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Searching and Appraising Literature

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Searching and Appraising Literature

Literature review remains integral to knowledge building. In biomedical practice, where quality and safety are safeguarded, literature search and appraisal provide a foundational framework for evidence-based practice (Parajuli, 2020). They not only inform clinical decision-making processes but also build biomedical knowledge, establish the significance of evidence, provide context for different studies, and help identify gaps in practice. This paper outlines a literature search and appraisal process for a skilled nursing care facility: Searching and Appraising Literature.

Organization and Gap in Practice

The selected skilled nursing care facility under scrutiny is renowned for providing excellent nursing care to its residents. A recent review of the facility’s quality dashboard revealed a 75% increase in older adult fall rates. The majority of the reported falls resulted in injuries. A root cause analysis of the fall incidents within the organization placed poor fall prevention practices as the reason for the increasing fall rates.

It was established that the organization had many inexperienced nurses who were not conversant with fall prevention interventions. Likewise, the adoption of fall prevention programs was poor among personnel, resulting in a non-uniform implementation of fall prevention interventions. Organizational factors, such as poor staff collaboration, were also blamed for some fall incidences. Integrating fall prevention practices within the organization was thus necessitated.

Process of Searching for the Evidence

There is a consensus on the health impact of falls and the need to curtail them to promote safety and quality within nursing care homes (Giovannini et al., 2022). Searching for evidence on the impact of falls and how to address escalating fall rates utilized a multi-stepped approach. The first step was establishing a research question.

The research question guided the search process and helped in the determination of the search terms (Dodgson, 2020). The research questions used, in this case, included “What are the impacts of hospital falls?” and “What are the most effective ways of curtailing hospital falls?”

The next step was selecting the research databases. PubMed, Embase, and MedlinePlus were used for the process. These databases were selected because of the wealth of biomedical research they contain.

They are also reputable for publishing authoritative scholarly articles. The databases are also easily accessible, as they do not require pre-access purchases and can be located through a simple web search.

The database selection process is followed by developing search terms. The search terms used in this case were hospital falls, preventing hospital falls, and impacts of hospital falls. These search terms were used as they are centered on the research question and are relevant to the identified practice problem.

Boolean operators “AND” and “OR” were integrated to refine the search process (Jha et al., 2022). This ensured that the resulting articles maintained relevance to the research area under scrutiny.

Appraisal

The search processes resulted in a total of 57 articles. The articles were all centered on hospital falls. They, however, differed in their scope and timelines of publications. The articles were further appraised using the currency, purpose, relevance, authority, and purpose criteria.

Per the criteria of currency, 27 articles were found to have been published within the past five years and were peer-reviewed. Of the 27 articles, seven sources met the purpose, relevance, authority, and accuracy criteria and were thus legible for consideration. The seven papers were further scrutinized for their level of evidence to ensure that only high-level evidence was integrated into the study. This process yielded three articles that ultimately informed measures against falls in the nursing care facility.

Literature review remains integral in evidence-based practice. It helps in building biomedical knowledge and can contribute to addressing identified gaps in practice. As evident in the organization under scrutiny, literature search and appraisal provide a framework for identifying apparent gaps in practice and specific address measures.

References

Dodgson, J. E. (2020). Quality in research: Asking the right question. Journal of Human Lactation, 36(1), 105–108. https://doi.org/10.1177/0890334419890305

Giovannini, S., Brau, F., Galluzzo, V., Santagada, D. A., Loreti, C., Biscotti, L., Laudisio, A., Zuccalà, G., & Bernabei, R. (2022). Falls among older adults: Screening, identification, rehabilitation, and management. Applied Sciences, 12(15), 7934. https://doi.org/10.3390/app12157934

Jha, R., Sondhi, V., & Vasudevan, B. (2022). Literature search: Simple rules for confronting the unknown. Medical Journal Armed Forces India, 78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mjafi.2022.07.009

Parajuli, J. P. (2020). Significance of literature review in the research of social sciences. Journal of Population and Development, 1(1), 96–102. https://doi.org/10.3126/jpd.v1i1.33108

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Question

Searching and appraising literature

When conducting a literature review, what are the steps you should you take to successfully search the evidence? Once you have generated your results, how do you properly appraise the evidence, grade them, and select the ones you want to use?

When conducting a literature review, the goal is to produce a set of results that match your search criteria. The results you get will vary dramatically depending on the search engine(s) you utilize and which key words you choose to enter. Selecting the right database(s) is one skill; selecting the best key words is another. In this Assignment, you will hone your skills in both of these important aspects of the search process.

Keep in mind, the results of your search will vary in terms of quality, as well as appropriateness, and significance to your research goals. For this reason, searching is only the first step of the process. The second step is to appraise the results you identified, and based on your evaluations, select the literature that you will select.

To prepare:

Note: You may select a new organizational type and gap in practice or practice change or, if you choose, you may reuse one on which you focused for a previous Assignment, Discussion, or Blog in this course.

Also Note: These may or may not be the same organizational type and gap in practice or practice change as those you will focus on for your Practicum and DNP Project.

Note: For this Assignment, you must complete Appendix G based on having completed either Appendix E or F for each of the three articles you selected, as appropriate. You will submit a total of five documents (four completed Appendices along with your 2–3-page paper).

Be sure to review the grading rubric for this Assignment so you fully understand what is expected of you. To access the rubric, scroll down to the bottom of the Assignment page.

The Assignment: (2–3 pages)
Write a paper in which you do the following:

Note: For this Assignment, you must complete Appendix G based on having completed either Appendix E or F for each of the three articles you selected, as appropriate. You will submit a total of five documents (four completed Appendices along with your 2–3-page paper).


Note: Use this week’s Learning Resources to support your Assignment. Use proper APA format and style for all references and citations. The College of Nursing requires that all papers include a title page, introduction, summary, and references. Use the College of Nursing Writing TemplateLinks to an external site. for your Assignment submission.

Searching and Appraising Literature

Searching and Appraising Literature

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