Levels of Evidence and Practice Change Resulting From Each Level

Answer

Levels of Evidence and Practice Change Resulting From Each Level

            Evidence based practice (EBP) is a meticulous, problem solving approach used by clinicians that puts together best evidences from quality studies, patient preferences and values, and clinicians competency to make appropriate decisions concerning patient’s care (Burns, Rodhrich, & Chung, 2012). Clinicians use various systems and hierarchies to rate the quality or strength of evidences obtained from studies. As such, there is need for healthcare practitioners to understand levels of evidence so that they can be confident on the level of emphasis they need to put on a research, as well as, practice guidelines they should follow while making clinical decisions. Therefore, this paper describes levels of evidence and provides examples of practice change that can result from each level.

 Level 1 is a critical level of evidence that most clinicians use in their daily practice. It entails gathering evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and other IBP guidelines regarding the systematic reviews. One practice change that could result from this level encompasses investigating the effects of vitamin D on the growth of infants using atleast twenty studies and determining whether such studies adhered to the guidelines. The studies can be eliminated and the remaining ones are expected to yield same results.

            Level II encompasses gathering evidence from at least a single random controlled trial that is well designed and adheres to all the research guidelines. A critical example would encompass examining the effectiveness of a new vaccine or drug. In this case, it is unwise to use patients suffering from chronic conditions since the findings would be misleading. Level III entails gathering evidence from well designed studies that lack randomization (Burns, Rodhrich, & Chung, 2012).  An example of practice change would entail increasing visiting time on one section of the patients and comparing with the remaining sections to establish which side yields the best patient’s satisfactions.

            In Level IV, a researcher gathers evidence from high quality case control studies. An example of practice change entails conducting a study using a given control group to establish for instance whether alcohol causes hallucinations or not. Here, a sample group will be required to take alcohol while the other being non-alcoholic. The findings of this study can help in making critical decisions regarding alcohol consumption among patients. In Level V, the evidence is gathered through systematic reviews of descriptive and qualitative studies. A practice change that could result from this level encompasses formulating PICOT questions and using such questions to make relevant clinical decisions in healthcare. Level VI involves using a single qualitative or descriptive study to gather the evidence. An example of practice change entails examining trends of diabetes smoking patients. Level VII is the last level of evidence that entails collecting evidence from views or opinions of authorities, as well as, reports from a committee of experts (Burns, Rodhrich, & Chung, 2012). An example of practice change resulting from this level entails an investigation on therapeutic activities of patients following a heart attack.