Introduction
Evidence-based medical practice allows to facilitate the decision-making process and improve patients’ health outcomes by using the best available information from high-quality clinical research. Despite the effectiveness of this approach, many medical institutions in the United States have not embraced it yet. The purpose of this paper is to discuss two significant barriers that hold nursing practice from implementing evidence-based methods and suggest ways to address these barriers.
Reasons of Lack of Prevalence
Lack of knowledge and skill is one of the main obstacles that stop the spread of evidence-based practice. A study suggests that the development of educational programs that promote evidence-based strategies is required to overcome this barrier (Malik, McKenna, & Plummer, 2016). Fixing the problem of insufficient knowledge and understanding of evidence-based techniques will have a positive impact on the decision-making process in hospitals and allow the adoption of more effective approaches to care.
Limited funding is another problem that compromises the rate, at which hospitals implement new evidence-based methods and techniques. The fact that innovative treatments often require expensive equipment leads to the situation when medical institutions keep using outdated techniques that are less effective. Government support programs for hospitals are required to guarantee that citizens have access to high-quality medical care. In addition to that, focusing research on cost-effective treatments may help address this problem.
Conclusion
Thus, the evidence-based practice of medicine in the United States require support in order to be implemented in the majority of healthcare institutions. Limited knowledge and insufficient funding are among the main factors that hold such practices from being applied more widely. Creation of educational programs that promote evidence-based treatments, financial support of the government, and focus on cost-effective techniques are required to address this issue.
Reference
Malik, G., McKenna, L., & Plummer, V. (2016). Facilitators and barriers to evidence-based practice: perceptions of nurse educators, clinical coaches and nurse specialists from a descriptive study. Contemporary Nurse, 52(5), 544-554.