Evidence-Based Practice in Clinical Nursing Education Assignment Sample

• Subject Name : Nursing

Professional Development Planning

1. Reflections on Andragogy and Its Application to How I Practice

Andragogy can be understood as the science and practice of the learning regarding adults. This is exactly contrasting to the concept of pedagogy, which is about the children learning. The concept of Andragogy can be understood better as a theory of adult learning that focuses on the ways in which the adults be trained in a different way than the children. For example, the adults are considered to be more self-directed, ready to learn, and internally motivated (Loeng, 2018). The concept entails various strategies that are used among the adults to enhance the teaching and learning. The main aim of these strategies is to engage the adult learners. In this, the students are privileged by the opportunity to determine the efficiency of their learning experience (Loeng, 2018). In the year 1980, Knowles proposed four principles of andragogy later on, In 1984, he added the 5th principle to the concept of andragogy. The five principles are self- concept, adult learning experiences, readiness to learn, orientation to learning, and motivation to learn.

The first principle is self-concept. We know that as an individual gets mature from a being a child into an adult, the self-concept of them also get matures. They start moving from being relying on some other people to being independent and self-driven. If I will discuss about my own experience as during my initial days of learning and until I was in the category of child I used to get all the things prepared already but, as I grew up I start preparing them as per my knowledge and understanding. There was no sense of maturity in the childhood phase, but it built and enhanced as I started adulting. This maturity results in mounting the independence as well as autonomy in myself. Whereas a child depends on others for learning or understanding, but an adult learn and understand things independently. The application of this in my practice was in diagnosing the learning needs, identifying the human as well as material resources for learning, selecting as well as applying the most appropriate learning strategies, formulating the learning goals, and evaluating learning outcomes. This principle of self-concept has developed the ability to not give up in the most difficult situations because it has developed the self -confidence that helps me in managing the situations independently. This also helped me in generating conflict resolving skills which eventually helped me to resolve conflicts at my workplaces (Loeng, 2018).

The second principle is adult learning experience. This focuses on the post experiences that an adult gains from his learning. They have a wide range of experiences to draw on whatever they learn. In my practice this has built a mounting reservoir of experience. Such increasing experience has turn out to be a deepening resource for my learning and development. As a child, I had a very little experience that usually relied on the experiences of others. As an adult every passing day is a day of learning a new experience. This helps as implication of what is learnt till now and the experiences gained together into the practice results in the improved and effective outcomes. This whole procedure of learning and gaining experiences helps in the evaluation of new evidence based findings (Veto, 2009). These finding that are evidence based when implemented into my practice hones my ability to understand and depict various new ideas that could lead to better outcomes. Life is all about learning, doing mistakes, failing, learning from the mistakes, experiencing, growing, and developing. Since childhood to every phase of life the cycle continues. Similarly, since my childhood till now I have experienced every phase of this cycle and this is still continuing. No matter it was my high school or now in my graduation I often do mistakes, learn from them and the experience gained from them helps me and will keep helping me throughout my life span. Even, if focusing on the period of practice, applying learning experiences helps in improving the procedures and the results (Loeng, 2018).

The third principle is readiness to learn. This could be understood as while transforming from a child to adult and getting matured in this phase the adults gets more into playing their roles. There are various roles or precisely saying social roles such as during graduation and post graduation as a student they play different roles and responsibilities, then during practice as an intern, an employee, spouse, parents, and even as a citizen of their nation their readiness to learn turn out to be more directed towards their roles at whatever the stage they are (Palis & Quiros, 2014). If focusing on how I practiced then, I become more oriented towards the skills that were necessary for me as a student by understanding my roles and responsibilities. Good values, self belief, being empathetic, respecting others, and building trust in those with whom I work. This has helped me to work ethically and to overcome the ethical dilemmas that arise at workplaces very efficiently.

