Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Nursing QSEN Assignment


The nursing students are working on an assignment related to QSEN competencies and seem to have a very poor understanding of what QSEN competencies are. There are 6 competencies outlined in the article "Quality and Safety Education for Nurses," along with the "Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes" required for each competency. The competencies are:

patient-centered care
teamwork and collaboration
evidence-based practice
quality improvement
safety
informatics

My understanding of the assignment is that they are being asked to consider a situation they encounter in their clinical and then evaluate it in terms of one or more of the competencies and find related research. The first students that approached me about this said, "We want to do diabetes." You can imagine how successful that reference interaction was. If you get students at the desk asking about this assignment, I would suggest making sure they have the assignment sheet out and understand what they are being asked to do, and also that they understand what QSEN means. If they haven't gotten that far yet, they aren't ready to start on the assignment.

The article that serves as the basis for the assignment, which apparently they were not assigned to read (at least not yet) is in Science Direct . The competency charts are available at http://www.qsen.org/ksas_prelicensure.php#evidence-based_practice.


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Thursday, September 13, 2012

Nursing Case Studies Part 2


Thanks to Alyssa for the screenshots on how to limit searches to a case study in Proquest and Ebsco databases! Case Study can be selected under the Document Type limiters in both, as you can see towards the bottom of each image.




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Nursing Case Studies Assignment

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We get this question so frequently that I decided to come up with a resource I can print for the students who seem to need more clarification.  Please add any search terms you have used to identify case studies (with success, that is.)


Questions for evaluating case studies/ clinical research:

What is the purpose and/or rationale for the study?
Are the aims of the study clearly stated?
How significant is the need for research?
Does the research look at data gathered previously?

Where was the article published?
Who funded the study?
Who conducted the study?
Is credibility of the researchers established?

How was the study conducted?
Were participants in the study randomly assigned?
What were the characteristics of the people who participated in the study?
How many people were tested?
Is the study's sampling strategy appropriate to address the aims?
Was there a control group?

How long was the study?
Did the research follow a group over time?
How many completed the study?
Do the researchers consider the effects on the study of the relationship between themselves and the informants?

How was the data collected?
Are the study's data collection strategies appropriate?
Was the data gathered descriptive or quantitative?

Was the data analyzed? How?
Does the article analyze one study or multiple studies?
If the article discusses multiple studies, what types of studies were included?
Is there a rigorous process of data analysis evident?

Have the results of the study been repeated by other investigators?
Are the findings confirmable?
Are the findings analyzed based on the purpose and research question?
Are the findings of the study logically transferable to other groups of patients?

Are the findings clear and easy to understand?
Do the researchers justify the data interpretation used in the analysis?
How relevant and useful is the article to a patient/clinical problem/clinical scenario or a practitioner?
How important are the findings?
Do they directly suggest specific further research?


Appraisal questions were derived from:

KT Clearinghouse, KT. Completed Qualitative Research Worksheet for Evidence-Based Nursing. 2011. http://ktclearinghouse.ca/cebm/syllabi/nursing/samples/qualitative/worksheet (accessed September 13, 2012).

Family Caregiver Alliance . Evaluating Medical Research Findings and Clinical Trials. n.d. http://caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/content_node.jsp?nodeid=402 (accessed September 13, 2012).


RVCC PRINT MATERIALS:

Essentials of nursing research: methods, appraisals, and utilization
Polit, Denise F.
Philadelphia : Lippincott, c2001
RT81.5 .P63 2001

Studying a study and testing a test: how to read the medical evidence
Richard K. Riegelman.
Philadelphia, Pa. : Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2000.
R118.6 .R537 2000


RVCC ELECTRONIC RESOURCES:

Design and analysis of clinical nursing research studies [electronic resource]
Colin R. Martin and David R. Thompson.
London ; New York : Routledge, 2000.
RVCC only - Read this book online

 How to read a paper [electronic resource] : the basics of evidence based medicine
Trisha Greenhalgh.
London : BMJ, 2000.
RVCC only - Read this book online

ONLINE:

University of South Australia Critical Appraisal Tools
http://www.unisa.edu.au/Research/Sansom-Institute-for-Health-Research/Research-at-the-Sansom/Research-Concentrations/Allied-Health-Evidence/Resources/CAT/

This resource provides questions based on type of studies (randomized controlled, non-randomized controlled, case studies, qualitative research, mixed method, etc.) aimed at identifying "methodological flaws" in the literature and the quality of the research evidence.  

 

TERMS TO INCLUDE IN SEARCH STATEMENTS:

Case studies
Method*
Research – Methodology
Participants
Qualitative  research

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

My IT Lab - use in West Bldg


Students who need to use the MyITLab program will need to use the West Building computer lab, W212. Our computers do not support the program.


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