DNP Essential III:
Clinical Scholarship and Analytical Methods for Evidence-Based Practice

1. Use analytic methods to critically appraise existing literature and other evidence to determine and implement the best evidence for practice. 

2. Design and implement processes to evaluate outcomes of practice, practice patterns, and systems of care within a practice setting, health care organization, or community against national benchmarks to determine variances in practice outcomes and population trends.
3. Design, direct, and evaluate quality improvement methodologies to promote safe, timely, effective, efficient, equitable, and patient-centered care.
4. Apply relevant findings to develop practice guidelines and improve practice and the practice environment.
5. Use information technology and research methods appropriately to:

• collect appropriate and accurate data to generate evidence for nursing practice

• inform and guide the design of databases that generate meaningful evidence for nursing practice

• analyze data from practice

• design evidence-based interventions

• predict and analyze outcomes

• examine patterns of behavior and outcomes

• identify gaps in evidence for practice

6. Function as a practice specialist/consultant in collaborative knowledge-generating research.

7. Disseminate findings from evidence-based practice and research to improve healthcare outcomes

(AACN, 2006)