On the other hand, the scope of evidence is also a key determinant of how effective the adoption of evidence-based practices will be able to improve health care provision. Since the availability of scientific research evidence is variable as well as the legislative and regulatory setbacks that regulate the quality of health care provision.
Where there is considerably large amount of evidence, reflective practices; the very ethos of excellent professional practice, take center stage and just like in evidence gathering, there still exists variability hence the difficulty in assessing and evaluating quality performance(DiCenso, A.et al 2005).
Additionally, the implementation of evidence-based practice requires considerably amount of time and financial resources so as to establish an influential research evidence base. This limitation can be analyzed on the basis of four fronts. First, relevant evidence bases are far from being comprehensive due to evidence gaps. To bridge such gaps, considerable time and expertise in collecting and collating research evidence is necessary.
Such a level of expertise is either lacking or inadequate in the nursing profession. Moreover, critical appraisal skills are a prerequisite to developing such an evidence base as well as differentiating between inferior and superior research evidence. Secondly, relevant research evidence is not static. An explosion of new research publications may obliterate the usefulness of an evidence-based practice if such a practice becomes technically unable to advance in relation to an avalanche of research materials.
Unless there are systems which can effectively synthesize emerging evidence and making such an updated evidence base available for clinical decisions then its usefulness will be short lived. Thirdly, even though practitioners espouse the concept of life long learning, the explosion of evidence that disapproves some earlier findings that supported clinical practice may become too difficult to adopt. Finally, the publishing of new research findings may not automatically imply that such research evidence will have to be directly transferred into the clinical setting.
Other studies done in context to the clinical setting will remain a necessity until any changes in clinical practice are implemented. Some barriers that prevent the transition to evidence-based practice related to the organizations that provide health care. It is a reality that organizations usually do not have structures or systems that that support the professional development of nurses(Houser 2008). Even in cases where resources have been allocated such operational models are still non existent and therefore directly against implementation of evidence-based practice.
Curiously, in a study carried out to determine the barriers that prevent nurses from shifting from the traditional nursing method to the much acclaimed evidence-based practice, nearly 50% of all the nurses interviewed cited the difficulty in making the decision to change as the most difficult barrier to surmount even more difficult than administrative support, time or even lack of education(Houser 2008). Positive Outcomes for Evidence-Based Research Implementation Several studies have indicated that a majority of nurses do not incorporate re4search evidence in professional practice(Melnyk et al 2004).
Despite this reality, many health workers desire and work towards adopting evidence-based practices in their everyday medical duties and responsibilities hence the paradigm shift from the traditional conventional methods of medical practice into a new arena of evidence-based practice. This move is basically intuition driven rather than stimulated from an understanding of research findings (Melnyk et al 2004). Increased adoption of evidence-based practices by nurses is a direct stimulant to professional efficiency and integrity.
When evidence-based practices are incorporated in health care provision, families would benefit from the maintenance of the social and emotional attachments between the family and the patient. Others include the psychological benefits which usually influence the grieving process. Evidence based practice recognizes the role of the family in the emotional and physical recovery of the patient, therefore the family will be able to witness first hand the improvement of the quality of care through the changes in patient status (Dawes, M.
et al 2005). Implementation of evidence-based practice undoubtedly increases the level of organizational performance standards, transparency ,accountability and integrity. These improvements are a direct result of the improvement in the levels of efficiency of health care provision due to evidence based patient centered health care provision(Harris 2004).
References
Craig, V. Jean. , Pearson, Maggie. (2002). Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing. In: Craig, V. Jean. , Smyth, L. Rosalind.
The Evidence-based Practice Manual for Nurses. Elsevier Health Sciences. p. 3-25 Dawes, M. , Davies, P. , Gray, A. Mant, J. , Seers, K. and Snowball, R. (2005). Evidence-based practice. (2nd Ed. ). NewYork: Elsevier. DiCenso, A. , Guyatt, G. and Ciliska, D. (2005). Evidence-Based Nursing. NewYork: Elsevier. Elliot, Doug. , Aitken, Leanne. , Chaboyer, Wendy. (2006). ACCCN’s Critical Care Nursing. Australian College of Critical Care. Elsevier Australia Press. p. 178 Gambrill, Eileen.(2006a).
Critical Thinking in Clinical Practice: Improving the Quality of Judgments and Decisions. Wiley-Interscience Press. p. 260-265 Gambrill, Eileen. (2006b). Social Work Practice: A Critical Thinkers Guide. Oxford University Press. p. 102-103 Harris, D. Marylyn. (2004). Handbook of Home Health Care Admininstration. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. p. 313 Houser, Janet. (2008). Nursing Research: Treading, Using, and Creating Research. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. p. 19-20