Determining the credibility of evidence and sources

4

Locating Credible Sources

Locating Credible Databases

As a baccalaureate lead nurse, I am tasked with providing guidance to the new nurse and supporting them in developing their nursing skills. A new nurse on my shift was assigned her client’s case for the day, and one of the clients has a diagnosis of septicemia/sepsis. The new nurse approached me with concerns about her patient’s diagnosis. She is unfamiliar with such a diagnosis and would like help learn about it to better care for her assigned patient with a diagnosis of septicemia. Septicemia is a severe bloodstream infection and is the body’s most extreme response to an infection.

Communication strategies

Given that patient-centered care based on evidence-based practice is crucial to positive patient outcomes, I would assist the new nurse unfamiliar with septicemia diagnosis by mentoring her to research the diagnosis (Horntvedt et al., 2018). Dynamic and supportive mentoring in the clinical setting through teaching, coaching, and inspiring enables new nurses to learn their industry's social and professional inner workings and develop valuable clinical skills (Nowell, 2019). In this assignment, I will focus on a communication strategy a lead nurse can use to encourage a new nurse in conducting evidence-based practice (EBP) research about the patient's diagnosis whenever in doubt. I will also use this time to point out to the nurse how to locate credible nursing sources for her patient's diagnosis and criteria to use.

I will actively listen to the nurses’ concerns about her patient’s diagnosis, ask her fundamental question on her knowledge of the diagnosis to know what information/resources I will point her towards. During her research about the diagnosis, I will encourage her to ask questions and give feedback about her finding.

Locating Credible sources

I would encourage the new nurse to use the facility's learning and research section to help further her learn about the unfamiliar diagnosis. I will inform the nurse that the best way to locate evidence-based practice on septicemia is to use the "PICOT" research method.

The patient’s problem is sepsis.

Intervention ( the nursing interventions for caring for the patient's diagnosis).

Comparison (what are other alternatives are available for caring for the patient).

Outcome ( what outcomes do you perceive from the Interventions/treatments) and

Time (If possible, what is the timeframe of your desired outcome for the intervention) to determine the level of evidence that best answers the question and select relevant databases, journals, clinical guidelines, or other relevant online sources (LoBiondo-Wood & Haber, 2021).

Furthermore, I will inform her that nurses can carry out their research in the hospital or facility at which they work, or school library, hospital policy, updated Government database or manuals, and hospital guidelines. I will tell the new nurse that using Keywords from the PICOT topic will guide the search process, together with streamlining strategies such as database-controlled vocabulary (LoBiondo-Wood & Haber, 2021). Also, establishing a hierarchy of evidence, including the most credible source, most recent study/research and peer-reviewed, and more evidence-based practice information on septicemia will help them learn about the diagnosis better and get the most out of their research.

The following sources can be used for EBP on septicemia, in descending order of solid evidence: the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR), CINAHL (www.ebscohost.com/cinahl), the PubMed website (https://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/), the biweekly American Journal of Infectious Diseases (JID) and the International Journal of Infectious Diseases (IJID), which is an official publication of the international society for infectious diseases. The CDSR database contains systematic reviews and metanalyses of randomized, controlled trials on sepsis intervention. It is the most rigorous list, thus having the best level of evidence the new nurse can use (LoBiondo-Wood & Haber, 2021).

Conclusion

The healthcare field is a rapidly growing industry with innovations in effective patient care. Therefore, nurses should continually keep themselves abreast of evidence-based practice information to better care for their patients. Evidenced-based practice research and methods are used universally to improve patient quality of care and improve healthcare quality (Chein, 2019).

References

Chien, L. Y. (2019). Evidence-based practice and nursing research. The Journal of Nursing Research, 27(4), e29. https://doi.org/10.1097/jnr.0000000000000346

Horntvedt, M. E. T., Nordsteien, A., Fermann, T., & Severinsson, E. (2018). Strategies for teaching evidence-based practice in nursing education: a thematic literature review. BMC medical education, 18(1), 1-11.

LoBiondo-Wood, G., & Haber, J. (2021). Nursing Research E-Book: Methods and Critical Appraisal for Evidence-Based Practice. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Nowell, L. (2019). Mentorship in nursing academia: A qualitative study and call to action. Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 9(3), 85-94.