Fluent Essays

A 5-7 page paper details as follows: 1. Create a Theoretical or Conceptual Framework Checklist: ☐ Identify the guiding framework. Present the key concepts, briefly explain how they are related, and present the propositions relevant to this study. ☐ Explain how the framework guides the research decisions, including the development of the problem statement, purpose statement, and research questions. ☐ If more than one framework is guiding the study, integrate them, rather than describing them independently. Do not select a separate framework for each variable/construct under examination. ☐ Do not exceed two pages. A more thorough discussion of the theoretical/conceptual framework will be included in later papers 2. Create an Abstract :Checklist:☐ Briefly introduce the study topic from the sample paper, state the research problem, and describe who or what is impacted by this problem.☐ Clearly articulate the study purpose and guiding theoretical or conceptual framework of the study.☐ Provide details about the research methodology, participants, questions, design, procedures, and analysis.☐ Clearly present the results in relation to the research questions given there is a significance. ☐ State the conclusions to include both the potential implications of the results on and the recommendations for future research and practice.☐ Do not include citations and abbreviations or acronyms, except those noted as exceptions by the American Psychological Association (APA). ☐ Do not exceed 350 words. Strive for one page.3. Create a Nature of the StudyChecklist: ☐ Provide a brief discussion of the methodology and design stated in the sample paper to include a description of the data collection procedure and analysis. Do not include specific details regarding why the methodology and design were selected over others. More detailed information will be included in later papers☐ Cite the seminal works related to the selected methodology and design. Avoid references to general textbooks such as those by Creswell and Trochim. ☐ Indicate why the selected research methodology and design are the best choices for the study by explaining how they align with the problem and purpose statements as well as the research questions. Do not simply list and describe various research methodologies and designs. ☐ Devote approximately one to two pages to this section.4. Create a Significance of the StudyChecklist: ☐ Describe why the study is important and how it can contribute to the field of study. ☐ Explain how the results advance the guiding framework and contribute to the literature. ☐ Describe the benefits of addressing the study problem, achieving the study purpose, and answering the research questions. Whereas the problem statement should articulate the negative consequences of not conducting the study, this section should highlight the positive consequences of completing the study. ☐ Do not exceed one page.5. Definitions of Key TermsTerm 1. Text…Checklist: ☐ Alphabetize and bold terms directly related to the dissertation topic and not commonly used or understood. ☐ Paraphrase the definitions of the terms using complete sentences and provide a citation for each one. ☐ Do not define theories, conceptual frameworks, statistical analyses, methodological terms, or the variables/constructs under examination. sample_paper_1.docx Unformatted Attachment Preview 1 Introduction Novice nurses play a crucial role in the improvement of the level of care delivered to their patients. Nurses that use critical thinking skills offer better decision making for positive patient outcomes (Cooke, Stroup, & Harrington, 2019, p. 217). When it comes to making clinical decisions, one of the main issues and factors which may influence the quality of outcomes is the level of experience of the nurses. Sometimes, making clinical decisions requires and calls for the application of additional skills as well as abilities beyond the ordinary experiences (Brice, 2014). Nurses require extra abilities to eliminate the dangers associated with poor decision-making practices including using critical thinking skills. Brice (2014) states inadequate decision-making procedures may result in the reduced quality of care for the associated patients and beneficiaries. While addressing the aspects of decision-making, novice nurses have the responsibility of ensuring that the patients they are caring for achieve maximum health outcomes (Carbogim et al., 2018). In some instances, patients may not achieve the desired levels of outcomes leading to poor quality of care (Garvey, 2015). One of the factors which have been associated with poor care quality for patients is the lack of the application of the appropriate tools and decision-making practices. Critical thinking is one of the main factors which may help in the reduction of the potential flaws and barriers to quality of care (Parker, 2014). When addressing the element of quality of care, it is worth noting that patient health outcomes are dependent on factors such as the efforts put in place by nurses and the practices employed as far as following and adhering to the set guidelines are concerned (Walton, 2017). Research 2 shows that the reduction of poor clinical decision making made by nurses are due to the lack of critical thinking skills (Walton, 2017). Therefore, critical thinking is vital in the improvement of the overall level of quality care. Critical thinking skills can be made and gained through educational programs as far as problem-based curriculum is concerned (Patria, 2015). Background Nurses form a vital framework in the healthcare sector as far as the provision of health services is concerned (Clayton, 2019). Nurses usually bridge the gaps between disparities and better health distribution and outcomes for patients across the various regions (de