Page 1 : om, , , , 29, , CONCEPT OF EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE, , CONCEPT OF EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE, , Many areas of professional practice, such as medicine, nursing, psychology, psychiatry,, , and so forth, have had periods in their pasts where practice was based on loose bodies of, , knowledge. Some of the knowledge was simply lore that drew upon the experiences of, generations of professionals, and much of it had no truly scientific evidence on which to, justify various practices. Furthermore, nursing practices are generally based on nurses, , past experiences; however, there is little scientific evidence to support nurses’ clinical, decision making and expected outcome. While, nursing practices based on research evidences contribute to achieving client outcome and making nursing practices credible., Therefore, nurses need to base their practices on empirical evidences to optimize client, outcomes, to provide cost-effective safe practices, and to enhance the credibility of nursing care., , ‘Roots of EBN can be traced in 1 Florence Nightingale’s era of nursing practices. Her, , promoting | health, prevention of disease, and care of the sick were central, ideas of her system. It involves identifying solid research findings and implementing, them in nursing practices, in order to increase the quality of patient care. Sometimes,, the terms research utilization and EBP are used interchangeably. However, in real sense,, the term research utilization is a narrow term, which is used for the use of empirically, generated knowledge for nursing practices. In addition, research utilization has been, defined as the use of research findings in any or all aspects of one’s work as a registered, nurse or at its simplest, the use of research. The EBP is a broader term as discussed, , , , , , , below., , Meaning of EBP__, , Benefield defines EBP as using the best evidence available to guide clinical decision making. This, , definition shifts the provision of health care away from opinion, past practices, and precedent, : basis., , towards a a more s ‘scientifi, , , , , EBP in nursing is a process of locating, appraising, and applying the best evidence from the, nursing and medical literature to improve the quality of clinical nursing practices. _, , Evidence-based nursing (EBN) is a recently emerged term and EBN is a type of EBP in nursing. It, , involves identifying solid research 1 findings and implementing them in nursing practices to, , increase the quality of patient care., EBN is a process founded on the collection, interpretation, and integration of valid, important,, , and applicable research. Some define EBN tightly, considering only the application of the findings, , of randomized clinical trials, while others also include the use of case reports and expert, , opinions., e, , EBN may be defined as the conscientious, explicit, and judici i, , wn making -decisions about the care of individual patients or groups. Ut requires antcen oy, Of individual clinical expertise and patient preferences with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research, and consideration of available resources, _, , Definitions of EBN have varied in scholarly literature. Scott and McSherry’s extensive literature review looked at commonalities between EBN definitions and synthesized them to, , come up with the following comprehensive definition:, , I. FUNDAMENTALS OF NURSING RESEARCH