Explain the relationship between knowledge, research and practice
Explain the relationship between knowledge, research and practice
reflect on clinical nursing practice to identify a research question that you wish to explore further and to develop a review protocol/strategy in relation to the research question. This assignment/review protocol is linked with your next course NURS 3046 Nursing Project.Objectives being assessed
Assessment #2 – Review protocol/strategy (2800 words) (60%) (Graded)This assignment requires you to reflect on clinical nursing practice to identify a research question that you wish to explore further and to develop a review protocol/strategy in relation to the research question. This assignment/review protocol is linked with your next course NURS 3046 Nursing Project.Objectives being assessed• Explain the relationship between knowledge, research and practice• Explain the process of identifying a research question• Apply the research process to develop a research protocol/strategy• Apply a critical approach to reviewing the literatureTask• Develop a research question from ONE of the health themes provided below• Apply the PICO or PIO format to the research question• Develop inclusion and exclusion criteria• Develop a search strategy to direct a search of relevant electronic health databases to locate specific research articles related to your research question.• Implement the search strategy in the two selected electronic databases.• Identify and record 5 research articles relevant to your research question.Health Themes• Mothers and babies• Children and families• Acute care settings• Older people• Mental health• Rural and remote health• Indigenous healthAssignment FormatYou should present your assignment using the following headings and ensure that you address each point described under each heading.Background (1000 words)– Based upon the health theme you have chosen, state your research question including the Population, Intervention, Comparison and Outcomes (PICO) OR Population, Issue and Outcomes (PIO).– Explain how your research question is important to patient care, nursing practice, professional knowledge or research.MethodsInclusion and exclusion criteria (800 words)– Develop and describe the inclusion and exclusion criteria relevant to your selected question.– Justify why the inclusion and exclusion criteria you have identified are appropriate (in terms of study design, participants/population, intervention or issue, outcomes).Search strategy (Total 1000 words equivalent)– Identify and record 2 electronic databases and explain why these databases are relevant to your research topic/question.– From your research question, identify and record key words that you will use in your search of these 2 electronic databases.– Develop and record a simple search strategy relevant to your research question using the keywords in addition to truncation, abbreviations, wildcards and Boolean operators.– Implement the search strategy in the two selected databases and identify and list 5 relevant research articles (using UniSA Harvard referencing) that will enable you to answer your research question.Please note that the you will be using the 5 articles that you have identified and listed in Nursing Project, which follows this course.Please note that you should use correct referencing using UniSA Harvard referencing system.Re-submissionPlease note: Re-submission is NOT available for this assessment.Feedback formThe feedback form for this assessment is located at Learnonline Course site.Analysing the assessment instructionsFor longer assessment questions you need to consider a number of requirements and how these come together in your final assignment. If you are having trouble understanding what you are being asked to do, the following strategies can help you:• Read all of the assessment information to get an overview of what is expected. You will probably need to read it a few times before it is clear in your mind.• Explain what is required to another person or discuss the details (this can help you to understand it better).• Draw a diagram or flow chart of how the question and its parts fit together.• Go back to the instructions as you are preparing and writing the assignment to check if you are keeping on track with answering it.Step 1: Identify the task wordsTask words are words which tell you what you need to do (e.g. identify, analyse, outline, discuss).There may be a number of task words that you need to consider. Underline the task words on the assessment information and check that you understand the meaning. You can use the ‘Commonly used task works’ list or a dictionary to help you. Did you find the following task words?• develop• apply• implement• identify and recordWhat do they mean in relation to the assessment and what you have to do?Step 2: Identify the content wordsContent words are words which tell you what you need to (i.e. the content area). Read the assessment instructions again and underline the content words.To find the content words, use the task words and add ‘what?’ For example:• develop what? a research question from one of the health themes provided• apply what? PICO or PIO to the research question• develop what? inclusion and exclusion criteria• develop what? a search strategy• implement what? the search strategy in two electronic databases• identify and record what? 5 research articlesStep 3: Identify the limitsWhat words limit the content or focus of your discussion?• use one of the health themes provided• use two electronic databases• find 5 relevant articlesWhat limit is there on the structure and layout?• must use the assignment format and headings provided• must use Harvard referencing UniSA styleWhat is the word limit?• 2800 words (see assessment instructions for breakdown of words required)
