Evidence-based practice (EBP) involves the use of current best research findings in making decisions regarding patient care. EBP approach entails a systematic search and critical assessment of the relevant evidence to guide nurses and other health care practitioners to deal with medical or administrative situations. The approach also allows health care professionals to integrate relevant evidence, patient values and preferences, and clinical expertise. EBP approach is applicable in clinical practice to improve the quality of care and patient outcomes. EBP approach promotes the quality of care offered to clients including enhancing the reliability of health services, reducing variations in care, and improving patient outcomes. The approach involves the use of seven steps of the EBP process to improve the quality of care, patient outcomes, and reliability of health services. The first step involves developing a principle of inquiry together with an EBP environment and culture. The second step is asking a clinical or PICOT. The third step is searching for the relevant research findings. The fourth step entails appraising the evidence. The fifth step involves incorporating the evidence with patient preferences and clinical expertise to make a suitable clinical decision. The sixth step involves assessing the outcomes of the EBP change, and the seventh step involves disseminating the outcome. The organized seven-step procedure of EBP provides a suitable platform that facilitates the use of best clinical decisions to improve safety, quality of care, and patient outcomes. The main factors that facilitate the application of EBP in health care settings include administrative assistance, supportive cultures and environments, and the help of librarians from different education programs. The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program prepares health care practitioners for an advanced role in a health care setting. DNP nurses can adopt advanced practice role to provide care to patients, conduct research, and offer leadership. EBP can be used to improve the outcome of the doctoral nursing project. It allows the nurses to integrate research findings in their clinical decisions and improve the quality of care they offer. Through the use of EBP knowledge and skills, DNP nurses can systematically search for the relevant research findings, evaluate, and synthesize evidence with the clinical expertise to make the most appropriate decisions. Nurses can use the seven steps of EBP process to guide the integration of evidence with patient values and preferences and clinical expertise to make suitable decisions that will improve the safety and quality of health care services offered to the clients. EBP can be used to improve leadership when writing a nursing project to realize the set goals and anticipated outcomes. Through the use of EBP, the nurse leaders can make effective leadership decisions based on knowledge research findings. The DNP nurse can use research findings relating to different leadership approaches, appraise the evidence, and make suitable decisions. Numerous studies on leadership styles including transformational and visionary approaches have been conducted. Nurses can use evidence from the studies to identify a suitable leadership that can promote staff engagement and organizational support to implement a specific project. Nurses can integrate their clinical expertise and available evidence to identify the most suitable leadership skills to use in a project. Nurses are also able to integrate organizational culture, research evidence, situational values and factors to make decisions that would help in implementing a project in a particular health care institution. The EBP approach also enables DNP nurses to involve different stakeholders in the project by allowing individuals to offer their opinions and suggestions. Use of EBP to influence leadership in a doctoral nursing project can help to improve safety, quality of care, and patient outcomes.
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