Advantages Of Evidence Based Practice In Nursing

Discussion Three cecilia Folzman posted Apr 17, 2017 3:34 PM

Discussion Three

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This author works in a rural hospital Intensive Care Unit, which is comprised of eight total beds. Although this is a small hospital, there is a wide array of surgical services provided, from orthopedics to genitourinary. The average patient load is three per nurse, and can range from intubated and sedated, to walking and ready to go home. Compared with a large full-service hospital, this ICU is most like a step-down unit. Being located in a small farming community, most patients present with complications from Diabetes, COPD, and cardiac issues. Management is currently in transition, with the current manager being interim. The general attitude towards Evidence Based Practice is moderate. Several new policies have been implemented based on EBP, but it is certainly not the leading focus. To this author’s knowledge, nurses are not encouraged to participate in EBP, nor are they

When the focus is on money and dividends, it becomes hard to see the advantages of evidence based practice. The tight fist managers operate under also influences their attitude towards implementing change. With nursing shortages at an all-time high, managers are forced to institute mandatory overtime, and nurses work short the majority of the time. This leaves nurses with less time to provide care, let alone try to research and implement EBP. With the high rate of turnover resulting from high burn-out rates, managers are focused more on hiring and retaining staff, and not on implementing policy changes. In this nurse’s practice, many nurses would love to research and apply evidence to practice, but complain that lack of time is the biggest issue. Combined with the lack of encouragement from management, this has a devastating impact on the ability to perform this vital part of