EVIDENCE-BASED PROJECT, PART 1: IDENTIFYING RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES

Is there a difference between â€œcommon practiceâ€ and â€œbest practiceâ€?

When you first went to work for your current organization, experienced colleagues may have shared with you details about processes and procedures. Perhaps you even attended an orientation session to brief you on these matters. As a â€œrookie,â€ you likely kept the nature of your questions to those with answers that would best help you perform your new role.

Over time and with experience, perhaps you recognized aspects of these processes and procedures that you wanted to question further. This is the realm of clinical inquiry.

Clinical inquiry is the practice of asking questions about clinical practice. To continuously improve patient care, all nurses should consistently use clinical inquiry to question why they are doing something the way they are doing it. Do they know why it is done this way, or is it just because we have always done it this way? Is it a common practice or a best practice?

In this Assignment, you will identify clinical areas of interest and inquiry and practice searching for research in support of maintaining or changing these practices. You will also analyze this research to compare research methodologies employed.

RESOURCES

Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity.
Click the weekly resources link to access the resources.

WEEKLY RESOURCES

To Prepare:

Review the Resources and identify a clinical issue of interest that can form the basis of a clinical inquiry. Keep in mind that the clinical issue you identify for your research will stay the same for the entire course.
Based on the clinical issue of interest and using keywords related to the clinical issue of interest, search at least four different databases in the Walden Library to identify at least four relevant peer-reviewed articles related to your clinical issue of interest. You should not be using systematic reviews for this assignment, select original research articles.
Review the results of your peer-reviewed research and reflect on the process of using an unfiltered database to search for peer-reviewed research.
Reflect on the types of research methodologies contained in the four relevant peer-reviewed articles you selected.
Part 1: Identifying Research Methodologies

After reading each of the four peer-reviewed articles you selected, use the Matrix Worksheet template to analyze the methodologies applied in each of the four peer-reviewed articles. Your analysis should include the following:

The full citation of each peer-reviewed article in APA format.
A brief (1-paragraph) statement explaining why you chose this peer-reviewed article and/or how it relates to your clinical issue of interest, including a brief explanation of the ethics of research related to your clinical issue of interest.
A brief (1-2 paragraph) description of the aims of the research of each peer-reviewed article.
A brief (1-2 paragraph) description of the research methodology used. Be sure to identify if the methodology used was qualitative, quantitative, or a mixed-methods approach. Be specific.
A brief (1- to 2-paragraph) description of the strengths of each of the research methodologies used, including reliability and validity of how the methodology was applied in each of the peer-reviewed articles you selected

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Matrix Worksheet Template

Use this document to complete Part 1 of the Module 2 Assessment, Evidence-Based Project, Part 1: Identifying Research Methodologies

Full citation of selected article

Article #1

Article #2

Article #3

Article #4

He, J., Staggs, V. S., Bergquist-Beringer, S., & Dunton, N. (2016). Nurse staffing and patient outcomes: a longitudinal study on trend and seasonality. BMC nursing, 15(1), 1-10.

https://bmcnurs.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12912-016-0181-3?platform=hootsuite

Winter, V., Dietermann, K., Schneider, U., & Schreyögg, J. (2021). Nurse staffing and patient-perceived quality of nursing care: a cross-sectional analysis of survey and administrative data in German hospitals. BMJ open, 11(11), e051133.

https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/11/e051133.abstract

Aiken, L. H., Ceron, C., Simonetti, M., Lake, E. T., Galiano, A., Garbarini, A., … & Smith, H. L. (2018). Hospital nurse staffing and patient outcomes. Revista Médica Clínica Las Condes, 29(3), 322-327.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0716864018300609

https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-019-4688-7?fbclid=IwAR2FNFLwHVhshNwZ375IklE_m9tEZt7KuGYfaK3ETyb5Q2yaUV5zlp6rPBY

Reason for Selection and Ethical Considerations

This article was chosen because it addresses the clinical problem of nurse staffing and patient outcomes by examining the relationship between nurse staffing and nursing-sensitive patient outcomes over time and between seasons. The abstract makes no direct mention of research ethics.

This article was selected because it looks into how nurse staffing affects how well patients perceive the quality of nursing care, which is directly tied to the clinical problem of nurse staffing and how that affects patient experiences. The abstract does not specifically address ethical issues.

It provides an overview of the RN4CAST-Chile program, which is a significant and comprehensive research initiative in the field of nurse staffing and patient outcomes.

The paper was chosen because it examines how nurse staffing levels affect patient mortality in medical and surgical wards, which is closely related to the clinical problem of nurse staffing and patient outcomes.

Brief description of the aims of the research of each peer-reviewed article

The study’s objectives are to examine trends and seasonal patterns in the eight-year association between nurse staffing (total nursing hours per patient day and RN skill mix) and patient outcomes (inpatient falls and hospital-acquired pressure ulcers).

Using a multidimensional instrument, the research seeks to investigate the impact of nurse staffing levels and nursing skill mix on patients’ perceptions of the quality of nursing care. Additionally, potential non-linear and interaction effects are investigated.

The RN4CAST-Chile program, which intends to replicate nursing outcomes research in South America based on prior successful studies, is summarized in this article. Both the effect of nurse education levels on patient outcomes and the connection between lower patient-to-nurse ratios and better patient outcomes are mentioned.

The study’s objectives are to examine the relationship between nurse staffing levels and patient mortality while accounting for potential confounders. The percentage of nurse bachelor hours is also taken into account.

Brief description of the research methodology used Be sure to identify if the methodology used was qualitative, quantitative, or a mixed-methods approach. Be specific.

To evaluate the association between nurse staffing (both levels and skill mix) and patient-perceived quality of nursing care, the study used cross-sectional analysis of survey and administrative data from German hospitals.

The RN4CAST-Chile program uses quantitative research methods to collect and analyze numerical data on nurse staffing and patient outcomes, replicating previous studies and ensuring comprehensive data collection.

Data from 14 medical and 14 surgical wards in Belgian hospitals were analyzed as part of an observational study. Analysis was performed using linear mixed models.

A brief description of the strengths of each of the research methodologies used, including reliability and validity of how the methodology was applied in each of the peer-reviewed articles you selected.

This article’s research methodology enables the examination of trends and seasonality in nurse staffing and patient outcomes, which can offer insightful information on staffing patterns and their effects on patient care.

The research methodology enables a thorough investigation of how various facets of nurse staffing influence the level of treatment that patients perceive to be of high quality. It also takes into account non-linear interactions and consequences, giving the problem a more complex understanding.

Quantitative research methodology in initiatives like RN4CAST-Chile ensures reliability, generalizability, and statistical power, enabling longitudinal analysis and influencing healthcare policies and targeted interventions.

The research methodology analyzes the impact of nurse staffing levels and nursing education on patient mortality and uses proper statistical analytic methods to account for confounders.

References

Haegdorens, F., Van Bogaert, P., De Meester, K., & Monsieurs, K. G. (2019). The impact of nurse staffing levels and nurse’s education on patient mortality in medical and surgical wards: an observational multicentre study. BMC health services research, 19(1), 1-9.https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-019-4688-7?fbclid=IwAR2FNFLwHVhshNwZ375IklE_m9tEZt7KuGYfaK3ETyb5Q2yaUV5zlp6rPBY

He, J., Staggs, V. S., Bergquist-Beringer, S., & Dunton, N. (2016). Nurse staffing and patient outcomes: a longitudinal study on trend and seasonality. BMC nursing, 15(1), 1-10.https://bmcnurs.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12912-016-0181-3?platform=hootsuite