The forth principle is orientation towards learning. As a child the appliance of a subject is overdue and their point of reference is directed towards subject-centered. While, as an adult, their implication of learning becomes directed towards the problem-centered (Ota et al., 2006). As an adult even, I encounter various problems, but, learned various ways to solve them, and then immediately apply their knowledge to those problems.

The fifth and the last principle is motivation to learn. As a child my motivation to learn used to be external (Ota et al., 2006). While, as an adult I was more motivated towards learning internally because learning internally helped me to grow in terms of self-development. Growing internally has helped me in my practice as it has given me the desire to move further exponentially and acquiring extraordinary skills.

These five principles act as five pillars that have been provided the foundation regarding how Knowles have understood the andragogy or adult learning. These five principles or I would precisely say pillars when taken into account have shaped my practice in an exemplar way.

2. Reflections on My Own Academic Development

When I was enrolling myself in this degree program I was quite nervous as applied rehabilitation this program is designed in order to offer the students an inclusive theoretical approach regarding the rehabilitation services. This includes professional ethics, physical disabilities, intellectual disabilities, mental health, and substance abuse, along with hours of practice in clinical psychology (Hasten, Johnston & Lea, 1995). To be honest, this has been seemed daunting when I thought of enrolling myself for this. But, my passion for seeing myself working for the welfare of the society’s mental health has led me here. The only way to succeed is following the degree program by balancing the study hours and the practice hours. The way of study till graduation was totally different while studying for a graduation degree program is totally different. This has bought a sense of responsibility in myself since day 1 of joining.

Throughout this degree program of two years I have seen myself getting better academically day by day. And, this has been possible when I understood my weaknesses and the things that I found challenging. I did SWOC analysis in my portfolio. SWOC analysis can be understood as a strategic planning scheme could be used to analyse the external as well as internal factors that can potentially affect my success and growth during my academics. It determines my strength, weakness, opportunities, as well as challenges that could be faced by me during my course of academics. When I was working on developing my SWOC analysis for portfolio (Frue, 2016). I got to know that throughout my academics I have certain strengths and weakness in me. I do have a lot of opportunities and few challenges that could be overcome if focused well.

The things that were once my weakness has now turned to be my strength now. I was good at academic writing but was weak in understanding case studies. A good practitioner should be good at understanding case studies and interpreting the results (Sharma, 2010). Even being good at academic writing and essays I always found difficulty in writing argumentative essays. I used to understand the whole things but always found it difficult to execute it on paper whenever it comes to argumentative essays. By completing the module of developing and enhancing academic study skills, These two weaknesses of mine have turned into my strengths. Now, I know what format and how we can make our argumentative essay looks best. Giving strong evidence based arguments always help out. The issue of writing case studies also got sorted by this. Now I am proficient in not just in writing the case studies but also in interpreting the results.

Knowing my strength, weakness, and the things that I found challenging helped me to hone my personal skills and to understand my own limitations.

From the proposal module, I learned how to get the related journal articles for information for the interventions that could be used in the practice settings. Relevant, updated, and recent articles must be selected for the research proposal. 

Through this I have also developed the skills to critically appraise an article. Critical Appraisal is a method of descriptive evaluation of a research or an article in order to judge its value, relevance, and reliability in an article (Burls, 2009) Critical appraisal is considered as an important academic skill for the student practitioners to recognize the quality and relevance of the research to the practice in order to provide the best and the most appropriate intervention for the patient in clinical practice setting.

From the module of evidence base practice, I learned how to implement what is learned in theory can be implemented in to the practice. With the expansion in the field of research, there is a great change that has been experienced in the practice settings. Budding clinical practitioners face challenges whey they ship from class to their clinical practices during the application of evidence-based approaches (Fiset, Graham, & Davies, 2017). In an article presented by Kristensen, Nymann & Konradsen, (2016) it has been discussed that an evidence-based approach into practice settings is considered to be a method in which the practitioner unite the well-researched infringements in the practice settings. I have learnt to implement my experience into academic practice along with taking an account on ethics. This has developed my understanding for what works, for which it will work, and under what conditions it will work. This is considered to be an important aspect for the practitioners, researchers, as well as the patient for working together in a collaborative manner (Patelarou et al, 2017).

