Improving Care Practices and Frameworks

Executive summary:

EBA can be defined as the approach used in health and social care in terms of utilising the best available current research evidence into practices for improving the quality of care delivered to patients. Using an evidence-based approach in the correct way is strongly dependent on whether the researcher has the critical skills and abilities to use the relevant clinical evidence in professional practices. For using the appropriate EBA, a researcher must have a clear understanding of how valid and relevant research papers can be retrieved by using the online database. For using the appropriate EBA, care professionals must have critical thinking skills critical analysing ability, data analysis skills, the skill of right data retrieval and effective communication skill. Additionally, care professionals must know using the right research methodology to select the appropriate and valid research evidence that can enable care professionals to improve the way they deliver care and support to patients. This report will explain the critical research skills and methodologies that are required in an evidence-based approach in the health and social care context. It will discuss the proper application of these research methodologies and critical research skills in terms of improving the entire health and social care framework.

Introduction:

Evidence-based approach (EBA) is fundamental to health and social care which enables care providers to deliver high-quality care to patients to improve the overall care experiences. EBA can be defined as the approach used in health and social care in terms of utilising the best available current research evidence into practices for improving the quality of care delivered to patients (Fusar-Poli et al. 2019). This report will explain the critical research skills and methodologies that are required in an evidence-based approach in the health and social care context. Then this report will discuss the proper application of these research methodologies and critical research skills in terms of improving the entire health and social care framework. Finally, this report will discuss the importance of using critical thinking skills in health and social care sector.

LO1: Explaining the critical research skills and the methodologies that are used in conducting an evidence-based approach in health and social care:

Using an evidence-based approach correctly is strongly dependent on whether the researcher has the critical skills and abilities to use the relevant clinical evidence in professional practices (Aveyard and Sharp, 2017). In the health and social care context, researchers must have some critical research skills that enable them to select authentic, valid and relevant research evidence that can enable them to meet their research goals. These critical research skills are as follows:

Skill for retrieving the right research evidence:

For using the appropriate EBA, a researcher must have a clear understanding of how valid and relevant research papers can be retrieved by using the online database (McArthur et al. 2021). In the modern health and social care field, care professionals can use a different online database such as CINAHL, PUBMED, BNI (British national index and MEDLINE for retrieving appropriate research papers. According to Kislov et al. (2019), care professionals must have the experience in selecting such research evidence that contains valid and highly relevant information on the particular clinical topic which enables modern health and social care providers to improve the entire services delivered in a particular clinical area.

Critical thinking skills:

Critical thinking skill is also important for using appropriate EBA [evidence-based approach] into health and social care practices (Fernandez-Luque et al. 2020). Care professionals must think about any clinic aspects critically while using research evidence to improve the overall care services. Critical thinking skill is associated with right clinical decision making and good problem-solving skill, which enables care professionals to critically analyse the limitations and the usefulness of an available piece of research evidence thereby using the relevant research evidence to provide the high-quality care to patients.

Data analysis skill:

For using an evidence-based approach in health and social care, care professionals must have good data analysing skills. As mentioned by Winhusen et al. (2020), a good data analysing skill is crucial for carrying out evidence-based research, in which care professionals can analyse and evaluate the information that they obtain from the research evidence. Data analysing skill enables care professionals to get an in-depth and clear concept on a particular aspect of health and social care thereby improving the ability to improve the quality of care delivered in this field. As mentioned by Cairney and Oliver (2017), how effectively an EBA will be applied in health and social care practices is dependent on how effectively care professionals carry out the data analysis to conduct effective clinical decision making. According to Fernandez-Luque et al. (2020), data analysis skill enables care professional to evaluate the validity, benefits and usefulness of a piece of research evidence to ensure that the best possible research information is used in health and social care field to improve the care delivered to patients.

Good clinical decision-making skills:

The use of a good and relevant EBA is strongly dependent on the clinical decision-making skill of the care professionals. Care professionals must have good decision-making skills, which can enable them to integrate the relevant and highly authentic research evidence to make a suitable clinical decision in relation to improving the standard of care delivery to patients (Hagmann et al. 2018). The ability to make good clinical decisions is crucial for forming the right strategies to overcome any situation in the health and social care field. Good clinical decision improves the care outcomes of patients by developing the highly appropriate care plan for them.

