Health care organizations usually consist of staff with varying experience levels. Due to such differences, their use of expert knowledge differs when addressing everyday health problems. When unsure of how to approach an issue, nurses should consider using evidence-based knowledge to improve their decision-making. However, not all nurses are informed of where and how to get evidence-based sources to improve knowledge. At times, there is a high chance of relying on expert opinions and advice from colleagues. Some nurses also rely on traditions, but it is crucial to apply scientific knowledge as much as possible. This paper explains how to engage nurses in the evidence-based process as they search for credible information sources.
Background Scenario
The scenario considered for this assessment has three nurses with patient assignments. After orientation and training, one of the nurses is unfamiliar with a problem resembling diabetic retinopathy, and the patient’s description comes closer to cataracts. The patient is also adamant that the problem is not diabetes-related. In such situations, erring chances are high, hence the need to use research to inform decision-making. Senior and experienced nurses can help such a nurse to get sources of evidence-based information. Capella University Library has links to nursing databases. Articles from such databases can be used alongside government and institutional websites to improve nurses’ knowledge.
Communication and Collaboration Strategies
The teach-back approach is highly recommended during nursing instruction. Its core elements can be the foundation of communication and collaboration in this scenario. The nurse should be guided through instruction while listening actively to ensure that all the evidence search process details are understood. In many instances, passive nurses who rely on traditions (standard procedures) to inform the decisions are resistant to new approaches (Brownson et al., 2018). Accordingly, the nurse should be convinced of using evidence-based sources for scientific and empirical data. Collaboration in nursing can be in the form of mentorship where the senior nurse reviews the situational progress and advises as situations obligate (Harvey & Uren, 2019). In any case, the overall objective is to get peer-reviewed and up-to-date sources related to the problem being diagnosed while maintaining active communication.
Finding Pertinent Information for the Diagnosis
Institutional libraries are reliable sources for completing research. They contain resources that vary in scope, type, and expert knowledge, including books, magazines, and journal articles. Their websites are also reliable, although they contain scanty information on the diagnosis and treatment of illnesses. Capella University Library provides access to health information. To translate research findings to clinical practice, the best sources for nursing research should be peer-reviewed scientific and currently published data (Curtis et al., 2017). Resources to guide diagnosis for the current problem should be presently published. Empirical evidence should be highly prioritized.
Five Sources for Clinical Diagnosis
The first source to guide diagnosis through the Capella University Library is Medline via Pubmed. This database has numerous articles on diabetes management and related illnesses. The second choice is ScienceDirect since it offers access to Informatics in Medicine Unlocked articles with information on diabetic retinopathy detection through deep learning. The third source is the Journal of Applied Sciences by MDPI. The fourth and fifth sources include Nursing Reference Center Plus and ProQuest, respectively.
Justifying Selection
The entire health practice deals with critical issues related to patients’ health. All sources of evidence should be relevant, highly detailed, and empirical as much as possible. From a scholarly perspective, nursing research articles should be peer-reviewed, implying that they are written by experts and reviews done by experts from the same or other fields (Roush, 2018). All the selected sources contain research materials with expert information. Empirical studies, scientific reviews, and cross-sectional surveys dominate these articles. Accordingly, the sources provide thoroughly researched information pieces that meet the threshold of nursing research.
In conclusion, nurses should widely consult when they encounter a problem strange to them. They can depend on senior nurses for mentorship as the
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