Does EBP allow outsiders to dictate to the nursing profession?
Some postmodern critics see EBP as a way for outsiders to meddle in the practice of nursing. “If nursing was to marginalize itself within initiatives promoting evidence-based practice …, the possibility exists that research on nursing practice would come to be led by others.” (Bonnell 1999). In contrast, other post-modern philosophers criticize such a concern as linear (the ultimate post-modern insult) and prescriptive and correctly point out that a true post-modern perspective would encourage “transdisciplinarity, diversity and plurality.” (Holmes 2004) After all, you can’t complain about dangerous exclusions out of one side of your mouth while excluding other voices from consideration because they are not nursing voices. This fear of outsider influence is not new. When the practice of meta-analysis became popular in the mid 1990’s there was a surge of resentment among doctors because all their hard work designing and running clinical trials became a mere piece of data in the meta-a
