Pargraph 4

Pargraph 4

Please write a paragraph responding to the discussion bellow. Add citations and references in alphabetical order.

When conducting research using evidence, it is important to understand how credible the evidence truly is. Not all evidence is created equal. The concept can be related to writing a paper. For example, a student wouldn’t want to choose Wikipedia for a credible source when completing the paper. That is the same concept when choosing which evidence is reliable. Several different pyramids or hierarchies found online ranked level of evidence. The US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health uses this hierarchy:

Level I: Uses very high quality randomized controlled trials, with clear cut results (most credible)
Level II: Uses lesser quality randomized controlled trials, with unclear results
Level III: Uses therapeutic and prognostic studies

Level IV: Is not as reliable as it uses poorer reference standards, may be using outdated evidence and sources.

Level V: Is the least reliable as it’s just expert opinions, the studies have no controls (would be using evidence from Wikipedia)
Level one would be the best evidence to use for medically based issues. For example if researchers were conducting a study to see if a new medication causes hypertension, they would want to use evidence that used randomized controlled trials. They wouldn’t want to use level V, which would just be possible “expert opinions”. Expert opinions may be used in scenarios that wouldn’t harm someone. For example maybe the director of a unit was curious about popular food choices on the unit, level five would be an acceptable level of evidence to use as it wouldn’t harm anyone by using poor evidence sources.
Constant research is how we improve the quality of care for patients, it is essential to the nursing world. Once research is performed, it us up to clinicians to decide if the evidence is truly reliable. Therefore, understanding the levels of evidence is the only way to make an educated decision.

References

The US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health (2012) The Levels of Evidence and Their Role in Evidence-Based Practice. Retrieved from, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC31246…