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NURS 4113 NURSING RESEARCH

A course for Undergraduate Nursing Students

Introduction

You may ask - why do we need Research and Evidence-Based Practice? Surely everything we learn, do, and publish is based on science? Scientific knowledge advances all the time. What was considered as "true" at a given moment, is not going to be necessarily "true" years later! Watch this video demonstrating the concept of "what was true originally, is not true anymore"! https://youtu.be/wf-sGqBsWv4

As nurses, we are continuously exploring ways to broaden our scientific knowledge base and improve the care of our patients/clients. The most common methods are Quality Improvement, Research, and Evidence-Based Practice (EBP). To explain these methodologies:

  • Quality Improvement projects aim to improve the systems and processes of care when data shows a problem (for example, reviewing the incidence of pressure injuries, you find nurses are not compliant in repositioning patients as per policy. Using a Plan-Do-Act-Study (PDSA) process, you will implement processes to improve nurses' compliance with policy, and measure if pressure injuries decrease. 
  • Research is more than finding information about a topic. It is incorrect to say I did research for an assignment if you searched for literature. Research is a scholarly term referring to a specific process, consisting of steps, including finding a method, design, selection of participants, collection of data, and analysis of data. You will learn in this course about research, but you are not doing research. 
  • Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) is about finding the best available evidence to improve the care of patients. EBP is not the same as research. When doing EBP, we use research findings, we don't do research.

Watch the following video, showing a  practical example of how EBP has changed Nursing Practice https://youtu.be/LAVq-ccUGwA

While the course name as per the university's catalog is NURS 4113, Nursing Research, our main focus is improving knowledge and skills in developing and implementing Evidence-Based Practice.To understand the difference between these methodologies, do the following:

Image Task Instructions
1 Complete Chapter 1: Introduction to Evidence-Based Practice Complete questions. Download certificate.
Post certificate in Assigned Folder