Florida Atlantic University Discussion Responses
Evidence-Based Practice, Nursing Research, and the Nursing Process
According to an article posted in the Journal of Nursing Research, Evidenced-Based practice is the process of using the best evidence as to the root of the practice of nursing, and nursing research is defined as the process of performing research to develop new knowledge (Chien, 2019). The research process starts with identifying a topic, then find data on the topic of your choice, choose the type and format of the research you want to do, collect additional data, and conduct research, formulate the data that was received from the research, document and publish your findings, and then you repeat the process again to conduct further research. Evidenced-Based practice, formally known as evidence-based medicine by physician Archie Cochrane in the 1970s, involves using the most current research to improve the health and safety of patients and to mitigate the cost to patients and hospitals (University of Maine, 2020). EBP is important regarding patient safety (Horntvedt et al., 2018). The nursing process functions through five steps: 1) Assessment- evaluating the patients from head to toe and using vital critical thinking skills to collect both objective and subjective data. 2). Diagnosis- Using the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association handbook, nurses can create a nursing diagnosis that will take into consideration the basic needs of the patient based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. 2) Planning- Includes creating care plans based on the nursing diagnoses. The care plan must be specific to the patient, be measurable, easy to accomplish, based, and is time-oriented (Toney-Butler & Thayer, 2020). 4) Implementing- putting the care plans that were made for the patient into action with the health of everyone in the care team, and most importantly the patient and their family members. 5) Evaluation- This involves assessing the care plan and the outcome and reviewing the methods used. Sometimes the care plan is not sufficient or is not attainable by the patient. This means that the nurse would have to create a new care plan with the help of the patient and set a new time limit. The similarities I’ve noticed in all three processes are that Evidences based practice and the research process go hand in hand. For example, if a question of whether hard mattresses in the hospital makes the patient sicker, more miserable, and promotes skin deterioration presents itself, through research and gathering data from other hospitals along with methods that they’ve used implementing an air mattress or using pillow top fitted sheets, this information is considered evidence-based and can be implemented by other hospitals. The nursing process and research are also similar in the format that they use. Both start off with an assessment and end with an evaluation and the option to re-assess the conclusions presented. EBP and both research and nursing process are different in the methods used. In the research process, data is assessed, in the nursing process, an actual patient is being assessed. In EBP it can be either the data or the patient that are assessed and a question created.
References
Chien, L-Y. (2019). Evidence-based practice and nursing research. The Journal of Nursing Research, 27(4), 29. DOI: 10.1097/jnr.0000000000000346
Horntvedt, ME.T., Nordsteien, A., Fermann, T., & Severinsson, E. (2018). Strategies for teaching evidence-based practice in nursing education: A thematic literature review. BMC Medical Education, 18, 172. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-018-1278-z
Theofandis, D., & Fountouki, A. (2018). Limitations and Delimitations in the research process. Preoperative Nursing, 7(3), 1155-162. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.2552022
