Translational Research: Generating Evidence for Practice
Thought-Provoking Questions
Twelve-hour shifts are problematic for patients and nurses safety, yet hospitals continue to keep the 12-hour shift schedule. In 2004, the Institute of Medicine (2004) published a report that referred to studies as early as 1988 that discussed the negative effects of rotating shifts on intervention accuracy. Workers with 12-hour shifts experienced more fatigue than workers on 8-hour shifts. In another study done in Turkey by Ilhan et al. (2006), factors relating to increased risk for injury were age of 24 years or younger, less than 4 years of nursing experience, working in surgical intensive care units, and working for more than 8 hours. As a clinician reading these studies, what would your next step be?
The use of heparin versus saline to maintain the patency of peripheral intravenous catheters has been addressed in research for many years. The American Society of Health System Pharmacists published a position paper in January 2006 advocating its support of the use of 0.9% saline in the maintenance of peripheral catheters in nonpregnant adults. It seems surprising that this position paper references articles that advocate the use of saline over heparin dating from 1991. What do you believe are some of the barriers that would have caused this delay in implementation?
In the era of EBP, healthcare providers must continue to think critically about their actions. What is the science behind their interventions? Healthcare workers must no longer do things one way just because they have always been done that way. Research the problem; use evidence-based resources; critically select electronic and nonelectronic references; consolidate the research findings and combine and compare the conclusions; present the findings; and propose a solution. The nurse will be the first to ask why and may be a key player in making change happen.
