pneumothorax and the appropriate intervention for a satisfactory outcome.

This example demonstrates the combination of nursing clinical experience, clinical assessment, patient circumstances, and the best evidence for evidence based nursing practice to find solutions to care problems in the clinical environment (Melnyk & Fine-out-Overholt, 2010, p.178-180). Literary References Finkelman, A. & Kenner, C. (2010). Professional Nursing Concepts: Competencies for Quality Leadership. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Melnyk & Fine-out-Overholt, (2010). Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing: A Guide to Best Practice.

Netherlands: Wolters Kluwer Health. Pipe, T. B., Wellik, K. E., Buchda, V. L., Hansen, C. M. & Martyn, D. R. (2005). Implementing Evidence-Based Nursing Practice. Urologic Nursing. Retrieved January 21, 2011, from Medscape Today Web Site: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/514532