Bock, Willems, & Weinstein, 2018). Targeting the first-year students may help to gather information about the potential implications of critical thinking skills in the improvement of care delivery and prevention of risks of inadequate care for the patients (Jessee, 2018). This project presents a problem where educators are requested to incorporate concepts of critical thinking training in the various courses for nurse learners in their first year to gain insight into the best techniques and practices to guarantee maximum health outcomes. The primary reason for the selection of this concept is based on the element of the reduced time, which novice nurses after graduation have to accumulate the required level of experience. In this context, after graduation, the nurses may not be able to utilize their knowledge gained to undertake the underlying day to day tasks (Boyer, Tardif, & Lefebvre, 2015). As opposed, nurses may rely heavily on the content learned at school. It, therefore, follows that incorporating critical thinking courses in the various programs taken by novice nurse students may help to create a platform for improved skills 3 acquisition for the practitioners (Theobald, & Ramsbotham, 2019). These critical thinking skills may be used to improve the abilities of the nurses to undertake their day to day activities as far as interacting with the patients is concerned (Gurney, 2015). Critical thinking plays a crucial role in improving the abilities of nurses to implement the right tools and practices, which may help to guarantee maximum health outcomes (van Graan, Williams, & Koen, 2016). There is a connection between critical thinking and clinical decision-making practices, especially among novice nurses and practitioners (Sedgwick, Grigg, & Dersch, 2014). The ability to apply critical thinking skills helps to eliminate the risks of poor health outcomes for the patients in the long term. While critical thinking is perceived to be a single aspect, it is worth noting that it plays a crucial role in the improvement of the overall level of quality as far as the clinical decisions implemented are concerned (da Graça Oliveira Crossetti et al, 2014). While nurse training is usually implemented when undertaking the respective courses, additional attention needs to be taken when considering the abilities of the practitioners to reduce risks, which may harm the patients. For instance, the inclusion of other resources for the nurses when learning may help to increase the level of critical thinking skills gained as far as the delivery of maximum care to patients is concerned (Sampaio Cipriano de Menezes et al, 2015). Critical thinking is one of the most vital skills which have been used in various areas to improve services and the quality of decisions made (Turkel, 2016). In the nursing field, practitioners should employ the best practices to ensure that the patients that they are delivering care to achieve and attending. While experience plays a crucial role in 4 promoting the level of quality of care provided, graduates may not have such skills. Hence, it is not possible for nurses who have just graduated from relying on experience to handle patients` needs (Turkel, 2016). Therefore, addressing the role which is played by introducing additional tools in the curriculums to boost the critical thinking skills gained and applied could be beneficial (Theobald, & Ramsbotham, 2019). Critical thinking can be implemented in the nursing curriculum through the use of a problem-based learning experience. Problem-based curriculum plays a crucial role in the creation of a reliable platform for improving the abilities of learners to gain insight into critical decision making, especially when faced with dilemmas (Lee, Schull, & Ward-Smith, 2016). In the healthcare sector, difficulties may arise from multiple areas of application. One of the main areas where dilemmas may be witnessed is in the assessment and decision processes (Kavanagh & Szweda, 2017). In diagnostics, nurses are required to make judgments on the ultimate condition to address through the evaluation of the signs and symptoms as well as the comorbidities, which may occur together with a given situation (Kavanagh & Szweda, 2017). Addressing these elements may help to define the ultimate platform for improving the final level of skills that the nurses exhibit. Diverse studies have been provided to show the relationship between nursing experience and the quality of decisions named (Garvey, 2015). However, limited research has been carried out to connect the quality of decisions made in the healthcare sector by nurses and the aspects of critical thinking (Curtis, Comiskey & Dempsey, 2016). Therefore, there is a gap in literature and practice that should be explored. This research seeks to explore this gap and identify the role of critical thinking in improving the quality of care and decisions made by nurses. 5 This document is based on the idea that nurses can improve their overall level of quality of decisions made if they learn more about critical thinking. This topic is of interest in that it helps to show the potential connection between critical thinking and improving the quality of care delivered to patients. Also, this topic is of importance because it seeks to close the existing gap in the delivery of care to patients. Exploring the problem in this context will help to identify the best practices to adopt to implement critical thinking in nursing education aimed at improving the quality of decisions made. Problem Statement Feeling and Parker (2015) states novice nurses are to utilize critical thinking to make critical decisions every hour to keep patients safe. However, the general problem of this quantitative study is that poor patient outcomes occur in healthcare due to poor clinical decision