An evidence-based approach has been considered to offer the supreme care in assisting the patients in recovering them in a short period of time. It has been seen that the patient’s health outcome showed substantial improvement when they have been treated with implementing evidence-based approaches. But, certain challenges or barriers migh be faced during implementing the evidence-based approaches into the practice and make it a difficult task. However, if the effective implementation strategies are used by the health professionals then, it could help in engaging the practitioners as well as in promoting the implementation of evidence-based practices (Kapp, 2013).

For overcoming such challenges, Comprehensive and enduring strategies are requisite to carry on the revolutionized in the practice settings and to keep it in the front position. By focusing on the positive aspects of modifications in the evidence-based practice could help in the promotion of the awareness along with the interest among the practitioners. These positive aspects could be the probable benefits in respect to the modification and the competence within the group values (Charif et al, 2017).

3. Reflections on My Development in Practice

Whatever I have learned throughout this degree program has developed my practice skills. Developing the understanding of rehabilitation concepts and principles along with the models of rehabilitation has helped me in practice as implementation of these principles and models of rehabilitation into practice has resulted in enhancing the delivery of care, knowledge of interventions, and patient satisfaction. Earlier, I used to be confused regarding applying what has been learned into the practice but the modules has helped me doing so. I have developed effective practice skills by the application of rehabilitation models into my field of practice.

From the module of ethics, I have developed a thorough understanding of the significance of implications of ethics based approach into practice. Ethics based practices are highly suggested in the healthcare system in order to achieve the patient satisfaction (Beauchamp & Childress, 2001).

During my practice, I have learnt that acknowledging and respecting the autonomy of the patient is important. The standard of respect for autonomy of the patient is all about enabling the patient to participate in their own decisions concerned with their health care interventions whether they want to receive them or not. This is important as the patients must be provided a choice and must be allowed to make purposeful selection according to their preference. This is concerned with the importance of health care interventions that are considered as possibly life-changing (Agianto, 2016). Acknowledging the decisions of the patient regarding their delivery of care along with respecting the autonomy of the patient is considered as a crucial attribute of patient-centered care, even when the decision of the patient contradicts with the recommendations given by the clinicians (Sedig, 2016). Not only this, but, maintaining confidentiality of the patient’s important information is also considered as an important attribute of ethics and this module has made me learn to work as per the ethics (Kurtz & Burr, 2009). Moreover, for working as a practitioner the professional code of conduct as per the midwives board of Malaysia in daily practice. This includes maintaining the highest standard of practice and care along with the professional conduct.

In order to make my practice in an exemplar way I have also learned the importance of goal settings. For this, the generation of goals and then achieving it is the basic propaganda. I have learnt the utilization of SMART goals into the practice. As a practitioner of Occupational therapy, it is mandatory to document the patient’s treatment for the purpose of legislative need (Levack et.al , 2006).

From the learning outcome of module of personal effectiveness. Emotional intelligence is considered as a field that is considered as an important to be practice in occupational therapy. According to Schneider, (2015), Practicing emotional intelligence at workplace results in improving stress resistance. The application of emotional intelligence helps in working efficiently in odd situations.

I have also learned that reflecting upon the practice model is an important part of nursing practice as it helps in getting a continuous reformation in the practice for achieving a vast understanding as well as meaning of a knowledge (Parboosingh, 2002). Therefore, the e-portfolios help in promoting the continuous learning. This is done by researching the evidences as well as the outcome of reflection. The succession of the capability in representing continuing professional development by the practitioners depends upon the e-Portfolio. The e-portfolio elaborates the activities, self-learning as well as opportunities that are acquired in the practice. Electronic portfolios (e-portfolios) are the way of showcasing the skills and to draw the attention of the professionals towards my uniqueness and suitability in a rehabilitation ward. This is a digital collection of my achievements, competencies, as well as learning outcomes that will showcase my learning journey by demonstrating my abilities (McMillan et al., 2014).

