Assignment Task

Unit Learning Outcomes

You will demonstrate the following Unit Learning Outcomes on the successful completion of this task:

• ULO1: Articulate the value of research in contributing to developments in health and improving standards of care
• ULO 3: Generate a research question, understand appropriate methodology, and outline ethical considerations

Task Description

For this assessment tasks students will individually reflect on their clinical placement experiences and briefly describe a clinical problem that they have encountered which is based on one of the 9 indicators in the Patient Safety Competency Framework for Nursing Students. They will formulate a research question utilising the PICO framework and conduct a simple search of the CINAHL database to provide two (2) primary journal articles that relate to their question.

Rationale

The purpose of this assessment task is to give students a greater appreciation of the value of research in contributing to developments in health and improving standards of care. It also introduces students to the practical application of the steps of evidence-based practice by adopting an inquiring and reflective mind in their practice, understanding how to appropriately frame a question, and finding evidence when conducting a basic database search. In each tutorial, students will be given the opportunity to develop their assessment practically, applying the skills they have learned in the corresponding online module.

Task Instructions

1. Introduction:

Reflect on your clinical placement experience and describe a clinical problem you have observed and describe why the issue is relevant to nursing in Australia. Identify which one of the 9 indicators in the Patient Safety Framework for Nursing Students the problem relates to. These include:

• Person-centred care
• Therapeutic communication
• Cultural competence
• Teamwork and collaborative practice
• Clinical reasoning
• Evidence-based practice
• Preventing, minimizing, and responding to adverse events
• Infection prevention and control
• Medication safety

2. PICO question:

You are to develop a research question about the clinical problem from your reflection in (1), ensuring that the question contains the components of the PICO Framework:

• Population
• Intervention
• Comparison (optional)
• Outcome

You must develop a literature database search strategy using key terms from your PICO Framework. You must provide

(i) the search strategy you used to conduct a basic* search of the library database CINAHL (Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature); and

(ii) the number of articles you found for each component of your search; and

(iii) the number of articles you found from your final search