N580 MIDTERM QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS | N580 STUDY GUIDE &
PRACTICE TEST 2026/2027
nurses on the cutting edge - correct answer ✔✔promote improvement in patient outcomes
accomplish this through: research, EBP, and QI
nurses achieve personal growth through and expand clinical decision-making skills through... - correct
answer ✔✔development of clinical questions
literature reviews
evaluation of evidence in literature
application of "best available evidence" in your practice
nurses as knowledgeable consumers - correct answer ✔✔nurses must be knowledgeable consumers of
research who can evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of research evidence and use existing
standards to determine the merit and readiness of research for use in clinical practice
to use research for an EBP and to practice using the highest quality processes, you do not have to
conduct research; however, you do need to understand and appraise the steps of the research process in
order to read the research literature critically and use it to inform clinical decisions
research definition - correct answer ✔✔a systematic investigation, including research development,
testing and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge
quantitative and qualitative research
studies are guided by research questions
nurses employ the same methods used by other disciplines yet study questions are relevant to nursing
practice
quantitative vs. qualititative research - correct answer ✔✔quantitative: encompasses the study of
research questions and/or hypotheses that describe phenomena, test relationships, assess differences,
seek to explain cause-and-effect relationships between variables, and test for intervention
effectiveness--numeric data are summarized and analyzed using statistics--techniques are systematic and
methodology is controlled
qualititative: question is about understanding the meaning of a human experience such as grief, hope, or
loss--meaning of an experience is based on the view that meaning varies and is subjective--context of
experience also plays a role--generally conducted in natural settings and uses data that are words or text
rather than numeric to describe the experiences being studied--guided by research questions and data
are collected from a small number of subjects, allowing an in-depth study of a phenomenon--subjective
approach but systematic in its method
QI definition - correct answer ✔✔systematic use of data to monitor the outcomes of care processes and
improvement methods to design and test changes to continuously improve the quality and safety of
health care systems
uses currently available knowledge to improve health care delivery within the local setting
QI elements - correct answer ✔✔1. conducting an assessment
2. setting specific goals for improvement
,3. identifying ideas for changing current practice
4. deciding how improvements in care are measured
5. rapidly testing practice changes
6. measuring improvements in care
7. adopting practice change as new standard of care
want to create measurable change across quality domains through application of these 7 steps, often
through the plan, do, study, act model
research vs. QI - correct answer ✔✔research studies generate new knowledge that is generalizable to
other populations and settings
QI projects use currently available knowledge to improve health care delivery within the local setting
IRB should have a written policy and template for determining the difference between humans subjects
research and QI
research and EBP - correct answer ✔✔best research evidence, clinical expertise, and patient values all
come together in EBP (see Venn diagram)
EBP allows one to systematically use the best available evidence from research with the integration of
individual clinical expertise as well as the patient's values and preferences to make clinical decisions
developing EBP expertise - correct answer ✔✔conduct effective literature reviews
develop critical reading skill process
1. preliminary: skimming article abstracts, title
2. comprehensive: understanding the purpose of the study
3. analysis: examining the study components
4. synthesis: assessing the study's validity
levels of evidence - correct answer ✔✔see pyramid
Level I: systematic review or meta-analysis of RCTs, evidence-based clinical practice guidelines based on
systematic reviews
Level II: well-designed RCT
Level III: controlled trial without randomization (quasi-experimental study)
Level IV: nonexperimental study (case-control, cohort studies)
Level V: systematic reviews of descriptive and qualitative studies (metasynthesis)
Level VI: qualitative studies or descriptive studies
Level VII: opinion of experts and authorities, expert committee reports or organizations, not based on
research
EBP steps - correct answer ✔✔ask
gather evidence
assess, appraise, synthesize literature
act
evaluate
research article format - correct answer ✔✔abstract
intro or background section: literature review, theoretical framework, hypothesis and/or research
question, purpose statement
methods: research design, sampling, instruments, data collection, data analysis plan
results
,discussion (ties everything together): recommendations and implications
references
research journal article - correct answer ✔✔qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods
systematic review - correct answer ✔✔summation and assessment of group of studies that test a similar
research question
meta-analysis - correct answer ✔✔summary of a number of studies focused on one question or topic,
and uses a specific statistical methodology to synthesize the findings in order to draw conclusions about
the area of focus--systematic review that uses statistical techniques to summarize and assess studies
integrative review - correct answer ✔✔focused review and synthesis of research or theoretical literature
in a particular focus area, and includes specific steps of literature integration and synthesis without
statistical analysis; can include both quantitative and qualitative articles (sometimes used
interchangeably with systematic review)
meta-synthesis/meta-summary - correct answer ✔✔synthesis of a number of qualitative research
studies on a focused topic using specific qualitative methodology
clinical guidelines - correct answer ✔✔evidence-based guidelines are those developed using research
findings
consensus or expert-based guidelines are developed by expert panels
guidelines have been developed to assist in bridging practice and research
provide clinicians with an algorithm for clinical management, or decision making, for specific diseases
(e.g., colon cancer) or treatments (e.g., pain management)
NIH strategic plan - correct answer ✔✔1. symptom science: promoting personalized health strategies
