Case-Study: Evidence-based Strategies

Case-Study: Evidence-based Strategies
Case-Study: Evidence-based Strategies
Case-Study: Evidence-based Strategies
Week 5 discussion Explain at least three evidence-based strategies for integrating research into nursing leadership. Compare and contrast how research influences patient care and quality outcomes versus practicing from tradition. Analyze what you envision as the nurse administrator’s role in shaping evidence-based practice and nursing research in your clinical setting. Evaluate the role of the nurse administrator in staff performance and management and collective bargaining. Discuss the nurse administrator’s role in helping nurses develop a professional development plan (PDP). Explain how meetings can serve as productive engagement with nurses and staff and provide an opportunity to identify the actions required to meet the organization’s goals and mission.
A widely used adjective in education, evidence-based refers to any concept or strategy that is derived from or informed by objective evidence—most commonly, educational research or metrics of school, teacher, and student performance. Among the most common applications are evidence-based decisions, evidence-based school improvement, and evidence-based instruction. The related modifiers data-based, research-based, and scientifically based are also widely used when the evidence in question consists largely or entirely of data, academic research, or scientific findings.
If an educational strategy is evidence-based, data-based, or research-based, educators compile, analyze, and use objective evidence to inform the design an academic program or guide the modification of instructional techniques. For example, ninth-grade teachers in a high school may systematically review academic data on incoming freshman to determine which students may need some form of specialized assistance and which students may be at greater risk of dropping out or struggling academically. By looking at absenteeism, disciplinary infractions, and course-failure rates during middle school, teachers can identify students who are more likely to struggle in ninth grade, and they can then proactively prepare academic programs, services, and learning opportunities to reduce the likelihood that those students will fail or drop out. In this case, educators are taking an evidence-based approach to instructing and supporting students in ninth grade. (This specific example is often called an “early warning system.”)
While research and “quantitative” numerical data are arguably the most common forms of evidence used in education and school reform, educators also use a wide variety of “qualitative” information to diagnose student-learning needs or improve academic programming, including discussions with students and parents, work products created by students and teachers, the results of surveys completed by students and school staff, or —among many other possible forms of evidence. In , for example, groups of teachers may meet regularly to discuss evidence such as research literature, lesson materials, or student-work samples as a way to improve their teaching skills or modify instructional techniques in ways that work better for certain students. Teachers in the group may also observe colleagues while they teach and then provide them with constructive feedback and advice. For a related discussion, see .