It has recently become evident that health policies and practices should be based on the most reliable empirical evidence that can be found across the globe. This principle is the foundation of the so-called evidence-based health care. When the required data is obtained, it is to be translated into action, which is known as translational science or research. Nowadays, the significance of this process is emphasized by the health departments of all countries. The process of appraisal and synthesis has a primary objective to identify questions and answer them, relying on evidence. New knowledge is to be generated as an outcome. This knowledge is transferred into the context of health care provision, which implies the delivery of practical services (Valdes et al., n.d.).
However, the process of evidence appraisal can be hindered by inconsistent preparation of nurses to perform reasoning, comparing, contrasting, appraising, concluding, and disseminating parts of the whole process. Theoretical discussions, no matter how valuable they may be for obtaining new knowledge, are not enough for competent nursing. All the professionals who are involved in health care provision have to receive proper practice-oriented education, which will allow them to deliver high-quality services based on evidence from a variety of sources. Thus, evidence-based practice, which presupposes intelligent use of all the resources at hand, is indispensable to nursing education. Future nurses must be able to implement all the effective strategies in order to obtain the necessary evidence for a case of any complexity (Valdes et al., n.d.).
Translational science appraisal of the evidence into action is a highly complex process mainly because it is dynamic and unpredictable in most aspects. That is why this necessitates more research utilization at each stage: first, there appears a theoretical need for getting evidence which should be translated into real knowledge; when the evidence is obtained, it must be further translated to implementation in the context of a particular medical case; finally, this single application of evidence is translated to a regular model that would work in all similar cases.
However, the accurate performance of the whole process is made possible only through using sufficient theoretical background. This means that nursing education must shift the focus of its attention to the development of translational skills of research. The process of appraisal of evidence requires the following research utilization improvements (Valdes et al., n.d.):
- nurses must acquire adequate conceptual knowledge as they have to be able to perform theoretical research before passing on to practical one; however, they should bear in mind that this type of research is preliminary and cannot take all their time and intellectual capacity;
- they must obtain knowledge that is connected to EBP;
- nurses must improve their research skills in using electronic databases as a lot of research is performed there;
- they should be able to assess the needs of particular patients conducting research of the community this or that patient belongs to; this type of appraisal is crucial for the translation from evidence analysis to its actual implementation;
- they should learn to filter evidence and avoid redundant research.
As it is evident from the above-mentioned competencies that are required from a nurse for him/her to be able to perform an accurate appraisal of evidence, a lot of research has to be introduced into the nursing practice. The aim of this is to ensure that all the steps of the translation are carried out with due attention and precision.
References
Valdes G., Messmer, P., Valdes B., Nitti Y., Orta R., & Pericles M. (n.d.). Faculty awareness when teaching transforming evidence-based literature into practice: Is it a relevant undergraduate Nursing Academia Concern? Web.