making due to the lack of critical thinking skills made by novice nurses. Poor critical thinking skills impact patient outcomes, delays in treatment, and missed patient status changes (Huang, Lindell, Jaffe, & Sullivan, 2016, p. 237). From years 2008 to 2010, over 21,000 patients resulted in death due to poor decision making (Parker, 2014, p. 160). Nurses who use critical thinking allows for better nursing interventions that will ultimately lead to better patient outcomes (Naber, Schadler, & Hall, 2014, p. 95). The specific problem is that nursing students who have just graduated from nursing programs do not have sufficient training in critical thinking skills, which negatively affects clinical decision making on the job. Nearly half of the errors made by the nurses resulted from poor clinical decision making (Ghorbani & Strömmer, 2018, p. 1151). Novice nurses focus on tasks rather than distinguishing pertinent patient changes, thus impairing clinical decision making (Walton, 2016, p. 27). Basic skills are demonstrated 6 by novice nurses, but lack critical thinking to make appropriate decisions (Murray, Sundin, & Cope, 2019, p. 201). Researchers have administered studies about poor patient outcomes, but a gap can be found regarding the reasons for this with some researchers stating it is due to poor clinical decision making due to poor critical thinking by nurses (Clayton, 2019) and others stating it is due to the curriculum barriers that interfere with student training in developing critical thinking skills (Li, Ye, & Chen, 2019, p. 96; Cooke, Stroup, & Harrington, 2019, p. 219). Researchers are calling for further studies in the use of active learning strategies to enhance critical thinking skills so that clinical decision making can occur sooner for nursing students (Chan, 2019, p. 43; Cooke, Stroup, & Harrington, 2019, p. 219). Not addressing the critical thinking and clinical decision-making issue may adversely affect patient outcomes (Chan, 2019, p. 34). Also, not preparing nursing students to make these types of critical decisions upon graduation may further harm the patient safety (Chan, 2019, p. 43; Cooke, Stroup, & Harrington, 2019, p. 219). Purpose The purpose of this non-experimental quantitative regression study is to determine if first-year nursing students’ implementation of problem-based learning and critical thinking skills can be used to predict their clinical decision-making skills. Dehghanzadeh and Jafaraghaee (2018) understood that critical thinking skills are an essential aspect of nursing that should be developed earlier in the nursing program. According to MooreCox (2017), through the use of problem-based learning teaching strategies, critical thinking skills can begin to grow in nursing students early. Carbogim et al. (2019) suggested that problem-based learning is a teaching strategy that can be used to promote 7 higher levels of critical thinking. With a regression design, cause and effect is not the focus of the study, but rather the existence of a relationship between the included variables (Queriós, Faria, & Almeida, 2017). The population defined for this study is baccalaureate nursing students in their first year of nursing classes. This population covered all the first year and second-year nursing students, which is approximately 80 students. A power analysis using G*Power 3.1 (Faul, Erdfelder, Buchner, & Lang, 2009) was completed to determine the appropriate sample size for a study using multiple linear regression and with three variables. With an alpha level of .05 and a power of .80 for a one-tail test, a sample of 67 nursing students would be sufficient. Collecting data from additional students could increase the power of the analysis. The study location will be at a public college located in the Metro Detroit area. However, the criteria for being included in the sample are nursing students in the first year of nursing classes. The first-year students will be contacted by placing an announcement on a learning management system called a CANVAS. If one does not answer to an advertisement, there is a structured follow up that will be employed in this case. The two independent variables for the study are problem-based learning teaching strategies and critical thinking skills, and one dependent variable being clinical decision making. Four instruments used in the study are as follows. Two subscales (Problem as stimulus and teacher as facilitator) from the Problem-based Learning Questionnaire (Patria, 2015) will be used to measure problem-based learning. The second instrument will be the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (Facione, Facione, & 8 Sanchez, 1994). Clinical decision making will use two subscales (decision making in unstable situations and decision making in stable situations) from the Clinical DecisionMaking Instrument (Lauri & Salantera, 2002). The last instrument will be a short researcher-developed demographic questionnaire to collect information on the personal and educational characteristics of the sample. The analysis will use frequency distributions to describe the personal and educational characteristics of nursing students. Descriptive statistics, including means and standard deviations, will provide base-line information regarding problem-based learning, critical thinking skills, and clinical decision making (Field, 2017). Pearson product-moment correlations will be used to examine the relationships among all variables. A multiple linear regression analysis will be used to determine if problem-based learning and critical thinking predict clinical decision-making skills. This research may determine the strength of relationships that exist among problem-based learning teaching strategies, critical thinking, and decision-making skills in first-year nursing students (Heath & Weege, 2017). To better understand the relationships between critical thinking and clinical decision making, future studies could enlighten the use of problem-based learning to enhance those skills. Problem based learning will ultimately prepare new graduates’ transition into the novice nursing role. Research Questions RQ1: To what extent is there a relationship among the subscales measuring problem-based learning, critical thinking skills, and clinical decision making among first year nursing students? 