Running header: REFERENCE 1

Reference Review
Morgan Howe
Ferris State University

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Reference Review
It is important to thoroughly examine a reference before implementing its content into
everyday nursing practice. Two articles will be examined to determine the credibility and the
significance to nursing they provide. The purpose of this paper is to re-evaluate references used
to guide practice decisions, (Ferris State University, 2014, p. 8). Learning to evaluate sources
will improve a nurses practice. The two articles that will be reviewed are Medication
Administration Practices Among Childrens Nurses: A Survey by Murphy and While (2012) and
Medication Dosing Errors in Pediatric Patients Treated by Emergency Medical Services by
Hoyle Jr, Davis, Putman, Trytko, and Fales (2012).
The following section will discuss credibility. It will explain what a credible source is
and why one should be used. This section will also define nursing research and its importance to
the nursing field as well as explain the levels of evidence. The articles will be reviewed and a
determination will be made as to their use.
Credibility
A credible source is one that is trustworthy. The author should have evidence to support
his or her opinion on the topic (Writing Center Appalachian University, 2013). It is good practice
to use only credible or scholarly sources when researching. Scholarly sources are sources that
have been peer reviewed prior to publishing or is published by a known scholarly source such as
a journal or university (University of Central Florida, n.d.).
Nursing research is important to nursing practice in any field. Nurses must be up-to-date
on the best practices and treatments for patients. Nursing research is done to increase knowledge
for clinical practice, limit disability and disease, help with symptoms of illness, and improve
end-of-life care (National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR), n.d.). Nursing research is
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important to the nursing field to improve care provided to patients. It is practice specific and vital
to the advancement of nursings scientific basis (Mosby, 2008).
Studies are classified by levels of evidence. They are classified by how strong their
findings are based on the type of study done. It is important to determine the level of evidence
for a study before implementing interventions based on the study. Melnyk and Fineout-Overholt
(2011) created a table of levels of evidence. Their table listed seven levels. A study ranked level
one is the highest or strongest evidence study. This type of study is a systematic review and
meta-analysis of random controlled studies. The lowest is level seven this is an article of an
experts opinion.
The following section will review the articles Medication Administration Practices
among Childrens Nurses: A Survey by Murphy and While (2012) and Medication Dosing
Errors in Pediatric Patients Treated by Emergency Medical Services by Hoyle Jr et al (2011).
This review will be done using the L.E.A.R.N method.
Elaborate
In the article by Murphy and While (2012) a study was performed on all clinical staff at a
childrens hospital. This study sought to learn what medication administration practices aided in
medication errors to children. It found that not following policy and interruptions to the process
of giving the medication were causes of errors. The article also made recommendations to reduce
the number of errors.
The article by Hoyle Jr et al. (2011) focused on dosing errors prior to the child arriving at
the hospital via Emergency Medical Service (EMS). This study found that dosing errors occurred
in 34.7% of pediatric patients taken to the hospital by EMS. The dosing errors were made by
paramedics before the patient arrived at the hospital. Reasons associated with these medication
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errors were lack of clinical experience in pediatrics, and dosing errors due to not using dosing
aids. This study also gave potential solutions to the problem studied.
Analyze
These articles were chosen for this assignment to provide examples of the different kinds
of research. The article by Murphy and While (2012) was written by nurses for nurses. It is a
level four on Melnyks table (2011). It was a qualitative study and the article was published in the
peer reviewed journal, the British Journal of Nursing. That makes this article the better choice of
stronger evidence to base practice on.
The article by Hoyle Jr. et al (2011) was a level four, quantative study, not performed by
nurses, written for a peer reviewed medical journal. While this provides strength for its
credibility, it is not nursing research. These reasons are why this article is not the best choice for
evidence based practice.
Revise Approach
Murphy and While (2012) is a good source for writing a nursing course paper on
medication errors. It is written by nurses and pertains to an important topic in the nursing field.
This article would be used again. If borrowed knowledge was used to support evidence from
other nursing articles then the article by Hoyle Jr. et al (2011) would be appropriate to use, but
nursing course papers should be supported first by nursing research.
Significance to Nursing
If a source is used to base nursing practice on it should be distinct to the nursing field.
Nursing is a professional field and as a professional field it has its own body of knowledge that is
different from other fields (Perry Black, 2014). To provide strength to evidence that is
implemented into a nurses practice the evidence should come from a source specific to nursing.
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Nursing practices must be based on sound evidence in order to provide quality care that is
safe for both the patient and the nurse. The American Nurses Association (ANA) (2012) asserts
that nurses are obligated to provide care based on high quality evidence to meet the nurses
accountability to society.
The ANA defines quality in nursing as: The degree to which health services for patients,
families, groups, communities, or populations increase the likelihood of desired outcomes and
are consistent with current professional knowledge (p. 145). Using quality evidence helps to
ensure patient and nurse safety. Safety can be defined as the quality of averting or not causing
injury (dictionary.com, 2014). Quality and safety in nursing care can be assured when nurses
use current, nursing specific sources for evidence to base their practice on.
Conclusion
Using references adds support to evidence to support practice decisions. These references
should be from reliable and credible sources. To increase the scientific base of the nursing
profession nursing research must be done. The previous articles were examined for their
relevance to the nursing field and their strength of evidence as related to nursing. This is
important to consider these topics before implementing the content into nursing practice.

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References
American Nurses Association (ANA) (2012). The essential guide to nursing practice: Applying
ANAs scope and standards in practice and education. American Nurses Association.
Silver Spring, MD.
Dictionary.com. (2014). Safety. Retrieved from
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/safety?s=t
Ferris State University (FSU) College of Health Professions. (2014). Nurs 350 syllabus.
Hoyle Jr., J.D., Davis, A.T., Putman, K.K., Trytko, J.A., Fales, W.D. (2011). Medication dosing
errors in pediatric patients treated by emergency medical services. Prehospital
Emergency Care.
Melnyk, B.M. & Fineout-Overholt, E. (2011). Evidence-based practice in nursing and
healthcare: A guide to best practice. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins.
Mosby. (2009).Nursing research. Mosbys Medical Dictionary (8
th
Ed.). Elsevier. St. Louis, MO.
Murphy, M., While, A. (2012). Medication administration practices among childrens nurses: A
survey. British Journal of Nursing.
National Institute of Nursing Research. (n.d.). What is nursing research? Retrieved from
http://www.ninr.nih.gov/
Perry Black, B. (2011). Professional nursing: Concepts & challenges. Elsevier. St. Louis, MO.
University of Central Florida. (n.d.). What is a scholarly source? Retrieved from
http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~janzb/courses/scholarly1.htm
Writing Center Appalachian University. (2013). Credible vs. noncredible sources. Retrieved
from
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http://writingcenter.appstate.edu/sites/writingcenter.appstate.edu/files/Credible%20v%20
Non-Credible%20Sources13.pdf