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Ho Ho How Do You Punctuate That?
It’s getting to be that time of year when children close their eyes and fantasize about an old, fat man breaking into their house while they sleep naïvely in false security in their bedrooms.
“Ho! Ho! Ho!” the man says to himself as he places consumer goods under a tree that for some reason has been moved to their living room.
Wait. Perhaps he says “Ho ho ho!” instead. Just how many exclamation points does this slavemaster of reindeer use?
Let’s turn to the authorities. Here’s what Merriam-Websterhas to say:
There you have it. Three hos and one exclamation point.
Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas (etc.) to you!
Erin Servais is a professional book editor who is really hoping she won’t get coal this Christmas. Learn more about how she can help you reach your publishing goals here: Dot and Dash website.
The Difference Between “Historic” and “Historical”
Doing history research?
- London’s Big Ben is a historic clock.
This post will teach you the difference between historic and historical. These two words have similar meanings and get confused a lot, so don’t feel bad that you haven’t memorized their definitions.
Historic describes an important and momentous event, person, place, or thing in history.
- The Revolutionary War was a historic event in the United States.
- Marie Curie is a historic figure in scientific history.
- Big Ben is a historic clock.
Historical describes anything that belonged to an earlier time period and relates to history.
- Grandma found historical dinner plates at the yard sale.
- The farmhouse from the 1800s is historical.
- We looked at a historical map of our town to learn its original design.
To remember the difference, think about historic as being something big (meaningful to many) and historical as something small (meaningful to a few).
For instance, the…
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Where did those comments go??
Hi All out there in the nursing Research/EBP universe.
Notice that TO SEE COMMENTS on the blog post, there is a comments link under blogpost title. In the most recent post, I added info in a comment about Scholar Scams.
Couldn’t resist sharing our beautiful flowers here in SoCal!
2019: It is…….
I’m not a New Year’s resolution person. I used to be and then I realized that I wanted to hit the restart button more often than every 365 days. So…my aim for this blog remains pretty much unchanged: Make research processes and ideas understandable for every RN.
Although “to be simple is difficult,” that’s my goal. L
et me know what’s difficult for you in research, because it probably is for others as well. Let’s work on the difficult together so that you can use the BEST Evidence in your practice.
The 2019 journey begins today, and tomorrow, and the tomorrows after that!
FOR MORE: Go to PubMed. Search for a topic of interest. Send me the article & we’ll critique together.
Any research project….
Any research project not worth doing is not worth doing well.
Nightingale: Avante garde in meaningful data
In honor of Nurse Week, I offer this tribute to the avante garde research work of Florence Nightingale in the Crimea that saved lives and set a precedent worth following.
Nightingale was a “passionate statistician” knowing that outcome data are convincing when one wants to change the world. She did not merely collect the data, but also documented it in a way that revealed its critical meaning for care.
As noted by John H. Lienhard (1998-2002): 
“Once you see Nightingale’s graph, the terrible picture is clear. The Russians were a minor enemy. The real enemies were cholera, typhus, and dysentery. Once the military looked at that eloquent graph, the modern army hospital system was inevitable. You and I are shown graphs every day. Some are honest; many are misleading….So you and I could use a Florence Nightingale today, as we drown in more undifferentiated data than anyone could’ve imagined during the Crimean War.” (Source: Leinhard, 1998-2002)
As McDonald (2001) writes in the BMJ free, full-text, Nightingale was “a systemic thinker and a “passionate statistician.” She insisted on improving care by making policy & care decisions based on “the best available government statistics and expertise, and the collection of new material where the existing stock was inadequate.”(p.68)
Moreover, her display of the data brought its message home through visual clarity!
Thus while Nightingale adhered to some well-accepted, but mistaken, scientific theories of the time (e.g., miasma) her work was superb and scientific in the best sense of the word. We could all learn from Florence.
CRITICAL THINKING: What issue in your own practice could be solved by more data? How could you collect that data? If you have data already, how can you display it so that it it meaningful to others and “brings the point home”?
