Nursing Informatics: NURS 4303: Evidence Based Medicine

Finding, critically appraising, and using the current best evidence to make decisions regarding the care of individual patients. 

• More than 6,000 new scientific articles are published daily.
• Difficult to keep up with recent advances.
• Practice is rapidly outdated.
• Clinicians may only rely on the studies that they have read, expert opinion or tradition.
• Staff shortages make efficiency critical.
• EBP reduces costs, both financially and physically, to patients.

• Evidence based practice provides an alternative to the unscientific ways in which decisions are made.
• Provides a method to assess and critique medical research.
• Avenue for better care and "burnout" reduction among staff.