Evidence-based nursing practice is a subset of a larger medical evidence-based practice, and is defined by Mosby’s Medical Dictionary (2008) as “the practice of nursing in which the nurse makes clinical decisions on the best available current research evidence, his or her own clinical expertise, and the needs and preferences of the patient.” The concept of evidence-based nursing is a concept that implies a perspective of caring and a belief in positive patient outcomes. The nurse who has an evidence-based practice will take responsibility for keeping up with the best available current research evidence, and will use his or her clinical expertise to meet the needs and preferences of the patient. It is patient care that is the focus of evidence-based practice, not hospital care, or clinical care, or private practice care.
Hufft (2013) explains evidence-based nursing practice in a broader sense than the dictionary definition, and manages to relate it realistically to Duffy’s (2009) quality of care model. Hufft (2013) says, “[i]n addition to empirical knowledge, nursing decisions are based on knowledge derived from our ethics and values, our sense of aesthetics, and our personal experience. The aim of the application of this knowledge is to organize nursing practice by comprehensively assessing clients, recognizing patterns, diagnosing problems, and using selected nursing methods and technology to care for and assist clients and their families, as well as communities, in their responses to those problems” (p. 18).
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Consider the model of nursing care developed by Duffy (2009). Duffy’s model for patient care is termed by her the Quality Cariing Model, and is primarily a model of relationship-based caring. In this model, there is an interconnection between patient, family, community, the interprofessional team, and the self of each of those stakeholders. In the model, a caring professional practice requires knowledge of what it means to care for all of those constituent groups, both personally and professionally, developed nursing skills to the extent possible (these are primarily clinical skills, but they may also include interpersonal skills), intentions, which lead to conscious decision-making, and time, which allows a focus on relationships and the slow integration of “being” and “doing.”
The nurse, in this model, is to engage in relationships that are caring, so much so that the ones cared for have an unmistakable feeling of being cared for. The feeling of “cared for-ness” is the basis of those relationships, and leads to an intentional assistance designed to improve patient outcomes both in the short term and in the long term. Evidence-based nursing practice is a perfect fit for the quality of caring model that Duffy (2009) proposed and developed.
- Duffy, J. R. (2009). Quality caring in nursing: Applying theory to clinical practice, education, and leadership. New York: Springer Publishing Company.
- ‘Evidence-based nursing practice.’ (2008). Mosby’s Medical Dictionary, 8th. ed. New York: Mosby/Elsevier.
- Hufft, A. G. (2013). Theoretical oundations for advanced practice forensic nursing. Chapter 2 in Hammer, R. M., Moynihan, B., Pagliaro, E. M., eds. (2013). Forensic nursing: A handbook for practice. Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning.