FOR MORE INFO:
- Leinhard, J.H. (1998-2002). No. 1712: Nightingale’s graph. Engines of our Ingenuity. Retrieved form http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1712.htm
- McDonald, L. (2001). EBN notebook: Florence Nightingale and the early origins of evidence-based nursing. Retrieved from http://ebn.bmj.com/content/ebnurs/4/3/68.full.pdf
- Nightingale, F. (1860). Notes on nursing: What it is and what it is not. New York, NY: D.Appleton & Co. Retrieved from http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/nightingale/nursing/nursing.html
HAPPY NURSE WEEK TO ALL MY COLLEAGUES.
MAY YOU GO WHERE THE DATA TAKES YOU!
“One of these things is not like the other!” (A primer on telling the difference between studies!)
I love sharing a great resource, don’t you?
Today, I stumbled onto Study Design 101 at https://himmelfarb.gwu.edu/tutorials/studydesign101/index.html
If you’re a research afficianado, then you probably already know that some types of research studies are considered stronger than others. Stronger ones are those that support a hypothesis that X really did cause a change in Y. [For example, study results that suggest that a pain script (X) really does improve patient satisfaction with pain management (Y)]
You may even know that meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials are the strongest type of research evidence and that case studies are considered the weakest. (Expert opinion that is not research at all is even below that.)
But….are you clear on what a meta-analysis, a case study, a cohort study or a randomized
controlled trial is? If not or if you want a review, Study Design 101 is for YOU! Check it out. Short descriptions followed by 2 question quizzes for self-testing will keep you on track. Enjoy.
Not Just The Thought That Counts! (or is it?) Evidence-based gift giving.
Is it just the thought that counts? or not? (Probably depends on the relationship between giver & recipeient as per Paul Tournier’s The Meaning of Gifts that I highly recommend.)
In the meantime enjoy this article in the Washington Post on the holiday evidence for picking the best kinds of gifts. OR as it is actually titled: “The trick to not giving a terrible gift this year”
Critical Thinking: Note the outcome measures cited for each study:
- Were they direct or indirect; & what is the advantage of each
- Were they self-report or observation; & what are the pros & cons of each?
- Were the studies descriptive? or experimental? What does that tell you about cause & effect?
- Read Tournier’s tiny book, The Meaning of Gifts & draw your own conclusions.
For more info: Ask yourself what you would most like for Christmas & check out your friends wishlists! Check some of the studies cited in the Washington Post article, including Gino & Flynn (2011) evidence on preferences for $, solicited gifts, & unsolicited gifts. The findings might surprise you: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103111000801
A FAB resource if you want to let your light shine: Writing for publication
Want to write for publication? CHECK OUT NURSE AUTHOR & EDITOR as one of the best places to learn to improve your writing: http://naepub.com/
A few suggestions from me
- You should have the goal of disseminating a project that will help others. Just trying to publish “something” won’t take you far. Figure out the unique twist of your ideas. Talk it over with colleagues & see what they find interesting.
- Select as many journals from this list or other lists that you think might be interested: https://nursingeditors.com/journals-directory/
- Write a query email to each journal to see if they are interested. NOTE: some journals will tell you what format your query should follow. You can write as many query letters as you want.
- Pick a journal from those interested. YOU CAN SUBMIT YOUR ARTICLE TO ONLY 1 JOURNAL at a time. If that journal rejects you can then submit to 1 other, and so on.
- Edit your paper with that journal’s audience in mind.
- Get a peer to read thoroughly and critique your article! THEN you have to LISTEN to all their concerns. If something is unclear to a peer, it will probably be unclear to a peer-reviewer.
- Format & submit EXACTLY, EXACTLY as they ask on the journal instructions to authors. (If you want to annoy editors and reviewers just ignore their instructions to potential authors.)
- Wait & keep your fingers crossed
- If they turn back to you for revisions that is a GOOD SIGN. It means they’re interested and you should address every concern.
- Resubmit
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Check our Nurse Author & Editor for sure! http://naepub.com/
