CO1: Propose individualized comprehensive care by integratin…
Introduction
In today’s ever-evolving healthcare landscape, providing comprehensive and individualized care to patients is of utmost importance. This requires healthcare professionals, particularly nurses, to integrate theories and principles from nursing and related disciplines when planning patient-centered care. Additionally, evidence-based practice plays a crucial role in the provision of professional nursing care. By utilizing the best available evidence, nurses can improve patient outcomes and enhance the quality of care provided.
For this assignment, a challenging nursing care issue will be selected and explored. This issue could be a clinical problem that can be improved by evidence in nursing, such as falls, medication errors, pressure ulcers, or any other clinical issue. It is essential to focus on a nursing-related issue, rather than a medical issue or a workforce-related matter. The selected clinical issue will be thoroughly explained, and the process of searching for evidence using the CINAHL database will be delineated.
Selected Clinical Issue: Medication Errors
Medication errors are a significant concern in healthcare settings and can have serious consequences for patients. They can occur at any stage of the medication management process, including prescribing, transcribing, dispensing, and administering medications. These errors can result in adverse drug events, patient harm, prolonged hospital stays, and increased healthcare costs. Therefore, it is crucial to identify strategies to prevent medication errors and improve medication safety.
Process for Searching CINAHL for Evidence
The CINAHL database is a valuable resource for nurses and other healthcare professionals, as it provides access to a wide range of nursing and allied health literature. When searching for evidence on medication errors, it is important to follow a systematic process to ensure comprehensive and relevant results. The steps involved in searching CINAHL for evidence on medication errors are as follows:
Step 1: Identify Key Search Terms
To initiate the search, it is necessary to identify appropriate search terms related to medication errors. These terms should be specific enough to narrow down the search results but broad enough to capture the relevant literature. Some examples of search terms for medication errors may include “medication errors,” “adverse drug events,” “medication safety,” “medication administration errors,” and “medication management.”
Step 2: Develop a Search Strategy
Once the key search terms have been identified, they can be used to develop a search strategy. This strategy involves combining the search terms using Boolean operators (e.g., “AND,” “OR,” “NOT”) to enhance the precision and relevance of the search results. For example, a search strategy for medication errors could be formulated as follows: “(medication errors OR adverse drug events) AND (medication safety OR medication administration errors OR medication management).”
Step 3: Access CINAHL Database
Once the search strategy has been developed, the CINAHL database can be accessed through the institution’s library portal or the official CINAHL website. It is important to ensure that the database being accessed is the most up-to-date version to obtain the latest evidence in nursing.
Step 4: Perform the Search
Using the developed search strategy, the identified key search terms can be entered into the CINAHL database’s search bar. The search results will display articles, abstracts, and other sources of literature that match the specified criteria. It is essential to carefully review the search results to ensure their relevance and reliability.
Step 5: Refine the Search
After reviewing the initial search results, it may be necessary to refine the search further. This can be accomplished by applying additional search filters, such as publication year, study type, or language, to narrow down the results and obtain the most pertinent evidence.
Conclusion
Effective nursing care requires the integration of theories and principles from nursing and related disciplines, as well as the utilization of evidence-based practice. By selecting a challenging nursing care issue, such as medication errors, and utilizing the CINAHL database, nurses can access relevant and reliable evidence to enhance patient outcomes and improve the overall quality of care. The systematic process outlined above can guide healthcare professionals in searching for evidence and implementing evidence-based interventions to address clinical issues effectively.