Junior nursing students present evidence-based practice projects

On Dec. 7 more than 140 junior nursing students enrolled in the Evidence-Based Nursing Practice course presented their final projects for the fall semester. Students presented on a variety of topics including pet and sensory integration therapy, reducing pain and anxiety in pediatric patients, and the effects of exercise on reducing stress.

For the OHIO students, the final projects provided an opportunity to summarize and critique the literature on their chosen topics and offer recommendations for implementation and/or changes to nursing practice. For professors Mel Brandau and Danny Hopgood, it was evidence of a semester of learning with students “igniting a spirit of inquiry” and moving through the Seven Steps of Evidence-Based Practice EBP model developed by Bernadette Melynk and Ellen Fineout-Overholt.
 

Students begin the project by identifying a clinical problem through developing a Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome, and Time, or PICOT, question, and delving into the literature to find evidence that will support or reject a practice change. Throughout the semester, students learn about facilitators and barriers to evidence-based nursing practices, basic research design and statistics, evidence critique and practice change.

Brandau and Hopgood were impressed with the students’ efforts on the smaller projects throughout the semester, culminating in fantastic posters that they shared in professional presentations with their peers and faculty. Some of the posters are displayed in the nursing labs on the second floor of Grover Center and others will be shared at clinical facilities to promote inquiry and encourage best practices among future and current nurses.