Evidence Based Practice

School discussion posts are mostly busy work. Rarely do they allow for a good debate with your classmates.  There are  those few gems that allow you speak your mind. Recently our class was asked to discuss Complimentary Alternative Medicine (CAM).  A fellow classmate didn’t appreciate my post on why most CAM therapies have no place in nursing practice.  This of course is mainly due to the lack of strong solid research to prove efficacy.

“While I respect your critical eye toward Evidenced Based Practice (EBP) and your examination of research, I would like to point out that research does not ‘prove’ the effectiveness of an intervention.  EBP supports and validates hypotheses (Beck & Polit, 2014).  It is hard to fault interventions such as CAM therapies solely based on their lack of research or evidence.  Just because something has not been studied, does not mean it lacks any merit,

Evidenced Based Practice (EBP) integrates clinical expertise with evidence of efficacy through research. The research process follows the scientific method, which includes: identifying a problem, researching the data, developing a hypothesis, conducting experiments, analyzing the results, and accepting or rejecting the hypothesis. These steps are repeated until a efficacious solution is obtained.  The experiment must include an independent and dependent variable as well as a control (Harris, n.d.).  It’s a rigorous and methodical system that must be repeated many times to verify efficacy. This does not mean that scientific research can never be proven wrong, but the standards are set in place to ensure that bias and prejudice are removed from the equation to provide data. This data either proves or disproves the hypothesis (Beck & Polit, 2014).  The key factor to EBP is for nurse to efficiently evaluate the research based on their clinical expertise and research knowledge. The care must be grounded in evidence based research. They should be trained to critically evaluate a research article to determine if it’s flawed, exaggerated, or impossible to implement (Boswell & Cannon, 2014). If the care is proven ineffective, then it’s discontinued and no longer backed by evidence of efficacy.

That being said, I wouldn’t be opposed to further research of CAMs. I do feel strongly that it needs to meet the scientific rigors required of other medical research to be implemented into practice.  Does that mean that CAMs are completely ineffective? No, it simply means that until it’s proven to be an effective means of treatment, it should not be implemented into practice for that purpose.

Beck & Polit (2014).  Essentials of nursing research: Appraising evidence for nursing practice.  Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Boswell, C. & Cannon, S. (2014). Introduction to nursing research: Incorporation of evidence-based practice (3rd ed). Burlington, MA: Jones  & Bartlett Learning.

Harris, W. (n.d.) How the scientific method works. How Stuff Works. retrieved from  http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/scientific-experiments/scientific-method.htm