Reference no: EM133531424

Assignment

Introduction

Evidence-based practice (EBP) integrates the best evidence available to guide optimal nursing care, with a goal to enhance safety and quality. EBP is crucial to nursing practice because it incorporates the best evidence from current literature, along with the expertise of the practicing nurse. The concern for quality care that flows from EBP generates a desired outcome. Without these factors, a nurse cannot be an effective leader. It is important to lead not only from this position but from knowledge and expertise. To gain the knowledge, you require a good understanding of how to search for scholarly resources, as well as identify which databases and websites are credible for the purposes of implementing evidence-based changes in practice.

Your Online e-Portfolio

Creating an ePortfolio is not required in the BSN program, but you may find it helpful to create one to attach to your professional resume while job hunting. Online ePortfolios serve two key purposes: 1) to support learning and reflection, and 2) to be used as a showcase tool. Your learning journey can be documented, and ePortfolios contribute to lifelong learning and growth through reflection and sharing. Online ePortfolios can also be shared with employers and peers to present artifacts that demonstrate your accomplishments at Capella.

Professional Context

As a baccalaureate-prepared nurse, you will be responsible for providing patient-centered, competent care based on current evidence-based best practices. You will be required to do research, analysis, and dissemination of best evidence to stay abreast of these best practices. Understanding where to go to find credible sources and locate evidence, as well as which search terms to use, is the foundation of incorporation of best practices.

Scenario

You are supervising three nurses working on the medical-surgical floor of a local teaching hospital. This hospital is nationally recognized as a leader in education and has a computer lab with an online library where staff has access to medical research databases (that is, CINAHL, PubMed, Medline, and Cochrane library) and online sources of all hospital policies, procedures, and guidelines, and computers at nurse workstations that also have access to these resources. (For this scenario, use the Capella University Library to simulate the hospital's online library.) You have given the nurses their patient assignments and you have all participated in shift report. A new nurse who just completed orientation and training a week ago approaches you and tells you that one of the assigned patients has a diagnosis he or she is very unfamiliar with. Knowing that patient-centered care based on best practices is imperative to positive patient outcomes, you want to assist this nurse to find research that can be utilized to provide the best care for this patient. Describe how you would communicate with this nurse to encourage him or her to research the diagnosis. Assume you will assist in the quest to locate evidence, then describe where you would go within the facility and what resources you would look for. These resources may include websites, journals, facility policies or guidelines, or any other sources of online information.

You may choose the diagnosis for the patient in this scenario or health care issue/diagnosis of your choice. Or you may choose something you would find interesting to research or that applies to a clinical problem/diagnosis you would be interested in addressing. Create a list of at least five sources that could be used to find evidence, with the best source listed first, and explain why the sources you chose are best to find evidence for the diagnosis you chose and the clinical scenario. You are only evaluating the sources of evidence (database, website, policy database or website, journal article, et cetera). You are not actually completing a search and selecting evidence. Consider the following examples: a nursing journal in CINAHL may not be the best source of evidence for information on how to administer medications through a central-venous catheter, whereas a hospital policy database found on a website may not be the best source of information on caring for a patient with a rare chromosomal abnormality.

Instructions

The purpose of this assessment is to understand where to find evidence that can be applied to clinical scenarios and to learn effective communication and collaboration with clinical staff during the process of evidence location. As a baccalaureate-prepared nurse, you will not only use research for self-improvement in your clinical role, but you will also serve as a mentor to supervised nursing staff. Therefore, you will need to be able to communicate and collaborate effectively to guide them toward resources to find research, as well as support them through the initial evidence location process. In doing so, nurses can gain access to evidence that can be analyzed and utilized to stay current on best practices. This allows them to provide safe, patient-centered care and improve patient outcomes.

Task

1. Describe your role as a baccalaureate-prepared nurse supervising clinical staff nurses with regard to communication and collaboration in locating evidence for application to a nursing practice scenario.

2. Compile a list of five online databases or other online sources (that is, websites, journals, facility policies or guidelines, et cetera) that can be used to research evidence to apply to this scenario or clinical practice issue/diagnosis and describe to which of these you would direct a nurse colleague to search for evidence.

3. Describe where you might go in the work place to complete this research and how you would access the desired, relevant research within research databases or other online sources.

Be sure to address the following in this assessment, which correspond to the grading criteria in the scoring guide. Study the scoring guide carefully so that you will know what is needed for a distinguished score.

1. Describe communication strategies to encourage nurses to research the diagnosis/practice issue, as well as strategies to collaborate with the nurses to access resources.

2. Describe the best places to complete research and what types of resources you would want to access to find pertinent information for the diagnosis/health care issue within the context of a specific health care setting.

3. Identify five sources of online information (medical journal databases, websites, hospital policy databases, et cetera) that could be used to locate evidence for a clinical diagnosis/practice issue.

4. Explain why the sources of online information selected should provide the best evidence for the chosen diagnosis/health care issue.

5. Communicate using writing that is clear, logical, and professional with correct grammar and spelling using current APA style.