2. wellness: promoting health and preventing disease
3. self-management: improving QOL for individuals with chronic illness
4. end of life and palliative care: science of compassion
integrate behavioral and biological sciences
cross-cutting areas are vital to the advancement of nursing science
1. promoting innovation: technology to improve health
2. 21st century nurse scientists: innovative strategies for research careers
PICO question - correct answer ✔✔problem/patient population
intervention
comparison
outcome
nursing research is significant to the profession of nursing because it promotes... - correct answer
✔✔generation of a specialized body of nursing knowledge for use in nursing practice
action that demonstrates the role of a knowledgable consumer of nursing research - correct answer
✔✔evaluating the credibility of research findings
, primary value of evidence-based practice in nursing - correct answer ✔✔incorporating research findings
with clinical expertise when individualizing patient care
the research question and study purpose are located in the... - correct answer ✔✔introduction
critical step for the QI process in health care settings - correct answer ✔✔adopting a practice change as
a new standard of care
the review of literature is important to the research process because... - correct answer ✔✔it guides all
steps of the research process
most relevant and frequently used source of nursing literature - correct answer ✔✔CINAHL
how far back should a literature search for an academic paper or project go? - correct answer ✔✔3-5
years
website that is an important source for clinical evidence but limited as a provider of primary documents
for literature reviews - correct answer ✔✔Cochrane Library (see pp. 52 & 56 for tables)
where do research problems come from? - correct answer ✔✔direct clinical experience
critical appraisal from the scientific literature
theories and conceptual models
direct clinical experience - correct answer ✔✔day-to-day interactions lead to questions: do patients
being discharged from a hospital have special learning needs?
literature search is needed to help you find out what has been done, and to refine or focus in on the
specific problem you will address
critical appraisal from the scientific literature - correct answer ✔✔literature can serve as a starting point
a reader may begin to question practices or findings because of flaws in logic or methodology, due to
personal anecdotal experience or the source of the study
you may find conflicting findings in literature or identify gaps in literature
previous studies may have recommended replication or extension/refinement of a study
theories and conceptual models - correct answer ✔✔theory: provides explanation of how certain
concepts or abstract ideas are related to each other and serves as a basis for explaining events or
predicting future events
conceptual model: not in itself testable, but rather focuses attention on certain concepts and their
relationships, and places these within a context of the discipline
normally need many theories to explain a conceptual model
defining the problem area - correct answer ✔✔start with broad area of interest
ask what about this topic specifically interests me, what is it I really want to know
continue to ask yourself these questions until you have focused your thoughts into a specific statement
that you can write out
PRACTICE TEST 2026/2027
nurses on the cutting edge - correct answer ✔✔promote improvement in patient outcomes
accomplish this through: research, EBP, and QI
nurses achieve personal growth through and expand clinical decision-making skills through... - correct
answer ✔✔development of clinical questions
literature reviews
evaluation of evidence in literature
application of "best available evidence" in your practice
nurses as knowledgeable consumers - correct answer ✔✔nurses must be knowledgeable consumers of
research who can evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of research evidence and use existing
standards to determine the merit and readiness of research for use in clinical practice
to use research for an EBP and to practice using the highest quality processes, you do not have to
conduct research; however, you do need to understand and appraise the steps of the research process in
order to read the research literature critically and use it to inform clinical decisions
research definition - correct answer ✔✔a systematic investigation, including research development,
testing and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge
quantitative and qualitative research
studies are guided by research questions
nurses employ the same methods used by other disciplines yet study questions are relevant to nursing
practice
quantitative vs. qualititative research - correct answer ✔✔quantitative: encompasses the study of
research questions and/or hypotheses that describe phenomena, test relationships, assess differences,
seek to explain cause-and-effect relationships between variables, and test for intervention
effectiveness--numeric data are summarized and analyzed using statistics--techniques are systematic and
methodology is controlled
qualititative: question is about understanding the meaning of a human experience such as grief, hope, or
loss--meaning of an experience is based on the view that meaning varies and is subjective--context of
experience also plays a role--generally conducted in natural settings and uses data that are words or text
rather than numeric to describe the experiences being studied--guided by research questions and data
are collected from a small number of subjects, allowing an in-depth study of a phenomenon--subjective
approach but systematic in its method
QI definition - correct answer ✔✔systematic use of data to monitor the outcomes of care processes and
improvement methods to design and test changes to continuously improve the quality and safety of
health care systems
uses currently available knowledge to improve health care delivery within the local setting
QI elements - correct answer ✔✔1. conducting an assessment
2. setting specific goals for improvement
,3. identifying ideas for changing current practice
4. deciding how improvements in care are measured
5. rapidly testing practice changes
6. measuring improvements in care
7. adopting practice change as new standard of care
want to create measurable change across quality domains through application of these 7 steps, often
through the plan, do, study, act model
research vs. QI - correct answer ✔✔research studies generate new knowledge that is generalizable to
other populations and settings
QI projects use currently available knowledge to improve health care delivery within the local setting
