Discussion: Barriers to Evidence-Based Practices

EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICES
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Introduction
Evidence-based practice refers to the diligent, precise, and prudent use of the present-day best evidence in decision-making regarding the health care of an individual patient. These practices in the health care facilities are based on scientific evidence. Evidence-based practices help in improving health care by making health care effective. It also ensures that health care resources are used wisely hence reducing costs. It also helps to foster patient satisfaction with the quality of health care offered. The evidence-based practice helps in the reduction of health care provider turnover rate. However, there are several barriers that hinder the effective application and implementation of evidence-based practices in the United States.
Barriers to Evidence-Based Practices
There are several barriers that make achieving evidence-based practices a difficult task. Some of these barriers are inadequate human resources/shortage of nurses and limited access to the internet in the health care facilities (Khammarnia et al., 2015). It has been found out that there is a shortage of registered nurses in the United States. The nursing profession is facing shortages in the United States because of the lack of potential educators, unequal distribution of the health care workforce, and high turnover (Haddad et al., 2020).
There also other demographic factors that result in shortages of nurses in the United States. These factors include a lot of people who are aging in the United States. There has been a rise in the number of people above 65 years of age in the United States. These numbers result in a rise in the demand for health care services. At the latter, this results to unfavorable nurse to patient ratio; hence poor quality care is administered. Likewise, the nursing workforce is also aging, and most of the nurses are retiring from the workforce leading to shortages. Lastly, it is also important to note that the population of the United States is growing fast; hence this also results in an increase in the number of patients (Haddad et al., 2020).
Lack of internet access in health care facilities is another barrier to the implementation and application of evidence-based practice in the United States. Most processes in the health care unit require and are reshaped by the internet. ...