The components of an evidence-based decision include the results of research, a patient’s values or preferences for particular choices, an aware- ness of available resources, and the experience and expertise of the decision maker (DiCenso et al 1998). Having made it this far in the text, you will have grasped that making evidence-based decisions in practice can sometimes be difficult; requiring the use of complex, often incomplete information, and with uncertain decision outcomes (Hunink et al 2001, Tavakoli et al 2000). Paying attention to and integrating the volume of information in practice can often seem overwhelming. Nurses, like all human beings, have limited capacity to manage all of the different components of a complex decision at the same time (Hunink et al 2001, Sarasin 2001). Decision analysis is one approach that can help systematically combine the elements required for an evidence-based decision.