Writing Homework Help

 Absence of Evidence

Clinical decision-making requires critical thinking and is essential to forming a solid conclusion when evidence does not exist.

REPLY to the Answer provided below in at least 175 words. List one reference in APA 

Question: On what do you rely in the absence of evidence?

Answer: In the case where there is not enough or no evidence available to best treat one’s condition, using intuition and one’s individual professional experience are ways to move ahead to help the patient. According to a study by Brower, the history and initial workings behind evidence-based practice, with Claude Bernade and Florence Nightingale was based upon intuition and observed outcomes (Brower, 2017). Isn’t one’s professional experience considered a type of evidence-based practice?

Included in intuition is focusing on the patient at hand, their signs and symptoms, medical and surgical history. “Treat the patient and not the disease”. Not all people with similar signs and symptoms will respond the same to one treatment measure. For example, a dialysis patient has low blood pressure. Some would say give them a bolus of fluid and that may be the solution for other people, but it is a dialysis patient that has kidney functioning issues. You could still give them fluids, but how much and for how long? More monitoring may be needed to ensure those fluids to not go to their lungs and cause other problems.

Is intuition and experience being less relevant in the nursing profession with the evolution and current focus on evidence-based practice? What importance does it currently hold? Are nurses losing their ability to make decisions about their patient’s needs? Even with the education of doctors, in some cases can a nurse be better capable to making a decision about their patient? The communication tool, SBAR (situation, background, assessment, recommendation) is a good tool for communication in the sense that it allows one to add in their recommendation of action to be considered.

Reference

Brower, E. J. (2017). Origins of Evidence-Based Practice and What it Means for Nurses. (cover story). International Journal of Childbirth Education, 32(2), 14–18.