WHERE'S THE EVIDENCE? COMPLETING SECTION C Section C is due WEEK 3. This is where you present the RESEARCH evidence for your proposed change. Note that you must have 6 RESEARCH studies. Please use the required form for completion of the research reports and follow the directions closely. Completion of this form will ensure that you have found RESEARCH studies and will also provide you with an opportunity to consider the strength of the evidence that you have. In section C you will be locating 6 research studies on to support your proposed change. EACH study must address the focus of this concern. Once you find the research studies, you will examine EACH study and describe the SETTING, PURPOSE, RESEARCH DESIGN, SAMPLE, and FINDINGS. This will be quite easy to do as it should be clearly identified in the study. Fill this in the REVIEW OF THE EVIDENCE FORM for each study. PLEASE USE THE FORM PROVIDED - IT IS REQUIRED. Note that you must attach PDF versions of the six research studies for me to review. Next you will need to ascertain the level of evidence that each study represents. To learn more about this, please go to this Evidence Based Practice Tutorial and watch the VIDEO and then take the tutorial. When you finish, you will have a much clearer idea about the nature of evidence and why we need a body of knowledge to support our nursing actions and desired outcomes. USE THIS TABLE TO MAKE A JUDGMENT AS TO THE LEVEL EACH RESEARCH ARTICLE FITS. Rating System for the Hierarchy of Evidence/Levels of Evidence
Level I Evidence for a systematic review or meta-analysis of all relevant RCTs or evidencebased clinical practice guidelines based on systematic reviews of RCTs.

Level II Level III Level IV Level V Level VI Level VII

Evidence obtained from at least one well-designed RCT Evidence obtained from one well-designed controlled trials without Randomization Evidence from well-designed case-control and cohort studies Evidence from systematic reviews of descriptive or qualitative studies Evidence from single QUANTITATIVE DESCRIPTIVE STUDY or ANY QUALITATIVE STUDY Evidence from the opinion of authorities and/or reports of expert committees

* Table from Melnyk, Bernadette Mazurek and Ellen Fineout-Overholt. Evidence-based practice in nursing and healthcare. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2005:10.

Note that when you determine the LEVEL OF EVIDENCE, YOU MUST JUSTIFY WHY YOU CHOSE THAT LEVEL. Please do this carefully as this will reflect your understanding of levels of evidence. You will complete this assignment by writing a narrative summary of the levels of evidence of the studies. Summarize how strong you feel the evidence is to support your proposed change. Thus, you will submit Six (6) completed tables, a brief explanation at the end of each signifying the strength of the evidence, and ONE strong and well written paragraph at the end summarizing the BODY OF EVIDENCE supporting your proposed change. Here are more resources to help you with understanding Evidence Based Practice:

FINDING THE EVIDENCE Clinical Practice Guidelines McGill University Clinical Guidelines Resources National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC) RNAO Best Practice Guidelines RCN Clinical Guidelines Joanna Briggs Institute Geriatric Nursing Best Practices