Week 1 Assignment

Evidence-Based
Practice and the Quadruple Aim

Healthcare
organizations continually seek to optimize healthcare performance. For years,
this approach was a three-pronged one known as the Triple Aim, with efforts
focused on improved population health, enhanced patient experience, and lower
healthcare costs.

More
recently, this approach has evolved to a Quadruple Aim by including a focus on
improving the work life of healthcare providers. Each of these measures are
impacted by decisions made at the organizational level, and organizations have
increasingly turned to EBP to inform and justify these decisions.

To Prepare:

Read the
articles by Sikka, Morath, & Leape (2015); Crabtree, Brennan, Davis, &
Coyle (2016); and Kim et al. (2016) provided in the Resources.

Reflect on
how EBP might impact (or not impact) the Quadruple Aim in healthcare.

Consider
the impact that EBP may have on factors impacting these quadruple aim elements,
such as preventable medical errors or healthcare delivery.

To
Complete:

Write a
brief analysis (no longer than 2 pages) of the connection between EBP and the
Quadruple Aim.

Your
analysis should address how EBP might (or might not) help reach the Quadruple
Aim, including each of the four measures of:

Patient
experience

Population
health

Costs

Work life
of healthcare providers

NURS6052/NURS5052/NRSE6052 Essent of Evidence

Week 2 & 3 Assignment

Evidence-Based
Project

Is there a
difference between “common practice” and “best practice”?

When you
first went to work for your current organization, experienced colleagues may
have shared with you details about processes and procedures. Perhaps you even
attended an orientation session to brief you on these matters. As a “rookie,”
you likely kept the nature of your questions to those with answers that would
best help you perform your new role.

Over time
and with experience, perhaps you recognized aspects of these processes and
procedures that you wanted to question further. This is the realm of clinical
inquiry.

Clinical
inquiry is the practice of asking questions about clinical practice. To
continuously improve patient care, all nurses should consistently use clinical
inquiry to question why they are doing something the way they are doing it. Do
they know why it is done this way, or is it just because we have always done it
this way? Is it a common practice or a best practice?

In this
Assignment, you will identify clinical areas of interest and inquiry and
practice searching for research in support of maintaining or changing these
practices. You will also analyze this research to compare research
methodologies employed.

To Prepare:

Review the
Resources and identify a clinical issue of interest that can form the basis of
a clinical inquiry.

Based on
the clinical issue of interest and using keywords related to the clinical issue
of interest, search at least four different databases in the Walden Library to
identify at least four relevant peer-reviewed articles related to your clinical
issue of interest.

Review the
results of your peer-reviewed research and reflect on the process of using an
unfiltered database to search for peer-reviewed research.

Reflect on
the types of research methodologies contained in the four relevant
peer-reviewed articles you selected.

Part 1: An
Introduction to Clinical Inquiry

Create a 4-
to 5-slide PowerPoint presentation in which you do the following:

Identify
and briefly describe your chosen clinical issue of interest.

Describe
how you used keywords to search on your chosen clinical issue of interest.

Identify
the four research databases that you used to conduct your search for the
peer-reviewed articles you selected.

Provide APA
citations of the four peer-reviewed articles you selected.

Part 2: Identifying
Research Methodologies

After
reading each of the four peer-reviewed articles you selected, use the Matrix
Worksheet template to analyze the methodologies applied in each of the four
peer-reviewed articles. Your analysis should include the following:

The full
citation of each peer-reviewed article in APA format.

A brief
(1-paragraph) statement explaining why you chose this peer-reviewed article
and/or how it relates to your clinical issue of interest, including a brief
explanation of the ethics of research related to your clinical issue of
interest.

A brief
(1-2 paragraph) description of the aims of the research of each peer-reviewed
article.

A brief
(1-2 paragraph) description of the research methodology used. Be sure to
identify if the methodology used was qualitative, quantitative, or a
mixed-methods approach. Be specific.

A brief (1-
to 2-paragraph) description of the strengths of each of the research
methodologies used, including reliability and validity of how the methodology
was applied in each of the peer-reviewed articles you selected.

NURS6052/NURS5052/NRSE6052 Essent of Evidence

Week 5 Assignment

Evidence-Based
Project, Part 3: Advanced Levels of Clinical Inquiry and Systematic Reviews

Your quest
to purchase a new car begins with an identification of the factors important to
you. As you conduct a search of cars that rate high on those factors, you
collect evidence and try to understand the extent of that evidence. A report
that suggests a certain make and model of automobile has high mileage is
encouraging. But who produced that report? How valid is it? How was the data
collected, and what was the sample size?

In this
Assignment, you will delve deeper into clinical inquiry by closely examining
your PICO(T) question. You also begin to analyze the evidence you have
collected.

To Prepare:

Review the
Resources and identify a clinical issue of interest that can form the basis of
a clinical inquiry.

Develop a
PICO(T) question to address the clinical issue of interest for the Assignment.

Use the key
words from the PICO(T) question you developed and search at least four
different databases in the Walden Library to identify at least four relevant
peer-reviewed articles at the systematic-reviews level related to your research
question.

Reflect on
the process of creating a PICO(T) question and searching for peer-reviewed
research.

