EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE DISCUSSION 2

Evidence-based Practice Discussion

Over the course of learning evidence-based nursing practices, the most compelling topic
that I encountered was using research to determine the most suitable shift pattern for nurses. I
found the topic important because it deals with an issue that many nurses and hospital
administrators grapple with and which has a major effect on quality of nursing care and safety of
patients. The topic also opened my eyes to the fact that there are cases where using research may
not yield clear-cut decisions.
Apart from reading, I found participating in group discussions important in understanding
the subject matter. Holding such discussions often allowed me to develop different perspectives
about a given topic. In addition, they increased my engagement and interest in topic under
discussion. Oftentimes, I found myself reading a lot on my own after engaging my colleagues in
the various discussions that we had. The discussions, together with explanations from the
teacher, clarified many of the areas that I did not understand well. However, I am still not sure
how nurses ought to proceed when they get conflicting research findings on a given topic.
Should they just apply one set of findings and ignore the one with contradictory evidence? I
would love to have this issue clarified.
All in all the course greatly built upon my prior knowledge of evidence-based practice. I
had been introduced to EBP in my pre-licence program but I had not taken time to analyze how
EBP can be applied in specific nursing problems. The course allowed me to develop, among
other things, ways of appraising research for applicability, validity, and reliability when applied
in a given clinical context. The approaches used to help me understand these and other matters in
the course were relatively effectively. However, I believe that they could be better if they

EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE DISCUSSION 3
included more clinical activities that are interactive. Such activities would enhance learning and
generate more valuable information that can be applied not just now but in our future nursing
practices (Horntvedt et al., 2018). Be that as it may, I believe that the evidence-based knowledge
that I have acquired will significantly change my future nursing practice. Rather than relying on
what has been practiced over the years, I will be keen to search for new research to help in
finding solutions for any nursing problems that may emerge.

EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE DISCUSSION 4

References

Horntvedt, M. E. T., Nordsteien, A., Fermann, T., & Severinsson, E. (2018). Strategies for
teaching evidence-based practice in nursing education: a thematic literature review. BMC
medical education, 18(1), 172.