Step 4: Check the marking criteriaRead the marking criteria and assessment objectives to gain further understanding of what you will be assessed on. Refer back to these as your prepare your assignment.Developing your research question• Make sure you have worked through Topics 4, 5A, 5B & 5C of your Foundations of Research course site. These topics specifically focus on how to develop your research question and prepare for your assignment.• For more information on developing research questions, use the library guide on Evidence-Based Practice: http://unisa.libguides.com/content.php?pid=360124&sid=2945046Example TopicThe following provides an example topic that we will use to work through the steps for your assignment:Suggested scenario/background information on the topicFalls management in a residential aged care facility have risen by 50% in the last 6 months. The facility now needs to examine the existing intervention/introduce an intervention that will reduce the number of falls by 30% over the next 3 months.After looking at the national standards in relation to falls the nurses have decided to investigate the effectiveness of a pharmacology intervention such as bone density conservation agents compared with a balance strengthening intervention such as tai chi.Example research questionIn older adults living in a residential aged care facility are bone density conservation agents more effective than balance strengthening in reducing falls?Planning your searchFinding informationLibrary resources can be accessed via:• Catalogue – Search for library resources such as books, journals and DVDs, in print or electronic format. You can also use it to find the titles of individual journal articles.• Subject Guides –a starting point – guides to finding information on specific topics, e.g. Nursing and midwifery• Databases – A Library database is an index to scholarly information such as journal articles, conference papers etc. It may also contain full text. Academics look for quality references in your essays – these are best found from databasesPeer reviewView the video Scholarly Sources Explained to learn why scholarly sources are important to use for your assignments, and how you can identify them.Take a look at the video Peer review in 5 minutesYou need to find peer reviewed articles for your assignment. How do you find out? Read the How to…find peer reviewed journal articles guide.Once you understand what information you need to find then the next steps are to:• Identify the concepts• Find suitable keywords for each concept• Use connectors to combine the concepts and key words• Evaluate your resultsExample TopicSuggested scenarioFalls management in a residential aged care facility have risen by 50% in the last 6 months. The facility now needs to examine the existing intervention/introduce an intervention that will reduce the number of falls by 30% over the next 3 months.After looking at the national standards in relation to falls the nurses have decided to investigate the effectiveness of a pharmacology intervention such as bone density conservation agents compared with a balance strengthening intervention such as tai chi.Example questionIn older adults living in a residential aged care facility are bone density conservation agents more effective than balance strengthening in reducing falls?PICO analysisP – older adults in a residential aged care facilityI – bone density conservation agentsC – balance strengtheningO – reduced fallsConceptsIn assignments/topics there are• task words• conceptsBefore you start searching it is important to work out the main ideas or concepts in your topic. When you are constructing a search plan you ignore task words and focus only on the main concepts. The task words tell you what you have to do (eg compare, analyse etc), not what you must search for.Example concepts• residential aged care facility• bone density conservation agents• balance strengthening• reduced fallsAlternative keywordsOnce you have identified your main concepts or ideas, you need to think of other words or phrases that could also be used as search terms, for example when looking for non-prescription I could look for over the counter (phrase) or specific medications such as paracetamol or aspirin.Example keywords• residential aged care facility, nursing home• bone density conservation agents, vitamin D supplements• balance strengthening, muscle strengthening, sit to stand, gait retraining, tai chi• reduced falls, fewer fallsTruncation and wildcardsUsing truncation will save you time and typing. When you have keywords that are essentially the same because the only difference is the word endings then most databases will provide a truncation symbol which is usually, but not always an asterisk (*).To use the truncation symbol, you take a word back to where the ending will change and replace it with the asterisk. For example if I wanted to find the various endings for the word activity then I would use the stem (activ) and then the asterisk – activ*. The database will then retrieve all words that begin with activ, that is – activity, activities, activate, actively and so on.Another useful way of making your searches more relevant is to use phrase searching. Some