The development of evidence-based nursing

This paper argues that the current conception of evidence-based medicine ha s its limitations in the promotion of research which effects the quality of service in any health care system. It also poses something of a difficulty for the development of evidence-based nursing in particular. This paper ad vocates the moro broad based concept of evidence-based practice and discuss es its potential for addressing theory/practice problems and the uptake of nursing research. The broader conceptualization of evidence-based practice focuses on the integration of available evidence and the tacit knowledge of the investigator. An evidence-based practice project undertaken in Hong Ko ng is outlined as this provided the basis of many of the conclusions made i n this paper. Three vignettes are given in order to demonstrate the nature of the evidence-based practice projects which have been conducted. The crit ical elements of evidence-based practice projects are outlined. Finally iss ues concerning the process of generating evidence, the relationship to cont inuous quality improvement and the cost effectiveness of evidence-based pra ctice are discussed in more detail.