Benchmark – Evidence-Based Practice Project: PICOT Paper

Benchmark – Evidence-Based Practice Project: PICOT Paper

Healthcare organizations encounter problems varying in scope, affected populations, and impacts. Commonly, population health concerns and issues affecting nurses’ and patients’ health hamper an organization’s outcomes. To address different problems, nurses and nurse leaders are professionally mandated to implement evidence-based solutions. These solutions should be goal-oriented, measurable, and supported by current, peer-reviewed research. It is also important for evidence-based interventions to be sustainable to ensure long-term gains. The purpose of this paper is to describe the population, intervention, outcomes, and time required for implementation and outcomes evaluation.

Population’s Demographics and Health Concerns

The focus population is nurses in the emergency department of all genders, races, and ages in the current setting. The emergency department is a critical area due to the differences in workload and care experiences compared to other units. As Lee et al. (2021) highlighted, the emergency department is the busiest in hospitals and is usually characterized by high acuity, increased risk of violence, and many life-and-death situations. The implication is that nurses in the emergency unit work in an emotionally, mentally, and physically draining environment. Since these experiences increase burnout among nurses, interventions to reduce burnout are crucial. Research links nurse burnout with anxiety and depression (Murat et al., 2021). It is a significant health concern for nurses and hampers their ability to provide high-quality care, enjoy their work, and participate in social activities. 

Proposed Evidence-Based Intervention

Interventions for nurse burnout vary with departments, intended outcomes, and resources. In the current project, mindfulness breathing has been proposed to reduce burnout rates among nurses. Meditation through breathing exercises helps nurses to focus on the present moment and make it the focal point. It raises individual awareness and mitigates the damaging effects of stress factors (Yıldırım & Çiriş Yıldız, 2022). The current group of nurses will undergo a weekly (one-hour) education on mindfulness breathing meditation. The education will be offered through lectures, presentations, sharing booklets, and focus group discussions.

During practice change, nurses should propose interventions that incorporate health policies and achieve broader outcomes for populations, like advancing health equity. Health policies are entirely about decisions and plans for achieving specific healthcare goals. On the other hand, health equity is achieved through efforts to ensure all populations attain the highest health level possible (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022). Mindfulness breathing education supports health equity since it is designed to enable nurses to improve their health. Accordingly, it will reduce the health burden among nurses in the emergency unit by reducing burnout, further reducing the risk of anxiety and depression, among other health concerns.

Comparison to Previous Research

Mindfulness breathing exercises and other meditation practices have been explored in-depth in previous research. Most studies confirm the effectiveness of meditation breathing when practiced independently or combined with other practices. To ascertain its effectiveness, the research compares outcomes between intervention and control groups. For instance, Komariah et al. (2022) studied outcomes between two groups of nursing students to explore the effect of mindfulness breathing on depression, anxiety, and stress. The intervention group was trained in mindfulness breathing, while the control group did not receive any education. Yıldırım and Çiriş Yıldız (2022) conducted a similar study among nurses caring for COVID-19 patients. Both studies confirmed a significant improvement in burnout rates post-intervention. Researchers also found a significant difference between the intervention and control groups, ascertaining the effectiveness of mindfulness-based breathing education in enabling nurses to overcome burnout.

Expected Outcome for the Intervention

The primary outcome is a reduction in nurse burnout. As a result, the project will empower emergency nurses to work in high-stress environments. Yıldırım and Çiriş Yıldız (2022) note that mindfulness breathing meditation improves an individual’s ability to cope with stress-producing factors by enhancing emotional flexibility and self-control. Similar outcomes are expected among nurses benefitting from the education. They should be better positioned to regulate their thoughts and emotions and serve patients as professionally mandated.

Implementation and Evaluation Time

As stated in the PICOT (Appendix A), the education program is expected to reduce nurse burnout in six months. During this time, nurses will undergo weekly education on mindfulness breathing (8 sessions) and begin to implement the taught skills in daily practice. Evaluation will be through pre- and post-intervention questionnaires to assess experiences with the program, satisfaction, and overall impacts. Opportunities for future improvements will also be explored.

Nursing Science, Social Determinants of Health and Data Application

The project applies various concepts, principles, and data relevant to nursing. Nursing science denotes nursing-specific knowledge generated through research and other inquiry methods (Fawcett, 2020). It has been applied to support nurses’ health in the current project by expanding knowledge of human experiences and bettering health outcomes in a critical population. Social determinants of health have been applied by examining how nurses’ physical environment affects their health and how outcomes can be improved. Epidemiologic data guide healthcare professionals in planning and evaluating strategies to prevent illness. Such data include the link between burnout and depression among nurses, which validates the use of interventions for stress reduction in the affected population. Genomic and genetic data examine how an organism can function as a whole based on inherited or acquired characteristics. The data have not been widely applied since environmental factors are the primary cause of nurse burnout.

Conclusion

Evidence-based interventions address different issues affecting various populations. Nurses are a critical population since their health affects patient outcomes profoundly. Since nurse burnout deters nurses’ ability to provide safe and high-quality care, healthcare organizations should support interventions for reducing nurse burnout. The current project is expected to achieve this goal by empowering nurses to overcome stress and work-related strain.

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022). What is health equity? https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/healthequity/index.html#:~:text=Health%20equity%20is%20the%20state,their%20highest%20level%20of%20health.

Fawcett, J. (2020). Thoughts about nursing science and nursing sciencing revisited. Nursing Science Quarterly, 33(1), 97-99. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894318419882029

Komariah, M., Ibrahim, K., Pahria, T., Rahayuwati, L., & Somantri, I. (2022). Effect of mindfulness breathing meditation on depression, anxiety, and stress: a randomized controlled trial among university students. Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 11(1), 26. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11010026

Lee, M. M., Gensimore, M. M., Maduro, R. S., Morgan, M. K., & Zimbro, K. S. (2021). The impact of burnout on emergency nurses’ intent to leave: A cross-sectional survey. Journal of Emergency Nursing, 47(6), 892-901. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jen.2021.07.004

Murat, M., Köse, S., & Savaşer, S. (2021). Determination of stress, depression and burnout levels of front-line nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 30(2), 533–543. https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.12818

Yıldırım, D., & Çiriş Yıldız, C. (2022). The effect of mindfulness-based breathing and music therapy practice on nurses’ stress, work-related strain, and psychological well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic: a randomized controlled trial. Holistic Nursing Practice, 36(3), 156–165. https://doi.org/10.1097/HNP.0000000000000511

Appendices

Appendix A: PICOT