NR 631 Week 1 PICOT Worksheet Assignment

Week 1 Assignment  

PICOT Worksheet

Purpose

Clear identification of the problem or opportunity is the first step in evidence-based nursing. In a previous course, you identified a practice problem of interest and developed a PICOT question. This assignment is a review of PICOT with the opportunity to revise or refine it. You will post your PICOT in the Week 1 Discussion for your classmates to review and provide feedback.

Course Outcomes

This assignment enables the student to meet the following Course Outcome (CO):

CO 2: Develop an evidence-based foundation to lead organizational change using current knowledge, standards of practice, and research from current literature. (PO 4,5)

Requirements

Description of the Assignment

Use the PICOT worksheet found above to complete the Week 1 Assignment PICOT Worksheet.

Step 1: State your PICOT question. This should be the PICOT question that you previously developed in NR505 and which you should have continued to build upon in the Nurse Executive track courses. If your PICOT question has changed since NR505, please note the changes in this section so it’s clear to the instructor what was original and what has been updated.

Step 2: Clearly define your PICOT question. List each element: P (problem, population, or problem), I (intervention), C (comparison with other treatment or current practice), O (desired outcome), and T (time frame). Is the potential solution something for which you (as nurse or student) can find a solution through evidence research? Look in your book for guidelines to developing your PICOT question and also read the required articles.

Step 3: Describe the issue or problem that will be the focus of your CGE evidence-based practice change project. What have you noticed in your work or school environment that isn’t achieving the desired patient or learning outcomes? What needs to change in nursing, what can you change with the support of evidence in the literature?

Step 4: How was the practice issue identified? How did you come to know this was a problem in your clinical practice? Review the listed concerns and check all that apply.

Step 5: What terms did you use in order to make sure your search is wide enough to obtain required information but narrow enough to keep it focused? How will you narrow your search if needed?

Criteria for Content

Access the PICOT worksheet found above.

Follow the instructions on the PICOT worksheet and complete the form.

Submit the completed PICOT worksheet form.

Example 1

What is the PICO(T) question?

Will influenza immunization compliancy rates increase if flu clinics are provided in flu PODS and immunization clinics at convenient times that cover all shifts?

Define each element of the question below.

P (patient, population, or problem): Require hospital employees and volunteers to have the influenza immunization annually.

I (intervention): Offer multiple flu PODS and immunization clinics to hospital employees and volunteers, making it convenient to receive the required immunization. Offer these at a variety of times, available to all shifts.

C (comparison with other treatment or current practice): Compare analytics showing employees and volunteers who received flu shots prior to 2016, when flu PODS and immunization clinics were not offered, to 2016, when flu PODS and immunization clinics are offered to accommodate shifts. Track the number of employees or volunteers coming at each time frame.

O (desired outcome): The desired outcome is increased employees and volunteer compliance with the flu shot policy.

Example 2

What is the PICO(T) question?

For nondiabetic patients on corticosteroid therapy, does monitoring for headache, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, and blurred vision hourly versus not observing for signs of hyperglycemia promote improvement of pulmonary complications?

Define each element of the question below.

P (patient, population, or problem): nondiabetic patients on corticosteroid therapy

I (intervention): monitoring for headache, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, and blurred vision

C (comparison with other treatment or current practice): no observations for signs of hyperglycemia

O (Desired outcome): improvement of pulmonary complications

T (time): 90 days

 

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.

Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.

One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.

I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

NR 631 Week 1 PICOT Worksheet Assignment

Weekly Participation

Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.

In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.

Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).

Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).

Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.

I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.

As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.

It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

Lopes Write Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to Lopes Write, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.

Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.

Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?

Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.

Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.

If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.

I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.

As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:

Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.

Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.

NR 631 Week 1 PICOT Worksheet Assignment

Important information for writing discussion questions and participation

Welcome to class

Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to

I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you.

Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted.

If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations.

Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements.

Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.

I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!

Hi Class,

Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.

Contact me if you have any questions.

Important information on Writing a Discussion Question

• Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
• There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
• Include in-text citations in your response
• Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
• Follow APA-7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor

• A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
• Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
• Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
• Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
• Follow APA 7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

• Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
• Here are some helpful links
• The is a great resource