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Prioritizing and Processing
When the average person thinks about research, they likely think about someone in a lab coat using a pipette and chemicals. To be candid, upon entering college that is exactly and exclusively what I thought research was and all that it could be. Maybe the occasional passion project or overzealous student gunning for publication, but more of something that undergraduate students did to bolster resumes or receive extra credit for a class. Thankfully, I have had many professors and faculty that have opened my eyes to the plethora of options available for those who want to pursue research. It taught me that nursing majors can be included in research as well, and that you didn’t have to wear a lab coat to do it. One such experience I had was gathering information and performing a literature review for digital technologies used for the management of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). At one of my first research meetings, my mentor and I began to focus on the possible use of the Oculus virtual reality headset to meet with people in a virtual platform and serve as a possible simulation and education tool. I spent many hours on this project working on finding every little database, website, or resource that could teach me more about this topic. As this was my very first solo research task, I made many mistakes in my pursuit of wanting to be thorough and accurate. I learned many different skills about doing a literature review, compiling information, and being able to interpret difficult information in a way that aligned with my topic. This later turned into a scoping review that concerned more technologies outside of just virtual reality that could be or are currently catered towards individuals with PCOS. Here is a table pulled from the current scoping review draft. The current draft can be found under full artifacts!
I believe that starting this task before I truly defined my thesis helped me have a much better approach and understanding for the most efficient way to approach further research. This also taught me how to apply a logical approach to conducting research and a more linear process of completing things like literature reviews or meta-analyses. Working through a literature review by using a systematic approach to establish a basis for research is incredibly important, especially with a topic like mine being so niche. Much to my personal dismay, there is not a ton of research on PCOS, and finding both the reputable sources and sorting out repetition is a tedious but necessary task. It requires you to be detail oriented and evidence-based, just like I have to do in my nursing courseload. One of the important assignments we complete frequently in nursing school is something called concept maps. As mentioned in Key Insight 2, concept maps are based around the development of a plan of care supported by evidence-based practice that addresses the patient’s greatest health priorities. However, this type of thinking and application of knowledge is not just known but must be taught. In NURS 314 or “Clinical Reasoning” we were taught the basis of what it means to think and prioritize like a nurse. I never understood how important the term “prioritizing” would be until I started nursing school. It is now the premise of almost everything I do as a nursing student, and I am sure it will continue to follow me as a nurse and beyond. This process of prioritization starts how we formulate a concept map. Picking the most important health-related issue such as “oxygenation” for someone who has trouble breathing can be obvious but nevertheless incredibly important. There are a few of the most basic frameworks that can guide us, such as the ABCs: which stand for “Airway, breathing, and circulation.” In an emergent situation, this is how you decide what you do first for a patient in their time of need. First, ensure that they have an intact airway, then that they are able to breathe, and finally that they have adequate circulation to fuel their entire body. Going in this order can do the greatest amount of good for a patient in a time of need. Working through priorities in a linear fashion can remind you to not forget to address the largest issue, no matter how obvious it may seem. This can be seen in one of the practice concept maps we completed as part of our work in establishing clinical priorities.
In creating this concept map, we learned that there is an importance and a significance to doing things in a particular order, and explaining yourself as you go. This is similar to how I was taught to conduct research, as it is part of a systemic development of information that starts from the most broad points or theories, and gets down to the specifics. Another important similarity is that of justifying and giving credit where it is due. One of the most important things about justifying your ideas is that you can show evidence that supports your ideas. This means that you didn’t just assume based on your own personal experience, but rather that there are others who support this idea based on their clinical research or testing. While you can have an original results and conclusions, they would not have been possible without the work of others. This is not only for the sake of having backup, but also a way to prevent the repetition of work or creating false conclusions with lack of evidence in the first place. Concept maps are the same. If you do not have the evidence to support your healthcare outcome, it could negatively impact the patient and does not support evidence-based learning. Having to justify your work ensures that you are moving in the right direction to formulate the correct interventions and steps, without having to learn from the ground up the basics of what does and does not work. You get to stand on the shoulders of those who did different tests and trials for clinical work, so that you can improve on the current knowledge and move forward.
Both reasoning and prioritization are important in research and clinical nursing. Each of them allow us to take in and process important information and synthesize it according to a process that makes generating results and conclusions more manageable. This can help us disseminate information in a way that benefits others and improves the validity of research and the healthcare outcomes of those we treat in the inpatient or outpatient setting. Knowing this now can help me remember the importance of continuing to use the process of prioritization as I continue in my career.
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