1NURS4001 Nursing Capstone. Literature review. Medicine and Nursing

1NURS4001 Nursing Capstone
Literature Review (WORD LIMIT = 2000 WORDS +/- 10%)
This individual piece of assessment is worth 45% of your final mark. The Literature Review must bepassed in order to pass the unit.
ULO 3: Analyse how selected process measures and outcome measures impact on clinical performanceand the evaluation of health care delivery.
ULO 4: Make recommendations for best practice based on the analyses of health care deliveryscenarios.
Curtin Graduate capabilities: Globally engaged, Industry connected and career capable, Applydiscipline knowledge, principles and concepts, Innovative, creative and entrepreneurialMany accidents and incidents occur in healthcare systems and hospitals that impact on health caredelivery. Patient Safety can be best understood using a human factors approach. Select ONE of thefollowing standards to investigate best practice to improve patient safety.
 Blood Management
 Medication safety
 Communication for safety during handover or patient discharge
Answer the following in your literature review
1. Describe the scope of the problem using global and local evidence from supporting literatureand reports – For example: what are the problems globally (around the world) and locally inmedication administration – Use the Safety in your Hands report on Blackboard for Localissues.
2. Using a human factors approach discuss five of the unintended and contributory factors thatarise in your chosen topic. For example: How and what human factors contribute to poorpatient safety in blood administration.
3. Identify and critique two current techniques/methods applicable in nursing that are used toimprove patient safety in your chosen area. Identify the strengths and weaknesses of the twoapproaches. For example in communication during handover or patient discharge, what aretwo evidenced-based methods of communication that can be employed by nursing staff toimprove the process. Do they have weaknesses and/or strengths?
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Points Below to consider:
1. Cover page
2. Contents page
3. Correct word count – paper does not include in and end-text references (2000 words)
4. You need to provide a clear description of what you are doing in the review (topic) and whyyou are doing it (purpose).
5. Use linking sentences between paragraphs and sections. When raising points & makingstatements think about how the information ties together.
6. Use full identifiers of terms in text until the acronym is provided e.g. Singapore Ministry ofHealth (MOH). This is particularly important in international context or journals wherereaders may not be familiar with terms used.
7. To improve your academic style and readability avoid using excessively long sentences.Break long sentences down to more concise statements.
8. When making a direct quote ensure you “enclose the relevant text” and include the pagenumber in the citation.
9. When not using direct quotes reword carefully from the source text. Many students cut &paste without adequately paraphrasing. This is considered plagiarism.
10. Use current references appropriate for your topic (20 references at a minimum in date, noolder than 10 years)
11. Avoid secondary citations. Go to the original source especially for seminal papers & books
12. Correct APA referencing 7th Edition
13. 11 or 12 point readable font (e.g. Times New Roman, Arial etc.)
14. 1.5 line spacing throughout (including the reference list)
15. Full sentences (no dot points);
16. Contractions (where two words are shortened into one e.g., doesn’t, wouldn’t, couldn’t etc.)should not be used in formal academic writing;
17. Numbers under 10 should be in written format (e.g., ‘five’); numbers over 10 should be innumeric format (e.g., ‘20’).
18. All numbers (no matter how big) at the very beginning of a sentence should be in writtenformat (e.g., “Thirty-five participants completed a questionnaire.”)
19. Always try and paraphrase from your source rather than quote as it demonstrates that youhave understood the material.
20. First person (i.e. “I”, “we” etc.) should not be used for this assessment;
21. Australian spelling rather than US spelling (e.g., “behaviour” rather than “behavior”) shouldbe used.
22. Careful proofreading of your paper and run a spelling and grammar check before submission.
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What is a literature review?
A literature review is a critical analysis of published sources, or literature, on a particular topic. It is anassessment of the literature and provides a summary, classification, comparison and evaluation. Atundergraduate level literature reviews can be a separate standalone assessment.
The literature review is generally in the format of a standard essay made up of three components: anintroduction, a body and a conclusion.
Why do we write literature reviews?At university you may be asked to write a literature review in order to demonstrate your understandingof the literature on a particular topic. You show your understanding by analysing and then synthesisingthe information to:
 Determine what has already been written on a topic
 Provide an overview of key concepts
 Identify major relationships or patterns
 Identify strengths and weaknesses
 Identify any gaps in the research
 Identify any conflicting evidence
 Provide a solid background to a research paper’s investigation
How to write a literature review
Determine your purpose
Work out what you need to address in the literature review. What are you being asked to do in yourliterature review? What are you searching the literature to discover? Check your assignment questionand your criteria sheet to know what to focus on.
Do an extensive search of the literature
Find out what has been written on the topic.
What kind of literature?
Select appropriate source material: Use a variety of academic or scholarly sources that are relevant,current and authoritative. An extensive review of relevant material will include — books, peer reviewedjournal articles, reports, government documents, conference proceedings and web resources. TheLibrary would be the best place to search for your sources.
How many resources?
The number of sources that you will be required to review will depend on what the literature review isfor and how advanced you are in your studies. It could be from five sources at first year undergraduatelevel to more than fifty for a final year unit. 
4Note the bibliographical details of your sources
Keep a note of the publication title, date, authors’ names, page numbers and publishers. These detailswill save you time later.Read the literature Critically read each source, look for the arguments presented rather than for facts. Take notes as you read and start to organise your review around themes and ideas. Consider using a table, matrix or concept map to identify how the different sources relate toeach other.Analyse the literature you have foundIn order for your writing to reflect strong critical analysis, you need to evaluate the sources. For eachsource you are reviewing ask yourself these questions: What are the key terms and concepts? How relevant is this article to my specific topic? What are the major relationships, trends and patterns? How has the author structured the arguments? How authoritative and credible is this source? What are the differences and similarities between the sources? Are there any gaps in the literature that require further study?Write the review Start by writing your problem statement. This is an important introductory sentence that willtell your reader what the topic is and the overall perspective or argument you will bepresenting. Like essays, a literature review must have an introduction, a body and a conclusion.Structure of a literature reviewIntroductionYour introduction should give an outline of why you are writing a review, and why the topic is important the scope of the review — what aspects of the topic will be discussed the criteria used for your literature selection (e.g.. type of sources used, date range) the organisational pattern of the review.Body paragraphsEach body paragraph should deal with a different theme that is relevant to your topic. You will need tosynthesise several of your reviewed readings into each paragraph, so that there is a clear connection 5between the various sources. You will need to critically analyse each source for how they contribute tothe themes you are researching.The body could include paragraphs on: historical background methodologies previous studies on the topic mainstream versus alternative viewpoints principal questions being asked general conclusions that are being drawn.ConclusionYour conclusion should give a summary of: the main agreements and disagreements in the literature any gaps or areas for further research your overall perspective on the topic.Checklist for a literature reviewHave I: outlined the purpose or aim? identified appropriate and credible (academic/scholarly) literature? recorded the bibliographical details of the sources? analyzed and critiqued your readings? identified gaps in the literature and research? discussed the varying viewpoints? written an introduction, body and conclusion? checked punctuation and spelling?