NURS-FPX 4030 Assessment 3 Instructions PICOT Questions And An Evidence Based Approach Example Paper Running head: USING A PICO(T) FRAMEWORK 1 Using a PICO(T) Framework and Evidence to Develop Care Practices Learner’s Name Capella University Making Evidence-Based Decisions

PICO(T) Questions and an Evidence-Based Approach

USING A PICO(T) FRAMEWORK 2

Using a PICO(T) Framework and Evidence to Develop Care Practices

When developing care practices for patients, the PICO(T) research framework, which expands to Population/Patient, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome, and Time, can be used to create an effective care plan and ensure that patients’ needs are met. Relying on secondary research, the author of this paper will define a practice issue surrounding patients with dementia, apply the PICO(T) process, identify sources of evidence that may provide answers to the research question, explain key findings from articles, and explain the relevance of those key findings.

Use of the PICO(T) Approach when Caring for Patients with Dementia

The practice issue identified for resolution is the need to develop care practices that effectively manage agitation in patients with dementia in nursing homes that are outside of pharmacological approaches. The question being explored is: Is the non-pharmacological approach, specifically an intervention approach, more effective than the pharmacological approach in managing behavioral symptoms (such as agitation) in patients with dementia?

The identified intervention strategy is person-centered care (PCC), also known as patient-centered care (PCC), which places more emphasis on a person’s experiences and the communication of their needs than on the strict application of a healthcare provider’s skills (Desai, Wharton, Struble, & Blazek, 2017).

Patients with dementia who exhibit agitated behavioral symptoms in nursing homes make up the population being investigated in the NURS-FPX 4030 Assessment 3 Instructions PICOT Questions and an Evidence Based Approach. Only aspects of care in nursing homes are taken into consideration because the goal is to investigate care strategies that address this issue. Cultural, political, and social considerations are not made in the study (Kim & Park, 2017 ).

Identification of Sources of Evidence DICE Model USING A PICO(T) FRAMEWORK 3

The DICE (Describe, Investigate, Create, and Evaluate) model is a notable PCC intervention model that identifies optimal treatment options for patients with dementia with neuropsychiatric symptoms. Developed by a panel of interdisciplinary experts at the University of Michigan Program for Positive Aging, the model is constitutive of a four-step approach.

The first step of the approach is the accurate description of the patient’s behavior, the second is the identification of possible underlying causes, the third is the creation and implementation of treatment plans, and the fourth is the assessment of the strategies developed (Desai et al., 2017; Kales, Gitlin, & Lyketsos, 2014 .)

The model’s essential recommendations for facilitating improvement in neuropsychiatric symptoms among patients with dementia are educating the caregiver; forging better communication between the patient and the caregiver; assisting the caregiver in organizing meaningful activities such as cooking, painting, or reading depending on the patient’s interests; and training the caregiver on simplifying his or her work routines (Desai et al., 2017; Kales, Gitlin, & Lyketsos, 2014).

Individualized Intervention Model

The individualized intervention model is a model in which intervention activities are carried out based on the history, needs, abilities, and preferences of patients with dementia. In this model, PCC-based activities are directly carried out by trained health care staff with expertise in social work, recreational therapy, geriatric psychiatry, and psychology (Kim & Park, 2017).

Care Staff-Directed Model

In the care staff–directed model, PCC activities are based on the staff’s education and training on empathy and person-centeredness. The model also makes a provision for offering staff regular feedback for their work NURS-FPX 4030 Assessment 3 Instructions PICOT Questions and an Evidence Based Approach. The intervention period in such a model ranges from 3 months to 2 years (Kim & Park, 2017 ).

Findings from Articles

As PCC is a major non pharmacological approach to treating agitation in patients with dementia, its effectiveness is studied by making a comparative analysis to the pharmacological approach to manage behavioral symptoms in patients with dementia. Pharmacological treatment in general refers to the use of psychotropic medication to manage agitation or neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) in patients with dementia (Madhusoodanan & Ting, 2014; Kales et al., 2014).

Some of the common pharmacological interventions include the use of anti psychotropics, antidepressants such as sertraline and citalopram, and sedative-hypnotics through the use o