Over the course of the next eight weeks, we will be examining concepts related to nursing research and the translation of evidence to practice. To help you better understand the process, you will be identifying a practice issue for nurse practitioners. You will develop a PICOT question associated with the issue, find evidence to support a change in practice, and present your recommendations for change to your peers. This week, we will work on helping you refine your area of interest so that you will be able to develop a concise question for next week’s assignment. You are encouraged to use the area of interest you chose for the project in NR500NP and/or NR501NP; however, you may choose a different area if you wish.

Select an issue in nurse practitioner (NP) practice that is of interest to you and in which you would like to see a practice change occur. Conduct a review of literature to see what is currently known about the topic. In 1-2 paragraphs, describe the scope and relevance of the issue and your recommended change. Provide reference support from at least two outside scholarly sources to support your ideas.

Requirements:

Discussion Criteria

1. Application of Course Knowledge: The student post contributes unique perspectives or insights gleaned from personal experience or examples from the healthcare field. The student must accurately and fully discuss the topic for the week in addition to providing personal or professional examples. The student must completely answer the entire initial question.
2. Engagement in Meaningful Dialogue: The student responds to a student peer and course faculty to further dialogue.
   1. Peer Response: The student responds substantively to at least one topic-related post by a student peer. A substantive post adds content or insights or asks a question that will add to the learning experience and/or generate discussion.
      • A post of “I agree” with a repeat of the other student’s post does not count as a substantive post. A collection of shallow posts does not equal a substantive post.
      • The peer response must occur on a separate day from the initial posting.
      • The peer response must occur before Sunday, 11:59 p.m. MT.
      • The peer response does not require a scholarly citation and reference unless the information is paraphrased and/or direct quotes are used, in which APA style standards then apply.
   2. Faculty Response: The student responds substantively to at least one question by course faculty. The faculty question may be directed to the student, to another student, or to the entire class.
      • A post of “I agree” with a repeat of the faculty’s post does not count as a substantive post. A collection of shallow posts does not equal a substantive post.
      • The faculty response must occur on a separate day from the initial posting.
      • Responses to the faculty member must occur by Sunday, 11:59 p.m. MT.
      • This response does not require a scholarly citation and reference unless the information is paraphrased and/or direct quotes are used, in which APA style standards then apply.
3. Integration of Evidence: The student post provides support from a minimum of one scholarly in-text citation with a matching reference AND assigned readings OR online lessons, per discussion topic per week. Two resources total and to count must be an in-text citation.
   1. What is a scholarly resource? A scholarly resource is one that comes from a professional, peer-reviewed publication (e.g., journals and government reports such as those from the FDA or CDC).
      • Contains references for sources cited
      • Written by a professional or scholar in the field and indicates credentials of the author(s)
      • Is no more than 5 years old for clinical or research article
   2. What is not considered a scholarly resource?
      • Newspaper articles and layperson literature (e.g., Readers Digest, Healthy Life Magazine, Food, and Fitness)
      • Information from Wikipedia or any wiki
      • Textbooks
      • Website homepages
      • The weekly lesson
      • Articles in healthcare and nursing-oriented trade magazines, such as Nursing Made Incredibly Easy and RNMagazine (Source: What is a scholarly article.docx; Created 06/09 CK/CL Revised: 02/17/11, 09/02/11 nlh/clm)
   3. Can the lesson for the week be used as a scholarly source?
      • Information from the weekly lesson can be cited in a posting; however, it is not to be the sole source used in the post.
   4. Are resources provided from CU acceptable sources (e.g., the readings for the week)?
      • Not as a sole source within the post. The textbook and/or assigned (required) articles for the week can be used, but another outside source must be cited for full credit. Textbooks are not considered scholarly sources for the purpose of discussions.
   5. Are websites acceptable as scholarly resources for discussions?
      • Yes, if they are documents or data cited from credible websites. Credible websites usually end in .gov or .edu; however, some .org sites that belong to professional associations (e.g., American Heart Association, National League for Nursing, American Diabetes Association) are also considered credible websites. Websites ending with .com are not to be used as scholarly resources
4. Professionalism in Communication: The post presents information in logical, meaningful, and understandable sequence, and is clearly relevant to the discussion topic. Grammar, spelling, and/or punctuation are accurate.
5. Wednesday Participation Requirement: The student provides a substantive response to the graded discussion question(s) or topic(s), posted by the course faculty (not a response to a peer), by Wednesday, 11:59 p.m. MT of each week.
6. Total Participation Requirement: The student provides at least three substantive posts (one to the initial question or topic, one to a student peer, and one to a faculty question) on two different days during the week.