Evidence-based practice EBP plays a vital role worldwide as it is used to improve the quality of patient care to offer cost-effective medical services. Therefore, nursing practices must include a combination of the EBP, availability of expertise, and solitary clinical judgment to positively affect the patients. As such, every published article about evidenced-based practices for online graduate nursing students must be thoroughly reviewed to avoid misunderstandings that might lead to adverse outcomes for the patients. Therefore, the report aims at giving a review of the article written by Rojjanasrirat and Rice about Evidence-based practice knowledge, attitudes, and practice of online graduate nursing students. Also, the study is done to determine whether the article should be printed or not.
The Problem and the Theoretical Framework
The study’s main aim was to assess the necessary changes in EBP knowledge attitudes and practice of nursing students before and after completing an online graduate level. Many nurses across the world have graduated with physical degrees. In this case, they had the chance to physically attend classes, perform all the necessary experiments, and meet for group discussions. Consequently, as students, these nurses had the opportunity to develop improved EBP knowledge, attitudes, and practices based on research, experiments, group discussions, and lessons. On the other hand, online graduated nursing students might be at a disadvantage since most lack quality research, group discussions, and physical experiments. Therefore, changes must be made in the EBP for online graduated nursing students. As for the theoretical framework, the authors ensured that they explained all the theories and the specific terms used in the article. For instance, Evidence-based practices were otherwise referred to as EBP.
Sample and Setting
The research was carried out at a private university in the Midwestern USA. Therefore, based on this setting, the study should be considered high quality because Midwestern University is well known for providing high-quality programs, especially in sciences, substantial experiences, exceptional clinical rotations, and a compassionate perspective toward the nurses towards the patients. Also, participants included sixty-three online nurse practitioner students taking a Master’s program. Moreover, the sampling techniques included all the approved online nursing students from the fifth level to the lightweight-level (3rd and 4th year) (n=255) student, which is admirable since only the approved students can aid the researchers in obtaining the best results for the research.
Variables, Design and Analysis Strategies
A suitable sample of the chosen online graduate nursing students who had enrolled in the EBP course was asked to participate in the study. Also, the study’s outcomes were determined by the use of Evidenced-Based Practice Questionnaires (EBPQ) before and after completing the course. Further, the researchers used paired sample t-test and descriptive statics to evaluate the mean difference between the pretests and the post-test scores. The sample test gives an advantage to the researchers as it allows for the comparison of the average values of different data sets. Furthermore, the sample test provides ease of calculation, gathering data, and more accessible interpretation as it tells the mean difference of various samples.
Results and Discussions
According to the results, the overall student’s post-test EBP scores improved significantly over the pretest scores, t (63) =-9.034, p<0.001). Further, statistically essential differences were discovered for the practice of Evidenced-based practices mean scores t (63) =-12.78, p=0.001) (Rojjanasrirat, & Rice, 2016). Nonetheless, no significant differences were found between the pre and post-test results on attitudes and knowledge towards EBP scores. Most frequently, the discovered hindrances to EBP include interpretation of findings, lack of understanding of statistics, insufficient time, and unavailability of adequate library resources.
Evaluation
The language used in the Research Article
The authors, Rojjanasrirat and Rice, used a language that was easily understandable to the specific audiences and any other non-medical audiences. This was done by ensuring that all the abbreviations used in the articles were first interpreted and that every other non-defined term was defined. Also, the research purpose was clearly stated. It related to the problem identified in the literature review as’ the importance of using instructional strategies to enhance the competence of the EBP in online graduate nursing students.’
Sampling Methods
The authors employed stratified sampling, where the participants were selected based on specific characteristics. For example, the school first approved the students based on their performance. Further, the participants were specifically chosen from the fifth level to the lightweight level in their years of study. As a result, the researchers could easily and quickly obtain a sample of students that were just about to graduate and be released to the job market.
Data Collection Methods
Data collection methods included surveys involving either physical or digital questionnaires that enabled the researchers to obtain qualitative and quantitative data from the participants. In this case, the researchers were offered an opportunity for scale distribution. Also, the Evidenced-based practice questionnaires used in this research were cost-effective compared to the other data collection methods. Moreover, the discussion offered is related to the information provided in the results sections.
