Running head: REVIEW

Review of References Jordan Mullauer Ferris State University

REVIEW Abstract

The nursing profession relies heavily on ongoing research to keep practice guidelines and policies up to date. Emerging illness and disease require continuing research to discover treatment and management techniques. Using quality research is important to nursing to ensure that the concluded information is valid. Research findings are the main reason nursing practice is adapted, so it is imperative the evidence that suggests change is accurate and deeply supported. Nurses need the skills necessary to critique articles and sources before they change their practice. This evidence-based research helps promote quality and safety in nursing care, a critical piece to nursing care. This paper will analyze two different articles to determine if they are considered nursing research and how legitimate they are. Investigating the authors as well as the journal the article is published in can help determine the informations credibility. Another way to determine validity is to question the articles level of evidence, or how in depth the research is. All of these steps will help ensure that information in any given research is accurate and considered nursing research.

REVIEW Review of References Research is a very important part of nursing that helps nurses to continuously

adapt their techniques and skills to provide the best care possible. Simply reading articles and taking them for face value is not adequate; it is important to analyze the authors and determine how accurate and supported the information is. Article critiquing is a critical skill that every nurse should have when it comes to research. This paper will re-evaluate references used to guide practice decisions, using knowledge gained from the first few weeks of [research] class (Singleterry, 2014, p. 8). Two selected articles will be thoroughly critiqued and the levels of evidence for each article, as well as the credibility of the authors will be analyzed. What is Nursing Research? According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2014), nursing research provides the scientific basis for the practice of the profession (para. 3). Without research, there would be no foundation for nursing to grow upon. It is the

beginning as well as the continuation of nursing practice. The National Institute of Nursing Research (2014) further defines nursing research as a way to, prevent disease and disability, manage and eliminate symptoms caused by illness, and enhance endof-life and palliative care (para. 1). Research allows nurses to change with the advancement of technology to better serve their clients by being cost effective and efficient in addition to compassionate. It is true that a nurse with a caring heart is a good one, but one that relies on tradition alone will not get very far in modern day nursing. New illnesses and disease are constantly emerging and mutating, which means that nursing care needs to change along with the ailments themselves. Credibility

REVIEW The most important thing about analyzing nursing research is to determine the credibility of the sources that wrote and published the articles. Investigating the journal under which the article is published is a good start to determining how credible the research is. According to the Purdue Online Writing Lab (2014), there are several questions one should ask when determining credibility. The first one to consider is the identity of the author. It may be important to learn the authors level of education and if they have published any other scholarly articles. Another important aspect of research analysis would be to ascertain the age of the information presented. If an article talks about an experiment or study that is older than five years, it is less likely to be relevant today. The authors purpose is another crucial part in determining research credibility. Learning the authors background, such as their employer, may be helpful to find out if he or she is more likely to lean towards one way or another on a given topic. Another

way to distinguish a credible source is to find out if it is from a refereed journal, which is a journal, in which subject experts, chosen by the journals editorial staff, evaluate manuscripts (Nieswiadomy, 2012, p. 265). The editorial staff usually goes through a lot of the hassle of reviewing the articles for the reader, so it can be assumed that the article is credible if a refereed journal has published it. Peer reviewed articles are also considered reliable sources of information. As defined by the Oxford Dictionary Press (2014), in order for an article or journal to be considered peer reviewed, it is evaluated, by others working in the same field (para. 1). In the case of nursing research, this means that other registered nurses or higher degree nurses would review the articles and edit them before they are published. Many articles are not considered legitimate if they are not peer reviewed.

REVIEW Level of evidence is yet one more way to evaluate credibility of a source. The AACN (2014) came up with an organized table to determine level of evidence; a level A being the highest and a level M being the lowest or least supported. This table can be seen in Appendix A of the paper. When nurses search for research, ideally they look for a level A because it has been reviewed the most, and it involves several different studies with consolidated data. Article 1 Analysis The first article reviewed for this paper was published in the journal, Intensive

and Critical Care Nursing in 2007. This article, titled The impact of an evidence-based practice education program on the role of oral care in the prevention of ventilatorassociated pneumonia, was written by Amelia Ross and Janet Crumpler. The impact factor identifies the influence of any given journal; the higher the number, the great number of times the article has been cited (Nieswiadomy, 2012). Unfortunately, no impact factor was listed for the ICCN, and the journals website did not claim whether or not it was a peer reviewed journal (Intensive and Critical Care Nursing, 2014). After reading the article, it was determined that the level of evidence was a level B because it contained, well designed controlled studies, both randomized and nonrandomized, with results that consistently support a specific action, intervention, or treatment (Armola, et al., 2009, p. 72). The study done by the authors concluded that an evidence-based practice education program would indeed improve oral hygiene and help prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia. This article is considered to be nursing research because the authors of the study were both nurses and the results can be applied to nursing and used to better patient care. Some nurses believe that a quick cleanse of the

REVIEW mouth with the pink swabs is adequate, but this study displayed how important it is to spend quality time on oral care, something all nurses should focus on. Article 2 Analysis

