An evidence-based practice process emerges with a clinical question and proceeds to search and critically appraise the evidence. In the defined PICOT question, the necessary change is concerned with the need to reduce BMI measures in school-aged children. However, it may be limited by a nursing practice problem of low nursing staffing impact on the quality of healthcare and patient outcomes. Therefore, to implement an exercise program for school-aged children, it is necessary to ensure that there are appropriate staffing levels and that there are enough professionals to oversee the program. At present, low nurse staffing rates are concerned with the increased reports of missed care, with chronic illnesses often being left unnoticed because they are not urgent (Mensik & Nickitas, 2015). Childhood overweight and obesity are concerning chronic issues that require the attention of healthcare personnel, and the high load on the practice setting reduces the capacity of the system to address recurring health problems.
Research evidence points to the direct correlation between nurse staffing and patient outcomes. As suggested by Zimmerman and Pfaff (2018), the weight loss of nursing home residents was directly associated with staffing levels, with higher staffing leading to better outcomes. Cho et al. (2020) also found that insufficient staffing led to missed activities of nursing care, thus resulting in inadequate patient health. Therefore, an evidence-based practice change is concerned with the need to increase staffing levels to ensure that there are enough professionals available to oversee the implementation of an intervention for school-aged children. Investing in personnel training and incentivizing staff through performance-based rewards represent evidence-based practice changes that may be introduced within a practice setting.
References
Mensik, J., & Nickitas, D. M. (2015). Why nurse staffing matters: A moral imperative. Nursing Economic$, 33(3), 186-187.
Cho, S‐H, Lee, J‐Y, You, SJ, Song, KJ, Hong, KJ. (2020). Nurse staffing, nurses prioritization, missed care, quality of nursing care, and nurse outcomes. International Journal of Nursing Practice, 26, e12803.
Zimmermann J, Pfaff H (2018). Influence of nurse staffing levels on resident weight loss within German nursing homes. Research in Gerontological Nursing, 11(1), 48-56