Purpose

This assignment provides a learning activity for students to experience a practice-based scenario and apply a process worksheet designed to assist in the identification of an independent nursing problem or concern, develop a PICOT clinical question, and search for evidence using credible online databases/sources.

Course Outcomes

This assignment enables the student to meet the following Course Outcomes.

CO1: Examine the sources of evidence that contribute to professional nursing practice. (PO 7)

CO2: Apply research principles to the interpretation of the content of published research studies. (POs 4 & 8)

CO4: Evaluate published nursing research for credibility and significance related to evidence-based practice. (POs 4 & 8)

CO5: Recognize the role of research findings in evidence-based practice. (POs 7 & 8)  

Points

This assignment is worth 175 points.

Directions

1. Read over each of the following directions.
2. You must read the Assignment Practice Scenario below before completing the PPE Worksheet.
3. Download and use the required PPE Worksheet (Links to an external site.).
4. Review the information provided in our library of how to search for journal articles here (Links to an external site.).
5. Review the information provided in our library of how to locate and copy a journal permalink (Links to an external site.).
6. You are required to complete the worksheet using the productivity tools required by Chamberlain University, which is Microsoft Office Word 2013 (or later version), or Windows and Office 2011 (or later version) for MAC. You must save the file in the “.docx” format. Do NOT save as Word Pad. A later version of the productivity tool includes Office 365, which is available to Chamberlain students for FREE by downloading from the student portal at http://my.chamberlain.edu (Links to an external site.). Click on the envelope at the top of the page.
7. Complete each section of the Problem/PICOT/Evidence (PPE) Worksheet. For the Clinical PICOT Question, use the NR439_Guide for writing PICOT Questions and Examples.N439_Guide for writing PICOT Questions and Examples (Links to an external site.) Use one of the templates/guides to write your Clinical PICOT Question using all of the PICOT elements. Be sure to include the PICOT letters in your question.
8. Be sure to use the PPE grading rubric to make certain you are meeting all grading criteria of the PPE Worksheet.
9. Use correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, and in-text APA formatting.
10. Submit the completed PPE Worksheet on the Week 3 Assignment page.
11. Students, A short tutorial with tips for completing the Week 3 Problem/PICOT/Evidence Search (PPE) worksheet assignment may be viewed here.   

Assignment Practice Scenario

Your Chief Nurse Executive (CNE) recognizes you are pursuing your BSN and has asked you to be a member of the nursing evidence-based practice (NEBP) committee. She has advised the members that the purpose is to conduct nursing research studies involving clinical practice problems. Increasing nurses’ awareness of quality and safety concerns will help develop an attitude of inquiry and asking questions (Sherwood & Barnsteiner, 2017). Baccalaureate nurses “collaborate in problem identification, participate in the process of search, retrieval, and documentation of evidence, and integrate evidence using credible databases and internet resources” (AACN, 2008, pp. 16-17).

The CNE has advised all members of the following areas of quality and safety clinical practice that each committee member needs to consider and choose only one as a priority area for conducting a research study. Sources of research problems come from nursing clinical practice (Houser, 2018):

QualitySafety

• Patient satisfaction
• Patient education
• Falls
• Non-pharmacological pain management

Errors. Examples include:

• Medication
• Patient identification
• Communication
• Readmissions
• Length of stay
• Costs

Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs). 
Examples include:

• Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infections (CLABSI)
• Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI)
• Ventilator Associated Pneumonia (VAP)
• Surgical Site Infections (SSI)
• Sepsis (Screening or Prevention)
• Discharge Teaching/Coaching
• Transitions of Care/Level of Care
• Pressure Ulcers
• Skin Integrity

Your CNE has requested that you select ONLY one topic area and complete the PPE Worksheet using only one topic area. The committee will collaborate and decide as a team which nursing clinical problem area will be the priority focus of their next research study. Thank you for your valuable contributions to this important NEBP committee.

References

American Association of Colleges of Nurses (AACN). (2008). Executive summary: The essentials of baccalaureate education for professional nursing practice (2008). Retrieved from http://www.aacnnursing.org/Education-Resources/AACN-Essentials

Houser, J. (2018). Nursing research: Reading, using, and creating evidence (4th ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.  

Sherwood, G., & Barnsteiner, J. (2017). Quality and safety in nursing: A competency approach to improving outcomes (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.

Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN). (2018). QSEN knowledge, skills, and attitude competencies. Retrieved from http://qsen.org/competencies/pre-licensure-ksas/