Question Description
Please write a paragraph responding to the discussion bellow. Add citations and references in alphabetical order.
EBP is the conscientious, categorical, and astute approach towards a patient’s holistic health using the current and most appropriate clinical literature available, tailored to fit the patient’s specific health requirements and conditions. (Samonte & Vallente, 2016).
An example of nursing practice where evidence based practice has improved patient outcomes is Foley care and its removal to prevent Catheter Associated Urinary Tract infection (CAUTIs). CAUTIs are documented in the EBP research to “Contribute to as many as 25.6% of hospital acquired infections (HAIs). These infections are linked to increased rates of morbidity and mortality, longer lengths of stay in the hospital and increase hospitalization costs. The evidence identified that the risk for infection is “estimated at 3-7%” for each day the catheter remains in the patient. The research led to proactive practices discontinuing the catheter as early as possible. According to the study done by Nicolle, L. et al., it suggests that, systematic review in hospitalized patients reported that the use of an intervention including a reminder to staff that a catheter was in place and/or a stop order to prompt removal of unnecessary catheters reduced the CAUTI rate by 53% (Nicolle, L. et al., 2014).
Another example of nursing practice where evidenced based nursing practice has improved patient outcome is of standards of care and flushing protocols for central venous access devices (CVADs). According to the research article by Freire et al., establishing a multidisciplinary team to specifically focus on care of CVAD, together with systematic reporting of infections, appears to reduce the rates of infection related to the use of these devices. The objective of the study was to describe the epidemiology of infections related to the use of implantable central venous access devices (CVADs) in cancer patients and to evaluate measures aimed at reducing the rates of such infections. The findings of the same study suggested that the rate of CVAD-related infection dropped from 2.2 to 0.24 per 1,000 catheter-days with the standards of care and flushing protocols.
The above mentioned examples of evidenced based research and changes in practice brought changes significantly in outcome indicating that nurses can modify the outdated practices that are no longer relevant or in the best interest of the patient’s well-being based on the evidence based research. In my practice presently, flushing of central lines at least once a shift and proper documentation has had a profound impact on reducing central line infections.
References
Samonte, P. V., & Vallente, R. P. (2016). Evidence-based practice (EBP). Salem Press Encyclopedia.
Lo, E., Nicolle, L., Coffin, S., Gould, C., Maragakis, L., Meddings, J., Yokoe, D. (2014). Strategies to Prevent Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections in Acute Care Hospitals: 2014 Update. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, 35(5), 464-479. doi:10.1086/675718
