Improving Nursing Students’ Preparedness For Medication Administration: Research Objectives, Identifying And Accessing Credible Sources Of Data And Evidence, Steps For A Systematic Approach To Research

Objectives for Nursing Research

1. While undertaking a research it is important to have defined objectives in order to work in a systematic manner and at the same time have a defined rationale so as to comprehend the feasibility of the research. I was working in the aged care unit with dementia patients. While conducting a research with dementia care patients, some of the relevant objectives could be; to effectively improve the quality of life of the patients in nursing homes. Other relevant objectives could include, to thoroughly access the reduction of behavioural disorder in patients with dementia.

2. The primary and credible sources of data about my research topic would be gathered by accessing authentic information available on the internet, books, credible websites, blogs and current research findings on the area of research interest. A thorough search would be carried out by me on the basis of the authenticity of the information and the publication date. While examining credible sources it is important to apply appropriate inclusion and exclusion characteristics. The inclusion and exclusion characteristics helps in filtering the available databases that are scrutinized for the collection of information. Applying stringent exclusion and inclusion criteria helps in making the search easier and at the same time also relatable to the research topic of interest. The search would be limited to the recent years of publication that is articles published from the year 2013 to 2017. The inclusion criteria would include all the articles published within the mentioned time frame and published in English. It would also include the aboriginal set of population as well as the non-aboriginal set of patients. The exclusion criteria would comprise of articles published before 2013, not published in English language and including patient population set of other nations.

In order to access the data, filters would be applied while scrutinizing articles such as year of publication and language. After the intensive search the articles would be examined and a proper literature review would be conducted to understand the rational and the contribution of the research to the already available dataset. The literature review helps in developing a clear understanding about the background of the research problem and all associated research studies that have taken place. In association with the same, it also helps in identifying and defining the literature gap that helps in making the research work authentic and at the same time a novel contribution that could provide a scope for further research studies.

Identifying Credible Sources of Data and Evidence

3. In order to conduct a successful resource the five steps that must be used in a systematic manner must include, Identification of credible source of data, evaluation of the methods to gather information, finding an appropriate method of research aligned with research objectives, evaluate the collected information and analyse the obtained results.

4. In order to allow the analysed information to be used in future times, I used the predictive analysis to analyse the obtained data. After evaluating the relevant research papers I evaluated my research findings on the basis of predictive analysis. This approach helped me in predicting the expected outcome after the successful inference of pattern from the past research findings.

5. The information collected by me was prioritized in compliance with the necessity of the requirement. The process followed to gather information must be based upon the availability of information in that area. For instance, while working with patients with dementia, my area of collecting information priority was based on behavioural issues with the old age patients suffering from dementia. Further, while designing interventions my area of prioritising interventions focused on identifying relevant papers that described evidence based practices followed by researchers earlier to treat behavioural disorders in patients with dementia.

6. Comparing and contrasting data information form an essential part of conducting a valid research. The primary criterion that must be kept in mind while comparing and contrasting scientific articles include identifying the authors, the reputation of the authors and their defined target audience. Another important factor include prioritizing the information gathered from the research articles and being able to measure the feasibility of the research theme to encourage further research. For instance, while reviewing scientific articles on incorporating the best practice for Dementia, I compared articles based on the impact factor value and on the key theme of the research findings.

7. Documenting conclusions help in maintaining a systemic record of the research findings that can help in developing future research goals. While documenting conclusions on our experience of nursing studies we proceed with the storage of information in memory storage devices such as DVDs, CDs, USB, Cloud Storage or hard disks. Documentation and storage is also done on the basis of filing and maintaining memorandums.

8. In accordance to the learning notes and the other important learning resources that have been studied by me, I feel that there is an incidence of major clinical errors or medication errors caused by the nursing professionals. This is primarily on account of excessive work load or distracted surroundings. A professional training on designing priority to the professionals would help in addressing the issue. This would help in the reduction of medical errors and also promote improved patient outcome. A slight change in the system in terms of introducing a system that would help in the smooth flow of communication would help the professionals in committing themselves to better service delivery.

9. According to me an area that requires further evaluation or research could be identified as the increase in medical errors that is primarily due to the busy work schedule of the nursing professionals and the distracted environment that is common in the clinical atmosphere. A professional training in helping the nurses understand and design prioritized care can help tremendously in avoiding medical errors and at the same time achieve positive patient outcomes. Many a times while providing clinical care to the patients, it has been noticed that the nurses forget to cross check the effectiveness of the pharmaceutical drug being administered or double check with the patient’s documentation that whether or not the patient is allergic to the administered drug. These professional carelessness often lead to medical errors. The most common one is the intravenous administration of antibiotics.