History and Process of Nursing Research, Free Essay Example

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is the process that is focused on integrating individual clinical expertise with the existing external clinical evidence. Also, the EBP handwrites the existing knowledge into common care decisions in an effort to promote care processes as well as patients' health outcomes. To patients' perspective, EBP is essential because it enables them to attain the most effective healthcare service based on available validated evidence. This research provides two areas in the nursing practice where EBP improved the state of patients' outcomes, expounds on the impact of EBP on patients' care, and illustrates how the findings changed the nursing practice.

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Infection Control

The term infection characterizes the invasion of a person's body by disease-causing microorganisms. Infection control is one area of patients' health where the use of EBP significantly improved the state of attained outcomes. According to research executed by Mehta et al. (2014), hospital-acquired infections are the causative factors for the high mortality and morbidity cases reported in most healthcare institutions. Also, according to a peer-reviewed article that was authored by Sydnor and Perl (2011) healthcare-associated infections have become complex and complicated to the patients' health. Also, such infections cause an added treatment cost to patients.

The costs are associated with treating opportunist infections that contract persons who are already sick in the hospital environment (Sydnor & Perl, 2011). Today, the last thing that patients desire when attending a hospital for treatment is to attain hospital-acquired infections. Nevertheless, by adhering to the EBP policies on infection control, nurses can prevent most of the infections that can substantially affect the health outcomes of patients (Mehta et al., 2014). Moreover, some of the activities against infection control that have been validated through EBP include keeping the environment clean, wearing protective gloves, practicing thorough hand washing and adopting barrier precautions.

Hand Hygiene

Though closely related to the infection control EBP, hand hygiene compliance is an EBP by itself that entails the proper cleaning of hands using water and soap to reduce the risk of infections. Also, hand hygiene is highly advocated among healthcare practitioners who are in contact with patients because it ensures that infections are not transferred between infected persons to uninfected individuals. Additionally, as per the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, there are five moments at which medical personnel should check their hand hygiene CITATION WHO181 \l 1033 (WHO, 2018). Such moments include before touching a sick person, prior to performing clean or aseptic procedures, as well as after touching a patient.

The other two moments include after touching a patient's body fluids and lastly, after touching the patient's surroundings. In a clinical setting, some of the hand hygiene products that are often used by healthcare practitioners include 2% Chlorhexidine Gluconate as well as alcohol-based hand rubs (ABHR) (Silveira, 2016). Also, a peer-reviewed publication of research performed by Pan et al. (2013) illustrated that healthcare practitioners have a responsibility of educating as well as sustaining ideal HH practices (Pan et al., 2013). Moreover, this is as a way of attaining improved healthcare outcomes for patients in medical institutions.

Impact of the EBPs to the Nursing Practice

Through the attained knowledge infection control EBP, as a healthcare profession's stakeholders, I adopted eight primary strategies for promoting my security against healthcare infections. The strategies include using standard hygiene precautions, promoting hand hygiene, waste disposal as well as employing personal protective equipment (PPE). Additionally, other strategies include cleaning and disinfecting dirt or contaminated surfaces, using safe injection practices, promoting respiratory hygiene like cough etiquette as well as ensuring proper disposal of needle sticks and other sharp materials.

On the other hand, as a result of the attained knowledge of HH EBP, there are several hand hygiene products and practices that I employ. That includes the use of cleaning products like alcohols, hexachlorophene, quaternary ammonium compounds, and iodine. Additionally, others include triclosan, chlorhexidine, chloroxylenol as well as chlorine cleaning products. Lastly, I also use a variety of hand rubs to clean my hands after being in contact with dirty or contaminated surfaces. Ultimately, these practices and products have enabled me to avoid infections or infect other persons in the clinical environment.

Conclusion

In conclusion, infection control is an EBP that must be enforced to promote the health and wellness of persons in the healthcare environment. Some of the strategies that can be employed under the infection control EBP include using standard hygiene precautions, promoting hand hygiene, proper waste disposal as well as employing personal protective equipment (PPE). On the other hand, hand hygiene compliance is an EBP by itself that entails the proper cleaning of hands using water and soap to reduce the risk of infections. Some of the hand hygiene products that can be used include cleaning products like alcohols, hexachlorophene, quaternary ammonium compounds, and iodine.

References

Da Silveira, E. A., Bubeck, K. A., Batista, E. R., Piat, P., Laverty, S., Beauchamp, G., ... Elce, Y. (2016). Comparison of an alcohol-based hand rub and water-based chlorhexidine gluconate scrub technique for hand antisepsis prior to elective surgery in horses. The Canadian Veterinary Journal, 57(2), 164-168.

Mehta, Y., Gupta, A., Todi, S., Myatra, S., Samaddar, D. P., Patil, V. ... Ramasubban, S. (2014). Guidelines for prevention of hospital-acquired infections. Indian Journal of Critical Care Medicine : Peer-reviewed, Official Publication of Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine, 18(3), 149-163. http://doi.org/10.4103/0972-5229.128705

Pan S-C, Tien K-L, Hung I-C, Lin Y-J, Sheng W-H, Wang M-J, et al. (2013) Compliance of Health Care Workers with Hand Hygiene Practices: Independent Advantages of Overt and Covert Observers. PLoS ONE 8(1): e53746. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0053746

Sydnor, E. R. M., & Perl, T. M. (2011). Hospital Epidemiology and Infection Control in Acute-Care Settings. Clinical Microbiology Reviews, 24(1), 141-173. http://doi.org/10.1128/CMR.00027-10