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GOOD PRACTICE FROM AUSTRALASIA ON DISSEMINATION OF BEST EVIDENCE‐BASED PRACTICE

1999; Wiley; Volume: 29; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1046/j.1365-2648.1999.00983.x

1365-2648

J P Smith,

Health Sciences Research and Education

Journal of Advanced NursingVolume 29, Issue 5 p. 1027-1027 Free Access GOOD PRACTICE FROM AUSTRALASIA ON DISSEMINATION OF BEST EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE First published: 25 December 2001 https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2648.1999.00983.xCitations: 1 James P Smith OBE FRCN AboutSectionsPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat The most recent bandwagon in nursing and midwifery is the evidence-based movement. The movement is not new. It has been espoused by sections of the medical profession in the United Kingdom and North America for some years. Dozens of nursing and midwifery evidence-based papers have already appeared in the professional journals, embryonic academic departments have been established and, no doubt, university chairs will soon be sponsored. Numerous evidence-based conferences have been held. Many more are planned. If fact, I have to confess that I presented a paper at a conference on evidence-based practice in 1997, organized by the Southampton University school of Nursing and Midwifery. As it happens, it was a very good conference. Any moment now I expect to hear news of the launch of an International Society of Evidence-based Nursing and Midwifery Practitioners. Evidence-based practice in nursing and midwifery must not be fostered merely as a popular movement, a moral bandwagon, an attractive ideology or an appealing flavour of the month. It must be aimed at promoting good and safe health care practices. I am happy to report that I have discovered a model of good practice in the promotion of evidence-based nursing and midwifery practice. The Joanna Briggs Institute for Evidence-based Practice in Australia produces and circulates, at regular intervals, information sheets about evidence-based practice, to foster safe practice. The information sheets, published under the title Best Practice, contain advice based on the best available information as determined by an extensive review of the research literature and expert consensus. This is the outcome of the work of a specially selected panel of experts from Australia, Hong Kong and New Zealand. Best Practice is disseminated collaboratively by the Australian Nursing Federation, Blackwell Science Asia, the Health and Community Services Union, the New Zealand Nurses Organization and the Royal College of Nursing of Australia, in conjunction with the Joanna Briggs Institute. I have read a recent issue of Best Practice devoted to `Falls in Hospitals' ( 1). It is excellent. Patients' falls in hospitals are a major problem in a number of countries. I remember considering the problem in the United Kingdom with a group of colleagues at meetings of a working group convened by the King's Fund Centre, London, England, in the 1980s. In Australian hospitals, 38% of all patient incidents involve a fall and it is estimated that one-third of people aged over 65 years, and half of the people over 80 years, suffer at least one fall a year. In the issue of Best Practice devoted to falls in hospitals: the quality of research is assessed; patients at risk and where and when they fall are identified; and recommendations for prevention are made. The publication is authoritative, brief and concise and it is very well produced. The presentation and distribution of Best Practice in Australasia is a model of good practice in the promotion of evidence-based practice in nursing and midwifery. Other continents should follow their lead. I commend the publication Best Practice and the fine work of the Joanna Briggs Institute and its collaborators to readers of the Journal of Advanced Nursing. References 1 Joanna Briggs Institute (1998) Falls in hospitals. Best Practice 2(2), 1 6. Joanna Briggs Institute, Margaret Graham Building, Royal Adelaide Hospital, North Terrace, South Australia 5000. (ISSN 1329-1874) Google Scholar Citing Literature Volume29, Issue5May 1999Pages 1027-1027 ReferencesRelatedInformation