NURS362 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Nursing, Theoretical Definition, Operational Definition
12 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
NURS362
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Lecture 1
• Chapter 1 - intro to nursing research and evidence-based practice
• What is nursing research
• To search again - examine carefully for a better way to do something
• Looking for answers to questions, or generating new questions
• Diligent and systematic inquiry - very methodical process
• Discovery - new techniques, equipment, drugs, diseases, treatments
• Goal is to develop an empirical body of knowledge for a discipline
• Ultimate goal of nursing - to provide high quality care, safe care (QSEN), and cost-effective care
(be good stewards of equipment and materials)
• How and why do researchers utilize empirical knowledge?
• Empiric - can verify it by observation or experience; not just theory; practical, first-hand,
experiential knowledge
• Empirical knowledge is gained by employing - quantitative research, qualitative research
(someone’s lived experience), and outcomes research (did it work or not? Did it improve care or
not?)
• Empirical knowledge is essential for delivering/providing high-quality, safe patient and family
nursing care
• Evidence-based practice (EBP)
• Our discipline is ALL evidence-based; rationale for every step along the way
• EBP is synthesis of knowledge (research, theory, and clinical experiences)
• It’s an effect of philosophy
• It helps make a change in practice
• It evaluates change for patient, provider, and health care system
• EBP = best research evidence + clinical expertise + patient needs and values
• Why is research important for EBP?
• It develops the empirical knowledge base and continues to grow the base - identifies best practices
that are based on clinical practices
• Improves outcomes for - patient and family, nurse, and healthcare system
• What purpose does research have in implementing an evidenced-based nursing practice?
• Description - identifying or describing a nursing phenomenon; don’t have any data, just have
noticed something
• Explanation - explaining the phenomenon; is there a relationship/link?
• Prediction - predicting things that may come as a result of the phenomenon; risks, behaviors
• Control - testing strategies to produce an outcome; might be a study; developing strategies to
produce desired effect; helps with implementing a practice
• History of nursing research
• Nursing research has evolved slowly over the years and we continue to evolve
• Many things have changed and continue changing
• Florence Nightingale - first nurse epidemiologist; 19th century; where nursing research began
• Clinical research is the current major focus of nursing research and will continue to be so
throughout the 21st century
• 21st century
• 2007 QSEN - quality and safety education for nurses and research
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
• 2013 healthy people 2020
• How is nursing knowledge acquired?
• Traditions - “we’ve always done it this way”
• Authority - go ask Sam; authority in the unit or around unit that will know the answer
• Borrowing - borrow from another discipline
• Trial and error
• Personal experience - I.e. working as a tech first
• Role modeling - watching another nurse
• Intuition
• Reasoning
• And research
• Integrating evidence into practice
• Critique the studies on a selected topic or practice problem
• Development of EBP guidelines
• i.e. safe administration of IM injections - summarize the findings, draw conclusions about what
is known or not known about the topic
• Many levels of evidence - some are really weak or really strong
• Opinions of one person - weak; opinions of a newspaper - weak
• Strongest - empirical lab studies and the best evidence out there
• What is the primary role of an entry level nursing researcher?
• Identifying research problems - “patients don’t seem to do better when I do it this way”
• Assisting with data collection - i.e. taking vitals for data collection
• Reading and critiquing research studies - do they make sense
• Summarizing research findings for use in practice
• The educational preparation needed differs depending on the research functions
• Why utilize EBP guidelines
• They provide high-quality, cost-effective health care
• They allow for synthesis of knowledge needed for interventions and practice; i.e. guidelines,
standards, protocols, policies
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Explores and describes phenomena in real-life situations - 18 people in the class right now are wearing hoodies . New meaning is discovered - description of concepts is accomplished. Looks at the relationship between 2 or more variables. Determines the strength and type of relationship - weak relationship between those who drink cucumber water and those who do well on the exam . This is related to this: quasi-experimental research. Examines cause-and-effect relationships - but not with 100% certainty - quasi. Less control by researcher than true experimental designs; not as rigorous as experimental, but still a really strong study. All variables in the study cannot be controlled by the researcher: experimental research - premier research study. Research has control over all of the variables. Controlled manipulation of at least one independent variable. Random assignment of the sample to the experimental and control groups.
