Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice

Discussion of Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice

In order to provide quality patient care, you must use evidence-based nursing practices. This discussion will ask you to assess your most recent experience in order to decide whether the patient care provided by you was supported by research or evidence. In addition, you will create a question using the PICOT framework. You will also identify any barriers to the adoption of evidence-based practice in your clinic and offer strategies for overcoming them.

It is crucial to evaluate the EBP used in recent clinical experiences by identifying which parts of care were evidence-based. In my clinical experience I treated a COPD patient and provided evidence-based care. I used an incentive spirometer to help the patient maintain adequate oxygen saturation levels, provided education on smoking cessation, and administered albuterol via a nebulizer to relieve the patient’s breathing difficulty. The interventions have been proven to be effective and are backed by scientific evidence.

The following are my PICOT and background questions about COPD:

Background Questions

• What are some of the factors that increase your risk for COPD?
• What are the most efficient smoking cessation techniques for COPD sufferers?
• What is the best way to educate patients about COPD and improve their outcome?

True

My organization’s policies, procedures, culture, and other factors can support or hinder the adoption evidence-based practices. Some staff members may resist change or prefer to stick with familiar methods rather than adopting evidence-based practice. A lack of funding, resources and time can all hinder the adoption of EBP.

The lack of resources and time for my staff to review and access research is a barrier that I see in the implementation of evidence-based practices. For this reason, I’ll propose some strategies to help overcome the barrier:

• Form a multidisciplinary group that includes researchers, staff and stakeholders for the review and implementation of evidence-based practice.
• Create a procedure for your staff so they can access the research results quickly.
• Train staff to evaluate research and to apply it to their practices.

It is important to use evidence-based medicine in order to provide quality care for patients. The nurses are able to improve the patient’s outcomes and encourage best practices by putting together a PICOT Question and identifying any barriers that prevent EBP.

Course Project: Part 1—Identifying a Researchable Problem

The first part of your course project will involve identifying a nursing problem or issue and formulating a PICOT Question to help you solve it. The list will include keywords you can use to conduct a literature review to find out more about the current research.

My nursing problem or issue is the high number of medication errors that occur in my clinic. This problem has a significant impact because medication errors may lead to patient harm and adverse events. They can also increase healthcare costs.

These are the five questions that I generated for this problem:

1. What causes medication errors within the medical environment?
2. What measures have you taken to prevent medication mistakes?
3. What technology can be used to reduce medication mistakes?
4. How do medication errors affect patient outcomes and costs of healthcare?
5. Staff education and training can reduce medication errors.

After analyzing the feasibility of these questions, the most appropriate question is “What interventions have been implemented to reduce medication errors?” This question is feasible because it is specific, measurable, and has a clear focus.