The Assignment
(Evidence-Based Project)

Part 3:
Advanced Levels of Clinical Inquiry and Systematic Reviews

Create a 6-
to 7-slide PowerPoint presentation in which you do the following:

Identify
and briefly describe your chosen clinical issue of interest.

Describe
how you developed a PICO(T) question focused on your chosen clinical issue of
interest.

Identify
the four research databases that you used to conduct your search for the
peer-reviewed articles you selected.

Provide APA
citations of the four peer-reviewed articles you selected.

Describe
the levels of evidence in each of the four peer-reviewed articles you selected,
including an explanation of the strengths of using systematic reviews for
clinical research. Be specific and provide examples.

NURS6052/NURS5052/NRSE6052 Essent of Evidence

Week 7 Assignment

Evidence-Based
Project, Part 4: Critical Appraisal of Research

Realtors
rely on detailed property appraisals—conducted using appraisal tools—to assign
market values to houses and other properties. These values are then presented
to buyers and sellers to set prices and initiate offers.

Research
appraisal is not that different. The critical appraisal process utilizes formal
appraisal tools to assess the results of research to determine value to the
context at hand. Evidence-based practitioners often present these findings to
make the case for specific courses of action.

In this
Assignment, you will use appraisal tools to conduct a critical appraisal of
published research. You will then present the results of your efforts.

To Prepare:

Review the
Resources and consider the importance of critically appraising research
evidence.

Reflect on
the four peer-reviewed articles you selected in Module 2 and analyzed in Module
3.

Review and
download the Critical Appraisal Tools document provided in the Resources.

The Assignment
(Evidence-Based Project)

Part 4A:
Critical Appraisal of Research

Conduct a
critical appraisal of the four peer-reviewed articles you selected and analyzed
by completing the Critical Appraisal Tools document. Be sure to include:

An
evaluation table

A levels of
evidence table

An outcomes
synthesis table

Part 4B:
Critical Appraisal of Research

Based on
your appraisal, in a 1-2-page critical appraisal, suggest a best practice that
emerges from the research you reviewed. Briefly explain the best practice,
justifying your proposal with APA citations of the research.

NURS6052/NURS5052/NRSE6052 Essent of Evidence

Week 9 Assignment

Evidence-Based
Project, Part 5: Recommending an Evidence-Based Practice Change

The
collection of evidence is an activity that occurs with an endgame in mind. For
example, law enforcement professionals collect evidence to support a decision
to charge those accused of criminal activity. Similarly, evidence-based
healthcare practitioners collect evidence to support decisions in pursuit of
specific healthcare outcomes.

In this
Assignment, you will identify an issue or opportunity for change within your
healthcare organization and propose an idea for a change in practice supported
by an EBP approach.

To Prepare:

Reflect on
the four peer-reviewed articles you critically appraised in Module 4.

Reflect on
your current healthcare organization and think about potential opportunities
for evidence-based change.

The Assignment:
(Evidence-Based Project)

Part 5:
Recommending an Evidence-Based Practice Change

Create an
8- to 9-slide PowerPoint presentation in which you do the following:

Briefly
describe your healthcare organization, including its culture and readiness for
change. (You may opt to keep various elements of this anonymous, such as your
company name.)

Describe
the current problem or opportunity for change. Include in this description the
circumstances surrounding the need for change, the scope of the issue, the
stakeholders involved, and the risks associated with change implementation in
general.

Propose an
evidence-based idea for a change in practice using an EBP approach to decision
making. Note that you may find further research needs to be conducted if
sufficient evidence is not discovered.

Describe
your plan for knowledge transfer of this change, including knowledge creation,
dissemination, and organizational adoption and implementation.

Describe
the measurable outcomes you hope to achieve with the implementation of this
evidence-based change.

Be sure to
provide APA citations of the supporting evidence-based peer reviewed articles
you selected to support your thinking.

Add a
lessons learned section that includes the following:

A summary
of the critical appraisal of the peer-reviewed articles you previously
submitted

An
explanation about what you learned from completing the evaluation table (1
slide)

An
explanation about what you learned from completing the levels of evidence table
(1 slide)

An
explanation about what you learned from completing the outcomes synthesis table
(1 slide)

NURS6052/NURS5052/NRSE6052 Essent of Evidence

Week 11 Assignment

Evidence-Based
Capstone Project, Part 6: Disseminating Results

The
dissemination of EBP results serves multiple important roles. Sharing results
makes the case for your decisions. It also adds to the body of knowledge, which
creates opportunities for future practitioners. By presenting results, you also
become an advocate for EBP, creating a culture within your organization or
beyond that informs, educates, and promotes the effective use of EBP.

To Prepare:

Review the
final PowerPoint presentation you submitted in Module 5, and make any necessary
changes based on the feedback you have received and on lessons you have learned
throughout the course.

Consider
the best method of disseminating the results of your presentation to an
audience.

To
Complete:

Create a
5-minute, 5- to 6-slide narrated PowerPoint presentation of your Evidence-Based
Project.

Be sure to
incorporate any feedback or changes from your presentation submission in Module
5.

Explain how
you would disseminate the results of your project to an audience. Provide a
rationale for why you selected this dissemination strategy.