NRS 445 Summary of Current Course Content Knowledge

Assessment Description

Academic engagement through active participation in instructional activities related to the course objectives is paramount to your success in this course and future courses.  Through interaction with your instructor and classmates, you will explore the course material and be provided with the best opportunity for objective and competency mastery.  To begin this class, review the course objectives for each Topic, and then answer the following questions as this will help guide your instructor for course instruction. 

Which weekly objectives do you have prior knowledge of and to what extent?

Which weekly objectives do you have no prior knowledge of?

What course-related topics would you like to discuss with your instructor and classmates?  What questions or concerns do you have about this course? 

Weekly objectives that I have prior knowledge of

Prior to beginning this course, I have knowledge about the history and elements of nursing research and the basic understanding of evidence-based practice, which are pointed out in topic 1 of this course. I basically understanding what evidence-based practice in nursing entails and its significance when it comes to improving patient outcomes. I also have some familiarity with research terminology and I have used evidence-based practice in my nursing practice. I have a clear understanding of the components of research study articles including the introductions, methods, results, and discussion sections as well as the conclusion parts (Jolley, 2020). I have some prior knowledge related to research ethics and evaluating qualitative research as demonstrated in topic 2, and I also understand the evaluations of quantitative research and qualitative research as highlighted in topic 3 and 4. However, I am very eager to learn more about these concepts because there is a lot involved when critically evaluating research articles.

Weekly objectives that I lack prior knowledge of

I am not familiar with the objectives illustrated in week 5, which is characteristic of nursing research utilization and evidence-based practice. I have no prior understanding of the specific aspects of nursing research utilization and its relation to the evidence-based practice. It would be interesting to discover how research findings are incorporated to the nursing practice, and how they are further involved in evidence-based practice to improve patient outcomes. I previously learnt about statistics and appraisal of evidence, but I am still not so conversant with the aspects involved and I have limited experience on how they applied in nursing practice. I would like to learn and experience how to critically evaluate research articles based on the qualitative and quantitative research methods and gain more knowledge about how statistics is further implemented in the nursing practice. I would also like to explore the advantages and disadvantages attributed to quantitative and qualitative research methods in the context or nursing research.

Course-related topics that I would like to explore

The course-related topics I would like to discuss with my classmates and instructor is about the process of conducting literature review and synthesizing the findings. I understand this will allow me to critically appraise research articles and summarize the evidence appropriately, and this is a crucial aspect when it comes to evidence-based practice. As a nurse, I am expected to base my practice on the best available evidence so as to provide safe and high quality care to my patients. Learning to critically appraise the research articles will enable me to assess the quality and validity of the research studies. It will also assist me identify the best interventions that have been proven to improve patient outcomes. At the same time, I would like to discuss the characterizations of nursing utilization and evidence-based practice (Dewi & Mani, 2020). More importantly, I would be delighted to explore the different utilizations of research in nursing and how it has led to measurable improvements in patient outcomes. I would also like to discuss how the concepts of this course can be translated into real-life nursing practice.

References

Dewi, Y. S., & Mani, S. K. (2020). Research utilization and evidence-based practice in education and nursing practice. Jurnal Ners15(2). https://doi.org/10.20473/jn.v15i2.23583

Jolley, J. (2020). Evidence-based practice. Introducing Research and Evidence-Based Practice for Nursing and Healthcare Professionals, 63-88. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429329456-4