Step 0: Cultivate a spirit of inquiry – choosing a topic

To my surprise, this was one of the hardest decisions during our creation of the paper. My team struggled finding a topic that interested all three of us. At this point, we realized all three of us are women who are taking some form of contraceptive. We then took that route for our paper due to the mutual interests. From there on, we chose a very big challenge women like us have face every day. The three of us knew little about ovarian cancer which lead us to focus on this disease. 

Step 1: Ask the burning clinical question in PICOT format

“In women, how does the use of oral contraceptives compared to those who use non hormonal contraceptives affect the risk of ovarian cancer.” This is the PICOT question that we decided on. Thankfully this was a smooth formulation between the three of us; we had no issues coming to an agreement on this. For this portion we were physically together in the classroom which made it easy as a group to come to a decision.  

Step 2: Search for and collect the most relevant evidence – finding articles

Finding scholarly, peer-reviewed studies that worked well with our topic was the hardest part of this process. I searched through multiple data bases before finding an article that I could somewhat understand upon first read. A lot of the articles related to our topic were extremely wordy, complicated and difficult to understand. We worked as a group to find the three articles required for the paper. During this section of the project we spent a lot of time on zoom together, which is how we came to find three great articles. 

Step 3: Critically appraise the evidence – part I (rapid critical appraisal)

Critically appraising an article is truly a great process, it allowed my group and I to take a much deeper dive into the articles than we initially did. Although some sections of the critical appraisal worksheet were difficult to find, I believe this process allowed me to come to gain further knowledge of my research study. As a team we agreed for one person to tackle one research article in depth, we then spent time educating one another on the important details of the article. This was the easiest way to handle the critical appraisals and annotated bibliography. 

Step 3: Critically appraise the evidence – part II (evidence table and annotated bibliography)

The annotated bibliography went fairly smooth, my group spent a great amount of time working on the critical appraisal which is why we had such great success on formulating the annotated bibliography for each article. As a team we did not encounter any difficulties during this process. 

Step 3: Critically appraise the evidence – part III (synthesis – writing the paper)

The information most vital to my group was brought together in this final step, this final step allowed us to truly compare and contrast the evidence. The body of the paper was a major contributor to this section; I am very proud of my team and what we completed during this stage. The communication skills stood out especially in this section. My two teammates and I spent hours on zoom together brainstorming and forming the perfect synthesis of literature. Due to our excellent communication and availability we were able to excel in this section leaving us with a solid conclusion. 

Final Reflection

My team had a difficult time connecting this topic to nursing practice/care. After several revisions and meetings with writing tutors we were finally able to do so. This process ultimately enhanced my ability to work as a teammate. In comparison, I did not work well with my teammates during the “Nurse Theory Project”. There was a tremendous amount of improvement made amongst both my teammates and myself. We dedicated a great deal of time to this paper and are satisfied with the results. This comes to show, if you are willing to truly work as a team, the results will be rewarding. As a nurse, it is vastly important to be a teammate in the healthcare system. Evidence-based knowledge has shown to be extremely helpful in nursing practice. It is our job to educate our patients who will have questions. Evidence based practice is an excellent way to take a deeper dive into our current practices and explain further to those who are looking for our advice. 

Influence Paper

EBP II: Dissemination Proposal Reflection

Alarm fatigue came as an easy topic to my group and I, we completed our clinical rotation on a cardiac unit this semester which emphasized the importance of controlling alarm fatigue amongst nurses. Cardiac units have some of the highest rates of alarm fatigue which we were able to see first hand. Myself and my two group members did an excellent job communicating throughout this process. We created a group chat and discussed our plan in person multiple times as well. Both of my group members completed their portions in a timely manner and we were able to go over the final proposal together before submitting it. There were plenty of articles related to alarm fatigue amongst nurses, but our one struggle was finding articles specific to cardiac unit alarm fatigue. The search for articles has been the most challenging portion of our proposal, the rest of the project has gone fairly smoothly.