Help

MollyJ · Nov 4, 2001

Nursing has many non-research based activities. Think of all of the times you have been doing a nursing care plan and you looked and looked for a rationale for something and couldn't find it. Likely, that was an empirically based intervention. I will try to brainstorm this and, what you may find is that perhaps some of this does have some research behind it, but other of it doesn't.

Is coughing, a difficult post-op activity for most pts, more effective than deep breathing?

How long of a needle do you need to deliver an IM injection on a morbidly obese client? How come they aren't available on most units?

How accurate is I & O?

Does putting an art line in major surgery cases improve outcomes? (This one is being worked on.)

Is translating patient care materials into a foreign language (ie Spanish, Vietnamese) helpful? (Alot of my Hispanic clients were not only Spanish speaking, they didn't have great reading skills.) What do we know about the reading level of translated materials?

If vital signs are routinely assigned to nurse assistants, what do we know about inter-rater reliability between vitals taken by RN and LPN's and nurse aides? Is the answer to this different in peds?

What is the ideal amount of water to give with syrup of ipecac to pediatric patients? (I don't know if ipecac is used in the ED that much any more, but I often had this question.) The answer in practice was "less than you give an adult" but, why? How much?

Nurses rely heavily on printed (written) materials to do discharge and post-procedure discharge planning. Is this the "best way" to teach patients or just the easiest for nurses to do and document. This is likely (i hope) being asked and is very complex.

Does slow vs rapid injection of IM meds subjectively improve clients perceptions of receiving an IM med?

Are patient's offended when we ask them "those questions" on histories we all hate to ask: ie alcohol, tobacco use, sex history questions, DNR status?

On beds with half bed rails (or four rails, 2 each side) is having just the top (head of bed ones up) sufficient to reduce fall injury?

What are outcomes and satisfaction rates with wounds that are steri-stripped in the ED? (I hated this practice and thought it foolish especially in the peds population. Putting a bandaid like product on the face or hand of a child AND expecting it to stay in place long enough to heal well is stupid UNLESS the wound never needed suturing in the first place.)

Good luck.