Category Archives: Translating Evidence into Practice

Overview of the Research Process

  Undergraduate and graduate nursing students learn about the research process and research design. The purpose of learning about research is so that the professional nurse can evaluate and interpret the importance and meaning of research findings to their individual practices. This post reviews the steps of the research process and

Facilitators of Research Use in Practice: Narrowing the Research-Practice Gap

This month’s posts have all been about the existence and persistence of the research-practice gap in nursing — that is, the gap between the publication or dissemination of research and the use of those findings in practice. In this post, I’ll discuss some of the ways that the research-practice gap

Barriers to Research Use in Practice: Persistence of the Research-Practice Gap

In a previous post, I talked about the research-practice gap, also known as the evidence-practice gap. This phenomenon is not a figment of our past but is still a problem struggled with today (Agbedia, Okoronkwo, Onokayeigho, & Agbo, 2014; Curtis, Fry, Shaban, & Considine, 2016; Middlebrooks, Carter-Templeton, & Mund, 2016). Of course,

Mind the Research-Practice Gap!

Mind the Gap! That’s a sign you’ll see in the London underground (AKA subway). The point is to watch where you are walking and not misstep into the gap between the train and platform. If you mind the gap, you’ll have a good outcome and get on the train safely.

Critical Appraisal of Systematic Reviews

In evidence-based practice, an overview of one or more evidence sources is said to be synthesized or summarized. Synthesis evidence is a big help for busy clinicians because the hard work of critical appraisal of each of the included studies is done already! However, the clinician STILL has to critically appraise

Evidence-Based Practice Basics: What is a Systematic Review?

Evidence-based practice relies on the clinician’s understanding of how to search for and retrieve valid and high-level evidence. In the 6S hierarchy of evidence pyramid, synthesis evidence is high-quality evidence that goes a step beyond original research – it is preappraised evidence; a time-saver for busy clinicians. This post will focus

Critical Appraisal of Clinical Practice Guidelines

Evidence-based clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are summaries of best evidence, ideally from rigorous systematic reviews, which are then delineated as recommendations for practice. CPGs are a big help for busy clinicians – IF the CPG is based on evidence that is reliable and valid!  This post will provide a “How

Evidence-Based Practice Basics: What are Clinical Practice Guidelines?

Clinicians want to make practice decisions based on the best evidence (this is an assumption, of course – but one I’d hope you’d agree with!). Summary evidence includes the regularly updated evidence-based (EB) textbooks and high-quality clinical practice guidelines (CPGs). This post will focus on explaining what a clinical practice guideline is, why

Critical Appraisal Questions for Evidence-Based Practice: Can I Apply the Results to Practice?

All month I’ve been discussing the major questions you need to ask when critically appraising a research study. In this post, I’ll review the subquestions you need to ask when determining whether you can apply the results to your patient or patient population. Using Evidence to Make Clinical Decisions The

Critical Appraisal Questions for Evidence-Based Practice: Are the Results Important?

This month I’m talking about the questions to ask when critically appraising a research study for use in your evidence-based nursing practice. In this post, I’ll address the question of determining if the actual research findings/results are significant and meaningful – What are the Results? (AKA Are the Results Important?) The major

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