Purpose 

The Topic Search Strategy paper is the first of three related assignments. The purpose of this initial paper is to briefly  describe your search strategies when identifying two articles that pertain to an evidence-based practice topic of interest. 

Course outcomes: This assignment enables the student to meet the following course outcomes. 

CO 1: Examine the sources of knowledge that contribute to professional nursing practice. (PO 7) 

CO 2: Apply research principles to the interpretation of the content of published research studies. (POs 4 and 8) 

  Paper should be 3-4 content pages in length. Title and reference pages are required but are excluded from 3-4  page length. 

2) The paper will include the following sections: a. Clinical Question (45 points/28%) 

• Describe the problem. What is the focus of your group’s work?

 • Explain the significance of the problem in terms of patient outcomes. What health outcomes result from  your problem? Or what statistics document this is a problem? You may find support on websites for  government or professional organizations. 

• PICOT question in support of the group topic. 

• State the purpose of your paper. What will your paper do or describe? This is similar to a problem  statement. “The purpose of this paper is to . . .” 

 Levels of Evidence (20 points/13%) 

• Identify the type of question being asked (therapy, prognosis, meaning, etc.). 

• What is the best type of evidence to answer that question (e.g., RCT, cohort study, qualitative study, etc.)? c. Search Strategy (65 points/41%) 

• List search terms and results. 

• Databases used (start with the CU library). Link your search with the PICOT question described above. 

• Refinement decisions. As you did your search, what decisions did you make in refinement to get your  required articles down to a reasonable number for review? Were any limits used? If so, what? 

• Identification of two (2) most relevant articles (primary sources published within the last 5 years). d. Format (30 points/18%)

 • Correct grammar and spelling.

 • Include a title page. 

• Use of headings for each section.

 ▪ Clinical Question, Levels of Evidence, Search Strategy, and Conclusion 

• Adheres to current APA formatting and guidelines.

• 3-4 pages in length, excluding title and reference pages. For writing assistance (APA, formatting, or grammar) visit the APA Citation and Writing page in the online library. Please note that your instructor may provide you with additional assessments in any form to determine that you fully  understand the concepts learned 

Introduction to the case (1 page)

• Briefly explain and summarize the case for this Assignment. Be sure to include the specific patient factors that may impact your decision making when prescribing medication for this patient.

Decision #1 (1 page)

• Which decision did you select?
• Why did you select this decision? Be specific and support your response with clinically relevant and patient-specific resources, including the primary literature.
• Why did you not select the other two options provided in the exercise? Be specific and support your response with clinically relevant and patient-specific resources, including the primary literature.
• What were you hoping to achieve by making this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources (including the primary literature).
• Explain how ethical considerations may impact your treatment plan and communication with patients. Be specific and provide examples.

Decision #2 (1 page)

• Why did you select this decision? Be specific and support your response with clinically relevant and patient-specific resources, including the primary literature.
• Why did you not select the other two options provided in the exercise? Be specific and support your response with clinically relevant and patient-specific resources, including the primary literature.
• What were you hoping to achieve by making this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources (including the primary literature).
• Explain how ethical considerations may impact your treatment plan and communication with patients. Be specific and provide examples.

Decision #3 (1 page)

• Why did you select this decision? Be specific and support your response with clinically relevant and patient-specific resources, including the primary literature.
• Why did you not select the other two options provided in the exercise? Be specific and support your response with clinically relevant and patient-specific resources, including the primary literature.
• What were you hoping to achieve by making this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources (including the primary literature).
• Explain how ethical considerations may impact your treatment plan and communication with patients. Be specific and provide examples.

Conclusion (1 page)

Summarize your recommendations on the treatment options you selected for this patient. Be sure to justify your recommendations and support your response with clinically relevant and patient-specific resources, including the primary literature.

Note: Support your rationale with a minimum of five academic resources. While you may use the course text to support your rationale, it will not count toward the resource requirement. You should be utilizing the primary and secondary literature.

Case study:

Mrs. L., a 68-year-old woman, presents to your office today with a complaint of feeling tired all the time and now, more recently, feeling weak and like “I can’t catch my breath sometimes.”

HPI: She has been healthy except for high cholesterol, managed by Lipitor. Her husband died 9 months ago, and she has attributed her fatigue to dealing with his death but realizes that she is feeling worse and not better as time passes.

No known drug allergies.

Medications: Takes only Lipitor.

Past surgical history: Appendectomy in childhood; hysterectomy for uterine myoma 10 years ago.

No significant medical history. Has two daughters living nearby.

Blood pressure (BP) 106/70 mm Hg, heart rate (HR) 98 beats/min and regular, respiratory rate 18 breaths/min and afebrile, body mass index (BMI) 22 (10-pound weight loss since death of husband).

Slender, quiet-spoken older woman appearing tired.

PE: Conjunctiva pale, mucous membranes moist. No lymphadenopathy of neck or femoral area.

Heart tachyarrhythmia with regular rate, soft midsystolic murmur. Chest (CTA), good air movement.

Abdomen soft, bowel sounds × 4.

Diagnostics:

Urine dipstick negative.

The results of a colonoscopy show a neoplasm in the colon.

