Answer 3 for NURS 8210 Week 1 Discussion Introduction and Experience With Research
I currently work in a psychiatric unit at a general hospital, where we provide preventive, curative, and rehabilitative mental health services to patients across the lifespan. My role as a PMHNP includes assessing patients, diagnosing, developing and initiating treatment plans, providing psychotherapy, and referring patients. Mental health is a dynamic field that requires professionals to continuously make efforts to evolve (Simon et al., 2021). This is crucial in being up-to-date with current treatments for various conditions and improving the quality of patient care.
My current and previous nursing roles as a PMHNP and RN have required me to engage in nursing research to improve patient care and outcomes. Nursing research has been valuable in remaining current with the trends and developments in mental health practice. Besides, it enables professionals to exchange ideas on issues relating to mental health nursing (Honey et al., 2020). For example, I engaged in research to identify measures to counteract the effects of the opioid overdose epidemic. We identified that rapid administration of medications that reverse opioid action is an effective way to counteract the effects of opioid overdose.
Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a cornerstone of mental health practice in our organization, given that we heavily rely on research to advance our understanding of and inform developments in mental health practice. My current organization supports EBP and has been spearheading its implementation. The leadership team holds regular EBP staff training sessions to ensure employees understand the EBP process and can effectively implement it into practice (Anderson et al., 2022). It also supports EBP by rewarding employees dedicated to EBP and identifying better and more efficient ways to provide patient care (Harvey et al., 2020). The organization’s reward system greatly motivates employees to engage in EBP activities and be creative.
References
Anderson, J., Dineen‐Griffin, S., & Stanley, D. (2022). Creating a Spirit of Enquiry (Enhancing Research). Clinical Leadership in Nursing and Healthcare, 303-321. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119869375.ch14
Gray, J. R., & Grove, S. K. (2020). Burns and Grove’s the practice of nursing research: Appraisal, synthesis, and generation of evidence (9th ed.). Elsevier.
Harvey, G., Kelly, J., Kitson, A., Thornton, K., & Owen, V. (2020). Leadership for evidence-based practice—Enforcing or enabling implementation?. Collegian, 27(1), 57-62.
