Appraising the Research Evidence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Appraising the Research Evidence - Essay Example Rapid Risk Assessment in Acute Hospital for Patients with Intellectual Disabilities Background to the Study Nurses that work with patients with intellectual disabilities are faced with various challenges. For instance, they are required to use evidence based practice while treating their patients. However, there is not adequate and clear research regarding evidence based practices for safety available to nurses. This brings up debates regarding practices that will ensure safety and quality care for people with intellectual disabilities. Nurses are required to check out current evidence based interventions that are suitable for treating these patients. Calls have also been made against using unfounded and pseudoscientific interventions to treat these patients. There is increased pressure on nurses to ensure their practices are based on sound evidence. Evidence based practice has gained influence as an approach to clinical decision making. As health care becomes more and more evidence based, nurses are required to be aware of the skills, resources and principles needed for evidence based practices (Kline et al., 2011). There are doubts regarding just how effective and applicable the results of evidence based treatments are to the general clinical application. Nurses continue to handle patients with complex life experiences and also those that have very severe intellectual disabilities. These stressful circumstances will undermine participation of treatment and can ultimately contribute to non-adherence to available treatment options (Read and Johnson, 2012). Advances in medical care ensure that life expectancy of individuals with intellectual disabilities approaches that of quite normal and healthy people. Severe intellectual disabilities are mostly accompanied by other medical conditions and physical disabilities. Health care needs of people with intellectual disabilities should, therefore, be met by mainstream health services. Highly skilled nurses are also req uired to work with these patients as they have a high intensity of health care support needs. Research conducted into this group of patients revealed some areas of concern. These areas include inadequate patient assessment as well as inadequate communication between nurse and patient. It is essential for nurses and patients to communicate effectively as this will help them understand their health needs and they will be able to prevent frequent admissions to hospital. Delivery of quality health care relies upon a series of interaction between a patient and clinician (Hart, 2010). Interaction will assist the clinician to make an accurate diagnosis and provide suitable treatment option. Each acute health care facility is required to conduct a proactive risk assessment using risk assessment tools. This provides avenues for identifying, reducing and prioritizing risks associated with patient safety. This enables clinicians to choose appropriate treatment options, therefore, reducing the chances of developing undesirable outcomes in patients. Health care is a high risk industry that is prone to serious errors. However, clinicians, through evidence based research, can reduce the chances of making medical errors. Commonly cited barriers to use of evidence based practices by clinicians include information overload, limited time, lack of research evidence as well as lack of skills