IRB should have a written policy and template for determining the difference between humans subjects
research and QI
research and EBP - correct answer ✔✔best research evidence, clinical expertise, and patient values all
come together in EBP (see Venn diagram)
EBP allows one to systematically use the best available evidence from research with the integration of
individual clinical expertise as well as the patient's values and preferences to make clinical decisions
developing EBP expertise - correct answer ✔✔conduct effective literature reviews
develop critical reading skill process
1. preliminary: skimming article abstracts, title
2. comprehensive: understanding the purpose of the study
3. analysis: examining the study components
4. synthesis: assessing the study's validity
levels of evidence - correct answer ✔✔see pyramid
Level I: systematic review or meta-analysis of RCTs, evidence-based clinical practice guidelines based on
systematic reviews
Level II: well-designed RCT
Level III: controlled trial without randomization (quasi-experimental study)
Level IV: nonexperimental study (case-control, cohort studies)
Level V: systematic reviews of descriptive and qualitative studies (metasynthesis)
Level VI: qualitative studies or descriptive studies
Level VII: opinion of experts and authorities, expert committee reports or organizations, not based on
research
EBP steps - correct answer ✔✔ask
gather evidence
assess, appraise, synthesize literature
act
evaluate
research article format - correct answer ✔✔abstract
intro or background section: literature review, theoretical framework, hypothesis and/or research
question, purpose statement
methods: research design, sampling, instruments, data collection, data analysis plan
results
,discussion (ties everything together): recommendations and implications
references
research journal article - correct answer ✔✔qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods
systematic review - correct answer ✔✔summation and assessment of group of studies that test a similar
research question
meta-analysis - correct answer ✔✔summary of a number of studies focused on one question or topic,
and uses a specific statistical methodology to synthesize the findings in order to draw conclusions about
the area of focus--systematic review that uses statistical techniques to summarize and assess studies
integrative review - correct answer ✔✔focused review and synthesis of research or theoretical literature
in a particular focus area, and includes specific steps of literature integration and synthesis without
statistical analysis; can include both quantitative and qualitative articles (sometimes used
interchangeably with systematic review)
meta-synthesis/meta-summary - correct answer ✔✔synthesis of a number of qualitative research
studies on a focused topic using specific qualitative methodology
clinical guidelines - correct answer ✔✔evidence-based guidelines are those developed using research
findings
consensus or expert-based guidelines are developed by expert panels
guidelines have been developed to assist in bridging practice and research
provide clinicians with an algorithm for clinical management, or decision making, for specific diseases
(e.g., colon cancer) or treatments (e.g., pain management)
NIH strategic plan - correct answer ✔✔1. symptom science: promoting personalized health strategies
2. wellness: promoting health and preventing disease
3. self-management: improving QOL for individuals with chronic illness
4. end of life and palliative care: science of compassion
integrate behavioral and biological sciences
cross-cutting areas are vital to the advancement of nursing science
1. promoting innovation: technology to improve health
2. 21st century nurse scientists: innovative strategies for research careers
PICO question - correct answer ✔✔problem/patient population
intervention
comparison
outcome
nursing research is significant to the profession of nursing because it promotes... - correct answer
✔✔generation of a specialized body of nursing knowledge for use in nursing practice
action that demonstrates the role of a knowledgable consumer of nursing research - correct answer
✔✔evaluating the credibility of research findings
, primary value of evidence-based practice in nursing - correct answer ✔✔incorporating research findings
with clinical expertise when individualizing patient care
the research question and study purpose are located in the... - correct answer ✔✔introduction
critical step for the QI process in health care settings - correct answer ✔✔adopting a practice change as
a new standard of care
the review of literature is important to the research process because... - correct answer ✔✔it guides all
steps of the research process
most relevant and frequently used source of nursing literature - correct answer ✔✔CINAHL
how far back should a literature search for an academic paper or project go? - correct answer ✔✔3-5
years
website that is an important source for clinical evidence but limited as a provider of primary documents
for literature reviews - correct answer ✔✔Cochrane Library (see pp. 52 & 56 for tables)
where do research problems come from? - correct answer ✔✔direct clinical experience
critical appraisal from the scientific literature
theories and conceptual models
direct clinical experience - correct answer ✔✔day-to-day interactions lead to questions: do patients
being discharged from a hospital have special learning needs?
literature search is needed to help you find out what has been done, and to refine or focus in on the
specific problem you will address
critical appraisal from the scientific literature - correct answer ✔✔literature can serve as a starting point
a reader may begin to question practices or findings because of flaws in logic or methodology, due to
personal anecdotal experience or the source of the study
you may find conflicting findings in literature or identify gaps in literature
previous studies may have recommended replication or extension/refinement of a study
theories and conceptual models - correct answer ✔✔theory: provides explanation of how certain
concepts or abstract ideas are related to each other and serves as a basis for explaining events or
predicting future events
conceptual model: not in itself testable, but rather focuses attention on certain concepts and their
relationships, and places these within a context of the discipline
normally need many theories to explain a conceptual model
defining the problem area - correct answer ✔✔start with broad area of interest
ask what about this topic specifically interests me, what is it I really want to know
continue to ask yourself these questions until you have focused your thoughts into a specific statement
that you can write out