Critical appraisal skill:

While using an EBA into health and social care practice, care professionals must use their critical appraisal skill which enables them to analyse the validity and appropriates of the chosen piece of research evidence (Archibald et al. 2021). For using the effective EBA, care professionals must critically appraise the different research element of any research paper thereby understanding whether the information obtained from these research papers are relevant to create an effective clinical decision

Effective communication skills:

For conducting an EBA, communication skill is crucial which enables care professionals to communicate the usefulness, drawbacks, process of utilisation and gaps of the chosen research evidence with their colleagues (Shelton et al. 2018). Through effective verbal and written communication skills, care professionals can conduct a shared decision making in which they can discuss the best possible ways in searching for the available clinical research evinces into practices. Good interactive and verbal communication skills are important for care professionals in discussing which online database they would use to retrieve the authentic clinical evidence and the process of evaluation as well as analysis of these research evidence to improve the care framework.

Teem management skill:

While using an EBA, care professionals sometimes are unable to manage their time in both patient’s care delivery and the research work (Pizzarossa and Skuster, 2021). In this context, care professionals must have effective time management skills which enable them to set a systematic schedule for conducting evidence-based research on any health and social care aspects and thus use the best suited EBA into practices for meeting the holistic needs of patients. In using the appropriate EBA into health and social care practices, care professionals must have the skills in dividing the time for searching for reseal peppers, then analyse research evidence, data mining and data evaluation, interpretation of the selected database and the application of the research evidence into practice to improve service delivery. As argued by Holt et al. (2021), in the modern health and social care field, care professionals often are unable to invest enough time in choosing and selecting a proper evidence-based approach due to the overburden of work. Even, many times the use of evidence-based approaches into the health and social care practice becomes so lengthy process that can often reduce the times allocated for communicating and interacting with patients. In this context, effective times management skill is crucial for modern care professionals which will enable them to arrange their schedule for conducting an evidence-based practice thereby improving the overall standard for care delivery to patients.

Research methodologies used in EBA:

Retrieval of best research evidence:

Retrieval of relevant and highly valid research evidence is one of the most important research methodologies in using EBA (Aggarwal et al. 2021). Care professionals must be enough skilled in choosing the best available research evidence of particular health and social care topics to retrieve the authentic and appropriate information that can provide a new insight to care professionals regarding improving the overall care framework. While using an EBA, care professionals must ensure that they have enough data analysing, critical thinking and judgemental skills which enable them to judge the relevance and validity of the database that are retrieved from any piece of research in the clinical field.

Critical evaluation of research evidence:

Critical evaluation within an evidence-based practice is a highly useful process that enables care professionals to use the relevant critical appraisal tools for appraising the validity, usefulness and genuineness of each research element in any research evidence (Mathieson et al. 2019). For improving the entre framework of health and social care field, care professional must conduct a critical appraisal of the research evidence that are chosen for particular clinical aspects. This critical evaluation enables the care professionals to analyse whether the choose research evidence is useful in providing them with the right information regarding the desired clinical aspects to improve their skills in giving the best performance.

Integration of evidence into effective clinical decision making:

After critical evaluation of the clinical evidence, care professionals must integrate the valid, high authentic and relevant research evidence for using them to improve the entire care framework (Stirman et al. 2019). The integration of the best clinical research evidence enables care professionals to use this evidence for making effective changes as well as modernisation in the care delivery process, pain management, medicine management and medicine administration. Additionally, integrating the authentic and relevant clinical evidence, enables care professionals can improve their knowledge and understanding regarding particular health and social care contexts for improving healthcare outcomes.

Application of the suitable evidence into practice:

The final but most crucial research methodology in using EBA is the appropriate application of the suitable research evidence into clinical practice (Naylor et al. 2018). Thorough implementing the information retrieved from the chosen piece of clinical research evidence, care professionals can improve the way of care delivery to patients and the method of supporting patient’s needs.

LO 2: Evaluate the appropriateness of their application in research and evidence-based approaches in relation to service improvements within the industry today.

All the above-mentioned critical research skills and the research methodologies are appropriate in relation to use EBA in health and social care for service improvement As mentioned by Janati et al. (2017), while it comes to analyse and evaluate the critical research skills that are required for using any EBA, the researcher must consider both the usefulness and limitation of critical research skill and research methodologies.

