Topic 1 DQ 2
Assessment Description
The first step of the evidence-based practice process is to evaluate a nursing practice
environment to identify a nursing problem in the clinical area. When a nursing problem is
discovered, the nurse researcher develops a clinical guiding question to address that nursing
practice problem.
For this discussion question, you will create a clinical guiding question known as a PICOT
question. The PICOT question must be relevant to a nursing practice problem (coordination of
health care, assessment, education, patient support, trauma prevention, recovery, health
screenings, etc.).
After reviewing the relevant topic materials:
1. Select a nursing practice problem of interest.
2. Develop a PICOT question using the template and example provided below.
3. Identify two articles, one qualitative and one quantitative, related to the problem of
interest. Provide an APA-formatted reference for each article, and explain how each
relates to your PICOT question. Be sure to identify which article is qualitative and which
article is quantitative. These articles may be used in this week's assignment.
PICOT question intervention format:
In ______ (Population), how does ______ (Intervention) compared to ______ (Comparison)
______ affect (Outcome) within ______ (Time, optional)?
, Nursing practice problem: The influence of short staffing of nurses on patient safety outcomes
and care quality is the identified nursing practice problem in this topic. Low staffing of nurses
has a substantial influence in the health care context, where too few nurses and too many patients
can burden the nursing staff beyond the usual, resulting in an increase in falls, a greater rate of
infection, and nurse errors. This fail-safe can fail when nurses are fatigued after another short-
staffed shift, and medical blunders can be deadly. As a result, when there is a severe shortage of
nurses, it can lead to longer lengths of stay, patient discontent, greater readmissions, and more
adverse events - all of which can lower quality and hurt the bottom line. Using a systematic
analysis of peer-reviewed research publications, this PICOT question, and literature study will
analyze the influence of short staffing of nurses on the future risk of patient safety and quality of
care.
PICOT Question: Does using proper staffing or reducing the number of patients on assignments
(I) lessen the future risk of patient safety and quality of care (O) when compared to having fewer
staff with a more excellent nurse-to-patient ratio (C) for short-staffing of nurses (P)?
For the PICOT question, I used PubMed as a database to look for evidence-based studies. When
scanning the databases, the following search phrases were used:
nurse
staffing
patient safety
Alternate terms utilized were:
patient risk
nurse-patient ratio
staffing pattern
The evidence-based studies that resulted from the search are as follows:
PubMed:
Association of Nurse Engagement and Nurse Staffing on Patient Safety
Authors: J Margo Brooks Carthon, Linda Hatfield, Colin Plover, Andrew Dierkes, Lawrence
Davis, Taylor Hedgeland, Anne Marie Sanders, Frank Visco, Sara Holland, Jim Ballinghoff,
Mary Del Guidice, Linda H Aiken
Purpose: The association between level of involvement, staffing, and patient safety assessments
among nurses working in hospital settings was investigated.
Assessment Description
The first step of the evidence-based practice process is to evaluate a nursing practice
environment to identify a nursing problem in the clinical area. When a nursing problem is
discovered, the nurse researcher develops a clinical guiding question to address that nursing
practice problem.
For this discussion question, you will create a clinical guiding question known as a PICOT
question. The PICOT question must be relevant to a nursing practice problem (coordination of
health care, assessment, education, patient support, trauma prevention, recovery, health
screenings, etc.).
After reviewing the relevant topic materials:
1. Select a nursing practice problem of interest.
2. Develop a PICOT question using the template and example provided below.
3. Identify two articles, one qualitative and one quantitative, related to the problem of
interest. Provide an APA-formatted reference for each article, and explain how each
relates to your PICOT question. Be sure to identify which article is qualitative and which
article is quantitative. These articles may be used in this week's assignment.
PICOT question intervention format:
In ______ (Population), how does ______ (Intervention) compared to ______ (Comparison)
______ affect (Outcome) within ______ (Time, optional)?
, Nursing practice problem: The influence of short staffing of nurses on patient safety outcomes
and care quality is the identified nursing practice problem in this topic. Low staffing of nurses
has a substantial influence in the health care context, where too few nurses and too many patients
can burden the nursing staff beyond the usual, resulting in an increase in falls, a greater rate of
infection, and nurse errors. This fail-safe can fail when nurses are fatigued after another short-
staffed shift, and medical blunders can be deadly. As a result, when there is a severe shortage of
nurses, it can lead to longer lengths of stay, patient discontent, greater readmissions, and more
adverse events - all of which can lower quality and hurt the bottom line. Using a systematic
analysis of peer-reviewed research publications, this PICOT question, and literature study will
analyze the influence of short staffing of nurses on the future risk of patient safety and quality of
care.
PICOT Question: Does using proper staffing or reducing the number of patients on assignments
(I) lessen the future risk of patient safety and quality of care (O) when compared to having fewer
staff with a more excellent nurse-to-patient ratio (C) for short-staffing of nurses (P)?
For the PICOT question, I used PubMed as a database to look for evidence-based studies. When
scanning the databases, the following search phrases were used:
nurse
staffing
patient safety
Alternate terms utilized were:
patient risk
nurse-patient ratio
staffing pattern
The evidence-based studies that resulted from the search are as follows:
PubMed:
Association of Nurse Engagement and Nurse Staffing on Patient Safety
Authors: J Margo Brooks Carthon, Linda Hatfield, Colin Plover, Andrew Dierkes, Lawrence
Davis, Taylor Hedgeland, Anne Marie Sanders, Frank Visco, Sara Holland, Jim Ballinghoff,
Mary Del Guidice, Linda H Aiken
Purpose: The association between level of involvement, staffing, and patient safety assessments
among nurses working in hospital settings was investigated.
