NURS 6003 Part 3: Research Analysis

The emergency section of a health facility is one of the most critical areas that address urgent care needs of patients. Despite having staff from different specialties, nurses are the most professionals found in the emergency departments of care facilities. Notably, due to nurse shortage across most health facilities, focus has been made to allow the professionals to work in shifts to balance care services to patients (Svirsko et al., 2019). However, scheduling nurses in an emergency department is a daunting task and time-consuming to leadership in a health organization. Being able to balance shift hours in order to achieve sufficient nurse-staffing levels at the emergency department requires the implementation of a mathematical model to satisfy preferences of nurses in this section. The present excerpt delves into how mathematical modeling can be used to improve nurse-scheduling process at the emergency department of care facilities. It also uses a template to provide a comprehensive approach in the identification and analysis of peer-reviewed research required for evidence-based practice.

Step 1: Research Analysis

Complete the table below

Topic of Interest:	Using Mathematical Modeling to Improve the Emergency Department Nurse-Scheduling Process
Research Article: Include full citation in APA format, as well as link or search details (such as DOI)	Svirsko, A. C., Norman, B. A., Rausch, D., & Woodring, J. (2019). Using mathematical modeling to improve the emergency department nurse-scheduling process. Journal of emergency nursing, 45(4), 425-432. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jen.2019.01.013
Professional Practice Use: One or more professional practice uses of the theories/concepts presented in the article	Mathematical modeling can be used to satisfy the preference of nurses based on shift hours allocated. The approach uses a self-scheduling process so that nurses can select day or night shifts based on their preferences. However, to ensure that nurses attend all shifts, a cycle of rotation is made weekly so that those nurses scheduled for night shift in one week take day shifts in the following week. The concept of modeling serves to address time at the emergency department. Implementation of the nursing shift patterns as defined by a mathematical formula decreases the time needed by leadership to reconcile monthly schedule in a health facility. Therefore, sufficient time will be allocated for care at the emergency department and not used to solve conflicts arising due to unbalanced shift hours among nurses.
Research Analysis Matrix Add more rows if necessary	Strengths of the Research	Limitations of the Research	Relevancy to Topic of Interest	Notes
	It is based on detailed analysis of the concept of mathematical modeling and therefore enhances clarity for better understanding.	No randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have been conducted on this research which means the article relies on meta-analysis for information. This means data is limited in this research.	The topic will help me identify a formula for mathematical modeling that can effectively be used to allocate shifts to nurses throughout the day and for night schedules.	Additional studies on how mathematical modeling improved nurse-staffing levels.
	Formulation of a mathematical model for scheduling nurse shift hours promotes harmony as it reconciles duty allocation.	Study does not clarify specific area where the concepts has been applied to warrant its adoption in emergency departments.	Topic is instrumental in identifying methods that nurse leaders can use to increase satisfaction of nurses at the emergency department of a care facility.	Further research on how application of mathematical modeling concept in shift scheduling reduces nurse burnout to optimize care at the emergency department.

I would recommend this article for use to inform decision on professional practice at the emergency department of care facilities. This is because the article was published in 2019 and therefore it is relevant for present health practice (Lefebvre et al., 2019). Nonetheless, information present in the material relate with my areas of interest a family nurse practitioner with a specific interest in the emergency care. Notably, findings from the publication provides information to leadership of health organizations on the necessity of scheduling shift days and nights for nurses in ways that guarantee satisfaction for the professionals (Tricco et al., 2018). While this article was intended for emergency department, I would recommend it in all other departments because of its necessity to address shift hours which is always a bone of contention in most care facilities occasioned by shortage of health staff.

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My approach to identify and analyze peer-reviewed research is based on critical reading as well as evaluation of articles to identify the best that is in line with my topic. Through intensive reading of materials from different library databases, I was able to classify these publications as either peer-reviewed or not and also identified their relevance for clinical research (Cooper et al., 2018). Notably, peer-reviewed articles are also checked in terms of the quality of the publication by analyzing accuracy and assessing validity of the research. For me to achieve this, I refined my search strategy by selecting relevant topic and ensured that the results in the manuscript were relevant to the present study by selecting the latest publication (Krishnamurthy & Wood, 2018).

I found data search skills and evaluation of types of resources in scholarly journals as two strategies that I would use in finding peer-reviewed articles. The first strategy enhances my ability to retrieve materials from a search database (Lefebvre et al., 2019). It is always a challenge for a majority of students to evaluate relevant materials for their studies but with the data search skills, one can categorize databases that are relevant to their area of research and select keywords to limit their searches. The second strategy on the other hand singles out articles that are peer-reviewed and published for use in scholarly journals (Cooper et al., 2018). These two strategies ensure that quality materials are selected so that I gain adequate knowledge for successful completion of my MSN program.

In order to find peer-reviewed resources in the future, I intend to use online library databases found at Walden University library and beyond. Database resources from an online library contain numerous peer-reviewed journals with special catalogs organized in an alphanumerical order from A to Z (Krishnamurthy & Wood, 2018). It then means that database search can be useful in locating published materials by selecting an alphabetical listing that coincides with the topic of research. The use of online library databases is also easy to navigate as one opts to find relevant information during studies (Tricco et al., 2018). As an MSN student, library databases will be instrumental in providing consistent information in a secure form as they can only be accessed at the Walden University library by students or staff who have valid passwords.

Conclusion

Academic and professional success requires one to delve into intensive research relevant to an area of study or expertise. However, since a lot of research is involved, one needs to identify a search strategy to retrieve peer-reviewed publications for studies. As discussed in the preceding texts, the selection of articles for research should be based on the use of online library databases that are easy to use and those that provide accurate information. The premise will guide in the selection of articles that provide information on evidence-based practice related to the adoption of a mathematical model that can be used to schedule shift hours for nurses.

References

Cooper, C., Booth, A., Varley-Campbell, J., Britten, N., & Garside, R. (2018). Defining the process to literature searching in systematic reviews: a literature review of guidance and supporting studies. BMC medical research methodology, 18(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12874-018-0545-3

Krishnamurthy, M., & Wood, F. (2018). Promoting effective searches and use of information by DNP students: Getting the write start. Nurse educator, 43(2), 63-64. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNE.0000000000000457

Lefebvre, C., Glanville, J., Briscoe, S., Littlewood, A., Marshall, C., Metzendorf, M. I., … & Cochrane Information Retrieval Methods Group. (2019). Searching for and selecting studies. Cochrane Handbook for systematic reviews of interventions, 67-107. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119536604.ch4

Svirsko, A. C., Norman, B. A., Rausch, D., & Woodring, J. (2019). Using mathematical modeling to improve the emergency department nurse-scheduling process. Journal of emergency nursing, 45(4), 425-432. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jen.2019.01.013

Tricco, A. C., Lillie, E., Zarin, W., O’Brien, K. K., Colquhoun, H., Levac, D., … & Straus, S. E. (2018). PRISMA extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR): checklist and explanation. Annals of internal medicine, 169(7), 467-473. https://doi.org/10.7326/M18-0850

NURS 6003 Part 3: Research Analysis