Evidence-Based Nursing: Practice, Judgment, and Expertise
This paper examines four core dimensions of professional nursing practice. It addresses how nurses can locate and apply evidence-based literature and guidelines to improve patient care, why sharing relevant practice changes with colleagues strengthens teamwork and workplace efficiency, how nurses must recognize that clinical judgments and decisions are unavoidable and consequential aspects of their role, and why understanding that nursing expertise varies with education, experience, and context is essential for effective delegation and collegial collaboration. Drawing on Apker et al. (2006), Benner et al. (2009), and Husted and Husted (2008), the paper argues that informed, communicative, and mutually aware nursing teams are better positioned to achieve positive patient outcomes.
- Using Best Evidence to Improve Nursing Care: How nurses access and apply evidence-based literature
- Disseminating Practice Changes to Colleagues: Why sharing new information strengthens nursing teams
- Recognizing Judgment and Decision-Making in Nursing: The necessity and burden of clinical decisions
- Understanding Variation in Nursing Expertise: How education and experience shape colleague performance
- Conclusion: Summary of professional nursing competencies
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper is organized around distinct, clearly framed questions, giving each section a focused purpose that makes the argument easy to follow.
- It consistently connects abstract principles — such as understanding colleague expertise — to concrete nursing situations like delegation, making the content practically grounded.
- Citations are woven throughout each section rather than clustered, demonstrating engagement with the source material across the full argument.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper uses a question-and-answer structure as a scaffolding device, allowing the writer to isolate each professional competency and build a focused argument for it before moving on. This technique is particularly effective in applied professional writing, where readers benefit from clear segmentation of distinct responsibilities or duties.
Structure breakdown
The paper contains four substantive sections, each introduced by a guiding question. The first covers evidence-based practice and literature use. The second addresses peer communication. The third examines the emotional and ethical weight of clinical decision-making. The fourth — the most developed — explores how education, experience, and context shape nursing expertise and affect delegation. A reference list closes the paper. The fourth section's greater length reflects the topic's complexity and the writer's deeper engagement with the Benner et al. and Husted sources.
Using Best Evidence to Improve Nursing Care
Nurses can and should use the best available evidence to provide optimal patient care. A wide range of literature, studies, and guidelines exists across nursing specialties and is readily accessible to practitioners (Apker, 2006). This accessibility means nurses can stay current with the latest research in their field. Nurses should examine and analyze all information they study thoroughly, ensuring each subject is sufficiently understood, and then apply that learning to practice as effectively as possible (Apker, 2006).
Participating in reviews of policies, procedures, and guidelines is another valuable way for nurses to maintain and improve their practice (Husted, 2008). Such reviews allow nurses to revisit pertinent information they may have missed or forgotten. Research on evidence-based nursing consistently shows that when nurses engage with relevant literature and guidelines, their overall performance improves and patient health outcomes improve alongside it (Apker, 2006).
Disseminating Practice Changes to Colleagues
Nursing is fundamentally a team-based profession, making collegial relationships essential to effective care. Because of this, it is vital that nurses inform one another of pertinent changes in practice or newly instituted guidelines (Apker, 2006). Keeping colleagues informed creates a more cohesive work environment in which everyone understands what is expected of them (Husted, 2008). Fewer interruptions and errors will occur throughout a shift when nurses share newly recommended or instituted information with their coworkers, allowing the workplace to function more effectively as a whole (Apker, 2006). The positive outcomes that result from this kind of open communication explain why high value is placed on nurses disseminating relevant changes to their colleagues.
Recognizing Judgment and Decision-Making in Nursing
Making judgments and decisions is rarely comfortable, yet in nursing these acts are both necessary and unavoidable. Nurses frequently face the difficult reality that their judgments or decisions may directly affect whether a patient lives or dies, which can be deeply difficult to process (Husted, 2008). Even when a nurse makes the correct decision and a patient dies regardless, the experience can be haunting, because the loss occurred under that nurse's care (Husted, 2008). For this reason, nurses must recognize that consequential — and sometimes frightening — judgments and decisions are essential aspects of nursing care rather than exceptional burdens (Benner, 2009).
Clinical decision-making frameworks can help nurses prepare for these moments by providing structured approaches to ethical and practical dilemmas they will inevitably encounter.
Conclusion
Nurses who engage with current evidence, communicate openly with colleagues, accept the weight of clinical judgment, and appreciate variation in expertise are better equipped to provide optimal patient care. Each of these competencies reinforces the others: an evidence-informed nurse who communicates well, delegates wisely, and understands her colleagues' backgrounds contributes to a stronger, safer care environment for patients and staff alike.
References
Apker, J., Propp, K. M., Ford, W. S. Z., Wallac, N., Serbenski, M., & Hofmeister, N. (2006). Collaboration, credibility, compassion, and coordination: Professional nurse communication skill sets in health care team interactions. Journal of Professional Nursing, 22(3), 180–189.
Benner, P. E., Tanner, C. A., & Chelsa, C. A. (2009). Expertise in nursing practice: Caring, clinical judgment and ethics. Springer.
Husted, G. L., & Husted, J. (2008). Ethical decision making in nursing and healthcare: The symphonological approach (3rd ed.). Springer.
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