Nursing Administration and Leadership Roles, Essay Example

Evidence-based practice and knowledge-based practice in nursing leadership and administration are important for improving care quality, safety, and efficiency, while focusing on the needs of the population served by the organization. The below summary will cover the main ideas behind the two approaches towards nursing leadership and health care delivery.

Stetler et al. (2014) define evidence-based practice as an approach that focuses on the successful implementation of research and clinical evidence into the health care practice. Evidence-based practice can be institutionalized, and embedded into the system of the organization, and nursing leaders, in particular DNP qualified nurses can facilitate this quality improvement. DNP nurses can monitor the progress and outcomes, while gathering feedback to implement further improvements in the care plans and improve patient outcomes.

Knowledge-based practice is the process when the interventions are designed based on the information gathered and analyzed. Research studies and collaborative projects can contribute towards the knowledge of the nursing leader, and their competencies related to interventions, results, population characteristics, and even the perception of the health care can be guiding organizational strategies. Information can also be based on observation and sharing of experiences. Knowledge can further be turned into evidence, and implemented in the mission of the health care unit.

Majid et al. (2011) created a study assessing nursing leaders’ awareness of knowledge and the methods to implement it into practice. Some of the main leadership and clinical skills identified related to knowledge-based and evidence-based practices were information technology competency, the  ability to analyze information and turn it into evidence, as well as collaboration with colleagues in order to gain feedback on stakeholder satisfaction. Information-related and collaborative competencies are necessary for nursing administrators and leaders to successfully implement knowledge-based and evidence-based practice.

References

Majid, S., Foo, S., Luyt, B., Zhang, X., Theng, Y. L., Chang, Y. K., & Mokhtar, I. A. (2011). Adopting evidence-based practice in clinical decision making: nurses’ perceptions, knowledge, and barriers. Journal of the Medical Library Association: JMLA, 99(3), 229.

Stetler, C. B., Ritchie, J. A., Rycroft?Malone, J., & Charns, M. P. (2014). Leadership for Evidence?Based Practice: Strategic and Functional Behaviors for Institutionalizing EBP. Worldviews on Evidence?Based Nursing, 11(4), 219-226.