The advanced practice nurse (APN) brings the combined training and experience received in school and the clinical practice to enhance patient care. Clinical decisions require problem solving, critical thinking, ethical judgment, and evidence-based practice to ensure patients receive the best care (Pearson, 2013). This unique set of skills allows the APN to determine areas needing further study to improve patient outcome. This paper will introduce the author’s phenomenon of interest and primary philosophic viewpoint for providing patient care, discuss an alternative or opposing philosophic viewpoint to patient care, and summarize the four patterns of knowing in nursing identified by Barbara Carper in 1978.
Nurses face challenges in their day to day practice to find and use reliable, credible evidence to support their clinical decision-making that allows them to meet the expectations of evidence-based practice (EBP) (Fitzpatrick, 2009). EBP refers to making decisions about patient care that are based on the best evidence produced by clinical research combined with nursing expertise and the patient’s desires and views (Barker, Linsley and Kane, 2016). Not only does EBP enhance the quality of care patients receive, it also reduces medical complications and reduces health-care costs (Jeffs et al., 2013). EBP allows nurses to expand their knowledge and skills in order, to deliver high-quality health care based on research and knowledge, rather than supporting possibly outdated nursing traditions.
Evidence based practice is an integral part of nursing care. According to the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses, evidence based practice is defined as, “the conscientious use of current best evidence in making decisions about patient care.” (AMSN) The use of evidence based practice has drastically improved patient outcomes, increased quality and safety of healthcare, and reduced costs for facilities. (Melnyk, 2016) In this paper I will provide the history of evidence based practice, how it has already been incorporated and impacted healthcare, and why it is important to nursing and healthcare as a whole.
As a novice nurse I will have limited clinical experience, and since one component of evidence-based practice involves clinician expertise, I will have some difficulty applying this practice to my nursing care. However, through my education, I will be introduced to research, patient data, clinical experiences, and patient preferences and values, which will allow me to gain valuable knowledge, proficiency, and experience that will allow me to implement evidenced based practice into my nursing profession.
As a provider of care, professional nurses depend on research, theories, and evidence based practice to guide the care they provide to patients. Nurses deliver care to their patients based on information they have learned through many years of school and training. Training for nurses and other providers of care is founded on theories, research, and evidence based practice in the healthcare field. Theories, research, and evidence based practice are all important for providing care to patients and each can be used in a different manner depending on the situation. Clinicians often use research based evidence to design and implement care that is high-quality and cost effective for patients. Evidence based practice can be used to provide care to patients in a steadily changing clinical environment. (PDF page 8-9). Nursing theories are frequently used as frameworks for establishing nursing care interventions and assessing
Sundin, K., Jansson, L., & Norberg, A. (2000). Communicating with people with stroke and aphasia: understanding through sensation without words. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 9(4), 481-488.
Over the course of decades medical treatment has advanced causing an increase in the wellness of patient clinical outcomes. A large portion of the improvement is due to the vital role nurses play in the delivery of safe and quality care to their patients. For many years different methods of treating patients have evolved due to the continued research for the best practice. Nurses, researchers and people with questions have always tried to find better and efficient solutions to treat their patients detailing the best possible evidence-based practice. Evidence-based practice is an important tool to use for clinical decision making however one must understand it first. Interpreting Evidence-based practice allows nurses to comprehend the steps to determine if new evidence is needed and realize there are some benefits to utilizing up to date research and obstacles that may impeded the research into practice. .
Nursing education is constantly evolving as new techniques are introduced within the medical profession. Thus, it is imperative nurses are kept updated, and continuously learning new methods to enhance and improve patient care. Over the last 150 years there has been a drastic change in nursing`s participation in research. Nursing research advanced initially from the investigations made by Nightingale in the nineteenth century of nursing education during the 1930`s. This further progressed to the research of nursing roles in 1950s following on to the 1990s where nurses began to focus on clinical problems and finding solutions to these problems which had a major impact within the nursing profession. As of today many health professionals are focusing on clinical research which in turn has helped to establish an evidence informed practice for nurses. (Burns and Grove 2003)
Throughout the twentieth century, several critical factors had facilitated the emergence and development of four distinct roles in advanced nursing practice. Joined forces of medicine and nursing leadership have attempted to address health care crises by creating expanded roles for nurses (Asubonteng, McCleary, & Munchus, 1995, p. 3). Striving to eliminate the disparity, fragmentation, and sub-optimal care, nursing academia sought to prepare future nursing workforce, who would be able to work in “an autonomous and collegial way with physicians” to improve the quality and accessibility of health care (Stanley, 2011, p. 20). Ongoing changes in the delivery of health care, such as
Evidence based practice is critical to undergraduate nursing education. While working in a hospital there are going to be many experiences that nursing students will get to go through this process. While working as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) on a Medical Surgical floor, the author has gained an abundant amount of experience with this. One of the most important things they learned was the evidence behind
The importance of the nurse to be able to provide patient care that reflects the evidence based practice model is significant. The nurse’s clinical decisions, central to their nursing practice, reveal their knowledge in regards to current best practice policies and guidelines (Thorsteinsson & Sveinsdóttir, 2014). Safe and effective patient care depends upon the nurse’s ability to perform in a manner that coincides with these current best practice standards
Emergency and critical care can be the most challenging parts of nursing and some of the most rewarding as it is carrying out intensive care for patients which may not always end well or may have the best result.
The modern nurse is expected to have a certain level of medical expertise that is beyond simple care and advocacy. The nurse is expected to understand complex physiological relationships, pharmacology, and have a certain academic expertise that sets the field to a higher plane. As the medical world becomes more complex, the bar rises throughout the pyramid, and
The diagnosis is not the main concern of emergency department. Their main job is the short term, immediate, acute management to save patient’s lives. Emergency residents first will ask the intern to take focused history and do a proper physical examination after that the intern will explain the case briefly to the resident then they go with the team to see the patient . They will perform electrocardiogram (ECG), Portable X-ray, or ultrasounds, if needed. Many tests can be ordered, such as blood test, body fluid analysis, computed tomography (CT scan) or Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Some procedures need to be done like suturing, central line or urethral catheterization. patients usually do not need an admission In the acute care unit,
The harmony among clinical and research orientation is essential to professional nurses as they dynamically enhance the nursing’s scientific knowledge by way of research. Evidence facilitates advancements in nursing and inhibits the usage of unjustified nursing errors and practices. Finally, evidence-based practice substitutes usage of trial and error and improves development, evaluation, and professional progression. Evidence-based practice is used by professional nurses for the sake of influencing the standard of care and for encouraging a self-directed nursing environment.