Critical Appraisal of Evidence (Coursework Sample)

Critical Appraisal of Evidence
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Critical Appraisal of Evidence
Summary
An internship in a hospital is important for nurses who are transitioning from a new nurse into joining the workforce. However,the authors hold different views concerning the duration of the internship. Some authors have proposed a period of six months for this internship to allow new students while others believe one year is the appropriate duration of the nursing internship. According to Huntington et al (2012), one year period allows the nurses to learn more concepts of health care.
This is achieved by being involved with different types of healthcare activities in the hospital, including chronic illnesses and emergences compared to those they would have participated in six months (Rush, 2013). Such encounters are seen to be crucial in boosting the career prepared by the graduate nurses in the health sector (Morrow, 2009).
Employers have created a notion that nurses with one year exposure are more knowledgeable and experienced than those who undergoes through the six month orientation. This is due to the fact that they have had more interactions with different hospital activities, more so for a longer duration as compared to those under six month orientation. However, some authors offer a different view, they believe that commitment, level of practical support and approach taken are the significant factors in determining the effectiveness of the internship duration. They also feel that six- month orientation program gives hospitals a humble time to effectively train more graduates, than it would if they underwent for one year training.
Through analyzing the arguments, authors contrasting opinions and facts, this report aims at evaluating whether one year internship program is a good alternative to the six month orientation in improving the transition of new nurses.
Synthesizing the evidence
According to the articles most of the outcomes indicate that the one year training program is not only beneficial to the employees but also to the graduate nurses. This indications means that one year training period can be adopted as the best alternative for the six month orientation program. The research techniques and the source of the data for this article makes the results more credible. The authors undertook a comprehensive search on the subject from credible electronic databases for studies published and unpublished from 2000 to date.To ensure excellent results from the databases, three stage search stage was employed with the key words being: transition, mentorship, new graduate nurses, externship, residency, preceptorship,externship and simulation.
Then, they involved two reviewers to assess the methodological quality and the data obtained from the studies, while the third one resolved the disagreements.This ensured that the data employed by the authors was more viable for the study. The approach used by the author in generating evidence was suitable in ensuring the outcome of the review represented the view of the study population.
The method of representing the outcomes as a narrative summary was more suitable as compared to randomized controlled trials and meta- analysis since it made it easier for many people with no statistical knowledge to understand the outcomes. In addition, the report used the descriptive studies and quasi experimental strategies in selecting the studies.This meant that the outcomes would reflect the major aspects of the research question.
The evidence provided by the authors contains facts that help in addressing the research question. Additionally, its main context and focus is based on the Australian healthcare facilities, this makes the outcome of the report more credible for the users. Edwards et al. (2011) has combined different studies from various authors to make an evidence based report. This report thus improves the experimental reports of other credible authors.
The main weakness of this report is that it failed to employ first hand data. This can be done in the future to improve and strength the findings of this study.The study's analysis covered a wide range of population of different countries of origin. Meaning they operated with a wide range of opinions. Additionally, the population subject was newly qualified nurses this made the report more credible.
Level of evidence
The guiding question for this evaluation should be whether one year training program for graduate nurses is the best alternative for the six month orientation program in improving the transition of the new nurses to the workforce.
The internships should aim at improving the competence, sense of belonging, confidence of the new graduates as well as improving retention and recruitment, and reduce the turnover costs. This is the main aspects in the transition process of the new graduate nurses into the workforce. It is for this reason that various approaches have been associated with the transition process.
According to this study adoption of the one year training program should act as a better alternative to the six month training program. Some of the factors argued by the proponents of this alternative includes a long period of exposure to the hospital activities, and the interaction with different healthcare activities in the hospitals resulting to massive knowledge and experience of the new graduates. This will act as boosting factors on the graduate’s confidence, sense of belonging and competence thus achieving the main aims of the transition programs.
In addition, the new graduates with one year exposure possess reduced anxiety and stress levels, critical thinking and interpersonal skills, job satisfaction and professional nursing behaviors. All the evidence collected from the five articles have indicated that one year offers more benefits to graduate nurses during transition than the six months orientation. All the authors of these articles have reputable backgrounds in the nursing practice thus making their reviews more critical.
The above insights on the effectiveness of the one year training program over six month orientation are supporting other authors, including Morrow (2009), who obtains opinions of nurses in both programs and indicates on the need to adopt the one year training program for nurses. According to Hickey et al (2013), the one year period gives a nurse an option of nursing related courses despite having other degrees.
Critical appraisal
Critical appraisal is a significant process that examines a research report, judging the relevance, the value or the trustworthiness of the context. The Critical appraisal skills program is used in appraising evidence for this study. Through the use of this appraisal tool in the study, it has facilitated the process of viewing the presented evidence in a various approaches. The manner in which the evidence and facts address the research question, the effectiveness of the obtained results in solving the solution. To achieve this the critical appraisal techniques follow some stipulated steps.
Relevance of the results to nursing practice
The research question is a subject to the nursing field. In addition, all the authors’ featuring in this study have provided relevant evidence in the same field. According to CASP, the main first step is the hypothesis formulation, this seeks to justify the effectiveness of the results in answering the research question. In the report the authors have employed the most effective approaches in gathering credible results from credible data...