Critical Appraisal of Clinical
Evidence
In recent years, clinical experts
have emphasized the importance of
using evidence to guide nursing and
medical practice. However, the
translation of evidence to practice is
relatively slow. Clinical leaders
accelerate the process for integrating
new clinical evidence into daily
practice by learning how to appraise
the literature, determine an intervention’s
potential for translating
into practice, and transition the
best clinical practices into patient
care (IOM, 2011).
Using the evidence-based process
to appraise clinical evidence, clinical
leaders guide team members in
formulating the research question.
They search the literature for current
evidence and begin to appraise
the evidence by summarizing
important elements of research articles
in an evidence table. The team
then decides if the evidence supporting
the new procedure is strong
enough to influence clinical practice.
If so, members integrate the
research evidence with other types
of intangible evidence, such as
patients’ preferences and values and
clinical expertise. The new procedure
then is applied in clinical practice
and evaluated for its effectiveness.
Clinical leaders enhance the
translation of evidence into practice
by guiding colleagues in use of the
evidence-based process to appraise
the literature critically and evaluate
the need for a specified change in