The success of the medical field is centered around research.

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Question Description

Post a thoughtful response to at least two (2) other colleagues’ initial postings. Responses to colleagues should be supportive and helpful (examples of an acceptable comment are: “This is interesting – in my practice, we treated or resolved (diagnosis or issue) with (x, y, z meds, theory, management principle) and according to the literature…” and add supportive reference. Avoid comments such as “I agree” or “good comment.”

References:

Response posts: Minimum of one (1) total reference: one (1) from peer-reviewed or course materials reference per response.

Words Limits

  • Response posts: Minimum 100 words excluding references.

Discussion 1

The success of the medical field is centered around research. The use of research and evidence-based practice in medicine usually results in improved patient outcomes. However, research usually requires a lot of time and resources. The end goal is to ensure advancements and improvements in nursing and health care in general. The purpose of this discussion is to define research and evidence-based practice in nursing and provide a sample research and clinical question.

Nursing research refers to a process of inquiry and examination in order to find answers related to nursing practice and occurrences within nursing (LoBiondo-Wood & Haber, 2014). An example of a research question would be what are the effects of immobility for elderly residents in nursing homes? In such a scenario, the nurse aims to find out the impact that arise from lack of movement for these residents.

Evidence based practice refers to gathering of information from various reputable sources like scientists, nurse researchers and doctors to make informed health decisions (LoBiondo-Wood & Haber, 2014). In other words, there should be proof and corroboration that a certain practice yielded positive patient outcomes. The main challenge for nurses using evidenced based practice is ensuring that the practice is highly effective, but also bears minimal cost to patients (Hain, 2017). One common example of evidence-based practice is the importance of hand washing in the prevention of spread of diseases and germs.

Research usually leads to maintaining or improving nursing practices. One of the various examples of a research question is, “What is the relationship between low income level and poor health outcomes? On the other hand, a clinical question involves studying a population of interest, a nursing intervention, a comparison intervention and a desired outcome (PICO) (LoBiondo-Wood & Haber, 2014).. One example of a clinical question is. How does exercise compare to diet in decreasing obesity in Mexican American adolescents? Such a question looks at adolescents as the population of interest and exercise as the nursing intervention while diet is the comparison intervention while the outcome is reducing obesity.

Research and evidence-based practice are part of nursing practice. It is important to incorporate these two aspects in nursing care to create efficient and effective practices. Even with challenges associated with research, the benefit outweighs the risk in the long run. The goal of nursing is to ensure that safe and effective care is provided to our patients.

References

Hain, D. J. (2017). Exploring the evidence. Focusing on the fundamentals: Comparing and contrasting nursing research and quality improvement. Nephrology Nursing Journal, 44(6), 541-544.