Question

rofessional nurses rely on research findings to inform practice decisions; they use critical thinking to apply research directly to specific patient care situations.

Think about an independent nursing practice problem you care passionately about and would be interested in searching for evidence. *For the below questions, medical/doctor/physician problems will not be used, for example, treatments such as medications or diagnostics such as cardiac catherizations. Also, broad practice problems such as staffing issues, workforce issues, or patient ratios will not be used as this is an organizational/system/political/administrative/multi-stakeholder problem which nursing cannot solve independently.

• Reflect on nursing practice and describe a significant nursing clinical issue, topic of interest, or practice problem that is important to you. Describe why you chose the problem/topic.
• Develop a searchable, clinical question in the PICO(T) format for your nursing practice problem. *To format your clinical question using PICO(T), use the NR439_Guide for writing PICOT Questions and Examples found in your required reading or access the following link:

NR439_Guide for writing PICOT Questions and Examples (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

• List each of your PICOT elements.
• Share why you care about this nursing practice problem and why you believe the problem would benefit from finding the best evidence.

Answer 1

Evidence-based models use a process for framing a question, locating, assessing, evaluating, and repeating as needed. PICO (T) elements include: Problem/Patient/Population, Intervention/Indicator, Comparison,Outcome, and (optional) Time element or Type of Study.

1. Frame the question: write out your information need in the form of a question, for example:   

Does hand washing among healthcare workers reduce hospital-acquired infections?

  The question above includes the PICO elements:

P (Problem or Patient population): hospital-acquired infection

I (intervention/indicator): Handwashing

C (comparison): no hand washing; other solution; masks

O (the outcome of interest): reduced infection

Evidence-based practice is a vital part of enhancing critical care nursing practice, which is essential for providing quality care to patients. Adopting EBP to your culture improves patient outcomes and patient, family, and healthcare provider satisfaction. It can also reduce costs and the risk of harm by decreasing unnecessary tests and procedures.

The first step in the EBP process is creating a culture to incorporate EBP into the organization. Translating evidence into practice has become important to healthcare with the increased focus on lowering costs through reduced lengths of stay and prevention of hospital-acquired infection.

Critical care nurses provide vital care to very sick patients, and even more crucial, nurses are providing care that is proven to be effective.

Developing an institutional culture of EBP is essential to support effective change in practice. The first step to integrate EBP in an institution is selecting a framework in which decisions are made. Implementation science has moved toward a systematic approach, using theoretical frameworks to guide the process of integrating research into practice.