Paper Title
FROM RESEARCH TO REALITY: THE DEVELOPMENT OF EVIDENCE BASED NURSING WORKFORCE STRATEGYAbstract
Nursing, at its core, is an occupation grounded in the dedication to patient welfare and the application of expertise vital to their care. Evidence Based Practice on the other hand is the consensus use of the best available evidence gained from the scientific method to make decisions related to the most beneficial health care for patients. Nurses aren\'t always applying the best available knowledge to patient care due to various barriers- due to various barriers, leading to potential suboptimal patient outcomes; this is often called the \"research-practice gap\". The core components of evidence-based practice are: best available evidence,
clinical expertise,patient preferences and values. The basic steps to implement evidence-based practice are ask a clinical question, find the best evidence, critically appraise the evidence, integrate the evidence, evaluate clinical outcomes and disseminate results. Transitioning to a model of evidence-based practice can require substantial shifts in routine, mindset, and collaboration across a team of healthcare professionals or entire health care organization and can even require a systematic review of operations. To develop an evidence-based nursing workforce, a strategic approach should focus on fostering a culture of inquiry, providing robust education on evidence-based practice (EBP) methodologies, empowering nurses to access and critically appraise research, facilitating implementation of research findings into practice, and continuously evaluating the impact of EBP initiatives, all while actively engaging leadership support and creating opportunities for collaboration across the healthcare team. Four conditions have to be met if nurses are to implement research. These are; nurses must have the necessary knowledge, skill and attitudes, be able to overcome barriers to implementation, support for innovation must be available, innovation must be valued and rewarded.
KEYWORDS : Evidence Based Practice, Research-practice gap, Ask a clinical question, Find the best evidence, Critically appraise the evidence, Integrate the evidence, Evaluate clinical outcomes, Disseminate results.