Evidence-based nursing practice happens when a nurse makes a clinical decision on the basis of
When all three are combined, it yields the optimum care for the patient. Evidence-based nursing has grown out of the Evidence-Based Practice movement that evolved in reaction to the explosion of scientific literature and new techniques, medications, and technologies occurring at the end of the 20th century.
Let's start with a really good definition...
Definitions of evidence based nursing have varied in scholarly literature. Scott & McSherry's extensive literature review looked at commonalities between EBN definitions and synthesized them to come up with the following definition:
"An ongoing process by which evidence, nursing theory and the practitioners’ clinical expertise are critically evaluated and considered, in conjunction with patient involvement, to provide delivery of optimum nursing care for the individual."
