Evidence-based practice: creating a spirit of inquiry to solve clinical nursing problems.

Although evidence-based practice (EBP) has been demonstrated to provide the highest quality of care to patients and their families, its use in nursing has not yet been widespread. Using a case-method approach, a pilot study was conducted to explore the implementation of EBP to determine the best practice for clinical issues identified in professional nurses' practice settings. In addition, the investigator sought to determine available evidence, identify barriers described by nurses, and gain an understanding of nurses' perceptions regarding the use of EBP in clinical practice. Findings revealed that with mentoring and support, the formulation of PICO questions (addressing population, intervention, comparison, and outcome), retrieval of evidence, interpretation of statistics, and implementation of EBP were identified by nurses as challenging, stimulating activities that dramatically enhance nursing practice.