9 Ho1: Relationships do not exist among the subscales measuring problem-based learning, critical thinking skills, and clinical decision making among first year nursing students. Ha1: Relationships exist among the subscales measuring problem-based learning, critical thinking skills, and clinical decision making among first year nursing students. RQ2. To what extent can clinical decision making be predicted from problembased learning and critical thinking skills? Ho2: Clinical decision making cannot be predicted from problem-based learning and critical thinking skills. Ha2: Clinical decision making can be predicted from problem-based learning and critical thinking skills. Method and Design The method that will be used in this study is a regression research design. According to Curtis, Comiskey, and Dempsey (2016), regression research designs are often used in the educational settings to determine the strength and direction of relationships between variables. For example, this particular design could determine the degree to which relationships exist among problem-based learning, critical thinking, and clinical decision making, and the strength of those relationships. In contrast, with experimental designs, one could try to find the cause and effect of a particular outcome. With a regression design, cause and effect is not the focus of the study, but rather the existence of a relationship between the included variables (Field, 2018). This research will determine the strength and directions of relationships exist among problem-based 10 learning teaching strategies, critical thinking, and decision-making skills in first year nursing students. Designs using regression allow the researcher to collect large amounts of information quickly and calculate the extent of the relationships among the variables easily. The drawbacks associated with regression research are cause and effect cannot be determined, if not based on theory may lack internal and external validity, and findings do not provide conclusive evidence of the existence of the relationship (Queriós, Faria, & Almeida, 2017). This design is suitable for the study as the purpose of the study is to examine the relationship among the variables and not determine the cause and effect associated with the use of problem-based learning strategies on first-year nursing students’ critical thinking and clinical decision-making skills. Population The population defined for this study is baccalaureate nursing students in their first year of nursing classes at a small private college located near a large urban area in the Midwest part of the United States. Approximately 80 first-year nursing students are enrolled in the program. The criteria for inclusion in the sample are nursing students in their first year of nursing classes, over the age of 18, and have access to a computer. Nursing students will be excluded if they are not at least 18 years of age or if they have completed first-year nursing courses prior to the semester when the study is being conducted. Sample size. A power analysis was used to determine the appropriate sample size for the study. The a priori power analysis using G*Power 3.1 (Faul, Erdfelder, Buchner, & Lang, 2009) was completed for a multiple linear regression with three variables. With 11 an alpha level of .05 and a power of .80 for a one-tail test, a sample of 67 nursing students would be sufficient. Collecting data from additional students could increase the power of the analysis. Sampling method. The first-year students are contacted by placing an announcement on a learning management system called a CANVAS. If one does not answer to an advertisement, there is a structured follow up that will employ in this case. The announcement will explain the purpose of the study and provide a link to the online survey. The volunteer nature of the study will be explained in the announcement, with the students told that their decision to participate or not participate will not affect their standing in their nursing programs. At the present time, approximately 80 students are in their first year of the nursing program. Data Collection. The two independent variables for the study are problem-based learning teaching strategies and critical thinking skills. The dependent variable will be clinical decisionmaking skills. Four instruments, Problem-based Learning Questionnaire (Patria, 2015), California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (Facione, Facione, & Sanchez, 1994, Lauri and Salantera Clinical Decision-Making Instrument (2002), and a short demographic questionnaire will be used to collect the data needed to address the research questions. All instruments used will be proved to be valid and reliable. After receiving permission from the university and the Northcentral University Institutional Review Board to conduct the study, the researcher will post the announcement on CANVAS in all first-year nursing courses. Researcher will provide the link to the online survey. The first page of the online survey will be the informed consent 12 letter that provides all information pertinent to the study. The informed consent will include the phone number and email address of the researcher if the student has any questions about participation in the study. ... Purchase answer to see full attachment