The purpose of this assignment is to develop skills for systematically evaluating evidence by researching and analyzing a timely topic in professional nursing. The emphasis of this assignment is on finding accurate, reliable sources, evaluating the sources, and summarizing the findings on how the evidence can inform nursing practice. To begin your assignment, select a topic that you find fascinating and want to know more about.
. Please let me know your topic ASAP. You do not need faculty approval for the topic. Any questions please email. These two websites can provide you with timely research topics in nursing: * RePORTER database of the National Institutes Health http://report.nih.gov/nihfactsheets/ (Links to an external site.) * National Institute for Nursing Research http://www.ninr.nih.gov/researchandfunding/researchhighlights (Links to an external site.)
Also, some common nursing professional issues that you may find helpful when deciding on topic are as follows (although, students should feel free to come up with their own issue to research): * Nursing and collective bargaining (unionization) * Family presence during a pediatric or adult emergency * Physician Assistants and Advanced Practice Nurses roles * Standardization of nursing education (BSN and Associate Degree/Diploma) * End-of-life care: Recent issues and trends * Electronic Health Records: Recent issues and trends * Minority representation in nursing: Recruitment issues and solutions * Nurse staffing ratios * Breastfeeding: Recent issues and trends * Pain management during labor Remember, the purpose of the project is for you to learn how to critically appraise and assess the evidence on a topic that interests you.
This is not an assignment where you only summarize the authors’ conclusions. The paper should include at least six peer-reviewed primary research articles from either nursing, biomedical, and/or humanities literature. All references should be recent (i.e., within the past ten years). To help you become familiar with the range of knowledge available in different kinds of nursing journals, try to include references from a general nursing journal, a clinical specialty nursing journal, and a research nursing journal. The paper should mimic a standard research study and include the following headings. The question(s) in the parenthesis following each heading in the below list is provided as an aid to help guide your writing. The break down for length of each section is only a suggestion.
* Introduction Introduce your topic and its significance (1/2 page) * Background What do we currently know about your topic? (1/2 page)
* Methods How did you search for the studies? What was the inclusion criteria? (1/2 page)
* Analysis What are the purposes of the studies? Are key concepts clearly defined? What are the study designs? What are the samples? What are the outcomes studied? How are the studies similar and/or different and possible reasons why? What are the strengths and the weaknesses of the studies? (1 page for each article)
* Results Based on your analysis, is there strong and convincing evidence regarding your topic? (1/2 page) * Discussion What do you conclude about this topic? What are the next steps for nursing? (1/2 page) Paper length can range from 8 to 10 pages excluding title page, abstract, and references.
