,Chapter 1 Making the Case for Evidence-Based
Practice and Cultivating a Spirit of Inquiry
,1. In the hospital where Nurse L. provides care, tradition dictates that oral temperatures be
included in every set of patient vital signs, regardless of patient diagnosis or acuity. This
is most likely an example of which of the following phenomena?
A) The prioritization of internal evidence over external evidence
B) Practice that lacks evidence to support its application
C) The integration of personal expertise into nursing care
D) Evidence-based practice
2. The clinical nurse educator (CNE) on a postsurgical unit has recently completed a
patient chart review after the implementation of a pilot program aimed at promoting
early ambulation following surgery. Which of the following components of EBP is the
nurse putting into practice?
A) Patient preferences
B) Research utilization
C) Experience
D) Internal evidence
3. Nurse R. has observed that reorienting demented patients as frequently as possible tends
to minimize the patients' level of agitation in the evening. The nurse has shared this
observation with a colleague, who is skeptical, stating that, “It's best to stick to
evidence-based practice.” How can Nurse R. best respond?
A) “EBP can include clinicians' personal expertise.”
B) “Personal experience is often more sound than formal evidence-based practice.”
C) “Traditional practice and EBP are usually shown to be the same.”
D) “My years of experience can be just as valuable as any literature review or
randomized trial.”
4. Which of the following factors provides the most important rationale for the consistent
implementation of EBP?
A) EBP provides for the most cost-effective patient care.
B) EBP is accessible to all healthcare clinicians.
C) EBP provides consistency in care across healthcare settings.
D) EBP improves patient outcomes.
Page 1
, 5. The Institute of Medicine's Roundtable on Evidence-Based Medicine has been
established to address EBP. Which of the following issues is the Roundtable
emphasizing?
A) Ensuring that external evidence, rather than internal evidence, is integrated into
care
B) Fostering the level of learning that exists in the American healthcare system
C) Issuing clinical guidelines to ensure best nursing practice
D) Comparing the implementation of EBP in the United States with that of other
Western countries
6. You have become frustrated with some aspects of patient care that you believe are
outdated and ineffective at the long-term care facility where you have recently begun
practicing. Consequently, you have resolved to examine some of these practices in light
of evidence. Which of the following should occur first in the steps of EBP?
A) Conducting an electronic search of the literature and ranking individual sources
B) Creating “buy-in” from the other clinicians who provide care at the facility
C) Developing an inquisitive and curious mindset
D) Assessing whether the practices in question may, in fact, be evidence-based
7. Which of the following clinical questions best exemplifies the PICOT format?
A) What effect does parents' smoking have on the smoking habits of their children,
ages 13 to 16?
B) Among cancer patients, what role does meditation, rather than benzodiazepines,
have on anxiety levels during the 7 days following hospital admission?
C) Among undergraduate college students, what is the effectiveness of a sexual health
campaign undertaken during the first 4 weeks of the fall semester as measured by
incidence of new gonorrheal and chlamydial infections reported to the campus
medical center?
D) In patients aged 8 to 12, is the effectiveness of a pain scale using faces superior to a
numeric rating scale in the emergency room context?
8. After formulating a clinical question, a nurse has proceeded to search for evidence for
ways to foster restful sleep in patients who are receiving care in the intensive care unit
(ICU). The nurse has identified a relevant meta-analysis in an electronic database. What
will this source of evidence consist of?
A) A statistical summary of the results from several different studies
B) An examination of the theoretical and conceptual underpinnings of the issue
C) An interdisciplinary analysis of the clinical question
D) A qualitative study of different interventions related to the clinical question
Page j2
Practice and Cultivating a Spirit of Inquiry
,1. In the hospital where Nurse L. provides care, tradition dictates that oral temperatures be
included in every set of patient vital signs, regardless of patient diagnosis or acuity. This
is most likely an example of which of the following phenomena?
A) The prioritization of internal evidence over external evidence
B) Practice that lacks evidence to support its application
C) The integration of personal expertise into nursing care
D) Evidence-based practice
2. The clinical nurse educator (CNE) on a postsurgical unit has recently completed a
patient chart review after the implementation of a pilot program aimed at promoting
early ambulation following surgery. Which of the following components of EBP is the
nurse putting into practice?
A) Patient preferences
B) Research utilization
C) Experience
D) Internal evidence
3. Nurse R. has observed that reorienting demented patients as frequently as possible tends
to minimize the patients' level of agitation in the evening. The nurse has shared this
observation with a colleague, who is skeptical, stating that, “It's best to stick to
evidence-based practice.” How can Nurse R. best respond?
A) “EBP can include clinicians' personal expertise.”
B) “Personal experience is often more sound than formal evidence-based practice.”
C) “Traditional practice and EBP are usually shown to be the same.”
D) “My years of experience can be just as valuable as any literature review or
randomized trial.”
4. Which of the following factors provides the most important rationale for the consistent
implementation of EBP?
A) EBP provides for the most cost-effective patient care.
B) EBP is accessible to all healthcare clinicians.
C) EBP provides consistency in care across healthcare settings.
D) EBP improves patient outcomes.
Page 1
, 5. The Institute of Medicine's Roundtable on Evidence-Based Medicine has been
established to address EBP. Which of the following issues is the Roundtable
emphasizing?
A) Ensuring that external evidence, rather than internal evidence, is integrated into
care
B) Fostering the level of learning that exists in the American healthcare system
C) Issuing clinical guidelines to ensure best nursing practice
D) Comparing the implementation of EBP in the United States with that of other
Western countries
6. You have become frustrated with some aspects of patient care that you believe are
outdated and ineffective at the long-term care facility where you have recently begun
practicing. Consequently, you have resolved to examine some of these practices in light
of evidence. Which of the following should occur first in the steps of EBP?
A) Conducting an electronic search of the literature and ranking individual sources
B) Creating “buy-in” from the other clinicians who provide care at the facility
C) Developing an inquisitive and curious mindset
D) Assessing whether the practices in question may, in fact, be evidence-based
7. Which of the following clinical questions best exemplifies the PICOT format?
A) What effect does parents' smoking have on the smoking habits of their children,
ages 13 to 16?
B) Among cancer patients, what role does meditation, rather than benzodiazepines,
have on anxiety levels during the 7 days following hospital admission?
C) Among undergraduate college students, what is the effectiveness of a sexual health
campaign undertaken during the first 4 weeks of the fall semester as measured by
incidence of new gonorrheal and chlamydial infections reported to the campus
medical center?
D) In patients aged 8 to 12, is the effectiveness of a pain scale using faces superior to a
numeric rating scale in the emergency room context?
8. After formulating a clinical question, a nurse has proceeded to search for evidence for
ways to foster restful sleep in patients who are receiving care in the intensive care unit
(ICU). The nurse has identified a relevant meta-analysis in an electronic database. What
will this source of evidence consist of?
A) A statistical summary of the results from several different studies
B) An examination of the theoretical and conceptual underpinnings of the issue
C) An interdisciplinary analysis of the clinical question
D) A qualitative study of different interventions related to the clinical question
Page j2
