Step 1 Introduction:

Open up a Word Document and write directly into the word document. Remember you need to save on your computer and another reliable drive or computer. You don’t want to lose your work, so save often and to 2 different places….ALWAYS!

Write an introduction to the discussion. A good, solid introduction will grab the reader’s attention by stating interesting facts, statistics or points about your topic. Then you should conclude this introductory paragraph by including one, concise thesis or purpose statement. The thesis tells the reader why you are writing the discussion. The entire paragraph should be about 3-5 sentences. Keep in mind that paragraphs should include a topic sentence, 2-3 support sentences (min.) and a concluding statement (thesis sentence).  Review APA manual 7th edition section 3.4 for details.

Step 2 Concepts:

Use a proper heading with this section, then begin your 2nd paragraph. You can look at APA p. 47-49 for the proper level of headings. In this section you need to differentiate among research, evidence-based practice (EBP) and quality improvement (QI). When you differentiate between these concepts, they should explain why they are similar (if applicable) or different and should include more than just definitions. In fact, you should be paraphrasing what you review in the textbooks about these concepts and describe how they are applied in nursing. This section is not long  so no more than 1-2 paragraphs is needed. Textbooks are a great resource here.

Step 3 Database Search:

You are ready to do a preliminary search of a topic. This topic search does NOT have to be the same as the POI you choose for the remainder of the course. The point of this exercise is for you to see how searching the same topic in different databases yields different results AND how MeSH terms, filters, etc. can be applied to narrow your searches. Therefore to execute a true comparison, the same search terms and limiters should be used for both databases.

(Suggestion only:  I would use a topic related to the example in step 3 if you are not sure what to search, but you are not limited to searching the same topic from step 3). You may also use the document below to discover a topic by reviewing: What is a Phenomenon of Interest.pdf Record your findings in the format (table) below.

Use this information to help you format the table:

Write your paper and copy and paste it in the discussion.  If the table format is not correct, you may fix it in the discussion, but you may have to copy and paste the table separately by Go to the toolbar look for the three dots… you will see an option to add a table. Insert the table and make sure the content is there. 

If you are still having issues.  Click on the three dots and chose the fourth option, the piece of paper and you have an upload option.

You need to end up with a reasonable number of articles. Think about it this way: if I searched pediatric asthma as a general topic and ended up with 1500 articles, there is no way that is considered reasonable, but if I ended up after using filters, such as: years of publication dates, ages of the patient, in hospital, I might end up with 87 articles which would be more reasonable to sift through. I would apply these same strategies to the database and see what happens. Remember you are posting the results of these terms, hits, MeSH, and results in the designated table.

Set up a table in your discussion like this to help you stay organized; it is fine for this section to be in a table and not in a paragraph format. 

Database

Search Terms

USE THE SAME SEARCH TERMS FOR BOTH DATABASES (to compare the differences)

Filters, MeSH terms, Boolean operators, etc.

USE THE SAME LIMITERS for BOTH DATABASES (to compare the differences) 

Results

Example: 

CINAHL

Asthma

Pediatrics

Treatments

Meta-analysis 

551

305

121

Step 4 Implementation Considerations

Before ever making changes into practice you must always consider whether or not the facility, stakeholders, culture, will allow you, if it is financially reasonable, is technology already in existence, etc. If you do not consider how these factors impact your practice and just start making changes, you might end up with a project that never gets lifted off the ground. Consider the following in regards to either your specific unit or organization OR just in general on what would be needed or how it would be impacted by a project:

-culture of the unit, facility or organization (think about how progressive your unit and culture is, how do you assess for culture?)

-Leadership/Stakeholders/Change Champions (who are these individuals, how are decisions made, who has authority, what is the role of others in the unit, consider the Organizational Chart)

-Communication channels (how do ideas and policy changes get communicated, is communication open, closed, etc.)

-Resources: financial, technology, human, etc. (is the facility still using pen/paper charting, electronic records, etc. who makes up the staff, is there money to buy technology?)

-Evaluation and Feedback mechanisms (when changes have occurred in the past, how do you know if they are successful, do they post openly on social media, in the organization, is information hidden, only done by certain people, and how would you obtain feedback, what would you need to evaluate for success?)

Step 5 EBP  & QI Models:

Next, start a new paragraph and compare and contrast a Quality Impovement (QI) model to an EBP models. The overall goal is to decide which is a better fit as you compare each of them. It may even be helpful to look at 2 of each to see similarities and differences among them. Remember when you compare and contrast you are looking for similarities and differences and explaining those to the reader. Simply outlining the models is not enough here. Consider: methods of the model, how your topic, patients, facility, team would fit into the model when viewing the steps, etc.

Once you have done a thorough comparison of the models you should be able to determine which would be a better fit. For some of you that might be specific to your topic you might want to focus on or the facility itself or based on the search using the databases in step 4.   There are many models for you to choose from, below are some links to just a few, but you may choose your own EBP model that you find in texts or other resources. 

Below is an example of some models: (permission to use these models for teaching purposes has been obtained)

EBP models

Johns Hopkins Evidence Based Practice Model download

Star Model of Knowledge Transformationdownload

QI models

Plan, Do, Study, Act Model (Links to an external site.)

FADE Model (Links to an external site.)

Step. 6 Conclusion:

Include a heading and write your conclusion. A good conclusion:

-never introduces new info.

-summarizes what was learned/discussed and does not simply state what you did or re-state only the purpose statement

-citations are not expected in this section

Step 7: Turnitin:

Submit your initial post ONLY to Turnitin. You do not have to submit this report anywhere; faculty will review the reports directly in Turnitin. You do NOT have to submit the cross or peer posts to Turnitin. Rather than focus on the percentage of similarity, review what was highlighted and change anything that can and should be changed. There is some wording that can’t be changed, i.e. quality of life, American Academy of Pediatrics, Institute of Medicine Aims, so don’t worry about those. Focus on changing the areas of similarity that you can change and re-submit the paper.