Week 5: Using Evidence-Based Practice to Improve Patient Care (graded)

Week 5: Using Evidence-Based Practice to Improve Patient Care (graded) This week's graded topics relate to the following Course Outcomes (COs). • CO1: Propose individualized comprehensive care by integrating theories and principles of nursing and related disciplines when planning comprehensive patient-centered care. (PO1) • CO8: Discuss the role of evidence-based practice in the provision of professional nursing care. (PO8) Select a challenging nursing care issue (examples include falls, medication errors, pressure ulcers, and other clinical issues that can be improved by evidence in nursing). Do not select a medical issue (disease, medical treatment). Do not select a workforce issue (staffing, call-offs, nurse to patient ratios). Explain the following for the selected clinical issue. • State the issue. • Explain the process you would use to search CINAHL for evidence. Include your search terms. Professor and Classmates, Evidence-based practice, or EBP, is defined as “a systematic process that employs current evidence to make decisions about patient care” (Ackley, 2015). Throughout the history of nursing, research has played a critical role in promoting and improving quality care that provided to the patients. Majority of the procedures and policies implemented or placed in healthcare settings are backed up by EBP as it provides “solid, sound, scientific foundation” for healthcare practice, improves patient outcomes and overall job satisfaction (Hood, 2018). Working in a critical care setting, majority of our patients require accurate measurements of intake and output and therefore intubated, sedated, and immobile patients need indwelling Foley catheter. Presence of an indwelling Foley catheter places the patient at higher risk for Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection or CAUTI. I am choosing this issue because CAUTI has the potential to greatly affect patient’s morbidity and be fatal. The best approach to this, just like any others, is prevention. According to JACHO, CMS will not reimburse hospitals for CAUTI’s because they believe it can be prevented by implementing evidence-based literature (Woten et al, 2018). Some interventions that can be implemented includes discontinuation of the catheter as soon as possible, utilization of products such as Foley catheter wipes, continuous monitoring and assessment of urine characteristics, and, if possible, avoidance of Foley catheter insertion. EBP guides nurses to provide excellent patient care and achieve the best patient outcome. To utilize the CINAHL research engine, I would type in “pressure ulcer” AND “critical care” AND “prevention” AND “evidence based practice” to get the most relevant result. Once entered, I would then limit the results to Full Text so that I can make sure I get results with the actual literature, and also limit the publication date within the last 5 years to get the most recent evidence-based practice. References Ackley, B. (2015). In Understanding Medical Surgical Nursing, 5th ed (pp. 12–18). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: F.A. Davis Company. Retrieved from Hood, L. (2018). Leddy & Pepper’s Professional Nursing (9th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer Woten, M. R. B., & Mennella, H. D. A.-B. (2018). National Patient Safety Goals (The Joint Commission, 2017): Using Evidence-Based Practices to Prevent Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections. CINAHL Nursing Guide. Retrieved from