Nursing : Evidence-Based Nursing

Evidence-based nursing (or evidence-based medicine, or evidence-based practice) is "the practice of nursing in which the nurse makes clinical decisions on the basis of the best available current research evidence, the nurse's clinical expertise, and the needs and preferences of the patient."

From Mosby's Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing, & Health Professions, 2012.

Evidence-based practice includes five steps:

Step 1. Converting the need for information into an answerable question

Step 2. Finding the best evidence with which to answer that question

Step 3. Critically appraising the evidence for its validity, impact, and applicability

Step 4. Integrating the evidence with clinical expertise and the patient's unique biology, values, and circumstances

Step 5. Evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of the process

Strauss, S.E. (2005). Evidence-based medicine: How to practice and teach EBM (3rd ed.). New York: Elsevier/Churchill Livingstone.