How registered nurses' roles evolved through evidence-based practice inquiry

Nursing

Original understanding of what it meant to be an RN

Being a Registered Nurse meant applying evidence-based practice to patient care. It meant doing whatever it took to make patients as comfortable as possible, listening closely to their needs, and to the concerns they and their family presented to the healthcare team and me. Being a Registered Nurse meant collaborating with my colleagues and other members of the healthcare team to provide the best quality of care for each and every patient, under the circumstances. My original understanding of what it meant to be an RN included having the necessary training, background, and experience to be a primary care provider.

Discussion using two (2) aspects of the modified Stripling Model of Inquiry

The Stripling Model of Inquiry is based on "active engagement," (Berger, 2010, p. 16). According to the Library of Congress, inquiry is important to student learning because "the understandings that students develop through inquiry are deeper and longer lasting than any pre-packaged knowledge delivered by teachers to students," ("Why is Inquiry Important for Student Learning?" n.d., p. 1). There are six distinct phases of the Stripling Model of Inquiry, including connecting, wondering, investigating, constructing, expressing, and reflecting. Although these phases seem and often can be linear, in reality, these are "recursive" phases in which the inquirer can engage in at any point (Berger, 2010). Connecting refers to connecting with one's own prior knowledge and background, which is one of the reasons why I answered the first question in this assignment related to what I believed it meant to be a Registered Nurse prior to taking this course. By asking and answering this question, I was connecting with my former self and my prior state of knowledge. Making that connection, I was able to connect also with my present understanding, outlined in the second section of this report. Furthermore, connection can also relate to future understanding. This phase of the Stripling Model will resurface as I continue to engage the question of what it means to be a nurse, and as I advance my career through whatever means possible. Finally, connecting means connecting what I see and do each day as an actual nurse and being able to apply evidence to that situation so that I am using evidence-based practice.

The wondering phase of the Stripling Model has allowed me to make predictions and hypotheses that can be tested in the future. This can be applied to how I have expanded my understanding of what it means to be a Registered Nurse. The Library of Congress lauds the importance of using primary sources at all stages of learning, because "by their very nature, primary sources engage students in inquiry," ("Why is Inquiry Important for Student Learning?" n.d., p. 1). Reading this made me wonder why I was prohibited from using primary source material written by Barbara Stripling herself to describe the Stripling Model of Inquiry. Barbara Stripling described her models of inquiry prior to 2006, rendering the information too out of date for the purposes of completing this assignment. Yet the Stripling Model of Inquiry encourages the use of primary sources.

The wondering stage of the Stripling Model of Inquiry encourages me to ask questions like these, and formulate hypotheses related to what it means to be a Registered Nurse now that I have undergone this course. I am continually asking questions about the nature and quality of nursing education and nursing practice. My modes of inquiry relate to every aspect of what it means to be a Registered Nurse, what it means to be a nurse leader, what it means to be a nurse educator, and what it means to be a nurse advocate. Moreover, through my expanded understanding of what it means to be a nurse, I am also able to ask better questions about the practice of nursing. The wondering phase of inquiry causes me to question nearly everything, asking whether what I am doing is based on evidence or not. I have applied the Stripling Model of Inquiry to everything from electronic medical records to the mission statement of my health care institution. The process has been fruitful, and it continues to inform my evolving understanding of what it means to be a Registered Nurse.

As Erdelez, Basic & Levitov (2011) point out, sometimes information acquisition occurs naturally and organically. There is always room for the "opportunistic discovery of information that complements purposeful approaches to finding information," (Erdelez, Basic & Levitov, 2011, p. 8). All the stages of the Stripling Model of Inquiry can be applied, reapplied, addressed, and rehashed throughout my career as a Registered Nurse.