Evidence-Based Practice for Nursing Students: Basic Tools & Resources

According to the Encyclopedia of Nursing Research, "evidence-based practice (EBP) refers to nursing practice that utilizes research findings as the foundation for nurses' decisions, activities, and interactions with clients" (2006, p. 183).

The encyclopedia entry continues on, noting that "the focus of EBP is its emphasis on integrating the best available research evidence within the clinical, patient, and organizational context of an institution to attain high-quality and cost-effective care. According to Hewitt-Taylor (2002), evidence-based practice is a process that entails six elements:

1. selecting an area of practice that requires an evidence base,
2. making decisions about what constitutes evidence,
3. conducting a systematic search for evidence,
4. evaluating individual pieces of evidence,
5. synthesizing the findings of these sources into a cohesive whole, and
6. applying this evidence appropriately to patient care situations." (2006, p. 183-184)

   Fitzpatrick, J. J., & Wallace, M. (Eds.) (2006). Encyclopedia of nursing research. New York: Springer.
   Christopher Center, Reference, RT81.5 .E53 2006

Hewitt-Taylor, J. (2002, December 18). Continuing professional development: clinical development: evidence-based practice. Nursing Standard, 17(14/15), 47-52.

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Resources listed below are available to the VU community:

• For books, search GALILEO by the book title.
• For articles, search JournaLocator by journal title, then locate the specific volume and issue needed within the resulting listing. Most articles can be found within the online databases.
• The databases CINAHL and Cochrane Library will require login by the VU user.

Historical Background

Sackett, D., Rosenberg, W., Gray, J., Haynes, R., & Richardson, W. (1996, January 13). Evidence based medicine: what it is and what it isn't. BMJ: British Medical Journal, 312(7023), 71-72. (not nursing-specific)

Melnyk, B., Fineout-Overholt, E., Stone, P., & Ackerman, M. (2000, January). Evidence-based practice. Evidence-based practice: the past, the present, and recommendations for the millennium. Pediatric Nursing, 26(1), 77-80.

Estabrooks, C. (1999, March). Will evidence-based nursing practice make practice perfect?... originally published in Canadian Journal of Nursing Research, 1998, Vol. 30, No. 1, 15-36. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research, 30(4), 273-294.

McKibbon, K. (1998, July). Evidence-based practice. Bulletin of the Medical Library Association, 86(3), 396-401.

Searching for Evidence

Haynes, R. B. (2007, January). Of studies, syntheses, synopses, summaries, and systems: the 5S evolution of information services for evidence-based healthcare decisions. Evidence-Based Nursing, 10(1), 6-7. [VU ppt of the 5S system]

Haynes, R. B. (2005, January). Of studies, summaries, synopses, and systems: the 4S evolution of services for finding current best evidence. Evidence-Based Nursing, 8(1), 4-6.

McKibbon, K., & Marks, S. (1998, October). Searching for the best evidence. Part 2: searching CINAHL and Medline. Evidence-Based Nursing, 1(4), 105-107.

McKibbon, K., & Marks, S. (1998, July). EBN notebook. Searching for the best evidence. Part 1: where to look. Evidence-Based Nursing, 1(3), 68-70.

McKibbon, K. (1998, March). Using Best Evidence in clinical practice. Evidence-Based Medicine, 3(2), 39-39.

Pravikoff, D. (2004). The evidence-based practice dilemma. CINAHLnews, 23(1), 6-7.

Levy, J. (2004). Searching for evidence. CINAHLnews, 23(2), 2-8.

Reviews & Methods

Whittemore, R. (2005, January). Combining evidence in nursing research: methods and implications. Nursing Research, 54(1), 56-62.

Evans, D., & Kowanko, I. (2000, December). Literature reviews: evolution of a research methodology. Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing, 18(2), 33-38.

Jones, T., & Evans, D. (2000, May). Conducting a systematic review. Australian Critical Care, 13(2), 66-71.

Ganong, L. (1987, February). Integrative reviews on nursing research. Research in Nursing & Health, 10(1), 1-11.

Whittemore, R., & Knafl, K. (2005, December). The integrative review: updated methodology. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 52(5), 546-553.

Additional Resources

Hewitt-Taylor, J. (2002, December 18). Continuing professional development: clinical development. Evidence-based practice. Nursing Standard, 17(14/15), 47-52.

Melnyk, B.M., & Fineout-Overholt, E. (2005). Evidence-based practice in nursing & healthcare: a guide to best practice. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Christopher Center, 4th floor, RT42 .M44 2005

Evidence Based Nursing, Health Sciences Library, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
http://www.hsl.unc.edu/Services/Tutorials/EBN/index.htm

Using Information Resources...Nursing: Evidence-Based Practice
http://www.lib.odu.edu/libassist/tutorials/nursing/section6/index.html
Contains a very useful diagram of the Haynes Model of Hierarchy of Pre-Processed Evidence that links type of resource with it might be found.

Introduction to Evidence-Based Medicine, Duke University Medical Center Library (not nursing-specific)
http://www.hsl.unc.edu/services/tutorials/EBM/index.htm

Healthlinks: University of Washington Health Sciences Libraries http://healthlinks.washington.edu/ebp
  Basic Introduction to EBP Resources http://healthlinks.washington.edu/hsl/classes/evidence/
  EPB Tools Summary http://healthlinks.washington.edu/ebp/ebptools.html

University of Minnesota: Evidence-Based Nursing http://evidence.ahc.umn.edu/ebn.htm

University of Iowa Hardin Health Sciences Library: Evidence Based Practice http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/eb.html

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EBP Resources for Individual Articles and Reports

CINAHL			Tip: Use the term systematic review as the "PT publication type" in your CINAHL search
MEDLINE (via Pub Med)    PubMed online help
Evidence-Based Nursing/ EBN Online (journal)			The entire journal is searchable from this site
Social Science databases, such as PsycINFO, ERIC, and Sociological Abstracts may be useful for supplemental research.

EBP Guidelines & Reviews Resources

Cochrane Library
MEDLINE (via Pub Med)			Tip: Within the LIMITS, choose "Review" within the "Type of Article" section to limit your results.

Virginia Henderson International Nursing Library http://www.nursinglibrary.org/Portal/main.aspx?PageID=4001

National Institute of Nursing http://www.nih.gov/ninr

PubMed Clinical Queries http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query/static/clinical.shtml

Clinical Trials.gov http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct/gui

MedlinePlus: Clinical Trials http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/clinicaltrials.html (consumer-oriented)

BMJ Clinical Evidence http://www.clinicalevidence.com/ceweb/index.jsp

Centre for Evidence-Based Research http://www.cebm.net/?o=1013

The Cochrane Collaboration and Library http://www.cochrane.org/index.htm
Includes DARE (Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects)

Joanna Briggs Institute http://www.joannabriggs.edu.au/about/home.php

The TRIP Database http://www.tripdatabase.com/AboutUs/Index.html

Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ): EBPractice http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/epcix.htm

National Quality Measures Clearinghouse http://www.qualitymeasures.ahrq.gov/

National Guideline Clearinghouse http://www.guideline.gov/

Evidence-based Medicine Resource Center http://www.ebmny.org/

Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine: Download Tools http://www.cebm.net/downloads.asp

American FactFinder http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=eng