Nursing Science in Research and Practice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Nursing Science in Research and Practice - Essay Example M., 2002). Evidence-based science is needed to be integrated into the nursing practice to meet the nursing roles of 21st century standards. By evidence-based practice, it is meant that these are proven ways to diagnose and treat patients based on rigorous evidence from contemporary science that may include not only theoretical perspectives, also practice perspectives. By practice perspectives, it is intended to mean studies that elucidate the clinical effectiveness of a particular practice. Authors have also defined it as application of best available empirical evidence that applies recent research findings to clinical practice so it may come into assistance of the clinical decision making of the nurse. To move into the 21st century, the nurses need to base their clinical practice on such empirical evidence to optimize outcomes of clients, to provide safe and accountable practice within the ethical realm, to ensure cost-effective practice on the face of resource constraints, and by these, to e nhance credibility of the profession (Litchfield, M., 1999). When the question of roles that nurses need to play to be able to efficiently do this arises, the answer is simple. They need to fill the gap between research findings and their implementation in their practice. In practice the academic structure for the basic nursing training should be oriented in such a manner that they can overcome the currently observed difficulty in synthesizing empirical and contextual evidence in order to integrate evidence-based changes into practice. Thus, their role should increasingly demonstrate skills and resourcefulness to appraise, synthesize, and implement best evidence into practice. This indicates an organized drift from the established knowledge and practice, and the nurses need to assume the dual role of a practitioner and a researcher. The science of nursing knowledge is a same scholarly investigative process that attempts to find out the factors that cause a change in the phenomenon. Thus, they should accept a practice activity that has been substantiated as predicting valid and reliable outcomes for their clients. This could only be done through establishment of a new body of knowledge confirmed by numerous research efforts and implementation of change in conventional practice based on that knowledge (Rogers, M. E., 1970). The integration of nursing practice should happen with strong rigorous empiric evidence, and such practice is always underpinned by nursing theory and science. The 21st Century nurses, thus would practice a systematic way of knowing that allows them to understand, predict, and explain the outcomes of their practice that is desired to help clients. It is important to note that now, the knowledge is being generated as a rapid pace, and they must adjust to this speed where they are able to understand and articulate clearly the theoretical bases of their discipline, both past and present. With a scholarship only, they can diagnose