NURS 4000 Evidence-Based Practice (EBP): EBP Overview

Evidence-based practice can be thought of as a cycle, in which a practitioner does the following:

1. Ask
   Turn what you need to know into a PICO(T)-formatted question.

2. Search
   Find information that will help answer your research question.

3. Critically appraise
   Assess the information/evidence you've found, considering its validity, effect, and usefulness.

4. Implement
   Using the information/evidence you have evaluated, apply it, along with your clinical expertise, and your patient's circumstances.

5. Evaluate
   Evaluate the effectiveness of steps 1-4, and consider how you might improve them next time.

EBP, or Evidence-Based Practice, is an approach to patient care that emphasizes the use of the "current best evidence in making decisions about the care of the individual patient. It means integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research” (Sackett, 1996, p. 71).

Sackett, D., Rosenberg, W., Gray, J., Haynes, R., & Richardson, W. (1996). Evidence based medicine: What it is and what it isn't: It's about integrating individual clinical expertise and the best external evidence. BMJ: British Medical Journal, 312(7023), 71-72. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/29730277