Evidence-Based Nursing Practice: A Qualitative Approach
             Nursing in today's world requires more than just caring for the ill and maintaining wellness of the public. Nurses are expected to deliver the highest possible quality of care while being mindful of costs. To achieve this often-conflicting goal, nurses must access and evaluate extensive clinical information and incorporate it into clinical practice. This trend had led to increased nursing research and to evidence based nursing practice.
             Evidence based nursing practice is the process by which nurses are making clinical decisions based on the best available research evidence, clinical expertise and the preference of patients. To properly carry out evidence based practice, it is necessary to have sufficient published research on the specific topic, the nurse must be able to access and critically analyze research and the nursing practice must allow these changes, based on evidence and research, to be implemented.
             Most hospitals have access to online nursing journals as well as printed journals; these services are often available to all nursing staff. Hospitals are also supporting evidence-based practice and so therefore allow for change in policy and procedure based on reliable evidence. The biggest challenge that nurse's face is the ability to determine if the evidence is reliable and critically analyzing the data.
             It is common in current nursing research to find quantitative, qualitative or a combination of both methods of research and data. In this paper, it is my intention to discuss and compare these two different research methods.
             Quantitative research is the traditional method of research. Quantitative research is most often encountered as part of formal or conclusive research. Quantitative techniques are part of primary research. In this technique, researchers used deductive reasoning to generate hunches that are tested in the real world. Th...