Evidence-based practice has four main components- clinical expertise, research evidence, practice context information, and patient circumstances and values. Currently, nurses are obliged to use evidence-based practice while caring for a patient (Reid et al., 2017). In regard to the case study, Carol should have thought about the evidence-based practice before answering the question on the nursing intervention based on experience (clinical expertise). She should have also considered what she was in taught in school. While making a comparison between what she learnt while working as a nurse assistant and in school, the central reference point should have been evidence-based practice. Therefore, Carol should have answered the question using the procedure that meets all the evidence-based practice criteria.
Delegation involves the transfer of patient care to an unlicensed nursing assistant. In delegation, the registered nurse remains accountable for the patient care outcomes, and the assistant nurse is not supposed to make nursing judgments. In the case study, Carol made an error by handling the question based on her clinical experience as a nurse assistant. In her role as a nursing assistant, the registered nurse used to assign her various tasks, including complicated tasks, such as complicated wound dressing. In delegation, the assistant nurse is not required to handle complicated interventions, unless under supervision from a registered nurse. Therefore, Carol may miss to know the roles of an assistant nurse when answering the question based on clinical experience.
In responding to the question about a patient who has developed a new headache, Carol should have based her response on the nursing process. The nursing process is stepwise in guiding nurses on patient care. Therefore, she should have responded based on the nursing process. The nursing process includes five steps- assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation in that order (Hagos et al., 2014). All nursing care must be based on the stepwise nursing process.
References
Reid, J., Briggs, J., Carlisle, S., Scott, D., & Lewis, C. (2017). Enhancing utility and understanding of evidence based practice through undergraduate nurse education. BMC Nursing, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-017-0251-1
Hagos, F., Alemseged, F., Balcha, F., Berhe, S., & Aregay, A. (2014). Application of Nursing Process and Its Affecting Factors among Nurses Working in Mekelle Zone Hospitals, Northern Ethiopia. Nursing Research And Practice, 2014, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/675212