Impact That Research Findings Have on Patient Care
Stevens (2013) notes that healthcare research's rapid emergence and
evolution have significantly impacted nursing practice. This new research
paradigm has focused on the study of how to improve healthcare delivery
and effectiveness. The call for evidence-based practice has touched the lives
of nurses and other health care professionals. As a result, various initiatives
have been launched to advance the value of care and make it safer and
more efficient. According to Stevens (2013), these emerging fields are
related to translational and improvement sciences, health delivery systems
science, and implementation research. Based on the study by Laugaland,
Aase, and Waring (2014), few studies have been performed on the effects of
various interventions on the hospitalization rate of residents of nursing
homes. Laugaland, Aase, and Waring (2014) argue that these interventions
could progress the value of care and reduce admissions to hospital and in
nursing homes. The findings suggest that policies and practices derived from
research related to these areas need to be strengthened to support their
implementation.
Obstacles of Realizing Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) in the Nursing
Profession
In 2020, Alatawi et al. explored the barriers facing nursing when
implementing EBP. In their study, Alatawi et al. (2020) noted that the
establishment of effective EBP in the nursing profession requires various
individuals such as nurses, administrators, and educators. Only 34.5% of the
survey respondents stated that they regularly applied EBP in patient
treatment, and a bulk of them showed that they wanted more training and
skills in EBP. Tacia et al. (2015) identified the cultural barriers identified as a
barrier to system-wide change, which includes a lack of demand for best
practice and the establishment of a culture that values old traditions. Tacia et
al. (2015) noted that majority of direct inpatient care settings lack basic
understanding of the EBP. This lack of knowledge could prevent them from
recognizing the quality of research conducted in their field. In agreement
with Alatawi et al. (2020), Tacia et al. (2015) note that inpatient direct care
nurses described the importance of having a solid drive and motivation to
improve their work. One nurse practitioner stated that she did not want to
follow up with research to support her practice as the time commitment was
a barrier for the implementation.
Melnyk (2016) points out that although the Chief Nurse Executives (CNEs)
and Chief Nursing Officers (CNOs) trust in the worth of EBP; their application
of EBP is relatively small. The lack of EBP funding was identified as a primary
reason why many hospitals' core performance and NDNQI metrics were not
met (Melnyk, 2016). The findings of this study indicate that chief nurses do
not understand the importance of improving employee performance in
attaining quality and safe healthcare. EBP is the base of care that all
healthcare workers should adopt. Unfortunately, no evidence supports this
model of care (Melnyk, 2016). Melnyk (2016) cites that although many health
professionals believe in the importance of EBP, few are consistently using
this approach in their care. The study also revealed that, despite the positive
impact of EBP, most managers along with clinicians do not see it as an
essential element of their work.
Johnston et al. (2016) agree with Alatawi et al. (2020), who shed more light
on the barriers of EPB implementation, noting that the lack of reading time
and implementation of evidence-based practice is considered the main
obstacle to nursing's success. The results of the two studies revealed that
nurses do not have time to focus on their studies and practice nursing.
Several studies cited the lack of education and training as the barriers to
implementing EBP. Not only did the nurses not feel confident in applying EBP,
but they also did not believe that their movement was up to standard
(Johnston et al., 2016). The study revealed that their managers did not give
educational opportunities for nurses enough priority. Furthermore, nurses felt
that an EBP mentor was necessary to promote evidence uptake. Fifty percent
of the participants in the study led by Johnston et al. (2016) agreed that an
in-service training course would advance the understanding and adherence
to evidence-based practices. The nurses play a vital role in developing an
effective evidence-based practice (EBP) by contributing to the generation of
clinical questions about patients (Johnston et al., 2016). However, many
studies revealed that the lack of knowledge about EBP among nurses hinders
its implementation.
Conclusion
This paper has investigated how research can be applied in a clinical setting.
The evidence from this study indicates that the code of professional conduct
for nurses, midwives, and nurse-in-charge requires all registered nurses and
practitioners to maintain professional standards and ethical practices. The
study shows that the NMC code should be used to support the development
of nurses. In addition, the study findings revealed the rapid emergence and
evolution of research in healthcare have greatly affected the profession and
the nursing practice. Improvement sciences and health delivery system
sciences are some of the emerging fields related to the quality of care and
efficiency in nursing. A significant finding in the research argues that these
interventions can progress the value of long-term care and minimize
admission rates in nursing homes and hospitals.
From the study, it can be noted that the establishment of an effective EBP in
nursing requires the participation of various individuals. Participants in the
studies cited cultural barriers as being a significant barrier to EBP
implementation in nursing. Aside from having a lack of knowledge, nurses
also, tend to be reluctant to follow up with studies due to their busy
schedules, preventing them from realizing the quality of research being
conducted in their field. The findings of this study indicate that many chief
nurses do not realize the importance of improving employee performance in
attaining safe and quality healthcare. No evidence supports the EBP model of
care. The nurses have an important part to play in the development of
evidence-based practice. However, their knowledge about this field is often
limited by their lack of experience and expertise.
