Evidence based medicine (EBM) and Evidence based nursing (EBN) are under the umbrella of Evidence Based Practice. Definitions of evidence based nursing have varied in scholarly literature. Scott & McSherry's extensive literature review looked at commonalities between EBN definitions and synthesized them to come up with the following definition:
"An ongoing process by which evidence, nursing theory and the practitioners’ clinical expertise are critically evaluated and considered, in conjunction with patient involvement, to provide delivery of optimum nursing care for the individual."