Guidelines for Paper 1
Analysis of a Nursing Practice Problem
* This paper will be the foundation for your remaining papers.
Related course objectives:
• Identify advanced practice nursing problems that are amenable to change through the application of theory.
• Apply scholarly thinking and communication to advanced practice nursing.
• Develop scholarly writing skills for advanced practice nursing.
Choosing a Practice Problem
• Think about something you see in your practice that concerns you.
• Choose a Problem that fits the area of advanced practice nursing you are studying.
• The Problem should be something you might address in your anticipated role as an Advanced Practice Nurse.
• Some examples of the kinds of practice Topics that you might consider:
o Bonding between adolescent mothers and their newborns.
o Palliative care.
o Obesity and overweight.
o Recurrent admissions of patients who have a specific chronic health problem such as asthma, heart failure, diabetes, renal failure. This is not about the medical care but patient self-management. It is also not about readmission… that is a consequence. What is the problem as it relates to readmission?
o Dehydration in the elderly.
o Falls.
o Pain management.
o Health literacy.
o Adherence to medically prescribe regimens.
Note: These are merely broad Topic areas, so you will need to state what you see as the Problem related to these Topics, and identify the population of interest.
To a large extent, the preceding examples apply to a clinical role. Many of you are in tracks related to a leadership or educational role.
Both of these roles are ultimately about addressing the quality of patient care, and the above topics are applicable.
However, instead of directly addressing a patient-associated Problem, the Problem for the Leadership or Education role is indirect … Staff Knowledge and/or Organizational Processes or Systems which may impede the delivery of quality patient care, related to one of the Topics identified above.
I am happy to work with you if you need additional assistance in developing a Problem statement related to either your Direct or Indirect Role.
Components of the Paper
Introduction (including Problem Statement)
State the problem in one or two sentences. Usually, if you cannot state the problem in one succinct sentence, your ideas are too broad to manage within this paper.
Some examples of clinical problem statements are:
• Adolescent mothers are often slow to bond with their newborn infants.
• Patients who have heart failure are frequently admitted to acute care due to lack of adherence to the prescribed health regime. Please note: Readmission is a consequence- it is not the problem.
• Social development of adolescents who have cystic fibrosis (or other chronic health problem that you may choose) may be impaired due to rigorous health regime.
Background
The literature review section is used to support the practice problem that you described. This part builds and supports the problem statement by the review, integration, and analysis of the literature. Be choosy with what you find.
• Review the literature on your topic and use the information to support your statement. While you may have expertise in the subject you are investigating, you are NOT the expert. Your professional experience may guide you through the review of the literature, but the statements you make MUST be supported by scholarly sources, with appropriate citations.
• Why is this situation a Problem, specifically a Nursing Practice problem?
• Cite references to support your analysis.
• Include citations and references to support your ideas.
Significance
Provide information that justifies the importance of the problem.
For example:
• Who is affected by this problem?
• How many people have this problem?
• What is the cost of this problem (in money, resources, personnel, etc.)?
• What are the consequences if the problem is not addressed?
You must provide references to support this information.
Summary and Conclusions
Summarize what you have said in the body of the paper here (briefly).
Based on the above analysis, what would be the goals of a nursing intervention to solve this problem?
For example, in the clinical examples provided:
• Fewer readmissions and better quality of life for elders who have heart failure.
• Hospitalized elderly patients will not suffer the many consequences of dehydration.
You do NOT need to propose or discuss an Intervention here- that will come in the Final paper.
References
A sufficient number of references to justify your assertions.
References must be cited correctly within the text and listed correctly in the Reference list.
References should be primarily from scholarly journals.
References to websites should be limited to those that are appropriate to your topic, and if websites are used, they should be credible, noncommercial sites (such as professional organizations that address your area of interest).
You must use headings, correctly formatted according to APA.
The paper should be no more than 5-6 pages, excluding the title page and references.
Tips for Scholarly Writing:
Use the grammar and spell checks on your word processor.
Visit the UCF Graduate Writing Center if you have any doubts or want to learn more about scholarly writing. The Writing Center is designed to help you become a better lifelong writer and not only to help you with APA issues (which you do need to learn).
Check your paper against the Grading Rubric
Save your paper as a Word document- NO pdfs,please
This paper will automatically be submitted to Turnitin.com through this assignment.
The assignment will be scored on a 100-point scale using the rubric below.
