Evidence Based Practice (EBP) is a problem-solving approach to clinical decision-making within a health care organization. It integrates the best available scientific evidence with the best available experiential (patient and practitioner) evidence. EBP considers internal and external influences on practice and encourages critical thinking in the judicious application of such evidence to the care of individual patients, a patient population, or a system (Newhouse, Dearholt, Poe, Pugh, & White, 2012).
Dearholt, S. L., & Dang, D. (2012). Johns Hopkins Nursing Evidence-Based Practice : Models and Guidelines (2). Indianapolis, US: Sigma Theta Tau International. Retrieved from http://www.ebrary.com
First you need to define a problem and formulate a question. In the research process, this is the research question or statement. In the clinical setting, ‘asking a question’ may become part of a research study, a quality improvement project, or lead to evidence-based practice.
A commonly used format for creating a clinical question is known as PICO(T), which refers to:
Searching with PICO(T)
1. Develop keywords for each of applicable PICO(T) elements of your topic.
2. Start your search by combine 2 or 3 PICO(T) elements.
3. Look for subject headings that represent your keyword and PICO (T) elements.
4. Apply limiters depending on your topic, consider what is the best type of studies.
The following Databases are ideal for finding evidence based literature:
