Incorporating Evidence-Based Practices into Paediatric Nursing (Research Paper Sample)

Incorporating Evidence-Based Practices into Paediatric Nursing
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Abstract
Over the past years, concerns about the role of curriculum development and the adoption of evidence-based practices in nursing have emerged. In essence, the nursing curriculum focuses on how programs will be delivered and goals evaluated to measure effectiveness (Keating, 2011: 1). Keating (2011) asserts that the nursing curriculum is being transformed to fit into the modern world’s demands. Thus, nursing institutions are focusing on the learner and the outcomes expected from him or her; the incorporation of evidence-based practices in nursing; integrating quality and safety concepts; application of technology in the administration of services; and focusing on translational science and research. This paper discusses how paediatric nursing has revolutionised its approach to offering services to the community.
Introduction
Professions exist or are usually developed to serve society (Black, 2014: IX). Thus, if society changes, the institutions concerned – with growing professions – are also expected to change. The nursing profession is not an exception. To be effective in administering treatment to their patients, nurses are required to use the knowledge they have acquired during their training to treat their patients, determine how they will react to medication prior to administration of drugs, participate in inter-professional collaborations, and so on. However, as much as the application of the before-mentioned practices is important, a particular concern is being directed to curriculum development and the implementation of evidence-based practices in nursing (Keating, 2011). Since nursing is a broad discipline, this paper will centre its discussion on how paediatric nursing has changed the conventional approach to delivering services through cost containment.
Section A
Evidence-Based Practice is perceivable as the explicit, judicious, and conscientious application of modern evidence or concepts in making decisions that concern the care of patients (Courtney and McCutcheon, 2010: 4). Although the content developed to guide practitioners when adopting EBP is usually oriented toward experts in the medical field, the information therein is also appropriate for audiences in other areas of health delivery. As a result, EBP is not only applicable to patient care, but also in the identification of knowledge gaps and finding ways through which evidence or research can be utilised to assist clinical expertise as opposed to replacing it.
Paediatrics can be viewed as the study of children, in health and sickness, from conception through adolescence (Beeve, 2009: 3). Concerns relating to the health of children have risen over the past few years. In spite of the promising outlook for health in developed nations such as the U.S., new challenges are emerging. Shifts in family structure, economic well-being, and geographic mobility have placed many children in need of health services, due to issues relating to poor housing, neglect, hunger, and violence. Statistics reveals that the number of children living below the poverty line has more than doubled. Also, 27% of children in the United States live in single parent homes (CDCP, 1997). As a consequence, strategies have been developed to meet the modern healthcare needs of children. Cost containment is one of the ways that have been advanced and incorporated into the nursing curriculum to mitigate the ills of inadequate child care.
Section B
Cost containment can be viewed as an approach used to lower the cost of hospitalization. Many health institutions achieve this end either by cutting labour costs or by bettering the quality of care and adopting the use of non-labour resources. Nurses improve the quality of hospital services and contain hospital expenses in a number of ways. For instance, nurses reduce costs by reducing their patients’ length of stay in hospitals, mortality rates, increasing family satisfaction, and helping their patients function normally after being discharged (Beevie, 2009). In essence, the cost containment strategy changes the role of nurses from care managers to realising a myriad of multi-disciplinary outcomes: cost-effective care. Also, in paediatric nursing, nurses empower parents with information on how they can cater to the needs of their children (Beevie, 2009).
Section C
The above is realised through the adoption of evidence-based practice; it is used to develop a framework for developing the practice of the nursing profession: nursing process. Through the nursing process, nurses develop the capacity to identify problems and offer solutions to them, based on evidence of their patient’s ailments (Beevie, 2009). It is prudent to note that cost containment can only be achieved if the nurse has all the information that concerns the patient: this can only be achieved through continued care by qualified caregivers and practitioners. The following steps depict the nursing process that a paediatric caregiver should afford to his or her patient:
Assessment
Paediatric nurses collect data from a myriad of sources in a deliberate and systematic fashion to inform their decision. Priority is given to areas such as family history, child health history, growth and development, social interaction, and physical examination.
Nursing Diagnoses
After all the data is collected, the nurse makes his diagnosis: outcomes to be achieved are developed. Factors contributing to a problem are outlined, and nursing interventions suggested to mitigate the problem.
Signs and Symptoms
These are the factors that reveal the presence of health conditions, deduced from the assessment. In most cases, signs and symptoms are incorporated to nursing diagnoses when there is a need for clarity.
Planning
After a nursing diagnosis is done, a care plan, with the expected outcomes is developed. Expected results are usually suggested prior to the development of interventions. The plan is developed with t...