Course Description
Compared to other professions, changes and innovations in nursing practice have been few and far in between. In fact not much changes have really been made on the basic principles of nursing in formal education. Career nurses, who had been in the nursing profession for many many years, also had developed some resistance to recommendations of change in practice. For many, generally accepted practice does not need to be changed.
The earliest demonstration of Evidence Based Practice (EBP) in nursing dates back to the 1850’s during the time of Florence Nightingale. Her documentation on hand washing and cleanliness and how it led to improved patient outcomes was regarded as one of the first documented evidence based practice. Of course, back then, the term and concept of evidenced based practice was not yet recognized. Today, however, evidence based practice in nursing practice has been highly recognized as very essential to patient outcomes. Changes in nursing practice have continually evolved as collaboration among clinicians become more common.
Learning Objectives
- Understand how evidence based nursing practice evolved.
- Understand the primary reason why healthcare organizations are adopting evidence based nursing practice.
- Enumerate examples of evidence based nursing practice.
- Recognize that evidence based practice encourages collaboration between the care provider at the bedside and clinicians in academia.
- Acknowledge the importance of tracking patient outcomes.
- Describe challenges in adopting evidenced nursing practice