Answer to question 1
Evidence-based practice is a technique that nurses use to make informed decision about how well to treat the patient based on the research, their expertise as well as the needs of the patient. The following are the levels of evidence present in relation to research and practice (Polit & Beck, 2013);
Level 1: Randomized controlled trials
Level 2: Non-randomized controlled trials
Level 3: Observational analyses based on trials
Level 4: Observational analyses that lack trials
The levels of evidence are important regardless of the method used, because every clinician needs to have enough confidence on how significance the study is, so as to make informed decision that will benefit the patients by improving their health. Besides, levels of evidence facilitate the prioritizing of information, thereby guiding a nurse on what to do, in order to be sensitive during results interpretation to prevent errors (Elena, 2008).
Answer to question 2
Critical appraisal is the act of examining the strengths and weaknesses of a research, so as to point out how useful the research findings will be. The most important factors to consider when appraising quantitative studies based on their merits particularly in a nursing context without any prejudice include; applicability, reliability and validity. Applicability shows how results are impactful to the practice; reliability examines how trustworthy the results are, while validity shows the possibility of gathering the results that are free from bias (Reynolds, 2000). From this explanation, validity seems to the most important. This is because, obtaining the results that are free from any form of biasness will give the results that exactly shows the strengths as well as weaknesses of the study without any fault. Besides, researchers record what they observe but not what they expect, or what the community expects, meaning that they will only give the correct data to be used in critical appraisal, and the result is based on the truth, because there was no form of biasness in the research (Booth & Brice, 2004).
References
Booth, A., & Brice, A. (2004). Appraising the evidence. A. Booth ve A. Brice (yay. haz.) Evidence-based Practice for Information Professionals: A Handbook içinde, 104-118.
Elena, R. (2008). GRADE: what is “quality of evidence” and why is it important to clinicians?. Bmj, 336, 995.
Polit, D. F., & Beck, C. T. (2013). Essentials of nursing research: Appraising evidence for nursing practice. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Reynolds, S. (2000). The anatomy of evidence-based practice: principles and methods. Evidence-based practice: A critical appraisal, 17-34.