databases will automatically look for two or more words as a phrase. For example, in Medline you would type self medication and the database will search for the two words as a phrase. In Scopus, however, you would put double quotes around the phrase e.g. “self medication” to ensure the two words are searched together.For more information take a look at the Save time searching databases with truncation/wildcards and phrases guide.Putting it all togetherPutting it all together simply means coming up with a search statement (what you actually type into the database search box/es). So, if you use the keywords identified above, together with double quotes for phrases, truncation where relevant (you do not need to truncate every word), and combine using AND/OR then you could use the following search statements:“residential aged care facility” OR “nursing home*”AND“bone density conservation agent*” OR” vitamin D supplement*”AND“balance strengthening” OR “muscle strengthening” OR “sit to stand” OR “gait retraining” OR “tai chi”AND“reduced falls” OR “fewer falls”LimitingLimits (also known as refining or delimiters) should be applied after you have run your search. They will:• retrieve fewer but more relevant results• vary in each databaseSome useful limits include:• Publication year/ date range• Language e.g. limit to English only• Peer reviewed• SubjectLimiting to full text is NOT recommended because you limit to the full text found only in the database you are searching – articles that can be found in full text in other databases will not be retrieved. If you do this, you may miss important, relevant articles.Example limitsAge range – older adults, agedDate range – most recent 5 years (or ten years)Language – EnglishSearching databasesYou will sometimes hear or see the words platform or provider. These terms refer to the software interface used by the companies that make the databases available. Some of the platforms currently include: EbscoHost, Ovid and Informit.Databases may be part of a platform or can be stand alone. For example,• Medline and Embase are on the Ovid platform.• Ageline, CINAHL, PsychINFO, and ERIC are all on the EbscoHost platform.• Informit is an Australian platform that contains databases such as Health Collection and Health and Society, among others.• Web of Science Core Collection is on the Web of Science platform.Primary databasesThese databases report original research, for example randomised controlled trials (RCTs), or clinical trials. They may contain some systematic reviews (SRs) and meta-analyses. These are generally very large databases. Some may be discipline specific e.g. Medline, Embase, CINAHL and others are multidisciplinary, for example Scopus, Web of Science.Secondary databasesThese contain syntheses of original research i.e. they gathers, filters, evaluates and critiques literature from the primary databases. These are smaller databases, and usually contain reviews, for example systematic reviews and meta-analyses.Choosing a databaseThere are two ways to find an appropriate database.One is to look at the Database titles list if you know the name of the database you want to use, for example CINAHL– select letter C and then find the name in the list.Alternatively, you can look at the Database subjects list when you don’t know which database to use. Select a subject heading, for example Nursing and then select a database from the list.Some examples are:• discipline specific e.g. MEDLINE• multidisciplinary e.g. Scopus• provide full text journal articles, e.g. ScienceDirect• only give a brief reference and abstract, e.g. Web of ScienceSuggested databases for you to use• Medline (discipline specific/all peer reviewed)• Pubmed* (discipline specific – public version of Medline/not all peer reviewed)• Cinahl (discipline specific/not all peer reviewed)• Joanna Briggs Institute* (discipline specific/all peer reviewed)• Cochrane* (discipline specific/all peer reviewed)• Informit Health databases (discipline specific – and contains Australian material not found anywhere else/not all peer reviewed)• Scopus (multidisciplinary/not all peer reviewed)• Web of Science (multidisciplinary/all peer reviewed)* These databases are available after you leave UniversityMedline databaseAccess is from the Library’s Home page > Databases and journals > Titles list > M > Medline and click on the link via Ovid for UniSA staff and students.You will next see a page that lists all the databases available on OvidSP. Choose Ovid MEDLINE(R) In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations, Ovid MEDLINE(R) Daily and Ovid MEDLINE(R) 1946 to Present.While it is possible to search more than one database at a time, it is not recommended because you reduce the search options available in each database to only those available in all the databases i.e. the lowest common denominator.When the search screen appears, look underneath the search box and untick the option Map Term to Subject Heading.
Enter your search statements for each concept one at a time. For example:
When you combine the results sets for each search statement above with an AND we end up with zero results (see line 5 in the above image).That is because although you want papers that include both your intervention and your comparator, it appears that none of the papers includes both. So you need to adjust the search slightly and first combine your Intervention results (line 2 in the image) with your comparator results (line 3 in the image) and you need to combine them using an OR.
