-Assessment Task :Written assignment: LITERATURE REVIEW
-Assessment Task :Written assignment: LITERATURE REVIEW
Details of the task:
As an ICU nurse, you are responsible for advocating for your patients, but also for your colleagues and your profession. In your ICU career so far, youve probably noticed an issue or area of practice thats made you wonder why things are being done that way. Sometimes theres a logical explanation for the practice, intervention, environmental set-up, documentation or communication styles used but other times the answer could be because its always been done that way'.
The purpose of this assignment is to encourage you to explore one of the many professional issues impacting staff, patients or families in the ICU. This assignment builds on the unit content by requiring analysis and synthesis of the literature, other materials and opinion on a contemporary professional issue for Intensive care nursing.
You are required to prepare a review article (3,000 words), similar to those published in Australian Critical Care or Intensive and critical care nursing journals, addressing an issue or area of practice that youd like to explore further. You are encouraged to identify and choose your own topic, based on your interests, experiences and career plans.Please review some potential topics for inspiration which can be found below.
Note that exploring the literature is not the same as writing your response! Exploring is about developing your understanding; writing is about communicating that understanding. Note also that your question might change as you start to engage with the literature. This is normal and perfectly ok!
Explore the literature:
You should then explore the academic literature surrounding your chosen topic, to identify:
causes/influencing factors behind the issue,
impacts on patients/families/nurses/hospitals/communities (as relevant to your topic)
challenges caused by this issue
approaches and strategies
limitations of these approaches
Assignment Brief:
The assignment brief, in addition to the marking rubric, will assist you in structuring your literature review.
Introduction (~ 250 words)
1. Identify a contemporary issue in intensive care nursing. Review the literature to provide an introduction that clearly and succinctly describes:
Focus questions
Key definitions
Context
Scope of your review
Concise indication of the main sections that will follow.
Background (~250 - 500 words)
2. Describe the background of the issue (with a comprehensive analysis of the literature):
Describe the relevant issue
Explain the extent of the issue
Identify the key stakeholders
Key Factors/ Variables (~750 1000 words)
3. Critically analyse the literature to identify and describe the main factors influencing the issue and their impacts
Possible approaches/ strategies/ solutions (~750 words)
4. Evaluate/synthesise the evidence utilising primary research papers (within 8 years, excluding seminal papers) to identify and describe possible approaches and strategies. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each approach and any limitations of each approach described.
Recommendations (~ 250 words)
5. Based on evaluation of the data (described in point 4 above), prioritise approaches you consider most relevant and/or likely to be effective. Justify and outline the limitations. Highlight how this will benefit the key stakeholders identified
Conclusion (~200 words)
6. Provide a summary of the focus question introduced, your informed answer and why it matters
Potential Topics for Inspiration:
Nursing strategies
Sleep deprivation in ICU patients - what nurses do at night
Care of paediatric patients in a general ICU
Significance of morbidity and mortality related to ICU delirium can our practice improve these outcomes?
Clinical therapies in ICU
Specific roles
The deteriorating patient: the role of the ICU Liaison nurse
Difficult conversations, how well do we partner with consumers?
Improving Organ donation after cardiac death
Withdrawal of treatment within a critical care environment
Person-centred teams
Deteriorating patients family initiated MET calls
ICU follow up clinics
Clinical therapies in ICU
Rescue strategies in severe acute hypoxia: Current consensus and controversies
Renal replacement therapies: Current consensus and controversies
