Reference no: EM133727253

Question: Evidence based practice can be defined as the integration of clinical expertise, patient values and the best research evidence into the decision making process of patient care (Melnyk, 2018). Research is conducted and analyzed to give us guidelines in which we should provide care for our patients. Healthcare teams should always be working under evidenced based practice guidelines. While bedside RNs often use EBP in their day to day care, whether it be turning their bedbound patient every two hours to reduce risk of pressure injuries, or providing oral care every four hours via chlorohexidine on our ventilated patients to reduce the risk of ventilator acquired pneumonia. Nurses perform these tasks almost mindlessly and may not even realize they are practicing evidenced based guidelines. The use of EBP for Nurse Practitioners may be slightly different than that of an RN. NPs hold leadership positions that give them the opportunity to perform their own research, or implement newly learned EBP guidelines into practice. This can be a bit more challenging. NPs first have to learn the guidelines, and then try to get all members of the healthcare team on board to start implementing them into daily practice. Many providers and other members of administration admit that they do not actively implement EBP into practice due to lack of time and lack of buy in from other members of leadership (Ylimaki et al, 2022). NPs also hold a unique role in EBP because they have the nursing skills to assess a patients need for care, treatment or chronic illness management (Ylimaki et al, 2022). They can then use EBP when devising the plan of care for the patients.

As a future NP, I plan to implement EBP into my everyday care of my patients. I plan to stay up to date on EBP guidelines by subscribing to APRN Journals and staying informed on every changing practices. I would like to hold meetings with management to show them the evidence speaks for itself when it comes to EBP. By presenting research findings and explaining how EBP will help with patient outcomes and lower healthcare costs, I hope to excite my colleagues about EBP. I fear that some colleagues or management may be worried about other external factors that may stop them from implementing EBP such as cost of a new product. I hope that with education I can show them while a new EBP guideline might have an upfront cost, it will improve quality of care, patient satisfaction and patient outcomes, which will lower costs in the long run. I want to be a leader to my nursing staff and encourage them to always come to me with things they think we can improve on and always be thinking about what can be done better. By using the best available research evidence to care for our patients, we can ensure the best quality care and the best patient outcomes.