Nursing Research Report: Practice Problem, PICOT, and Analysis

This report delves into the core concepts of nursing research, specifically focusing on the distinctions between nursing and medical practice problems. It highlights the importance of using nursing practice problems as the basis for research questions, particularly within the PICOT framework. The report explains that a nursing practice problem addresses patient responses, health conditions, and life processes, while a medical practice problem focuses on specific medical conditions. The report emphasizes that PICOT (Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome, Time) questions should be rooted in nursing practice problems to ensure the research is relevant and focused on the patient's needs. The report provides examples of both types of problems and explains why using a nursing practice problem in a PICOT question helps eliminate inappropriate information, ensuring the research is not skewed and adheres to evidence-based practice principles.

Running Head : Introduction to Nursing Research 1
Introduction to Nursing Research
Student’s Name
Institution
Date

Running Head : Introduction to Nursing Research 2
Introduction to Nursing Research
Describe the difference between a nursing practice problem and a medical practice problem.
Provide one example of each. Discuss why is it important to ensure your PICOT is based on a
nursing practice problem.
A nursing practice problem aims at the response of people, their health conditions and
the life processes that affect them, (Zaccagnini & Pechacek, 2019). The health professionals use
the nursing practice problems to assess a patient’s case, family or community and make
judgement on clinical basis on their response towards the health hazards they are exposed to. The
nurse is able to establish the base of coming up with the right diagnosis and health interventions
so that they can treat the patients appropriately with their professional line. When a nurse is
presented a patient with the nursing practice problems such as impaired verbal communication,
genetic disorders and migraines, the health practitioner holistically understands the presence of
such conditions in the patient’s family and this enables him to do proper assessment and make
interventions to cure the impacts on the patient.
A medical practice problem deals with a particular medical condition. The health
professional uses a medical practice problem to identify a particular medical condition for
example diabetes or obesity among others, (Clement, 2015). The physicians the patient’s history,
analyses the diseases’ signs and symptoms and identify the tests that are needed for diagnostic
purposes. After ascertaining the medical problem, medical diagnosis is done. For example, when
a nurse is presented with diabetes as a medical practice problem, he /she is able to know the
pathology of the patient and that is what enables the health practitioner diagnose and treat the
condition.

Running Head : Introduction to Nursing Research 3
It important to ensure your PICOT is based on a nursing practice problem because the
nursing practice problems use an Evidence – based Practice which allows a researcher to
approach various questions of nursing research through the benefits of EBP. Using a nursing
practice problem in a PICOT question helps in eliminating inappropriate information that mostly
arise when carrying out research. This is helpful in making sure that there lacks skewness in a
research for it not to be termed dysfunctional.

Running Head : Introduction to Nursing Research 4
References
Clement, I. (2015). Nursing Diagnosis. Textbook on Nursing Foundation for PB BSc Nursing,
236-236. doi:10.5005/jp/books/12616_19
Zaccagnini, M., & Pechacek, J. M. (2019). The Doctor of Nursing Practice Essentials: A New
Model for Advanced Practice Nursing. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.