Sources of Information

In professions such as nursing, information and best practices change quickly. Upon graduation, the knowledge a new nurse has gained may quickly become obsolete. Staying engaged with the professional literature enables nurses and health care professionals to stay current and to continue providing the best patient care. As Dr. Shaughnessy noted in this week's media program, baccalaureate-prepared nurses need to look at literature critically. Dr. Shaughnessy stated that baccalaureate prepared nurses need to look at a piece of published research and make their own independent assessment about whether a study was done well, whether its results can be judged as valid, and whether that piece of evidence, in addition to other pieces of published evidence on the same topic can lead us to defining what is the best nursing practice.

For this Discussion you will:

1. Conduct a search on a particular patient problem that is under the control of nursing (e.g, pain management, shortness of breath, lack of knowledge about lifestyle changes needed for managing diabetes).

a. Use two different databases (i.e. Ovid, CINAHL, etc.) AND

b. Use at least one popular search engine such as Google.

c. Use keywords such as "evidence-based practice" and "nursing" for each search.

2. Compare and contrast the results generated from each search.

a. Select a few results and evaluate for reliability or credibility (depending on whether the study is quantitative or qualitative).

i. Share the references for articles you find in the Library that have criteria to be used in evaluating Web sites for credibility or trustworthiness. Cite these references using APA format.

b. Provide specific examples of the different types of information you find in the two different types of searches, one in a professional library, and the other using a popular search engine.

c. Identify the level of evidence for each of the studies. Which findings are most trustworthy based upon the level of evidence?

3. Reflect on your professional experience as a nurse. Consider the findings from

your searching exercise and think about the credibility/trustworthiness of the information that you found. Based upon what you have learned so far:

a. How would you counsel patients about this topic and the information that you found? How are "individual patient needs and preferences" considered in terms of evidence based practice?

b. What would you say to a fellow staff nurse about using the information to change practice? In other words, is this an example that can be used as the research component of evidence based practice?