Philosophy of Science and Evidence-Based Practice in Nigerian Nursing Profession

This study examines the philosophy of science and its implications for evidence-based professional practice in the Nigerian nursing profession, focusing on hospitals and primary health centres across the South West and South South geopolitical zones. Evidence-based practice requires nurses to apply the best available scientific evidence to clinical decisions, but this requirement raises philosophical questions about the nature of scientific evidence, the limits of randomised controlled trials as epistemological gold standards, and the moral weight of patient values and clinical experience as evidence types. Using a professional practice design, the study draws on the philosophy of science from Karl Popper, Ian Hacking, and philosophy of nursing from Patricia Benner and Sally Thorne, supplemented by secondary literature published between 2020 and 2024. Structured interviews with 25 senior nurses, nursing educators, and philosophy of medicine academics in Lagos and Benin City provide the primary data. Findings reveal that Nigerian nurses are philosophically ill-equipped to critically evaluate conflicting evidence claims or to integrate the epistemological complexity of clinical decision-making with scientific evidence requirements, leading to either uncritical scientism or excessive deference to traditional practices. The study argues that nursing education must incorporate explicit philosophy of science training to support genuinely evidence-based practice. Keywords: philosophy of science, evidence-based practice, nursing ethics, Nigeria, epistemology.