Quality improvement project paper HELP!

[cindy2012]

Hello, im new to allnurses and I was wondering if there is anyone out there that can help me. I am writing a quality improvement (QI) paper on a QI project I did but I am not sure how to format the paper. I just have intro, lit review, methods, findings, and conclusion.

However, i dont know where and how to state my PICO question in the paper. Do i state "my pico question is...".

Also, can anyone send me links to see what a QI project paper should look like to help me focus and organize my thoughts accordingly because I just dont feel confident in my format and I am not sure how different its supposed to look from any other paper i've done before.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[AnonRNC]

I just finished a VERY similar assignment. Do a PICO statement not a question (for the paper) and avoid first person. I would write. "This paper will examine whether A intervention yields better B outcomes in population C than intervention D." It is QUITE alright to say "this paper" (or project or whatever). I structured mine with background info first, then a short paragraph w/my PICO statement in the above format, then straight into the lit review.

Happpy writing!

[cindy2012]

Thank you so much for your help.

How would I word it if I am evaluating patient family understanding on a sheet of paper in the patient's room that states patient's risk of fall.

This is what I have so far but I am not sure if it written correctly. I feel it sounds like a run-on sentence at times:

"The population for this project is families of the brain injury patient. The intervention taken in this project was to assess family understanding of the FACT sheet which states patient's fall risk status, associated interventions, the safe mobility status, and use of retrains and the stop light sheet which states the patient's fall risk level and safety interventions through a verbal questionnaire. My expected outcome is that the majority of patient families will have an understanding of the FACT sheet and stop light".

Thanks for any help.

[AnonRNC]

That's not PICO format as I understand it. This weblink models the PICO that I was taught in class; see if it matches your instructor's lectures PICO The P is population: Families of brain injury patient. The I is intervention: Presentation with the FACT sheet (which you will have already described in your intro). The C is the comparison intervention: which you have not stated...could be no education regarding fall prevention or some other educational tool. The O is outcome...hmmm..."understanding" is hard to quantify. I would select "fewer falls" as my outcome and my PICO would look like this: "This paper will assess whether education of families of brain injury patients with the FACT sheet, rather than oral-only education from the nurse, results in fewer falls among brain injury patients." ...actually my population in that statement is the brain injured patient, although the intervention is with the family. Alternatively I could say: "This paper will assess whether education of families of brain injury patients with the FACT sheet, in contrast to no fall-prevention education, results in fewer falls among brain injury patients."

Clear as mud? :)