Address the following in your SOAP note:

1. What additional subjective data are you seeking?
2. What additional objective data will you be assessing for?
3. What medical history would you obtain from the patient? List at least three.
4. What tests will you order? Describe at least four lab tests.
5. What are the differential diagnoses that you are considering? Describe two.
6. What is your plan of care? List at least two diagnostic tests you will order to evaluate the cause of her condition.

Public Policy, the News Media, and Outside Interests

“The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.” – James Madison

Open your physical or email mailbox during a campaign year and you may find hundreds of unsolicited, political handbills funded by individual campaigns, Political Action Committees (PACs), and Super Political Action Committees (SPACs). Handbills may include endorsements and/or condemnation from interest groups, public policy concerns, and snippets of news coverage favorable and/or unfavorable to a candidate and/or officeholder. Handbills may also contain information about a person’s voting record and their public policy concerns.

As you can imagine, creating a favorable handbill that fully articulates the strength of the candidate’s character, public policy concerns, and endorsements takes a bit of research and finesse. In this assignment, you are going to give this kind of work a try.

Following are some suggested resources for creating your handbill:

• Ballotpedia’s website on political parties in the United States.
• Data on Campaign Finance, Super PACs, Industries, and Lobbying. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.opensecrets.org/.
• Candidate’s official website, which you can find by googling the candidate’s name + official website.
• Local, State, and National News Media.
• On the Issues’ website about candidates and elected officials’ political positions.
• Pew Research Center’s website on public opinion polling and data-driven political research.
• Vote Smart’s website database on candidates and elected officials.

Directions: Select a recent candidate or officeholder at the federal level that you considered supporting with your vote. Craft a handbill that advocates your person’s candidacy. Include the following:

• The Individual
  • Does this person’s moral and professional capacity make this individual capable of serving “we the people” ethically and well?
• Political Party
  • Does the person align well with the political party?
  • Does the person have a political party endorsement?
• Public Policy
  • Select two specific examples of public policy that your person advocates from the following fields:
    • Economic policy – for example, U.S. budget deficit spending.
    • Education policy – for example, the implementation of charter schools.
    • Environmental policy – for example, the Clean Air Act.
    • Foreign policy – for example, the interplay between civil liberties and the Patriot Act.
    • Healthcare policy – for example, the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).
    • Welfare policy – for example, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
  • Why are these public policies important to this person and the potential voters?
• Endorsements
  • Individuals?
  • Interest Groups? Note: PAC donations illustrate support.
  • News Media?
  • Others?
• Support your analysis with information from the text and at least two additional academic sources.

Your assignment should also meet the following requirements:

• APA format.
  • Title page.
  • Reference page.
  • APA citations.
  • Double spaced sentences.
  • 12-point Times New Roman font.
• Standard English grammar conventions.
  • Correct grammar.
  • Correct punctuation and spelling.
  • Logical, well-ordered sentences.

Not Required/Optional: You may use graphics, images, etc. Visually, a visualization company has some examples of graphic-heavy, public policy handbills.

Scenario:

You are the senior member of a two-man hostage negotiation team for a maximum security facility in the Northeast. You and partner are called to a cell block where an inmate, identified as Alfredo Albondigas, has taken two facilities maintenance personnel and a fellow corrections officer hostage. He is claiming that there are aliens from another planet living in his cell block and demanding that they leave immediately. He has given an ultimatum that if he does not see the flying saucer leaving the exercise yard area in 2 hours, he will kill the maintenance personnel that he has taken hostage because he knows that they are giving signals to the aliens about him and the other inmates.

Mr. Albondigas is armed with a handmade knife and has his head wrapped in aluminum foil. The corrections entry reaction team (CERT) is working with you has a green light to kill Mr. Albondigas, but there are no current opportunities presenting themselves. You have managed to get a throw phone into Mr. Albondigas and you have direct phone communication with him. Also, because of the phone’s design, when he hangs up, you can still hear what is going on in the room. He has not hurt the maintenance personnel so far, but he is using the corrections officer as a translator to speak to the maintenance personnel, as if the maintenance personnel were not speaking English, but some alien tongue. 

This scenario may seem humorous because it is fictional, but if it were real, it would be very serious for both the hostages and Mr. Albondigas. You are tasked by the warden and incident commander to make an operations plan centered on dealing with this mentally ill offender. 

Address the following questions in a 10–12 page position paper. Present this paper as if it were an operations plan to negotiate with Mr. Albondigas and end the hostage standoff. You do not need to plan the tactical response if the negotiations fail. The paper presented should confine itself to gathering the information that negotiator needs, and the approach to take when negotiating with Mr. Albondigas to end the standoff. 

• Explain the mental state of the offender and the 2 most likely mental illnesses that are affecting him. 
• Explain what type of medical personnel you would like to have at the scene, and why? 
• Relate why you think that, if the deadline is reached without a solution, whether Mr. Albondigas will hurt the maintenance personnel or not. Explain your answer. 
• Articulate the persons whom you would like to have brought to the scene for interviews to help with information that you can use to talk to Mr. Albondigas. 
• Explain your approach as the negotiator when speaking with Mr. Albondigas, and why you would take that approach.  

It is critical that, when you make a statement of fact in your presentation, you cite the reference that you used to obtain the information from. Do this in the text of the paper, and then include the reference in your References page. As always, your paper will be submitted in the current edition of APA format. No abstract is required because this is a short position paper, but a title page, reference page, and appropriate running header with page numbers are necessary.