Each year the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center Fran and Earl Ziegler College of Nursing seniors conduct an Evidence-Based Symposium at two local Lawton hospitals sharing their research efforts regarding clinical questions in their leadership class. Students choose a topic of interest to their group, form a PICO (Population, Intervention, Compared to Current Practice, Expected Outcome) question, research the literature for relevant information and present a feasible clinical intervention. Every team has a faculty consultant to mentor and guide the team to a successful outcome. Presentations, including time for questions, are made to the hospital staff in order for them to vote on several categories such as: most informative presentation, most creative, best overall presentation. Additionally, hospitals showed interest in adopting the innovative ideas students presented and this year at least three topic are going to be considered by the hospitals. They are: Donor Milk Bank, Case Management in the Emergency Room and Closed IV Catheter Systems. Winners chosen by the hospitals were: Donor Milk Bank for Best Presentation, Precision Prescription for Most Informative and Peppermint Oil for IBS for Most Creative at one hospital. At the second hospital Precision Prescription won Best Presentation and Closed IV Catheter Systems won second place.
“Students learn group dynamics, conflict resolution, leadership skills in organization, project timelines, researching and professional responsibilities to others” stated Kathy Cooper, MS, RN, CNE, OU College of Nursing Lawton Site Coordinator. “This year every group presented outstanding, creative and innovative topics from disinfecting germs on computer keyboards to pharmacogenetics and genomics.” Cooper added, “Every year new ideas are presented keeping us on the cutting edge of nursing science, what fun it is to be a part of this learning experience!”