Establishing evidence-based practice: issues and implications in critical care nursing

Evidence-based practice is the application of the best available empirical evidence, including recent research findings to clinical practice in order to aid clinical decision-making. The implementation of these findings is vital for optimizing patient outcomes, improving clinical practice, providing cost-effective high quality care and enhancing the credibility of nurses. The use of research findings to improve practice has been discussed and promoted for the last 20 years. The author argues that Rogers' theoretical model of the Diffusion of Innovations may prove useful in understanding the problem of the slow diffusion of the application of research evidence in clinical nursing practice. Many authors have discussed potential barriers to using research in clinical practice in order to facilitate utilization of findings. However, recent studies all document that a gap between research findings and their implementation in clinical practice still exists. This appears to hold true across a variety of practice settings, including nurses working in critical care. The diffusion of innovations in current critical care nursing practice at each stage of Rogers' theory will be examined, with recommendations given to facilitate the establishment of evidence-based practice (EBP).