This will retrieve 13948 results which you can now combine with line 1, retrieve a final result set of 134 papers. You will notice that the outcome (line 4) was not included in the final result set – that is because there were only 130 results for that search and you would end up with too few results. The other reason is that the outcome is generally implicit in the results you find and it is not always necessary to actually search for them.LimitsAlways apply any limits after you have finished searching. If you apply limits while you are searching you may eliminate useful results.Two of the most useful limits are English and Humans, you can apply these by ticking the boxes found underneath the search box and clicking search.
Our population is older adults living in a residential aged care facility so you are unlikely to find children in the results sets, but there may be people living there who are not elderly. Also you are required to locate papers that have been published with the last 5 years. Therefore two more limits need to be applied: All Aged (65 and over) and Last 5 years. Click on the Additional Limits button underneath the search box to select them:
We now have a final result set of 34.
Now you need to start looking at the results to see which articles are relevant and which are not. When you are assessing search results always look at the abstract as the title alone will not provide enough information. Ask yourself:• does this article match my search criteria?• does this article match my PICO analysis?• does this article help me answer my research question?If the answer to all the questions is yes, then tick the box next to the record to mark it for printing, saving or export to bibliographic management software.Full textThe full text of a journal article can be found if the Library has access to the journal online. Using the Find it button will facilitate the process.Search historyYou may want to save your search history in case you lose your results and need to re-run your search, or so that you can take the same keywords to another database, thus ensuring that your search is consistent and reproducible.• mark one record• click on Print• select Include>Search History• click on Print PreviewFrom here you can copy and paste your search history into a Word document or print a copy. You can also mark relevant records and then print, save or export them.Evaluating what you findYou’ve found some resources for your assignment, but are they right for you?It is important to evaluate the information you find – before you use it! To learn how to evaluate websites and other resources to decide if they are appropriate view the video You be the judge – learn to evaluateFor more information on how to evaluate web sources, take a look at this page by Robert Harris, 2010 on Evaluating Internet Research ResourcesRemember!• You need to select 5 high quality relevant research papers published with the last 5 years• You should make sure you have references from two databasesYour ability to search, find and evaluate the literature in your discipline is demonstrated by the references you use, so make sure your results are evaluated carefully and that they show the breadth and depth of your research.Writing the paperIn this section we will look at how you can put together all your information and organise it into your written assignment. You have been provided specific instructions about how to organise the sections of the paper and the headings to use. Refer to the assessment instructions again if you are unsure.BackgroundDetails required for this section:• Based upon the health theme you have chosen, state your research question including the Population, Intervention, Comparison and Outcomes (PICO) OR Population, Issue and Outcomes (PIO).• Explain how your research question is important to patient care, nursing practice, professional knowledge or research.Word count for this section: 1000 wordsPurpose of this sectionWhat should the reader know after reading your Background section?After reading this section, the reader should know:• exactly what your research question is (the actual wording);• what the PICO and PIO are for your research question;• why you are doing it (context and background to the topic);• how it is important to patient care, nursing practice, professional knowledge or research; and• what the rest of your paper will cover.Break up the required componentsFirst, you will need to think about how to break up the required components to use the 1000 words required for this section. Think about what you can include to address each component. The following provides a suggestion and questions to help you think about this further:Start with some background/context to your topic• before you describe your research question in detail, it may be useful to provide some background and/or context to the topic• start with the overall general health theme as background and then narrow your focus on the specific area related to your research question• your background might have some focus on why this is an important area to research – remember you will need to go into this in greater detail in this section at some pointState your research question• explain your research question (write the question in full – remember you need to write this as a paragraph so make sure this leads on logically from the background)Provide a description of PICO for your research question• give specific details of the PICO or PIO for your research questionExplain how your research question is important to patient care, nursing practice, professional knowledge or research• in this part you need to make clear why the topic and your research question are important to nursing. In particular, you