92241 Inquiry in Nursing Practice

Subject level: Undergraduate

Handbook description

The major purpose of this subject is to expand students' understanding of, and commitment to, the use of research evidence in their everyday clinical decision making. The subject provides students with an opportunity to develop a broad understanding of common approaches to nursing research, and the place of all forms of research in nursing practice. As a capstone, this subject returns students to the complexity of the exercise of clinical judgment, and to research as one element of judgment making.

Subject objectives/outcomes

On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:

1. discuss the role of nursing research in clinical judgment
2. debate the advantages and disadvantages of evidence-based nursing practice from the perspective of a beginning practitioner
3. examine the place of specific forms of research evidence in supporting practice
4. demonstrate skills in using information technology to locate material to support practice, including research evidence, protocols and practice guidelines
5. extract the clinical relevance of published research, systematic reviews and guidelines for their own practice, and practice in general
6. identify their role as a consumer of nursing research with the responsibility for generating a culture of evidence-based practice.

Teaching and learning strategies

There will be one face-to-face lecture in the first week of semester, followed by three, two-hour face-to-face tutorials between the beginning and end of the semester.

These tutorials will be used to both set students up for online learning activities and to process those activities when students come back to the classroom.

All other learning activities will be directed through UTSOnline. This subject uses UTSOnline at level 3 for communicating information and moderated discussions.

The lecturer or tutor will respond to any questions in the 'Discussion about Subject & Assessment' forum within one to two days at the most usually (this applies to working days).

Examples of the ways UTSOnline will be used to support your studies include:

• announcements about this subject will be posted by the subject lecturers
• to provide electronic copies of the subject outline, lecture notes, PowerPoint slides or subject documents
• to provide links to other digital resources and websites
• for sending and receiving emails between tutors, lecturers and students
• to talk with other students about your studies and share resources or ideas
• to use the group area to work with other students on a group task or assignment
• to ask the lecturer/tutor questions about assessments or subject requirements
• to engage in required online discussions (e.g. debates, critiquing readings).