Nursing 446 Research and Evidence-Based Practice Course Syllabus

Nursing 446 Research and Evidence-Based Practice

Course Syllabus

Instructor: Lorraine Zoromski EdD, MSN, RN

CPS 334B

715-551-2661

This syllabus is subject to change to support and encourage student learning.

Course Description

This course introduces the importance of research to improve clinical practice, strategies

to evaluate the quality of research and evidence, and increase integration of research into

practice.

Student Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:

1. Articulate the relationships between theory, research, and nursing practice

2. Understand selected quantitative and qualitative approaches to research

3. Utilize literature searches to obtain best evidence for practice

4. Critique individual research studies considering research approaches and rights of

human subjects

5. Discuss approaches for fostering adoption of an evidence-based practice change in a

health-care setting

Course Materials (required and recommended texts, articles, readings with full citations)

Required Text:

Polit, D. & Beck, C. (2018) Essentials of Nursing Research: Appraising Evidence for

Nursing Practice (9th ed.). Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer

Recommended Text:

American Psychological Association (2010). Publication manual of the American

Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological

Association.

APA Guide

A brief summary of the APA publication format is available online from the Online

Writing Lab at Purdue University:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_apa.html

Grading Policy

Your course grade will be based on the quality of your work for the two written

assignments, EBP report, discussion participation, EBP presentation, and five CT

activities.

Grading Scale

Grade

Percent

94-100

A-

92-93

B+

90-91

85-89

B-

82-84

C+

80-81

75-79

C-

73-74

D+

71-72

65-70

D-

63-64

<63

A grade of C or higher is required to pass all undergraduate courses and to progress in the

program. Grades in undergraduate courses are not rounded up. If you have questions,

please contact me.

Activity

Percentage

6-critical thinking activities

30%

Critique of qualitative research

15%

Critique of quantitative research

15%

Participation in discussions (6 total)

10%

EBP Presentation

15%

EBP Report

15%

Group Assignments:

There are group assignments in this course that will enhance your ability to use research

and implement an evidence-based project as well as work in a team to complete a task.

For instance, there may be critical thinking activities that require group work as well as

an end of course Evidence-Based Practice project and presentation that will be completed

in a group. When you submit your group work, be sure to include the names of all active

group members on the assignment; but include only those who actually participated in

completing the assignment.

________________________________________________________________________

Critique of a Qualitative Research Study

When writing this paper, use the “Guide to a Focused Critique of Evidence Quality in a

Qualitative Research Report” on page 67 in Polit & Beck (2018) and the “Guide to an

overall critique” handout. Follow the list of questions in both sources for this

assignment. You should prepare a narrative summary of your answers to these questions:

simple yes or no answers are not acceptable. This assignment should read like a paper: it

should be typed using APA format, and it should be limited to 5 pages (double-spaced),

not including the references page(s). See grading rubric for more details.

Critique of a Quantitative Research Study

When writing this paper, be sure to refer to the “Guide to a Focused Critique of Evidence

Quality in a Quantitative Research Report” on pages 66 in Polit & Beck (2018) and the

“Guide to an overall Critique” handout. Follow the list of questions in both sources for

this assignment. You should prepare a narrative summary of your answers to these

questions: simple yes or no answers are not acceptable. This assignment should read like

a paper: it should be typed using APA format, and it should be limited to 5 pages

(double-spaced), not including the reference page(s). See grading rubric for more details

______________________________________________________________________

Evidence-Based Practice Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to help you learn about evidence-based practice (and to

have some fun while doing this) by applying what you learn in assigned readings and

through independent literature searches to a hypothetical situation.

You (as a group) will pretend that you are nurses on an evidence-based practice

committee in a hypothetical healthcare organization (i.e., not a real setting). As nurses on

this committee you will need to identify a nursing assessment or intervention that is well-

supported by evidence (e.g., by clinical practice guidelines and research studies) and

decide how to promote the adoption and evaluation of this clinical practice in your

hypothetical health care institution. In your report of this work you will describe and

discuss (1) how you found the evidence supporting the nursing assessment or

intervention, (2) how you concluded the evidence was sufficiently strong to support the

nursing practice, (3) how you would promote adoption of this clinical practice by nurses

in your hypothetical healthcare setting, and (4) how you would recommend that the

organization evaluate adoption of the practice change.

(Note: The clinical practice you recommend should be an autonomous (or relatively

autonomous) nursing action (e.g., an assessment or an intervention). This does not

include delegated interventions such as administering a medication or a provider's

decision such as giving a medicine versus counseling. It could include collaborating with

physicians to seek a physician order such as removal of a urinary catheter.)

What is the committee expected to do?

The EBP Committee is expected to:

1. Conduct two meetings and submit minutes of each meeting. While conference calls or

online chats might be possible, most groups conduct their meetings in the group's private

discussion forum (i.e., they post and discuss things related to the project and completing

the report) or face to face during or after class as time allows.

2. Complete an EBP project report. The criteria for the report will be discussed in

class. The report should include meeting minutes and the findings and results that will be

presented. APA will be needed for a cover page and any references in the report. Use of

headings to break up your report is highly encouraged.