From the module of evidence base practice, I have learnt how the researches implemented into the practice could lead to the better health outcomes of the patients. It has been evidently seen that the patient’s health outcome shows considerable improvement when they have been treated with the implication of evidence-based approaches. However, I have also learned about certain challenges and barriers in the implementation of evidence-based approaches in practice settings that makes it a little difficult (Padhmanabhan et al, 2019). In a study presented by Bach-Mortensen, Lange & Montgomery, (2018) it has been stated that a key challenge that has been faced by the practitioners in implementing an evidence-based approach into practice setting is lack of knowledge among the practitioners regarding the possible applications of the evidence-based approach in a particular practice setting such as in occasional therapy settings. It has been revealed that there are a lot of practitioners do not have enough knowledge regarding how to actually incorporate the research findings into their practice. The study has revealed that the assessment of the knowledge, approach, and how the practitioners apply this research illustrate the inconsistency in knowledge among the practitioners regarding the evidence-based approaches (Mahmoud & Abdelrasol, 2019). However, in a study by Shayan, Kiwanuka & Nakaye, (2019) it has been stated that it could be overcome by certain strategies. This knowledge barrier among the practitioners can be overcome by the stipulation of specific research education, by developing the understanding of effective interprofessional teamwork, and leadership along with enabling a proficient learning working environment to the practitioners. However, this module has made me learn all of these aspects. This has helped me in implementing the evidence-based approaches effectively into my practice settings.

Andragogy / Academic or Practice Related

1. Personal statement has been used for the development of academic skills for healthcare professionals on the basis of 5 principles of Andragogy.

Andragogy and academic development

2. SWOC analysis: Analysis of personal strength, weakness, opportunities, as well as challenges that could be faced during my course of academics.

This has also been used for the development of academic skills for healthcare professionals.

Academic development

3. Evidence based module for the clear understanding of implementation of evidence based approaches at work place along with understanding the significance of it.

This is to enhance the skills with evidences both in academics as well as at practice.

Academic development and practice development

4. Application of Models and setting of Smart goals of rehabilitation into practice to enhance and develop the knowledge regarding the interventions, delivery of care, and patient satisfaction.

Practice development

5. Application of module of ethics for developing the understanding of importance of implications of ethics into practice and to understand the need of ethics by the patient.

Practice development

References for Evidence-Based Practice in Clinical Nursing Education

Agianto. 2016. Understanding ethical principles in nursing research. Belitung Nursing Journal. 2, pp. 22-24. doi: 10.33546/bnj.10

Bach-Mortensen, A. M., Lange, B. C. L., & Montgomery, P. (2018). Barriers and facilitators to implementing evidence-based interventions among third sector organisations: A systematic review. Implementation Science, 13, 103 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13012-018-0789-7

Beauchamp, M.H. & Anderson, V. (2010). Social: An integrative framework for the development of social skills. Psychological Bulletin, 136(1), 39.

Burls, A., (2009). What is critical appraisal? Retrieved from: https://www.whatisseries.co.uk/what-is-critical-appraisal/

Charif, B. et al. (2017). Effective strategies for scaling up evidence-based practices in primary care: a systematic review. Implementation Science, 12, 139. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13012-017-0672-y

Fiset, V. J., Graham, I. D., Davies, B. L. (2017). Evidence-based practice in clinical nursing education: A scoping review. Journal of Nursing Education, 56(9), 534-54. https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20170817-04

Frue, K. (2016), What is SWOC analysis? Retrieved from https://pestleanalysis.com/what-is-swoc-analysis/#:~:text=SWOC%20analysis%20is%20a%20strategic,is%20relevant%20to%20SWOT%20analysis.

