NURS 6052 – Essentials of Evidence-Based Practice – Identifying a Researchable Problem Sample Essay
Course Project: Part 1- Identifying a Researchable Problem
Prescription drug abuse can affect an individual during any stage of their life. Some of the populations that are most at-risk for prescription drug abuse are adolescents, the elderly, and women. One population in particular, patients with chronic pain, are at an exceptionally high risk to abuse or misuse prescription medications (Manchikanti, 2006). NURS 6052 – Essentials of Evidence-Based Practice – Identifying a Researchable Problem Sample Essay. Many times, chronic pain goes unrecognized and untreated in patients of racial and ethnic minorities, women, the elderly, patients with cognitive impairments, and those with cancer and at the end of life (CDC, 2016). The purpose of this paper is to develop feasible research questions in order to explore the issue pain management poses to nursing practice.
BUY A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE
Area of Interest
Chronic pain is defined as pain that lasts longer than six months. The American Academy of Pain Medicine (2016) estimates that approximately 100 millions Americans suffer from chronic pain. There are four common types of chronic pain- back pain, migraine pain, neck pain, and facial pain. Approximately 26 million Americans between the ages of 20-64 experience back pain (The American Academy of Pain Medicine, 2016) NURS 6052 – Essentials of Evidence-Based Practice – Identifying a Researchable Problem Sample Essay.
The American Academy of Pain Medicine (2016) believes that prescription painkillers are a major contributor to the total number of drug deaths in America. Approximately 28,000 Americans died from unintentional drug poisoning in 2007 and nearly 12,000 of these deaths involved prescription pain relievers. From 1998 to 2008, the proportion of all substance abuse treatment admissions that reported any pain reliever abuse increased more than fourfold (The American Academy of Pain Medicine, 2016). According to the CDC (2016), 20% of patients presenting to physician offices receive an opioid prescription. In 2012, health care providers wrote 259 million prescriptions for opioid pain medication (CDC, 2016). NURS 6052 – Essentials of Evidence-Based Practice – Identifying a Researchable Problem Sample Essay.
Generated Questions and Their Feasibility
For this assignment, we were asked to formulate five research questions based on our topic of interest and then evaluate them to decide which questions are the most feasible. The following are the five research questions that I have developed:
- In patients with chronic pain, what is the effect of utilizing a combination of pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods to manage their pain?
- In patients with chronic pain, does pharmacologic use only influence their dependence on narcotics?
- In patients with chronic pain, what are the common complaints of pain that these patients seek treatment for? NURS 6052 – Essentials of Evidence-Based Practice – Identifying a Researchable Problem Sample Essay.
- In patients with chronic pain, what are the patient’s expectations regarding pain control and pain management?
- In patients with chronic pain, what percentages of physicians are utilizing other methods of pain management besides medications?
Sufficient research questions are utilized to establish a foreground for Evidence-Based Practice, or EBP, inquiry. Research questions should identify key variables of the study, the relationships among the variables, and the population in which the study is researching. With these requirements in mind, all of my questions identify key variables of the study I am proposing- pharmacological and non-pharmacological pain management. The questions also focus on the population the study is examining- patients with chronic pain. Finally, the questions also aim to explore the relationship between pain management using pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods (Polit & Beck, 2017) NURS 6052 – Essentials of Evidence-Based Practice – Identifying a Researchable Problem Sample Essay.
PICOT Question
The PICOT question I have developed is as follows: In patients with chronic pain, what is the effect of a multi-modal pain management system compared to pharmacological use only on pain management over a year? (Walden Student Center for Success, 2012)
In my PICOT question, the population (P) is patients with chronic pain. The intervention (I) is a multi-modal pain management system. The comparison (C) is the use of only a pharmacological method of treating pain. The outcome (O) is pain management, and the time frame (T) is over a year. (Walden Student Center for Success, 2012)
Keyword Searches
According to the Walden Student Center for Success (2012), once you develop your PICOT and research questions, it is time to brainstorm key search terms that will help you to find research relevant to your topic. The Walden Student Center for Success (2012) gives us three distinct tips for developing key search words: brainstorm synonyms, expand acronyms, and look at subjects. In order to brainstorm synonyms, you will need to think of other words or phrases that have similar meaning to your research topic. NURS 6052 – Essentials of Evidence-Based Practice – Identifying a Researchable Problem Sample Essay. Next, to expand out acronyms, you will need to search both the acronym and the actual phrase of the topic. Finally, you will need to look at subjects. In order to do this, you will need to search the main topics that the database you are researching through uses to categorize your research topic (Walden Student Center for Success, 2012).
By keeping these guidelines in mind, I developed the following research terms for my topic: “non-pharmacological methods for controlling chronic pain,” “pain management without narcotics,” “non-pharmacologic pain management,” “chronic pain,” “chronic pain management,” “pain management,” “ending chronic pain,” “long-term pain management,” “narcotic pain management,” and “controlling pain.”
Summary
Throughout this paper we have discuss various methods of establishing a research topic, developing research questions, and focusing research terms in order to find the most relevant information for your research topic. By utilizing feasible research questions, establishing a PICOT question, and creating key research terms, I will now be able to focus my evidence-based practice research on information that is significant to my research topic. NURS 6052 – Essentials of Evidence-Based Practice – Identifying a Researchable Problem Sample Essay.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2016). CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain. Retrieved from dhttp://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/rr/rr6501e1.htm
Manchikanti, Laxmaiah. (2006). Prescription Drug Abuse: What is Being Done to Address this New Drug Epidemic? Pain Physician. Retrieved from https://www.asipp.org/documents/PrescriptiondrugabuseWhatisbeing.pdf
Polit, D. F., & Beck, C. T. (2017). Nursing research: Generating and assessing evidence for nursing practice (10th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer. NURS 6052 – Essentials of Evidence-Based Practice – Identifying a Researchable Problem Sample Essay.
The American Academy of Pain Medicine. (2016). AAPM Facts and Figures on Pain. Retrieved from http://www.painmed.org/patientcenter/facts_on_pain.aspx
Walden Student Center for Success. (2012). Clinical Question Anatomy. Retrieved from http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/content.php?pid=183871&sid=2950360 NURS 6052 – Essentials of Evidence-Based Practice – Identifying a Researchable Problem Sample Essay.