Evidence Based PaperorOverall guidelines
for each part of the project include:
For this assignment, think about a clinical topic, problem or question that interests you and/
from your personal, professional, or clinical experiences. Come up with a paper
approaching the problem/question using the five evidence-based practice guidelines
discussed below. The problem/question will be related to nursing practice in some way. In
other words, there needs to be nursing implications to addressing your question.
***The Five Steps of Evidence Based Practice***
v STEP ONE: Ask a clinical question which may interest you in PICO format. For example,
are there pharmacologic interventions that have been effective in decreasing allergy
symptoms in children? OR In children, what is the effect of pharmacologic interventions on
allergy symptoms?
P= Population you are interested in (e.g., children under 5 years of age)
I= Intervention or interest (e.g., use of Singulair for allergies)
C= Comparison intervention or group (e.g., comparison of Singulair with control and another
allergy medication)
O= Outcome (e.g., 20% decrease in allergy symptoms for experimental group as compared
to control group).
Define your question using PICO. Your question should be used to help establish your
search strategy.
Submit the following information for your clinical question.
First provide the following (use the below format):
Patient/Problem: __________________________
Intervention: __________________________
Comparison: __________________________
Outcome: __________________________
Then write out your PICO question (IF relevant to your question, add “T” for time frame)
Template for Asking PICOT Questions
INTERVENTION
In ____________________(P), how does ____________________ (I) compared to
____________________(C) affect _____________________(O) within ___________(T)?
DIAGNOSIS OR DIAGNOSTIC TEST
In ___________________(P) are/is ____________________(I) compared with
_______________________(C) more accurate in diagnosing _________________(O)?
PROGNOSIS/PREDICTION
In ______________ (P), how does ___________________ (I) compared to
_____________(C) influence __________________ (O) over _______________ (T)?
Short Definitions of Different Types of Questions:
Intervention: Questions addressing the treatment of an illness or disability.
Diagnosis: Questions addressing the act or process of identifying or determining the nature
and cause of a disease or injury through evaluation.
Prognosis/Prediction: Questions addressing the prediction of the course of a disease.
SAMPLE PICO QUESTIONS
Intervention: In African American female adolescents with hepatitis B (P), how does
acetaminophen (I) compared to ibuprofen (C) affect liver function (O)?
Diagnosis: In middle-aged males with suspected myocardial infarction (P), are serial
12-lead ECGs (I) compared to one initial 12-lead ECG (C) more accurate in diagnosing an
acute myocardial infarction (O)?
Prognosis/Prediction: For patients 65 years and older (P), how does the use of an influenza
vaccine (I) compared to not received the vaccine (C) influence the risk of developing
pneumonia (O) during flu season (T)?
(Copyright, Ellen Fineout-Overholt, 2006)
*Be sure you include “compared to” in your clinical question using PICO. Refer to the two
sample student papers provided on the Canvas Course Shell to see the types of and PICO
structure for clinical questions appropriate for this assignment.
v STEP TWO: Conduct a literature search. Be sure to include also systematic reviews (e.g.,
the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews) and evidence-based practice guidelines
(www.guideline.gov) in your search strategy.
v STEP THREE: Review and Critically Appraise the evidence
Describe the problem and purpose of each research study
Describe the research methods, including process of data collection, sampling, and data
analysis, for each research study
What were the results of the study?
Summarize the major findings and conclusions of each research study
Critique the strengths and weaknesses of the research methods. The expectation is that
you also cite your textbook, when describing research methods or criteria for evaluating
research.
Are the results valid? To answer this question, you need to critique the studies for
validity-based on your critical appraisal of the literature, are the results valid?
Are the findings clinically relevant to patient(s) identified?
Do you believe this will work in practice?
**Refer to the boxes provided throughout the Polit & Beck (2017) textbook as a guide to
critically appraising the different parts of research studies.
v STEP FOUR: Integrate evidence to implement a decision.
v STEP FIVE: Evaluate the outcome. Students will not be evaluating the outcome in this
assignment. This occurs in clinical practice.
The final research paper must be 5-7 pages in length, double-spaced, not counting the
cover page and the reference pages. You must use at least 5 scholarly sources (current
in the last 5 years) for your paper beyond the course textbook. Professional journal
articles found in the Virtual Library will be key sources in researching your topic. All
sources used, including the textbook, must be referenced and paraphrased; any quoted
material must be placed in quotes, and must have accompanying APA style in-text
citations.
