Evaluation of Nursing Practice Environment to Identify a Nursing Problem
The evidence-based practice (EBP) process is an essential component of nursing research. It involves evaluating the nursing practice environment to identify nursing problems in the clinical area and developing clinical guiding questions to address these problems. In this assignment, we will focus on creating a clinical guiding question known as a PICOT question and supporting it with six peer-reviewed research articles.
The first step in the EBP process is to evaluate the nursing practice environment. This evaluation helps identify areas that need improvement and can lead to the discovery of nursing problems. It is crucial to assess various aspects of the nursing practice environment, such as patient care delivery systems, healthcare policies, and organizational culture.
Once a nursing problem is identified, the nurse researcher can develop a clinical guiding question to address that problem. A clinical guiding question is a focused question that helps guide the research process. It should be relevant to a nursing practice problem and formulated using the PICOT format.
PICOT stands for:
P – Patient, Population, or Problem
I – Intervention or Issue of Interest
C – Comparison Intervention or Issue of Interest
O – Outcome
T – Timeframe
The PICOT question should be specific, measurable, and achievable. It helps provide a clear direction for the research and ensures that the study findings are applicable to the clinical setting.
In order to support the PICOT question, it is crucial to gather evidence from peer-reviewed research articles. These articles provide a strong level of evidence and contribute to the body of nursing knowledge. When searching for articles, it is important to use keywords that narrow or broaden the main topic while excluding terms like qualitative and quantitative.
To determine the research design used in the articles, it is recommended to review the abstract and methods section. These sections typically provide information about the data collection method, which can be either qualitative or quantitative. Systematic reviews, literature reviews, and meta-analyses are valuable resources but are not considered primary research articles and should not be included in this assignment.
To structure the assignment, a literature evaluation table can be used to record the details of the six chosen peer-reviewed research articles. This table helps organize the information and ensures that all necessary components are included. While APA style is not required for the body of this assignment, academic writing and proper documentation of sources should be adhered to using APA formatting guidelines.
In conclusion, the evaluation of the nursing practice environment is the first step in the EBP process. This evaluation allows for the identification of nursing problems, which can then be addressed by formulating a PICOT question. Supporting the PICOT question with relevant and reliable peer-reviewed research articles is crucial for subsequent assignments.
