UNDERSTANDING EVIDENCE - BASED NURSING | Evidence-based Literature Search and Review on Interruptions during Drug Rounds | Cohort: March 2010 | | Student ID: | |
Word count: 3292

Additional Module 1 |

It is generally accepted that evidence-based practice (EBP) is the way forward in contemporary nursing. It provides the rationale behind nursing practice and allows for the delivery of optimal nursing care. Evidence-Based Nursing (EBN) involves the process of researching and implementing proven evidence in providing better patient care and is crucial as the role of the nurse is ever expanding (Banning, 2005). This essay will demonstrate that as a student nurse, the author has gained the necessary skills to conduct an evidence-based literature search and review and implement that knowledge into practice. Starting with a brief discussion on EBN it will go on to identify a suitable research question. During a placement on a medical ward the author noticed that nurses experienced many interruptions whilst conducting medication rounds and this review will consider ways to minimise interruptions and thus improve patient safety. Using the PICO acronym a suitable research question was formulated, ‘do interruptions during medication rounds increase the drugs administration errors made by nurses?’ A short description of the literature search is given and a summary of findings is presented in tabular form. Five original articles were selected and one chosen to critically appraise (see appendix 2). The rest of the essay will focus on reviewing the five articles. It will furthermore demonstrate the link between interruptions during drug rounds and patient and nurse safety, consider the implications of the studies for nursing practice and include the nurse’s perspective of these interruptions.

Dale (2005) defines EBP as ‘the nurse making conscious judgements