Evidence-based practice: critique and alternative view

Recent calls to promote evidence-based practice in nursing raise serious concerns. It has been suggested that evidence should be the primary source of knowledge for nurses. The general literature supporting evidence-based practice indicates that evidence will take nurses away from tradition, intuition, and anecdote to factual, scientific practice. The suggestion is that evidence can provide nurses with directives about how to think and act with patients, families, and groups. How-ever, I contend that the notion of evidence-based practice is not only a barren possibility but also that evidence-based practice obstructs nursing process, human care, and professional accountability.