Evidence-based practice (EBP) is not just a form of occupational practice that is solely based on evidence – it is a holistic method that nurses (and various other healthcare professionals) use to provide the best care based on the most recent scientific research and knowledge, as opposed to traditional methods that usually just consist of using apriori knowledge, advice from coworkers, or personal beliefs.
But you may be wondering, why is it so important for healthcare practitioners in the first place? The reality is that EBP has become an indispensable part of modern healthcare, and this is evidenced, for example, by those enrolled in online accelerated nursing programs who will need to go through training precisely built on EBP. From improving patient outcomes to being an indicator of the quality of care a patient receives, we will go through some of the key ways EBP, along with the uses of scientific evidence, shapes the world of healthcare today.
EBP: The Basics
While we have a general idea of what EBP is – a way in which healthcare professionals use it to build the most effective patient care strategies – let’s have a rundown of its various nuances.
Originally traced to the development of randomization methods in the 20th century, EBP integrates and coalesces three essential elements: scientific research or evidence from others, one’s own clinical expertise, and the preferences, perspectives, or values of patients. Clearly, this confluence allows nurses and other healthcare practitioners to build strategies for providing informed care decisions and solutions for patients.
These forms of evidence also have various shades of subtleties, which can add an even greater depth to giving adequate care. Scientific research or evidence for example can be divided into external (e.g. data extracted from academic literature) and internal (e.g. patient data generated from observations given by professionals) forms. Furthermore, for the latter two, skills that may not seem relevant, such as critical thinking and problem-solving, can actually be a vital support pillar to lean on for maximizing one’s clinical expertise; cultural behaviors and traditions can be a decisive factor in understanding the patient perspective.
Better Patient-Outcomes
The first and most obvious role that EBP plays is in improving patient outcomes. In a 2023 review of various articles published by institutions across health institutions in the U.S. and elsewhere, findings indicated that a consistent use of EBP led to significant improvements in patient outcomes as well as return on investment (ROI), which as per its name is essentially a measurement of the overall return on the cost of an investment, for healthcare systems.
The reasons for this are obvious. Using the three elements – scientific evidence, clinical expertise, and patient perspectives – allows nurses to prioritize the needs of patients while also using tools that align with each patient’s preferences and experiences. For example, by comparing auscultatory and oscillometric methods, current research shows that non-invasive blood pressure measurements yield better results in children than traditional invasive methods.
Improving Decision-Making Processes
Decision-making always requires the benefit of others’ insights. By using the best available evidence (whether scientific or not) from different sources, EBP ensures that decisions are informed and substantiated, which is crucial for the effective functioning of any institution or organization. A crucial aspect of this is shared decision-making (SDM). While the most obvious form of SDM is between patient and clinician, it can also be collaborative decision-making between colleagues.
This form of collaborative decision-making based on EBP not only ensures effective patient care but can be designed as a way to promote patient readiness and treatment motivation for the affected client. After all, being the most used form of treatment, individualized treatment is at the same time the most effective route for long-lasting recovery, and a blend of EBP and SDM precisely allows this. It can significantly further the relationship between patients and clinicians by giving the patient’s situation by giving it far greater definition.
Understanding and Reducing Risks
In applying scientific evidence to care, nurses and other health practitioners can derive certain risks a patient might have when implementing a particular treatment method through EBP. For example, nurses working in a facility with a high rate of surgical site infections can review research on how the lack of sterilization during procedures and poor wound care practices are key causes of patient complications. Subsequently, nurses can implement EBPs to properly address these issues while working in a high-risk environment, ultimately leading to a drop in infection rates.
Preventing complications caused by certain treatment options can also reduce healthcare costs, not only for patients but for hospitals and clinics as well. Even when encountered with particularly nasty complications such as infections or failures, clinicians can look to EBPs to dissect what might have led to these negative outcomes. Through this analysis, they can choose strategies that research has shown to be effective in similar situations, which can increase the possibilities of better results and as well as avoid such cases in the future.
Professional Development
EPB is not only important for patient care, but for the professional development of nurses too. Obviously, nurses have expertise in their respective areas, but these areas are changing constantly with new research, clinical trials, and technological advancements. EBP cultivates a culture of continuous learning, whereby nurses (and any healthcare practitioner in general) are constantly equipping themselves with the most up-to-date information and skills while building upon their specialties or areas of interest.
Embracing such new research means embracing new processes, inevitably allowing greater prospects for professional development. We always tend to stick to how we do things the way they have always been done, even if this might be counterproductive in the long run – the same applies to nurses vis-a-vis by staying with old patterns of care despite the lack of any evidence on the benefits of these processes. EBPs can assist them in precisely avoiding this trap and to accept new procedures and care methods that are informed by research and colleagues too.
As healthcare becomes even more individualized and personalized (or what some people call value-based care), evidence-based medicine will play a greater role in shaping the field in the future. EBPs will serve as a critical channel for healthcare institutions to realize the triple aims of modern health – improving patient experience, improving population health, and reducing healthcare costs.