Hasten, D. L., Johnston, F. A., & Lea, R. D. (1995). Validity of the Applied Rehabilitation Concepts (ARCON) system for lumbar range of motion. Spine, 20(11), 1279–1283. https://doi.org/10.1097/00007632-199506000-00015

Kapp, S. (2013). Successful implementation of clinical practice guidelines for pressure risk management in a home nursing setting. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice 19, 895–901. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2753.2012.01870.x

Knowles, M. S. (1978). Andragogy: Adult Learning Theory in Perspective. Community College Review, 5(3), 9–20. https://doi.org/10.1177/009155217800500302

Kristensen, N., Nymann, C., & Konradsen, H. (2016). Implementing research results in clinical practice- the experiences of healthcare professionals. BMC Health Services Research, 16, 48. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-016-1292-y

Kurtz, P. and Burr, R.I. (2009). Ethics and health. Community health nursing: Caring for the Public’s Health, 248-269.

Levack, W.M., Taylor, K., Siegert, R.J., Dean, S.G., McPherson, K.M. & Weatherall, M. (2006). Is goal planning in rehabilitation effective? A systematic review. Clinical Rehabilitation, 20(9), 739-755.

Loeng, S. (2018). Various ways of understanding the concept of andragogy. Journal of Cogent Education, 2(1).

Mahmoud, M., & Abdelrasol, Z. (2019). Obstacles in employing evidence-based practice by nurses in their clinical settings: a descriptive study, Frontiers of Nursing, 6(2), 123-133. doi: https://doi.org/10.2478/FON-2019-0019

McMillan et al., (2014). Decisions, decisions! E-portfolio as an effective hiring assessment tool, Nursing Management (Springhouse), 45(4), 52-54 doi: 10.1097/01.NUMA.0000444882.93063.a7

Ota, C. et al., (2006), Training and the needs of adult learners. Journal of Extension, 44(6).

Padhmanabhan, A. et al (2019). Guidelines on the use of therapeutic apheresis in clinical practice – Evidence‐based approach from the writing committee of the american society for apheresis: The eighth special issue. Journal of Clinical Apheresis, 34(3). https://doi.org/10.1002/jca.21705

Palis, A. G., & Quiros, P. A. (2014). Adult learning principles and presentation pearls. Middle East African Journal of Ophthalmology, 21(2), 114–122. https://doi.org/10.4103/0974-9233.129748

Parboosingh, J.T., (2002). Physician communities of practice: where learning and practice are inseparable. Journal of Continuing Education in the Health professions, 22(4), pp.230-236.

Patelarou, A. E., Kyriakoulis, K. G., Stamou, A. A., Laliotis, A., Sifaki-Pistolla, D., Matalliotakis, M., Prokopakis, E., & Patelarou, E. (2017). Approaches to teach evidence-based practice among health professionals: An overview of the existing evidence. Advances in Medical Education and Practice, 8, 455–464. https://doi.org/10.2147/AMEP.S134475

Schneider. (2015). Exploring the relationship between rational and irrational beliefs, emotional intelligence, and resilience from a cross–cultural perspective. St. John's University (New York). American Journal of Critical Care, 10(5), p.341

Sedig, L. 2016. What’s the role of autonomy in patient- and family-centered care when patients and family members don’t agree? AMA Journal of Ethics, 18(1), pp. 12-17. doi: 10.1001/journalofethics.2017.18.1.ecas2-1601.

Sharma, S. (2010). How to Become a Competent Medical Writer? Perspectives in Clinical Research, 1(1), 33–37.

Shayan, S. J., Kiwanuka, F., & Nakaye, Z. (2019). Barriers associated with evidence‐based practice among nurses in low‐ and middle‐income countries: A systematic review. World views on evidence-based nursing, 16(1), 12-20. https://doi.org/10.1111/wvn.12337

Veto, K. M. (2009). Implementing adult learning principles to overcome barriers of learning in continuing higher education programs. Online Journal of Workforce Education and Development, 3(4).

Remember, at the center of any academic work, lies clarity and evidence. Should you need further assistance, do look up to our Nursing Assignment Help