Critical thinking skill is one of the most important skills in using EBA in clinical practice. As mentioned by Oakes et al. (2017), critical thinking skill enables care professionals to make in-depth conceptualisation on any clinical aspect. Critical thinking skill helps care professionals to analyse and evaluate the areas of needs in any clinical services thereby applying the best possible strategies to improve the overall clinical service. On the contrary (0argude that, in this modern health and social care field, where care professionals have to deal with a harsh and strict schedule every day, they often do not have the times to invest time in critical thinking for any healthcare aspect. Moreover, crucial thinking in the modern health and social care industry can make delays in providing immediate treatment and care to emergency patients which can deteriorate their health. As mentioned by Brownson et al. (2018), in the case of early recognition and response to critical patients, nurses are unable to think critically regarding the health needs and issues of patients

The skill of retrieval of best-suited research evidence in the health and social care industry is a highly crucial in-service improvement by using proper EBA into practice. As mentioned by Wainberg et al. (2021), while using an EBA, care professionals must have the experiences and knowledge in selecting the right clinical evidence that can provide them with the attic and relevant information that can be used in the service improves in more clinical sector. On the contrary, Aveyard and Sharp (2017), mentioned while using the EBA, care professionals must ensure that they retrieve and apply only that much information from the choose research evidence that is required for improving the overall service in the health and social care field, rather than consider the other unnecessary database from that research evidence. Although retrieval and appropriate implementation of the correct information into modern health and social care practices is an important part of the evidence-based approach, in the modern clinical field most of the care professionals cannot hold the patients and times to conduct this process as it can cause delays in service improvement. On the contrary Fusar-Poli et al. (2019) argued that, in the modern health and social care industry, retrieval of the best available evidence is crucial for service improvement, in which care professionals can use only valid and highly relevant information from an authentic piece of research evidence to improve their way of working.

Data analysing and clinical decision making are also two useful aspects in conducting an EBA into clinical practices for ensuring a high level of service improvement. Through using critical thinking skills and critical evaluation skills, care professionals can analyse the authenticity of each research evidence to ensure that only valid and genuine research databases are used to improve the clinical knowledge of care professionals. As argued by McArthur et al. (2021), along with data analysing skills, the right decision-making skill is important for serves improvement in modern health and social care sectors. By integrating the best available research evidence and applying them into clinical practices, care professionals are able to take effective clinical decisions, which would not only improve the care outcomes for patients but also improve the skill and ability of care professionals to provides high-quality care to patients.

As mentioned by Kislov et al. (2019), effective communication skill is also an effective critical research skill in conducting service improves by using the right EBA. While an EBA for service improvement, care professionals must user clear and concise communication with their colleagues, patients and patient’s family members to maintain an effective information delivery system. On the contrary Hagmann et al. (2018) argued that along with verbal communication care professionals must have good written and nonverbal communication skills for maintaining good interaction with colleagues and patients.

LO 3: Demonstrating the use of critical thinking skills on the sources of information within the evidence-based approach relevant to the own sector interest:

Critical thinking skills can be defined as the ability to analyse and evaluate things by using proper scientific judgement and reasoning ability (Shelton et al. 2018). In health and social care sector, critical thinking skill is important for care professionals to use the appropriate EBA for improving the entire care experiences for patients. According to Archibald et al. (2021), while using an appropriate EBA, critical thinking enables care professionals to analyse the usefulness, limitations and validity of different research evidence.

By using critical thinking skills care professionals are able to choose and apply the best available clinical evidence into their practices to improve the entire care delivery process. As mentioned by Holt et al. (2021), critical thinking skills within EBA enables nurses to make in-depth thinking regarding any health and social care issue thereby developing the appropriate strategy to overcome the issues. In modern health and social care field, critical thinking skill is important for care professionals to develop an effective clinical decision making by using the evidence-based information in relation to improve the healthcare outcomes and care experiences for patients.

Conclusion:

From the above-mentioned discussion, it can be concluded that the evidence-based approach is the process in best available research evidence are used to improves the service delivery to service users. EBA needs different critical research skills and research methodologies to chosen and apply the right research evidence into the clinical practice. For using the appropriate EBA, care professionals must have critical thinking skills critical analysing ability, data analysis skills, the skill of right data retrieval and effective communication skill. Additionally, care professionals must know using the right research methodology to select the appropriate and valid research evidence that can enable care professionals to improve the way they deliver care and support to patients.

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