Evidence Based Practice: Core Concepts

This presentation was prepared to instruct nursing students about evidence based practice. The learning objectives are: to define evidence-based practice, to describe the process and outline the steps involved, and then to identify resources to support evidence based nursing practice. The presentation also teaches the elements of the PICO search strategy for finding relevant evidence in the nursing research literature.

Evidence Based Practice: Core Concepts from Ann Celestine

Adapted from the work of Caroline Brown(UCSD), Bernadette Mazurek Melnyk, and Ellen Fineout-Overholt.

"The Image of You": Exploring Nursing Stereotypes

"The Image of You": Exploring Nursing Stereotypes

A fresh look at the stereotypical nurse for the 21st century, our enlightened age of social media and You Tube, discovers that the more things change the more they stay the same! Surprise - surprise! A research study called "The image of you: Constructing nursing identities in You Tube", published  in the August 2012 issue of the Journal of Advanced Nursing, concluded that while there are some favourable portrayals in the media of the capable, clinically decisive, professional nurse, there are all too many derogatory representations.

"Nursing professional bodies were called on to act to protect the profession from unduly immoderate representations of the nurse and to support nurses in their efforts to maximize opportunities afforded by YouTube to promote a counter discourse."

 [Citation: Kelly, J., Fealy, G. M. and Watson, R. (2012), The image of you: constructing nursing identities in YouTube. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 68: 1804–1813. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2648.2011.05872.x ]

Nurses' research utilization two years after graduation: A Swedish National Study

Nurses' research utilization (RU) as part of evidence-based practice is strongly emphasized in today's nursing education and clinical practice. The primary aim of RU is to provide high-quality nursing care to patients. A new Swedish national research study (published May 18, 2012) found that data on newly graduated nurses' RU was scarce, but a predominance of low use had been reported in other recent studies where about 50 % of the nurses one, two, and three years after graduation rated their use of research in clinical practice as low or very low. Also some factors associated with nurses' RU had previously been identified, including educational ones. With recent educational reforms, evidence-based nursing and RU are now strongly emphasized internationally in nursing education. A number of challenges remain, however, regarding the content of nursing education and the transition from education into working life (e.g., the integration of education and practice as well as the ability of students to access and interpret evidence). The purpose of this study was therefore to identify factors that predict the probability for low RU among registered nurses two years after graduation.
 
Citation: Forsman H, Rudman A, Gustavsson P, Ehrenberg A, Wallin L. (2012) Nurses' research utilization two years after graduation--a national survey of associated individual, organizational, and educational factors. Implementation Science 2012, 7:46 doi:10.1186/1748-5908-7-46.

Evidence-based Practice Among Swedish Novice Nurses

Evidence-based Practice Among Novice Nurses
"A modest start, but a steady rise in research use: a longitudinal study of nurses during the first five years in professional life." by Lars Wallin, Petter Gustavsson, Anna Ehrenberg and Ann Rudman
Implementation Science 2012, 7:19 doi:10.1186/1748-5908-7-19,  Published: 19 March 2012.

Rationale for the study: "Newly graduated nurses are faced with a challenging work environment that may impede their ability to provide evidence-based practice. However, little is known about the trajectory of registered nurses' use of research during the first years of professional life. Thus, the aim of the current study was to prospectively examine the extent of nurses' use of research during the first five years after undergraduate education and specifically assess changes over time."

Conclusion: "There was a clear trend of increasing research use by nurses during their first five years of practice. The level of the initial ratings also indicated the level of research use in subsequent years. However, it took more than two years of professional development before this increase 'kicked in.' These findings support previous research claiming that newly graduated nurses go through a 'transition shock,' reducing their ability to use research findings in clinical work."
 
The title link takes you to the open source article published online in Implementation Science .

New Research Calls for Optimism in Reducing the Shortage of Nurses

Health economists at RAND Health in Boston have been tracking the statistics on the nursing workforce in the United States for 35 years. While previous studies had all pointed to a looming severe shortage of nurses, these latest findings call for optimism!
The study published in the latest isssue of 'Health Affairs' appears to have surprised even the researchers themselves. The swing has evidently resulted from a number of factors that have thankfully drawn more young adults to the profession.

"...the number of people 23 to 26 years of age entering nursing increased by 62% from 2002 to 2009."

Click on the post title for the RAND press release, or the 'Health Affairs' link to purchase the full text report. This story is also discussed in Medscape: "Record Numbers Entering Nursing, But Gaps Remain" by Troy Brown [ Medscape Medical News Today, December 5, 2011 ]

NLN 2010 Statistics on Nursing Education

The National League for Nursing has released their latest research statistics on the state of nursing education in the United States.

"New findings gleaned from the National League for Nursing's annual survey, administered from October to December 2010, paint a complex picture of nursing education in the United States."

"NLN Annual Survey of Schools of Nursing 2009-2010" includes findings such as: an increase in student diversity, acceptance to programs remains very competitive, continued lack of clinical placements available, and continued shortage of faculty.

Visit NLN DataView™ for a comprehensive set of tables and figures, or read the NLN Annual Survey Executive Summary.

NDNQI for Nursing Quality Improvement

The National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators® (NDNQI®) is a proprietary repository of nursing statistics. The American Nurses Association collects and evaluates this unique, unit-specific, nurse-sensitive data from hospitals in the United States.

Participating facilities can then use this comparative data for quality improvement purposes.
Click here to read more from ANA about the database.

Ninth Annual International Research Internship for Nurse Researchers

Internships Announcement: "Multiply Interventions for Community Health" The Ninth Annual International Research Internship for Nurse Researchers will be held in Jamaica ~ May & June 2010.

"A unique, intensive training opportunity for junior nurse researchers in Canada, Jamaica and the Caribbean, Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa to launch their research career and network internationally."

Application deadline: January 4, 2010
Note: Selection is competitive and limited seats are available

INTERNSHIP FOCUS:

Community health services & policy research

Global health issues

Developing research networks

Grantsmanship and publication skills

Linking with local, national, and international decision-makers

Working on interdisciplinary teams

Innovative research methods

Developing programs of research

Mentorship

Click on title for more details, eligibility, application form, etc.

NLN DataView

Now "you can search for and download graphs in various formats that cast a wide lens on all types of pre-licensure nursing programs, including the 1000-plus programs offering diploma and associate nursing degrees. The graphs illustrate essential data about applications, admissions, enrollment, retention, and graduation rates; and provide a comprehensive demographic profile of the current student population documenting ethnic-racial identity, gender, and age, are also available."

The Role of Nurses in Hospital Quality Improvement

Center for Studying Health System Change, Research Brief No.3, March 2008
by Debra A. Draper, Laurie E. Felland, Allison Liebhaber, Lori Melichar.

Here are a few interesting quotes for consideration:
"...hospitals confront challenges with regard to nursing involvement, including: scarcity of nursing resources; difficulty engaging nurses at all levels—from bedside to management; growing demands to participate in more, often duplicative, quality improvement activities; the burdensome nature of data collection and reporting; and shortcomings of traditional nursing education in preparing nurses for their evolving role in today’s contemporary hospital setting."

“Within the realm of nursing education, there is not the strength or emphasis on patient safety and understanding change as there should be.” ..Through academic experience, they should have the opportunity to hear about change models and understand some of the basics of the need for good information in making decisions. Data are all around nurses and they are using data for clinical decisions. We need them to understand how to use data to change practice.”
Click on the title to access the full paper.