Using Evidence-Based Advocacy to Improve the Nation's Health

Evidence-based practice is 1 of the 5 competencies that the Institute of Medicine has identified for all health professionals. Its intent is to employ evidence-based practice and integrate best research results, clinical expertise, and patient values to make patient care decisions.1 We tend to think of the application of EBP to largely clinical care, yet for sustainable improvement to occur, evidence-based advocacy must also be employed, or the ability to use the science to shape policy and effect change on a broader scale. This article will explore the concept of evidence-based advocacy and describe ways in which one prominent nursing organization, the American Academy of Nursing, uses evidence-based advocacy to positively impact the nation's health and advance the nursing profession.