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Week one is without a doubt the most important week of this course. Everything is based on what you do this week.

Determine a nursing practice issue. This issue must be something you can implement and possibly put into practice. Don’t choose a topic like “reduce nurse turnover.” That is a major issue that is unlikely to be addressed in this program. Choose a topic where you can actually make a difference.
“Provide breastfeeding education to a specific unit in a specific hospital,” for example, is a better example of a nurse practice problem. This is both feasible and realistic.
You will create a PICOT statement to define your progress, and everything you do in this class will be based on this PICOT.
The articles you’ll be looking for this first week are the ones you’ll be using for the rest of the class. So, first consider your practice problem before looking for articles.
DO NOT CHOOSE articles based on a systematic review or a meta-analysis of the literature. This is a collection of other research articles, not a single study. Locate an article that focuses on a single study.
During the first week, you will fill out a form provided in your course materials with your information. I’ve included an example of how this first assignment should look. This is the only assignment that does not require an APA formatted paper.
Keep in mind that you’re looking for a total of six articles. Three will be qualitative, while the other three will be quantitative. Quantity = QUANTITATIVE. Consider the numbers. This is quantitative research if it is reported and collected in numbers. QUALITATIVE = high quality. Consider interviews, opinions, and so on. These research articles are organized into themes that are based on the research article.