According to the advisory board company (2014), there are nursing practices that are always based on tradition rather than evidence-based practice despite the urge for the nurses to incorporate the updated research into their practices. Less than 15% of clinicians from the larger clinician fraternity are the only personnel believed to be using evidence-based guidelines, and this is because it takes a lot of time to for research to get its way into routine clinical practice (the advisory board company, 2014).
One of the frequent interventions carried out by nurses and is not evidence-based in most cases is “promoting sleep in the ICU”. This practice requires the nurses to question practices encouraging bathing patients in the process of normal sleep times such as managing alarms and limiting unnecessary conversation at the bedside (Keele, 2011).
Are clinicians right to promote sleep in the ICU for the patients without examining the modes they use to do that?
P Population/patient = patient in ICU
I Intervention/indicator = promoting sleep by nurses
C Comparator/control = evidence based practice
O Outcome = sleep by the patients in the ICU
T Duration varies with case of patient.
Evidence-based practice at the bedside of an ICU patient can sometimes not be easily achieved depending on the criticality of the patient. To try and make this practice, cultural shift encompassing both grassroots enthusiasm and leadership support must always accompany efforts made by the clinicians (Melnyk and Fineout-Overholt, 2011). Strategic plans have to be employed to have this practice be effected as well as reducing the workload of the nurses so that they can find ample time to adhere to the right procedure for bedside care.
References
Keele, R. (2011). Nursing research and evidence-based practice: Ten steps to success. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Melnyk, B. M., & Fineout-Overholt, E. (2011). Evidence-based practice in nursing & healthcare: A guide to best practice. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
The advisory board company (2014), common nursing practices are not based on evidence. Retrieved from https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/2014/04/03/common-nursing-practices-are-not-based-on-evidence
