Evidence-based management and the nurse's decision-making process

Abstract

The managerial decision-making process is a competence of nurses in the hospital and primary care context, which makes them a highly requested professional for solving problems involving the unit and the care provided to the user. Such a process must be informed by evidence, with a view to achieving the best results. To discuss the use of scientific evidence by nurses in the health management process. An integrative literature review, carried out in the PubMed/MEDLINE, LILACS, BDENF, and SciELO databases, through the DeCS/MESH "Evidence-Based Nursing" AND "Health Management" OR "Evidence-Informed Policy", 694 studies were identified and 07 were included. Evidence-based decision-making is important for the delivery of effective and cost-effective public health services, this decision-making process consists of the integration of the best available research evidence, along with consideration of local context, community and policy preferences, professional experience, and resources in public health decision-making. It is, therefore, crucial to improve the quality of management decisions, consequently improving service delivery, and increasing effectiveness and efficiency, in addition to contributing to patient safety. It is concluded that evidence-based management is essential to improve the quality of management decisions and, therefore, to improve the optimization and allocation of resources in the health system.