ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the role of professional and institutional knowledge and interprofessional practice more closely. It expresses that from a critical sociological point of view, Evidence-based Practice (EBP) and interprofessional practice are interrelated concepts, shaped by both individuals and institutions, through social processes and actions. The chapter presents HIV/AIDS as a case example of evidence based interprofessional practice. It draws upon Dorothy E. Smith's ideas about institutional ethnography as a way of conceptualising the interface between the complex notions of improving nursing care through an evidence-based approach to nursing in an interprofessional context. Evidence for practice is not a simple given but relies on our active curiosity, reflexive interactions and receptiveness to listen and to process the range of information available. Effective care is largely dependent on effective decision making, where the reliability and validity of the decision making will be hugely dependent on nurse's working knowledge and how good are people in sharing it.