3. Present their report to the class as a group. Use some form of presentation

software such as Powerpoint or Prezi. See guidelines in Canvas for specific details.

________________________________________________________________________

Critical Thinking Activities

Each student will submit answers to the critical thinking assignments posted on D2L.

They are to complete the assignment alone, unless otherwise directed, and use course

and/or outside resources. Each answer must demonstrate evidence of critical thinking

and a thorough understanding of the readings. Each critical thinking assignment may

take up to one hour, or longer, to complete. The assignment should be submitted to the

Dropbox on a Word formatted document. APA is necessary for only the references used

in the assignment. See the grading rubric for information on how these will be graded.

________________________________________________________________________

Discussions

Each student will be responsible for reading the discussion instructions for each identified

week in your course calendar before participating in the discussion. Discussion postings

need to be professional, using Netiquette guidelines, and have evidence of a thorough

understanding of the course topics. Yes/no responses are not acceptable. If you agree, or

disagree, with a peer’s posting, it should be followed by an explanation as to why you

agree or disagree with examples that further the conversation. Follow the rubric for

grading information related to the discussion board.

_____________________________________________________________

Statement of Student Time Commitment

For each course credit, students are expected to spend a minimum 3 hours/week on

coursework.

Therefore, for a three-credit course, at least 9 hours/week is expected. This is a general

guideline which may vary depending on the assignments &/or quizzes.

Expectations

You are encouraged to bring your technology device into the classroom for class

activities only, ie: note taking, viewing lecture content. In order to promote an inclusive

and optimal learning environment for everyone, unrelated web browsing, texting, or

social media is not tolerated. If you need to text or take a phone call, please make sure

that your device is on silent and leave the room. If you decide not to abide by this request

and are disruptive, you will be asked to leave for the remainder of the class.

Late Assignment Submission

Late submission of assignments is discouraged and will result in 10% deduction/day

including weekends and holidays.

APA Style

Complete APA format is required for all formal papers submitted through the Dropbox.

APA format specifies format for title page, running head with pagination, abstract, levels

of headings, in-text citations, and reference list. Discussions do not require APA format

unless you are using information from a reference source (your textbook, other books,

journal articles, etc.), in which case you must properly use APA format for in-text

citations and references. All documents must be submitted in Word (.doc or .docx).

Academic Integrity Policy

Students who engage in academic misconduct are subject to disciplinary penalties,

including the possibility of failure in the course and dismissal from the university.

Academic misconduct includes but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, collusion, and

submission for credit of any work or materials that are attributable in whole or in part to

another person, taking an examination for another person, any act designed to give unfair

advantage to a student or the attempt to commit such act.

U of Wisconsin System Code (UWS Ch. 14-14.03 (2) provides specific examples of

academic misconduct and reads in part: "Examples of academic misconduct include, but

are not limited to: cheating on an exam; collaborating with others in work presented,

contrary to the stated rules of the course; submitting a paper or assignment as one’s work

when a part or all of the paper or assignment is the work of another; submitting a paper or

assignment that contains ideas or research of others without appropriately identifying the

source of those ideas ... knowingly and intentionally assisting another student in any of

the above ..." The code is available at

http://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/code/admin_code/uws/14.pdf.

U of Wisconsin campuses have specific procedures to investigate and deal with academic

misconduct.

Plagiarism

Because of paper mills selling reports, Web pages, and full-text online databases

instances of plagiarism are increasing on campuses. Using someone's words without

quoting the person is plagiarism. Using someone's ideas, even though the person’s words

are different from your words, without citing the source is plagiarism. Use in-text

citations to cite your sources. For example, if you use the ideas cited in an article, place

the author and publication year (e.g. Smith, 2010) at the end of the sentence. UW-System

has subscribed to software that helps detect instances of plagiarism. Plagiarism will result

in a failing grade. Reports of plagiarism are also made to University administration.

Netiquette

Online courses require a different set of communication skills than many of us may be

used to in our daily lives. Many of you have taken an online course before and are

familiar with netiquette.

It is important in this course, as in life, that we communicate respectfully with each other

and are familiar with netiquette. It will be expected that everyone in this course follow

netiquette guidelines when communicating with each other. See Core Rules of Netiquette

(http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html

Confidentiality

When communicating information online or face to face based on personal or work-

related experiences, keep in mind rules and policies of Family Educational Rights and

Privacy Act (FERPA) and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996

(HIPAA). It is expected that students will judiciously protect the privacy of patients,

peers, family, or agency/institution by not disclosing confidential information outside of

the course. To maintain anonymity methods such as alias or initials should be used. For

more information on these laws, please refer to the following websites:

FERPA - http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/students.html

HIPAA - http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/summary/index.html

Student Bereavement Policy

Students who experience the death of a loved one should contact the faculty to arrange an

excused absence.

Disability Policy

Any student seeking accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

should contact the Disability Services office on your home campus within the first week

of the semester so that appropriate accommodations may be arranged.