Evidence-Based Practice and Nursing Theory
Evidence-Based Practice and Nursing Theory
Helen Soderstrom was stricken with changes in her vision, disturbances of gait, and occasional periods of severe fatigue during her senior year of nursing school. She experienced intermittent periods of normality as well as illness, and the periods when she had no symptoms lasted many months. During a time when her symptoms were unusually active, she sought medical help, and her physician determined that her symptoms were related to stress. Despite the periods of weakness and fatigue, she was able to complete the nursing program and graduated with honors.
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During Helen’s first year of practice, she experienced two periods of symptom exacerbation, but each was short-lived. With full insurance, she was able to see a neurologist who concluded that she was experiencing the beginning stages of a neuromuscular disease. Because there was no “cure,” the neurologist worked with Helen to find interventions that helped her manage the symptoms when they became problematic.
After a few years in practice, Helen enrolled in a graduate program to work toward a career in nursing education. During her first year of graduate studies, she seldom experienced neurologic symptoms, but during her practice teaching course, they returned.
The recurrence of symptoms, along with a new understanding of evidence-based practice from her graduate courses, led Helen to make her personal health experience the topic of her final paper. To learn more, she sought resources that would help her gain better control of the neuromuscular symptoms as well as assist her in her studies. To that end, she contacted her University’s neuroscience department and joined a research team. As she learned more about EBP, she considered what system she would use to develop guidelines on symptom management and selected the Iowa Model because of its extensive use in research.
The idea of evidence-based practice (EBP) was introduced in the 1970s by Dr. Archie Cochrane, an Englishman who wrote a dynamic book questioning the efficacy of non–research-based practices in medicine (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2011). In particular, Dr. Cochrane emphasized the critical review of research, largely focusing on randomized control trials (RCTs) to support medical practice. His influence eventually led to development of the Cochrane Collaboration, an organization charged with developing, maintaining, and updating systematic reviews of health care interventions (Cochrane Collaboration, 2013). Although the notion of EBP was somewhat delayed in being recognized and implemented in nursing, over the past two decades, EBP has appeared with increasing frequency in the nursing literature and now has essentially become the standard for research-based, informed decision making for nursing care.
Evidence-Based Practice and Nursing Theory Assignment
EBP is similar to research-based practice and has been called an approach to problem solving that conscientiously uses the current “best” evidence in the care of patients (LoBiondo-Wood & Haber, 2010). EBP involves identifying a clinical problem, searching the literature, critically evaluating the research evidence, and determining appropriate interventions. Nursing scholars note that EBP relies on integrating research, theory, and practice and is equivalent to theory-based practice as the objective of both is the highest level of safety and efficacy for patients (Fawcett & Garity, 2009).
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