are asked to focus on the importance in relation to patient care, nursing practice, professional knowledge or research• you need to explain why asking your research question and researching it is useful and important in these areas.Note: Here are a few questions to ask yourself to help you write this part. BUT do not just simply answer them one by one in your introduction – they are just ideas to guide your thinking and understanding):o Why is this topic important to patient care and nursing practice?o Why do we need to ask and find answers to this research question?o What is missing from current literature that led to (you asking) this question?o How will researching this question improve practice, knowledge and/or research in this area?Provide an overview of your assignment• this is where you present a brief overview of the structure of your paper (i.e. what the rest of the paper is going to cover)RememberYour writing needs to flow logically from sentence to sentence and section to section. How you organise your ideas can help your writing flow logically and smoothly. Check the academic writing tips for more information.MethodsInclusion/exclusion criteriaDetails from the assessment instructions:• Develop and describe the inclusion and exclusion criteria relevant to your selected question.• Justify why the inclusion and exclusion criteria you have identified are appropriate (in terms of study design, participants/population, intervention or issue, outcomes).Word count for this section: 800 wordsPurpose of this sectionWhat should the reader know after reading your Methods section?After reading this section, the reader should know:• what your inclusion criteria is;• what your exclusion criteria is; and• why these criteria are appropriate for your research question.Break up the required componentsFirst, you will need to think about how to break up the required components to use the 800 words required for this section. Think about what you can include to address each component. The following provides a suggestion and questions to help you think about this further:Describe the inclusion and exclusion criteria relevant to your selected question• explain what are your inclusion criteria (what are the things that you used to help you choose what you include)• explain what are your exclusion criteria (what are the things that you used to help you choose what you exclude)Justify why these criteria are appropriate• explain why the criteria is suitable for guiding your research• why do the criteria suit or relate to your purpose? e.g. why is a particular study design more relevant for your research? why is a particular population the focus of your research? why is this particular intervention the focus and not another?• why did you exclude certain things? e.g. why did you not include particular types of studies? why did you not include a particular population group?OrganisationThere are a couple of ways to organise this section. Choose what works best for you. See the following suggestions for organisation of ideas:Suggested organisation of ideas 1: Suggested organisation of ideas 2:• Describe inclusion criteria• Describe exclusion criteria• Justify choices of inclusion criteria• Justify choices of exclusion criteria • Describe inclusion criteria• Justify choices of inclusion criteria• Describe exclusion criteria• Justify choices of exclusion criteriaRememberYour writing needs to flow logically from sentence to sentence and section to section. How you organise your ideas can help your writing flow logically and smoothly. Check the academic writing tips for more information.Search strategyDetails from assessment instructions:• Identify and record 2 electronic databases and explain why these databases are relevant to your research topic/question.• From your research question, identify and record key words that you will use in your search of these 2 electronic databases.• Develop and record a simple search strategy relevant to your research question using the keywords in addition to truncation, abbreviations, wildcards and Boolean operators.• Implement the search strategy in the two selected databases and identify and list 5 relevant research articles (using UniSA Harvard referencing) that will enable you to answer your research question.Word count for this section: Total 1000 words equivalentPurpose of this sectionWhat should the reader know after reading your Search strategy section?After reading this section, the reader should know:• what two databases you chose;• why these two databases are relevant to your research question;• what key words you identified as most relevant;• how you used the key words and truncation, abbreviations, wildcards and Boolean operators to create a search strategy (e.g. what the actual search strategy looks like);• how you did the search strategy; and• how you found the 5 relevant articles to answer your research question (e.g. what are the articles and why are they relevant to the question).Break up the required componentsFirst, you will need to think about how to break up the required components to use the 1000 words required for this section. Think about what you can include to address each component. The following provides a suggestion and questions to help you think about this further:Describe the two databases you chose and explain why these are relevant to your research question• what is your reason for choosing these two databases in particular?