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. Choose something you would find interesting to research or that applies to a clinical problem 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, 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.
For this assessment:
· 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.
· 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 and describe to which of these you would direct a nurse colleague to search for evidence.
· Describe where you might go in the clinical setting 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. Please study the scoring guide carefully so that you will know what is needed for a distinguished score.
· Describe communication strategies to encourage nurses to research the diagnosis, as well as strategies to collaborate with the nurses to access resources.
· Describe the best places to complete research and what types of resources you would want to access to find pertinent information for the diagnosis within the context of a specific health care setting.
· 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.
· Explain why the sources of online information selected should provide the best evidence for the chosen diagnosis.
· Communicate using writing that is clear, logical, and professional with correct grammar and spelling using current APA style.
Competencies Measured
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the course competencies through the following assessment scoring guide criteria:
· Competency 1: Interpret findings from scholarly quantitative, qualitative, and outcomes research articles and studies.
. Explain why the sources selected should provide the best evidence for the chosen diagnosis.
· Competency 2: Analyze the relevance and potential effectiveness of evidence when making a decision.
. Describe the best places to complete research and what types of resources one would want to access to find pertinent information for a diagnosis within the context of a specific health care setting.
· Competency 4: Plan care based on the best available evidence.
. 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, and ensure three out of five are specific to the diagnosis.
· Competency 5: Apply professional, scholarly communication strategies to lead practice changes based on evidence.
. Describe communication strategies to encourage nurses to research a diagnosis, as well as strategies to collaborate with the nurses to access resources.
. Organize content so ideas flow logically with smooth transitions; contains few errors in grammar/punctuation, word choice, and spelling.
. Apply APA formatting to in-text citations and references exhibiting nearly flawless adherence to APA format.
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Locating Credible Databases and Research
Learner’s Name
Capella University
NURS-FPX4030: Making Evidence-Based
Decisions Instructor Name
August, 2020
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Locating Credible Databases and Research
Evidence-based practice (EBP) is the use of the best evidence available for problem-
solving and decision-making in patient care. Pain is considered to be one of the most adverse
outcomes of a surgery. If not treated effectively, pain can lead to sleep deprivation, anxiety, and
acute neurohormonal changes. Pain management in postsurgical patients requires high-quality
care. Evidence suggests that a lack of encouragement or support of EBP research for
postoperative pain management lowers nurses’ confidence in functioning efficiently
(Mędrzycka-Dąbrowska et al., 2018).
In this assessment, the scenario considered is that of a newly trained nurse assigned to a
patient suffering from prolonged postoperative pain. It is the nurse’s first assignment, and she is
not confident about implementing evidence-based practice in the context of the patient’s
diagnosis. The focus of this assessment is to identify communication strategies that a head or
senior nurse can use to encourage newly trained nurses to effectively research their patients’
diagnoses. Recommendations on how to evaluate credible sources during the research process
and the criteria to be considered when selecting the best sources will be identified. Finally, a list
of recommended sources will be provided along with the rationale behind choosing them.
Communication Strategies to Encourage Diagnosis-Based Research
Learning while on the job through structured mentoring gives new nurses a clearer idea
of how to approach a problem. Competent mentors help new nurses build confidence and enable
an atmosphere that promotes communication within a practice. Mentors display personal
characteristics such as empathy, respectfulness, and patience. They practice active listening by
conducting unscheduled discussions frequently with new nurses to address queries. They
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also provide constructive feedback to support the learning process (Mikkonen et al., 2020).
Online training or video-based modules have also added value to the learning process.
Interacting through visual aids such as the Practice Nurse Postcard tool can help mentors
communicate necessary information to new nurses (Dadich & Hosseinzadeh, 2016).
The Best Places to Complete the Research
Credible sources can be identified using the CRAAP test, which stands for the five
criteria for evaluating an online source, namely currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and
purpose (Central Michigan University, 2020). The CRAAP test provides a handy checklist to
identify credible online sources. However, nurses must ensure that they look for resources in the
right places. Practicing nurses have had the best EBP-oriented research experiences in health
care settings and clinical trials (Galassi et al., 2014). Additionally, it is recommended that nurses
use the hospital or university library, hospital policy manuals, and hospital guidelines to
complete their research.
Identification of Five Sources for Evidence of Clinical Diagnosis
Based on the factors indicated in the CRAAP model, five credible online sources have
been identified. The sources are as follows: the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health
Literature database run by EBSCO publishing, the PubMed website
(https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) published by the National Library of Medicine, the Journal
of Pain by the American Pain Society, the Journal of Pain and Relief, and the Columbian
Journal of Anesthesiology by Wolters Kluwer. These sources provide validated information for
research on postoperative pain management. Based on the CRAAP model, these five sources
have been ranked in the order of their usefulness.
Explanation of Why the Sources Provide the Best Evidence
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These sources have been selected because they provide access to vetted, full-text articles
from the most sought-after medical journals and peer-reviewed articles by practicing nurses,
medical professionals, or research scholars in the field of medical science. These journals
and websites provide information on EBP-oriented research on postoperative pain management,
which is backed by scientifically collected data. These sources are regularly updated with the
latest findings. Credible articles in these journals are easy to find and most of them are available
free of cost.
Conclusion
Competent mentoring by using appropriate communication strategies can help nurses
adopt EBP-oriented research in their practice. Support from mentors helps new nurses research
effectively when they encounter new patient diagnoses. For effective research, nurses can
evaluate the credibility of the online sources using the CRAAP model.
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References
Central Michigan University. (2020). Website research: CRAAP test.
https://libguides.cmich.edu/web_research/craap
Dadich, A., & Hosseinzadeh, H. (2016). Communication channels to promote evidence-based
practice: A survey of primary care clinicians to determine perceived effects. Health Research
Policy and Systems, 14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-016-0134-z
Galassi, A. L., Grady, M. A., O’Mara, A. M., Ness, E. A., Parreco, L. K., Belcher, A. E., &
Hastings, C. E. (2014). Clinical research education: Perspectives of nurses, employers, and
educators. Journal of Nursing Education, 53(8), 466–472. https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-
20140724-04
Mędrzycka-Dąbrowska, W., Dąbrowski, S., Gutysz-Wojnicka, A., Basiński, A., & Kwiecień-Jaguś,
K. (2018). Nurses’ knowledge and barriers regarding pain management. Journal of
PeriAnesthesia Nursing, 33(5), P715–726. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jopan.2017.03.005
Mikkonen, K., Tomietto, M., Cicolini, G., Kaucic, B. M., Filej, B., Riklikiene, O., Juskauskiene, E.,
Vizcaya-Moreno, F., Pérez-Cañaveras, R. M., De Raeve, P, & Kääriäinen, M. (2020).
Development and testing of an evidence-based model of mentoring nursing students in clinical
practice. Nurse Education Today, 85. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2019.104272
