Conceptions of evidence, evidence-based medicine, evidence-based practice and their use in nursing: independent nurse prescribers' views.

AIM: The purpose of this study was to explore nurses' conceptions of evidence and evidence-based practice, whether there are differences between evidence-based practice and evidence-based medicine and to identify the uptake of research evidence in the workplace.
BACKGROUND: The use and comprehension of the term 'evidence-based practice' in relation to nursing shows remarkable variation. Numerous definitions are provided, some tend to be closely related to the concept 'evidence-based medicine'. Independent nurse prescribers need to be able to understand the concept of evidence-based practice to utilize and apply this concept in order to provide adequate medication management of their patients.
METHOD: Data were generated by focus group interview and open question questionnaire and analysed by analytical abstraction.
RESULTS: Nurses offered a variety of views on the use and uptake of evidence in the workplace. Some nurses acknowledged that they did not read research papers but were aware that they used a lot of evidence in their practice. Nurses had difficulty differentiating evidence-based practice from evidence-based medicine.
CONCLUSIONS: Nurses were familiar with the research process but not the canons of evidenced-based practice. The data generated indicate different levels of evidence are used by nurses. This may be a reflection of the level of intrigue of the nurses involved. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The education and training of independent nurse prescribers should include the exploration of evidence from randomized controlled trials and from naturalistic studies and their contribution to evidenced-based practice and evidence-based medicine. Both concepts need to be explored in relation to the medication management of patients.