Running Head: REVIEW OF REFERENCES

Review of References Julie Walker NURS 350

REVIEW OF REFERENCES Abstract The author here reviews three articles she selected to uphold the assertion that all patients in a long term care and rehab unit should attend a communal dining area at mealtimes for optimum outcomes. The authors assertion and conclusion are not the focus of this writing; this is a review of the research discovered. This paper evaluates the articles credibility and their correlation to and support of, if applicable, to the subject matter previously discussed.

REVIEW OF REFERENCES Review of References

The purpose of this paper to review the references this author selected in a previous class to support the idea that patients benefit most from dining together in a communal dining area when staying in a long term care and rehabilitative unit. The controversy involved is that such a dining experience places a variety of patients and acuities in a common eating environment at the same time. The idea itself is not dissected, and the details of each articles research methodology are not described. Rather, the credibility of the research selected is reviewed. Finally, the author discusses whether or not the articles were found to be helpful and the obstacles to overcome with this subject matter. Review Article 1: Nutritional status and short-term outcome of hip arthroplasty The 2012 article regarding a correlation between nutrition and hospital stay post hiparthroplasty by Nicholson, Dowrick, and Lieuw is published in a refereed journal and is, therefore, a credible source. The article was not published in a journal specific to the nursing profession, but is appropriate information for nurses to consider. The study discussed in this article is of a quantitative nature as the data included is objective. This includes unbiased statistics such as age, gender, and nutritional status based on serum albumin. The credentialed author (Nicholson) is listed as a doctor, but the type of doctor is not included. Dowrick and Lieuw are not credentialed authors for this article in the online format. Although this article did not have the nursing profession as its targeted audience, this information has application to the practice of nursing. This would be considered borrowed knowledge as nurses were not instrumental in theorizing or conducting the study.

REVIEW OF REFERENCES Article 2: Prevention of unintentional weight loss in nursing home residents: a controlled trial of feeding assistance.

The second reviewed article (Simmons 2008) discussed a study conducted to determine if feeding assistance could prevent unintentional weight loss in nursing home residents. This article was published on the website of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society and is a credible source. The publication overall is not specifically geared toward nurses, but is

appropriate for an interdisciplinary approach to nursing home care. None of the authors are nurses, but are health professionals. Additionally, the researchers names are not given, so it is unclear to what extent the authors actually participated in the study. As previously stated, while this article did not target nurses as a profession, there is valuable information to be gained by the nurse as part of the interdisciplinary team when providing care for geriatric patients. Once again, this can be considered borrowed knowledge as it was not designed with nursing practice in mind, but it does have beneficial information for daily patient care planning. Article 3: Dysphagia in the elderly: management and nutritional considerations. The article by Sura et. al. (2012) discusses nutritional concerns for the geriatric community due to dysphagia and dementia and includes the factors and complications that are associated with such. These include contributing factors such as stroke and resulting complications such as aspiration pneumonia. The article was published in the journal Clinical Interventions in Aging and is a credible source. This journal and the article do not appear to be written with nurses in mind specifically, but rather it is appropriate for various levels of healthcare professionals. The online format of this article does not provide the credentials of any of the contributing authors, nor does it specify as to whether these individuals participated at any level with the collection of data. The article is not designed for the nursing profession, but

REVIEW OF REFERENCES nurses may find it includes helpful information for planning care. Additionally, this borrowed knowledge confirms any previously held beliefs regarding dysphagia that will be beneficial to daily practice. Reflection The articles the author selected for the Evidence Based Practice assignment in her previous class are all from credible, scholarly sources and are, therefore, reliable for consideration for practice. However, due to the broad nature of the authors assertion, that of

patients being urged to attend a communal dining room, she did not find concrete information on which to base decisions in her practice. It still remains inconclusive in a tangible sense whether there is a benefit in requiring patients to attend a common area dining room at mealtime, thus placing a variety of types of patients and acuities in the same setting. The deficit with the authors previous paper was in attempting to find information on too broad of a subject. With a narrower perspective, the articles selected would be appropriate. For example, if the author had chosen to show why one specific group of patients would benefit from communal dining, such as those with dysphagia or dementia, the article by Sura (2012) included a mix of quantitative and qualitative data to uphold that assertion. The author does not have credible evidence to support the idea that all patients in a rehab and long term care settings will receive less than optimum nutrition and are more likely to suffer from complications when not urged to eat in the units dining area. When encouraging individuals to leave the comfort of their bed or room in a hospital, the nurse should have evidence to teach the patient and other staff why this is important. This is especially the case when the patient might be especially resistant to the idea of leaving his or her room. Nurses and other health professionals must provide care based on evidence that such practices will provide

REVIEW OF REFERENCES the best opportunity for a good outcome for the patient and prevent complications. It is unacceptable in professional practice to impact patients lives based only on conjecture or what works most efficiently for staff.

REVIEW OF REFERENCES References Gorzoni, M. and Pires, S. (2011, May-June). Deaths in nursing homes. Revista da Associacao Medica Brasileira, 57, 327-331. Retrieved from http://www.scielo.br/pdf/ramb/ v57n3/en_v57n3a18.pdf

Nicholson, J., Dowrick, A., and Liew, S. (2012, December 20). Nutritional status and short-term outcome of hip arthroplasty. Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery, 20, 331-335. Simmons, E. et al (2008, July 15). Prevention of unintentional weight loss in nursing home residents: a controlled trial of feeding assistance. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 56, 1466-1473. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2008.01801.x Sura, L. et al (2012, July 30). Dysphagia in the elderly: management and nutritional considerations. Clinical Interventions in Aging, 7, 287-298. doi: 10.2147/cia.s23404