NSG 6999 Week 1 Discussion Question
NSG 6999 Week 1 Discussion Question
To complete
this week, after reading chapter one in Melnyk and reviewing the lectures you
need to consider the topic of interest to you. List a ONE to two-word topic
that you want to explore further and why you are interested in this topic. This
topic should encompasses the question that you have been generating throughout
your program.
As an
example I may choose the topic of depression, as I am interested in all of the
depression I am seeing in the primary care office. Next week I will explore the
background of this topic and this will lead to my PICOT question.
NSG 6999 Week 1 Discussion Question
As you work
on your capstone project proposal, you will want to share your progress with
your peers and instructor and seek or provide guidance or share insights. By
the due date assigned, go to the Discussion Area and post responses to the
discussion question. All responses should be posted to the appropriate topic in
this Discussion Area. It is important to support what you say with relevant
citations in the APA format from both the course materials and outside
resources. Include the South University online library in your research
activities utilizing not only the nursing resource database, but also those
pertaining to education, business, and human resources.
When a spirit of inquiry—an ongoing curiosity about the best evidence to guide clinical decision making—and a culture that supports it are lacking, clinicians are unlikely to embrace evidence-based practice (EBP). Every day, nurses across the care continuum perform a multitude of interventions (for example, administering medication, positioning, suctioning) that should stimulate questions about the evidence supporting their use. When a nurse possesses a spirit of inquiry within a supportive EBP culture, she or he can routinely ask questions about clinical practice while care is being delivered. For example, in patients with endotracheal tubes, how does use of saline with suctioning compared with suctioning without saline affect oxygen saturation? In patients with head injury, how does elevating the head of the bed compared with keeping a patient in a supine position affect intracranial pressure? In postoperative surgical patients, how does the use of music compared with no use of music affect the frequency of pain medication administration?
The Institute of Medicine has set a goal that by 2020, 90% of all health care decisions in the United States will be evidence based,3 but the majority of nurses are still not consistently implementing EBP in their clinical settings.4 To foster outcomes-driven health care in which decisions are based on evidence, providers and health care systems need a comprehensive approach to ensure that their results are measured.5 Without EBP, patients don’t receive the highest quality of care, health outcomes are seriously jeopardized, and health care costs soar.6 Findings from recent studies also indicate that when nurses and other health care providers engage in EBP, they experience greater autonomy in their practices and a higher level of job satisfaction.7 At a time when this country is facing the most serious nursing shortage in its history, empowering nurses to routinely engage in EBP may lead to less turnover and lower vacancy rates, in addition to improving the quality of health care and patient outcomes.
To accelerate the use of EBP by nurses and other health care providers, some insurers have instituted pay-for-performance programs that offer clinicians incentives to follow evidence-based guidelines. And Medicare no longer reimburses hospitals for treating preventable hospital-acquired injuries or infections (such as falls, pressure ulcers, or ventilator-associated pneumonia). Although these measures should improve the overall quality of care in our hospitals, it’s well known that extrinsic motivators are typically not more successful in facilitating a change in behavior than intrinsic motivators. Therefore, for EBP to accelerate and thrive in the U.S. health care system, nurses must have
• a never-ending spirit of inquiry and consistently question current clinical practices.
• strong beliefs in the value of EBP.
• knowledge of and skills in EBP along with the confidence to use it.
• a commitment to deliver the highest quality evidence-based care to patients and their families.