THE LEVELS OF EVIDENCE
Nursing is an essential practice that requires a wide range of evidence that sets the pace for learning new rules and ways of interacting with the patients as well as the world in general (Grove, Burns, Gray & Burns, 2015). This practice translates to the modification of one’s perceptions and ways of reasoning. For instance, a nurse is supposed to understand the patients’ health care problem and devise ways of managing the problem. The intervention practice requires sound research evidence. Also, a nurse is required to determine if another intervention could be effective in regards to improving the patient’s status.
The evidence-based nursing practice has been argued to promote quality, cost-effective and safe outcomes for the patients (Ellis, 2016). Nursing evidence practices are generated from the empirical knowledge devised from the synthesis of study findings geared towards solving practice problem (Grove, Burns, Gray & Burns, 2015). Such evidence is aimed at selecting nursing interventions that promote positive patient as well as family outcomes. The first level of evidence involves a description which entails an understanding of the nature of the nursing issue and perhaps the kind of the relationships that might exist before them (Ellis, 2016). Description level helps to understand the existing nursing practice and helps in discovering new ideas to understand the current situation.
The next level involves explanation. This helps to clarify relationships between situations and tries to explain why some given occurrences take place (Grove, Burns, Gray & Burns, 2015). Another level involved is the prediction. This is the estimation of a probability of a given outcome in a specific situation. Prediction helps in identifying the risk of a given sickness. Then the last level of evidence involves control. Usually, this helps in manipulating the desired outcomes to produce the desired results.
References:
Grove, S. K., Burns, N., Gray, J., & Burns, N. (2015). Understanding nursing research: Building an evidence-based practice. London: Elsevier Health Sciences
Ellis, P. (2016). Evidence-based practice in nursing. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications