Rohit Sagoo

Managing fever in children: developing guidelines that turn evidence into practice

Why you should read this article • To learn how guidelines use evidence to make practice recommendations • To understand the elements of quantitative research that can be used to inform clinical decision-making • To develop an approach to appraising evidence or research that you may read in the future The importance of evidence-based practice has been emphasised in nursing in recent years. However, the process by which research evidence is turned into clinical recommendations is not always clear. This is important because understanding and communicating the rationale for clinical decisions is a vital part of the role of the children’s nurse. This article discusses the methods by which nurses can turn evidence into practice using a framework devised by the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations (GRADE) Working Group. The article uses the treatment of fever in children as an example of how nurses can apply the GRADE framework to ensure that their practice is evidence-based.