According to the results offered, it is true that the pretest and the post-test effects the attitudes and knowledge towards the EBP scores. This is based on the fact that although the post-test on the EBP scores were highly improved over the pretest, the results show that the only statistical differences noted were found on the EBP mean scores, t (63) = − 12.78, p = 0.001) (Rojjanasrirat, & Rice, 2016). Consequently, the results show that the significant blockade for the EBP included inadequate time, inadequate library resources, misunderstanding of the statistics, and a proper interpretation of findings.
Significance and Value of the Research
The research is significant in that it offers knowledge to build the base for clinical practices and the reinforcements of the following; enhancement of quality patient care, enhancing end-of-life care, and the management of various disease symptoms. From the results obtained in the research, some of the significant barriers to Evidence-based practice were given to help the nurses make the necessary adjustments toward improving the EBP. Further, since there was no difference in the attitudes and the knowledge test scores, the nursing management can now know what to do to enhance the EBP practices.
Consequently, the research was valuable enough to the extent that it offers the nurses knowledge to improve their skills to effect positive results for the patients and others within the healthcare systems. As the healthcare systems get more varied and the needs of the patients become more and more complex, nurses need to use the EBP by incorporating such research results with their professional experiences and the preferences of the patients. Therefore, conducting such research may be used in everyday practices to improve their skills and knowledge and teach others using the results.
Strengths and Weakness of the Research
The questionnaire method of collecting data offers several benefits. For starters, questionnaires are an excellent method of collecting lots of information from many people within a short period. Further, the only required costs in using questionnaires are printing expenses used to print the copies (Mercieca-Bebber et al., 2018). Thus, this research was cost-effective. Moreover, the questionnaires used in the study are reliable in that they are standardized so that the same questions phrased in precisely the same way are used for all the participants.
Nonetheless, despite the various strengths, this research has weaknesses that may include inflexibility and lack of depth. Even though some may argue that questionnaires are flexible since they offer a chance to ask many questions simultaneously, questionnaires are relatively inflexible. For instance, some phrases used in the question may confuse various participants. It is already late for the researchers to change the terms used in the questions at this stage. Moreover, questionnaires lack depth in that it is difficult to ask anything apart from the general questions that may be suitable to all the participants. Therefore, due to the generalizability of the questions, the results may not be as valid as the results obtained using the other data collection methods.
Why the Article Should Be Printed
The research article is eligible for publication as it meets the criteria for selecting the research articles to be published. For example, the author reports original scientific research since the results have not been published by any other researcher or submitted elsewhere (Trierweiler, 2021). Furthermore, as elaborated in the evaluation section above, the research objective is of outstanding scientific importance as it enhances the knowledge of the online graduated nurse based on the EBP. Also, the authors give a conclusion of interest to the interdisciplinary readership.
Conclusion
Due to the importance of EBP, nursing practices must include a combination of the EBP, availability of expertise, and solitary clinical judgment to bring about a positive result for the patients. Therefore, every research article on EBP practices should be properly vetted and approved by article reviewers to avoid publishing unnecessary information. The report reviewed above can be published since it meets the criteria for publication. Also, the research object and the results are essential to the interdisciplinary readership since the information enhances the quality offered to the patients and the entire healthcare system.
References
Mercieca-Bebber, R., Calvert, M., Kyte, D., Stockler, M., & King, M. T. (2018). The administration of patient-reported outcome questionnaires in cancer trials: Interviews with trial coordinators regarding their roles, experiences, challenges, and training. Contemporary clinical trials communications, 9, 23-32. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2451865417301436
Rojjanasrirat, W. Rice, J. (2016). Evidence-based practice knowledge, attitudes, and practice of online graduate nursing students.
Nurse Education Today. 53/48-53. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2017.04.005
Trierweiler, L. (2021). Selection criteria for publications in the PSYNDEX reference database. https://www.psycharchives.org/en/item/d0168e15-298d-46ce-bb0a-3d67410e9a01
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