The second article being critiqued is titled, Hyperbaric oxygenation in peripheral nerve repair and regeneration, and is written by E. Cuauhtemoc Sanchez, a medical doctor from Mexico. This article was originally published in the journal Neurological Research in 2007. The journals website claims that it is a peer reviewed journal with an impact factor of 1.182 (W. S. Maney & Son Ltd, 2013). This journals impact factor is not incredibly high, but it has had some influence through its publications. This particular article would be considered a level E because it contains, theory-based evidence from expert opinion or multiple case reports (Armola et al., 2009, p. 72). The author of the article reviewed literature and other case studies, but did not conduct one of his own. Although this article may be helpful to other medical doctors, it is not considered nursing research because it does not apply to nursing care directly. The author is reviewing a certain technique used during a surgical procedure. Nurses do not perform surgeries, so this information would not be relevant to the nursing profession. Perhaps if the article talked about the recovery process after surgery or how to improve recovery time, then it would be more useful for nurses to read. Another reason that this is not considered nursing research is because a nurse did not write it, and no nurses reviewed or contributed to the article. Significance to Nursing

REVIEW The nursing profession continuously relies on research in order to adapt to new technologies and techniques. New diseases and illnesses are emerging every year, and it would be impossible to know how to treat them without research. An essential part to this ongoing research is to use sources that are distinct to nurses and the art of nursing

itself. Using a source written by a medical doctor may educate a nurse, but research done by nurses or reviewed by nurses is more relevant because they understand what nurses go through, and can apply real world knowledge. It is imperative to use quality references when conducting nursing research because this data is used to guide practice decisions all over the world. Making sure that the concluded data is legitimate through the analysis steps mentioned throughout this paper guarantees that there is support for a change. If evidence shows that a certain technique or practice is better than another, additional research should be done to see if the same conclusions surface over and over before a policy or practice guideline is modified. Using quality nursing research may also mean that many other medical professionals are more likely to have heard about the research because the journals or articles are well known for being characteristic of the quality required in nursing research. Consequently, these professional are more likely to adapt changes to their practice. Nursing research expands over every aspect of nursing from basic skills to emotional support. It is the foundation on which nursing practice builds its guidelines and regulations. Quality and safety are two of the top priorities when it comes to nursing, and together they work with evidence or nursing research to advance practice. Patients expect exceptional care that is skilled and cost effective as well as safe. The World

REVIEW Health Organization (2006) states that quality care consists of six different domains including effective, efficient, accessible, acceptable/patient-centered, equitable and safe. They go on to explain that safe care involves, delivering health care which minimizes risks and harm to service users (World Health Organization, 2006, p. 10). Together, quality and safety pave the road for evidence-based practice. A model created by the American Nurses Association in 2006 displays the many building blocks of professional nursing and explains that quality and safety are achieved only after these essential building blocks are established (American Nurses Association, 2010, p. 8). Among these building blocks are the nursing standards, numbers 9, 11, and 13 in particular that apply to nursing research. Standard 9 emphasizes the importance of incorporating evidence-based practice into nursing care, and standard 11 involves using effective communication. This communication is not only talking about therapeutic conversation between nurse and patient, but the research done by nurses that helps

communicate to other nurses. Along with this standard is number 13, which states, The registered nurse collaborates with healthcare consumer, family, and others in the conduct of nursing practice (American Nurses Association, 2010, p. 11). Nursing research involves nurses, other healthcare professionals and patients in collaboration to better nursing care. A central piece of being an exceptional nurse involves being proactive and keeping up with current nursing research in order to incorporating quality and safety into every aspect of nursing. This cannot be done without the ability to critique research and validate the credibility of the source.

REVIEW References

American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2014). Nursing research. Retrieved from https://www.aacn.nche.edu/publications/position/nursing-research American Nurses Association. (2010). Nursing: Scope and standards of practice (2nd ed.). Silver Spring, MD: American Nurses Association. Armola, R. R., Bourgault, A. M., Halm, M. A., Board, R. M., Bucher, L., Medina, J. (2009). AACN levels of evidence: Whats new?. Critical Care Nurse, 29(4), 7073. Intensive and Critical Care Nursing. (2014). About the journal. Retrieved from http://www.intensivecriticalcarenursing.com/aims National Institute of Nursing Research. (2014). What is nursing research? Retrieved from http://www.ninr.nih.gov/ Nieswiadomy, R. (2012). Foundations of nursing research (6th ed.). Boston: Pearson. Oxford Dictionary Press. (2014). Peer review. Retrieved from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/peer-review Purdue Online Writing Lab. (2014). Using research and evidence. Retrieved from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/588/02/ Ross, A., & Crumpler, J. (2007). The impact of an evidence-based practice education program on the role of oral care in the prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia. Intensive and Critical Care Nursing, 23(3), 132-136. Sanchez, E. C. (2007). Hyperbaric oxygenation in peripheral nerve repair and regeneration. Neurological research, 29(2), 184-198. Singleterry, L. (2014). NURS 350 nursing research. [Syllabus]

REVIEW W. S. Maney & Son Ltd. (2013). Neurological research. Retrieved from http://www.maneyonline.com/loi/ner World Health Organization. (2006). Quality of care: A process for making strategic choices in health systems. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/management/quality/assurance/QualityCare_B.Def.pdf

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REVIEW Appendix A AACNs Level of Evidence Table

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Reference Armola, R. R., Bourgault, A. M., Halm, M. A., Board, R. M., Bucher, L., Medina, J. (2009). AACN levels of evidence: Whats new?. Critical Care Nurse, 29(4), 7073.