- Step 0: Cultivate a spirit of inquiry – choosing a topic
- Initially, for my group, it was rather difficult for us to come up with a topic since we have slightly different interests within the medical field. Emily and I both want to focus on infants and children, while Hanna is more interested in critical care and ER. With this in mind, we began to think and research a topic surrounding infants and newborns that also related to critical care. With this criteria we came across the topic of neonatal abstinence syndrome. Once we had found this topic and began our research, we found that we were all interested in it and that it was a good topic to focus on for the EBP project.
- Step 1: Ask the burning clinical question in PICOT format
- This was a process that my group really struggled with even though we knew what our topic was and what we wanted to focus on. The struggle came with making sure our question wasn’t predictive and that it was more specific and less broad. Our initial question was, “What is the relationship between the recovery of babies born with NAS that stay with their mother after birth and those who are separated from their mothers? ” After submitting this we got feedback that we needed to be less predictive. From there with feedback from our professor and collaboration among the team, we edited our question and made it, “In newborns with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), what is the impact of rooming-in on the length of hospital stay and pharmacotherapy?” At first, I thought coming up with a PICOT question would be the easiest part of this whole process since I understood what was needed and all the parts. That being said, once I had done some research, I found it hard to format a non-predictive question since I had already found sources that leaned the one direction.
- Step 2: Search for and collect the most relevant evidence – finding articles
- Once we had found our topic and received the lessons from the librarians on how to find articles, we began our search. We had a hard time finding articles that supported our topic of rooming-in since it seemed that many of them were out of date or did not fit the requirements of what we needed for this paper. Once we had gone through the initial struggle of finding articles and had a more focused topic to search for, we knew more information and were able to narrow down our search requirements to find scholarly research articles and systematic reviews. We also had some help finding an article with the aid of Professor Kramlich who has a lot of experience with this topic. By the end of our article search, we had read through about twelve to thirteen articles and found three that we would use for this paper and that conducted and discussed research that was relevant to our topic.
- Step 3: Critically appraise the evidence – Part I (rapid critical appraisal)
- In our rapid critical appraisal we each chose an article and began reading through the article and filling out the templates based on what we read. I think collectively this was something we all struggled with since we were analyzing the articles in a way we had never been asked to before. I personally found the appraisal to be helpful since it made me really look into the article and pull out the information that I needed for writing the paper and highlighting the key points. Also after getting feedback from our professor, we began the process of fixing our APA citations and re-doing our PICOT question since we were struggling to come up with a question that was not biased or skewed. These rapid critical appraisals also helped us to formulate an idea on how we would incorporate this information into our paper and what information is provided to support and relate to our PICOT question.
- Step 3: Critically appraise the evidence – Part II (evidence table & annotated bibliography)
- This part of the process was something that I think my group struggled with the most. After we submitted it the first time, we received feedback that we had incorporated too much information into our table as well as the annotated bibliography. After looking over some examples, we realized that we needed to take a lot of the passive voice out of our annotation and make sure that we focused on the facts of the study and what the strengths and weaknesses were. Once we cut down and focused the information in the table and our bibliography, I believe we were able to provide the information that was expected and wanted. This was something I personally had never had to do when writing a paper, but I found it helpful since it made me focus on what the research was saying and not all the other information that can sometimes cloud this.
- Step 3: Critically appraise the evidence – Part III (synthesis – writing the paper)
- Writing the paper was where we brought all the information and lessons we had learned throughout the process and brought it all together to form one paper. I would say the biggest struggle my group faced was trying to make sure all our work flowed together and that we tried to maintain a non-passive voice. We also really struggled with our conclusion and wrapping up the paper. As a team, we resolved this by each taking a small portion of the conclusion and then we put them all together and edited it together to make sure that it flowed and related to our paper and the articles we were reviewing. After submitting our first draft we had quite a few edits that we needed to make as well as parts of the paper that we needed to remove to stay within the four-page limit. We also needed to fix a lot of our APA formatting which we went back and reviewed. Overall, I was really happy with how our group worked together and was able to get put the paper together despite all that is going on in the world. We do have some edits and changes to make on our final draft but I’m happy with the outcome and have found a new interest in the topic of NAS.
4.I learned so much during the process of writing this paper and through this class as a whole. Going into this class, I had never really taken much time to think about why we do what we do in the medical field. Through this class and research process, I have developed new insights into the research process. One of the most important lessons I learned is that as a nurse we have the power to implement changes when done the right way. For example, you have to review scholarly research, understand how to implement into your facility, and gather all the information to bring to your charge nurse or other superiors. This will begin discussion on how these new practices may be useful in your facility. Throughout this process, I also felt that teamwork was promoted and required. Being able to work within a group and speak up when there are conflicts is an important part of being a nurse. Of all the lessons I learned during this process, the biggest take away that I will implement into my practice as a nurse is making sure that I’m providing the highest quality of care I can. I also have developed an interest in being a part of a quality improvement or evidence-based practice research project. Especially regarding NAS or other practices that surround the care of newborns or even pregnant and nursing mothers.