• why are they the best choice for your research area? (i.e. why didn’t you choose other databases?)Explain your key words• give details of the key words that you used from your research question (include synonyms and variations)Explain how you created the search strategy• give details of what the actual search strategy looks like (write it out in this section)Explain how you did the search strategy and what articles you chose• give details of how you did the actual search in the databases• discuss the results and how you chose the 5 articles (i.e. why did you choose these particular articles? why are they relevant?)RememberThis section is a 1000 word equivalent which means the work that you put into the search strategy and doing the search is actually worth around the same as 1000 words but the word count may appear as less. You still need to make sure that your ideas flow logically within this section even if you are including lists of key words or a list of your search strategy. Consider how to organise the ideas so that the reader can understand what the information is and why you have put it in your paper.Academic writing tipsOrganising your ideas logically and clearlyWhether you write an essay or a report style paper, you will need to write paragraphs which focus on one key idea. This is usually presented at the beginning of the paragraph or section to show the reader what the topic is. A report may have a number of paragraphs within a section (usually under the same heading) but each of the paragraphs in that section should relate to section and should flow logically.The following is a really good resource which can help you if you need further practice on writing cohesive and well-connected paragraphs: http://www.uefap.com/writing/writfram.htmExample of a well written paragraphHere is an example of a well written paragraph which is taken from a longer piece of writing for an essay. You can still see how the paragraph has one topic which it develops throughout with evidence and examples.Check the paragraph writing resource for further help.Academic writing styleWhen you write a formal, academic paper you need to check your writing to make sure you are using academic style. Here are some tips:• Avoid using contractions like ‘don’t’, ‘can’t’ or ‘won’t’ – instead use the complete formal form for academic writing like ‘do not’, ‘cannot’ and ‘will not’.• If you are using numbers, any number below ten is usually written as a word e.g. eight, three. but numbers above 10 you can write as digits e.g. 46, 73. If you want to start your sentence with a number over 10, write it as a word rather than starting with digits.• Try to avoid slang terms such as ‘huge’, ‘fantastic’, ‘awesome’. Rather, use more formal and objective words like ‘large’, ‘significant’ etc• Write in the third person – this means avoid using the word ‘I’. Instead, just make the statement.• Academic writing tends to include more nouns and less verbs – if you want to make your writing more formal and concise try changing verbs to nouns. For example: “When nurses use reflection and think critically they are better able to take part in discussions about a patient ” can be written “With critical reflection nurses are better able to make a contribution to inter-professional discussions about a patient”.Here are more tips on features of academic writing, and using tentative language.ReferencingAcademic writing is based on wide reading of academic sources and you MUST acknowledge the writings and ideas of other people by using a referencing system.The referencing in your assignment shows two things:? the range of ideas and approaches to a topic that you have found and thought about? your acknowledgement of where these ideas came from.Three main rulesEach reference must appear in two places i.e. the Harvard referencing system is a TWO part system:1. shown in the text of your assignment each time it is used (the in-text reference)2. listed once in the reference list at the end of the assignment. This listing has full details so that your reader can find the reference.3. A reference must be included every time you use someone else’s ideas or information. When you:• paraphrase (express someone else’s idea in your own words)• summarise (express someone else’s idea in a reduced form in your own words• quote (express someone else’s idea in their exact words) or• copy (reproduce a diagram, graph or table from someone else’s work).Harvard referencing resources and guidesUse the Harvard referencing system as explained in the UniSA resources. See:• Roadmap to Referencing – an online resource that helps you decide what your source is, and how to reference it according to Harvard-UniSA• UniSA’s guide to the Harvard Author-Date Referencing system• UniSA Referencing website• Use the ‘Referencing Forum’ to post a question or to take part in the discussionReferencing practice exampleUse the Harvard referencing resources and guides above to practice referencing the following source material we found in our library search. Remember that when you look at the referencing details on the catalogue or database the information will not necessarily follow the layout and formatting requirements for Harvard UniSA style, even if you click the ‘cite’ button. You must check your referencing carefully to ensure that it follows the required style.How do you reference the following journal article?
More help – LibraryThree tips1. You need to be an informed consumer of research – look for, and read, the evidence2. Practice – it takes time and skill to search effectively3. Learning doesn’t stop once you graduate – you are a lifelong learnerRemember that Library staff are available to assist you to find information for your assignment.If you need help you can:• visit the Service Desk on any campus• use the Ask the Library phone, email or online chat services• contact the Academic Library Services Team – Division of Health Sciences LBY-Health-DivLibrarians@un
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