Implications of Terminating a Solution, Essay Example

The main pillar of clinical-based practice is that evidence is king. That is, when clinicians make a decision to a treat a patient, treatment is based on a robust check of the existing medical literature combined with knowledge of the individual patient’s condition- it is not based on a clinician’s “feelings” or anecdotal evidence regarding what has worked in the past.

There are several implications, however, when evidence-based practice trumps human decisions. One of the main impacts may be a loss of trust in a medical team that impairs decision making and unity in the aftermath. Indeed, although clinicians may believe they are advocating for a patient when they support treatment that does not necessarily have an evidence-base, once they are corrected, it may have tremendous ramifications for future interactions. The party that is over ruled may feel singled out and “made an example of”- they may participate less in the future or not offer suggestions for how to improve patients care in the future.

Perhaps even more importantly, the decision might impair the unity of the group leading to less effective interactions in the future. Indeed, the imposition of clinical evidence as the “gold standard” of medical treatment sometimes clashes with the experience built up by a team dealing with patients that may have special conditions or where data is not that robust. The imposition of “evidence” over people may lead individuals to lose confidence or adversely change the decision making dynamic that makes teams so effective. Indeed, as professor Sarah Wall argues, there are numerous ideals embedded in the construction of data and evidence-based practice: objectivity is the main thread that runs through the concepts. At the end of the day, however, medicine must also interact with the subjective knowledge of fallible humans; this is the fine line that must be walked in this situation.

Wall, S. (2008). A critique of evidence-based practice in nursing: challenging the assumptions. Social Theory & Health,6 (1), 37-53.