Tilson et al. (2011) identified major principles for the design of evidence‐based practice evaluation tools for learners. Evidence‐informed practice educational interventions have also been used (e.g., Almost et al., 2013), although to a much smaller extent. The gap between evidence and healthcare practice is well acknowledged (Lau et al., 2014; Melnyk, 2017; Straus et al., 2009). It is imperative that healthcare training institutions produce graduates who are equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary for the effective and consistent application of evidence into practice (Dawes et al., 2005; Frenk et al., 2010; Melnyk, 2017). In the United Kingdom, the term evidence‐informed practice has been extensively adopted in the field of education, with a lot of resources being invested to assess the progress toward evidence‐informed teaching (Coldwell et al., 2017).
Supporting evidence-informed practice with children and families, young people and adults
Relatively simple prompting and reminder systems can improve clinicians’ performance11; the price of useful databases such as Best Evidence (which comprises Evidence-Based Medicine and the American College of Physicians Journal Club on CD ROM) and The Cochrane Library is little more than the cost of subscribing to a journal. Many health professionals already feel overburdened, and therefore a radical change in approach is required so that they can manage change rather than feel like its victims. This is the first in a series of eight articles analysing the gap between research and practice
1. Description of studies
Regular training sessions based on evidence helped maintain high standards and ensured everyone was on the same page, ultimately leading to better patient outcomes. Implementing evidence-based practice (EBP) in my workplace involves several steps. The application of evidence-based practice (EBP) in my role is transformative.
Contextual relevance is particularly important in studies of the organisation and delivery of services,27 such as stroke units, hospital at home schemes, and schemes for improving hospital discharge procedures to reduce readmissions among elderly patients. The choice of key players—those people in the organisation who will have to implement change or who can influence change—will depend on the processes to be changed; in primary care, for example, nurses and administrative staff should be involved in many cases, in addition to general practitioners, since their cooperation will be essential for organisational change to be effective. Although different people can promote the uptake of research findings—including policymakers, commissioning authorities, educators, and provider managers—it is largely clinicians and their patients who will implement findings. However, in health care the challenge is to promote the uptake of innovations that have been shown to be effective, to delay the spread of those that have not yet been shown to be effective, and to prevent the uptake of ineffective innovations.24 Furthermore, health professionals have their own experiences, beliefs, and perceptions about appropriate practice; attempts to change practice which ignore these factors are unlikely to succeed.
Implementing Evidence-Based Interventions
The evidence‐based practice model developed by Melnyk et al. (2010) comprises a seven‐step approach to the application of evidence into practice. Inasmuch as scientific evidence plays a major role in clinical decision‐making, the decision‐making process must be productive and adaptable enough to meet the on‐going changing condition and needs of the patient, as well as the knowledge and experiences of the health practitioner (LoBiondo‐Wood et al., 2013; Nevo & Slonim‐Nevo, 2011). Evidence‐informed practice, on the other hand, extends beyond the initial definitions of evidence‐based practice (LoBiondo‐Wood et al., 2013) and is more inclusive than evidence‐based practice (Epstein, 2009). Tilson et al. (2011) also stated that the setting where learning, teaching, and the implementation of evidence‐based practice occur needs to be considered.
- If you’re willing to think and write about them very fully and honestly, it’s the richest form of qualitative data that you could have – that’s kinda undeniable.
- To describe the information sources used by registered nurses to inform their clinical practice.
- We planned to assess studies to determine if there are any missing outcome data.
- How might policies on data sharing and open science influence innovation and knowledge mobilisation practices?
- To qualify for inclusion in this systematic review, studies must have been published during the period from 1996 (the date when evidence‐based practice first emerged in the literature) (Closs & Cheater, 1999; Sackett et al., 1996), to the date when the literature search was concluded (June 17, 2019).
The researchers reported that irrespective of the allied health discipline, there was consistent evidence of significant changes in knowledge and skills among health practitioners, after participating in an evidence‐based practice educational program. The results of the study indicated that multifaceted, clinically integrated interventions (e.g., lectures, online teaching, and journal clubs), with assessment, led to improved attitudes, knowledge, and skills toward evidence‐based practice. Unlike evidence‐based practice, practice knowledge and intervention decisions regarding evidence‐informed practice are enriched by previous research but not limited to it. Heye and Stevens (2009) developed an evidence‐based practice educational intervention and assessed its effectiveness on 74 undergraduate nursing students, using the Academic Center for Evidence‐based practice (ACE) Star model of knowledge transformation (Stevens, 2004). It is inclusive of all the processes National Academies report on mental health that a learner would use in the implementation of evidence‐informed practice and evidence‐based practice, such as assessing patient circumstances, values, preferences, and goals along with identifying the learners’ own competence relative to the patient’s needs to determine the focus of an answerable clinical question.
Bycreating university/community partnerships, researchers can access diversepopulations and intervention and prevention programs can undergo effectivenesstrials in the community. Although prevention ultimately saves future andmore costly financial investment (Reynolds,Temple, Ou, Roberston, Mersky, Topitzers et al., 2007), it can bedifficult to convince policy-makers to commit to such an approach. Although the revised Zero to Three Diagnostic Manual(Zero-to-Three, 2006) providesdevelopmentally appropriate criteria for young children, in most states thesediagnoses are not reimbursed by insurers. Practicing clinicians may attend single-day workshops, butshort-term exposure for complex clinical treatments is not likely to yieldcompetent service provision.
