Create a 3-5 page submission in which you develop a PICO(T) question for a specific care issue and evaluate the evidence you locate, which could help to answer the question.

PICO(T) Questions and an Evidence-Based Approach

The utility of PICO(T) questions is important in nursing practice. It enables the identification of the patient, the intervention, a comparison group, the desired outcome, and the timeframe. This framework helps to facilitate research because it identifies key aspects to be considered during research. This paper evaluates a clinical issue of interest and applies the PICO(T) framework to formulate a research question.

Practice Issue to be Explored Via a PICO(T) Approach

The healthcare issue of interest is the nursing shortage in the medical-surgical ward. The nursing shortage is a problem facing many healthcare facilities globally (Saikia, 2018). It has impeded workflow and lowered patient quality-of-service delivery (Tamata et al., 2021). Consequently, this will likely increase morbidity rates and prolong patients’ recovery times (Saikia, 2018). The PICO(T) research question to be explored is: Among the patients receiving postoperative care in the medical-surgical ward, do optimized nurse-to-patient ratios, compared to high nurse-to-patient ratios, improve recovery rates over seven months?

The patients in the medical-surgical ward population are patients receiving postoperative care. The intervention is optimized for nurse-to-patient ratios, implying that more nurses are available and each nurse serves a significantly low number of patients (Drennan & Ross, 2019). A high nurse-to-patient ratio signifies a nursing shortage, and nurses serve a relatively higher number of patients (Drennan & Ross, 2019). The outcome is improved recovery rates for postoperative patients. The timeframe is seven months.

Sources of Evidence

Various sources of evidence can be useful in answering the PICO(T) question. Medical research databases can be stellar sources of information for this PICO(T) question. These research databases include PubMed, Google Scholar, and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) (Pei & Wu, 2019). These databases contain numerous peer-reviewed health-related journals that provide adequate information on nursing shortages (Pei & Wu, 2019). The peer-reviewed journals are published by qualified healthcare professionals whose credentials can be easily accessed (Pei & Wu, 2019).

Furthermore, the journals in these databases can be evaluated for credibility using the CRAAP model. By so doing, the research selects desirable journals based on their timeliness, relevance, accuracy, authority, and purpose (Esparrago-Kalidas, 2021). The CRAAP criteria ensure that the journals and publications are credible and adequately address the PICO(T) question (Esparrago-Kalidas, 2021). The databases contain customized navigation features that allow the researcher to access the most recent information about the PICO(T) question. Furthermore, information from these databases can be compared to develop the best evidence-based practice.

Findings from Articles

According to Saikia (2018), the nursing shortage is a global problem. It increases the workload to be completed by nursing staff. Nurses are forced to work long-hour shifts and reduce their day-offs (Tamata et al., 2021). Consequently, this results in elevated stress and burnout among nurses. Besides, their morale is lowered, affecting the quality of service delivery (Tamata et al., 2021). Reduced quality of service delivery is likely to prolong patients’ recovery rates. This can be attributed to increased incidences of medication errors, such as wrong medications, underdosing, and overdoses (Tamata et al., 2021). Medication errors increase morbidity rates and minimize recovery rates (Gouda et al., 2019). Recurrent medication errors can increase mortality rates for patients requiring critical care, such as postoperative patients (Gouda et al., 2019). Examples of postoperative services include adequate pain control, assessing surgical sites, appropriate administration of medications, and assessing the stability of patients (Gouda et al., 2019).

Findings reveal that various countries have set the optimized nurse-to-patient ratios for different departments. In the United States of America, the acceptable nurse-to-patient ratio in the medical-surgical ward is about 1:5 (Saikia, 2018). The optimized nurse-to-patient ratios are 1:4 and 1:2 for the emergency department and the critical care unit, respectively (Saikia, 2018). In this context, the PICO(T) question focuses on postoperative patients in the medical-surgical ward. Therefore, the optimized ratio used as the intervention is a nurse-to-patient ratio of 1:5. The comparison entails any ratios above the optimized ratio. Optimized nurse-to-patient ratios will improve workflow and promote job satisfaction (Gouda et al., 2019). Accordingly, this w