Running head: ESSENTIAL III 1

e-Portfolio – Essential III: Scholarship for Evidence Based Practice

Meghan O’Neal

Frostburg State University

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e-Portfolio – Essential III: Scholarship for Evidence Based Practice

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) provides a set of standards

and expectations for the baccalaureate level of a nursing degree. Essential III describes the

definition of an evidence based practice model, as well as the importance of the integration of

research evidence into the nursing practice. Essential III is entitled “Scholarship for Evidence -

Based Practice” (AACN, 2008, p 26) also focuses on the research process and how to correctly

perform each step. These essentials are in place to ensure that each patient is receiving the best

care possible from all professional members of the healthcare team. These standards of care

come from the evidence-based practice model that the nursing profession follows. The evidence-

based practice models often overlap with healthcare policy, finance, and regulatory

environments. With healthcare policies changing each year, it is important to remain up to date

with the information presented in this essential VIII reference.

Exemplar

The evidence based practice final project was completed by combining many weeks of

research about neonatal pain control into one large research paper. This paper best exemplifies

the ideas described by Essentials III by not only describing a practice issue and providing

evidence to support the problem, but also this paper provides new and innovative ideas as a

solution. In addition to best practice recommendations, this paper also provides detailed

explanations behind the research process and clear information as to how a solution was formed.

Finally, this paper allowed me to not only research a topic that I have become passionate about,

but also describe the ways in which a solution could be implemented while also including other

healthcare team members.

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Reflection

Essential III: Scholarship for Evidence Based Practice (AACN, 2008, p 16) provides

requirements for the baccalaureate nurse to have obtained through a project. For example the

ability to collect, document, and disseminate evidence on a specific medical issue. My evidence

based practice project allowed me to collect information about neonatal pain control through the

use of online databases provided by Frostburg State University’s online library applications. I

was then able to create tables and review documents in order to organize my information that

was later placed into my final paper. The final evidence based practice paper includes all of the

information from charts and tables I created during the research process just in a paragraph form

instead. Finally, the dissemination process can be viewed in my final paragraphs that include

three different practice recommendations with evidence to support the ideas. The Essentials III

also states (AACN, 2008, p 16) “Describe mechanisms to resolve identified practice

discrepancies between identified standards and practice that may adversely impact patient

outcomes.” Not only does this research paper identify a practice problem and provide support

from medical articles, but I was also able to incorporate the different ideas about neonatal pain

control. This variety of ideas added depth to this project and allowed me to showcase different

viewpoints and previously researched ideas involving neonatal pain control. Much of my

evidence that I chose to reference explained previous methods for pain control or ways in which

the pain scale was viewed for this patient population. These ideas directly correlate with the

expected ideals described in this Essential III section.

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References

American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN]. (2008). The essentials of baccalaureate

education for professional nursing practice. Washington, D.C: Author.