| Course | NURS 492 Advanced Concepts of Nursing Practice (NURS492) |
|---|---|
| Module/Week | 3 |
| Assignment | Research: The Science of Nursing Part 1 |
| Paper type | Paper on a professional nursing organization |
| Length | about 975 words, 4 double-spaced pages plus title page and references. Course guide: a paper of at least 3 pages in current APA format researching a professional nursing organization and discussing its focus on evidence-based practice, with at least 2 scholarly sources from the last 5 years and a reference page |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| Points | 100 |
| School | Liberty University Online |
| Program | BSN |
| Where it sits | Module/Week 3 in Liberty's published NURS 492 course guide; current sections can differ |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NURS 492 Week 3
The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses and Its Focus on Evidence-Based Practice
[Student Name]
School of Nursing, Liberty University
NURS 492: Advanced Concepts of Nursing Practice
Research: The Science of Nursing Part 1
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The writer's unit is a composite; the organization's programs, standards and the scholarly sources cited are real.
The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses and Its Focus on Evidence-Based Practice
Introduction
I work on a progressive care unit, which receives patients who need closer watching than a medical floor offers yet do not require intensive care, and where nearly every patient is on a cardiac monitor. The professional organization that speaks most directly to my practice is the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, known as the AACN, which speaks for nurses caring for patients with acute and critical illness, and offers the progressive care certification I hold. This paper describes the AACN and focuses on the many ways it supports evidence-based practice, then explains how those resources reach my unit.
The Organization
The AACN was founded in 1969 and has grown into one of the largest specialty nursing organizations in the world. It offers certifications for acute and critical care nurses, including the CCRN for critical care and the PCCN for progressive care, holds the National Teaching Institute each year and publishes two peer-reviewed journals, the American Journal of Critical Care, which focuses on research, and Critical Care Nurse, which focuses on clinical practice. Its mission centers on equipping nurses to make their optimal contribution to patients and families, and much of its work does that by moving research into practice.
Rating the Evidence
The foundation of the AACN's evidence work is its levels of evidence system, which rates support for a practice on six levels (American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, n.d.). Level A is a meta-analysis or metasynthesis with consistent results; Level B is well-designed controlled studies with consistent results; Level C includes qualitative, descriptive and correlational studies, integrative and systematic reviews and randomized trials with inconsistent results; Level D is peer-reviewed professional standards supported by clinical studies; Level E is case reports, theory and expert opinion; and Level M is manufacturers' recommendations only. Peterson et al. (2014) explain that the scale helps bedside nurses judge the strength of research and decide whether findings are ready for practice, which is a skill most nurses were never formally taught.
Practice Alerts
Practice alerts turn evidence into expected practice. Each alert summarizes the research on one clinical problem, states what nurses should do and rates the supporting evidence. The alert on managing alarms, for example, addresses electrocardiographic and pulse oximetry monitoring and calls for practices such as preparing the skin and changing electrodes daily, customizing alarm settings to the individual patient and monitoring only patients with a clinical indication (American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, 2018). For nurses who do not have time to search the literature, an alert offers a vetted summary they can bring to a unit council. Because each recommendation carries its evidence level, a council can see at a glance which changes rest on strong research and which rest mainly on expert consensus, and can weigh the cost of a change against the strength of its support.
Research Journals
The American Journal of Critical Care publishes original research that shapes those alerts and the AACN's other resources. A recent example is a mixed-methods study of alarm fatigue among nurses in cardiac intensive care units (Güner & Üçüncüoğlu, 2026), a problem my own unit faces daily. Critical Care Nurse translates research into clinical articles, so a staff nurse can move from a study to its application in the same organization's publications. For a busy bedside nurse, that pairing matters: the research journal shows what was found, and the clinical journal shows what a unit actually did with it.
Clinical Scene Investigator Academy
The AACN does not only publish evidence; it trains staff nurses to use it. The Clinical Scene Investigator (CSI) Academy teaches direct care nurses leadership, change concepts, quality improvement methods and data analysis while they carry out a project on their own unit. Lacey et al. (2017) reported that the first cohort included 164 nurses from 42 hospitals in six cities, that participants valued the program for their professional development and that their projects produced positive patient and estimated financial outcomes that were generally sustained a year later.
Healthy Work Environment Standards
The AACN also treats the work environment as an evidence-based practice issue. Its Healthy Work Environment Standards, first published in 2005 and revised in 2016, name six conditions for a healthy workplace: communication that is skilled, collaboration that is genuine, decisions that are made well, staffing that fits patients' needs, recognition that means something and leadership that is authentic. Ulrich et al. (2022) reported results from the AACN's October 2021 national survey of 9,335 practicing registered nurses: work environments had declined dramatically since 2018, but implementation of the standards remained positively related to healthier environments, which were related to job satisfaction and to nurses' intent to stay. Blake (2025) described how a large public medical center facing nurse turnover of 20.62% after the pandemic implemented the standards along with shared governance, a transition to practice program and the CSI Academy, and reported improved patient outcomes, lower turnover, more certified nurses and lower costs.
Connection to My Practice
The AACN's work already reaches my unit, even when we do not name it. Our policy on electrode changes cites the alarm practice alert, two of our nurses completed a CSI project on early mobility and our unit council used the Healthy Work Environment Standards to redesign recognition. Studying the organization closely has shown me that evidence-based practice is not a single project but a system, one that works only when each part reaches the bedside: rating evidence, translating it, publishing it and teaching nurses to use it. A professional organization does its most important work when its research reaches a nurse's decision at the bedside. For Part 2, I will review the evidence on reducing nonactionable cardiac monitor alarms, beginning with the AACN's own research, because alarm fatigue is the problem my coworkers mention most. Our unit council has already asked for a review of alarm settings, so the paper may have a practical use beyond this course, and the AACN's alert gives me a starting point that I can test against newer research.
References
American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. (2018). Managing alarms in acute care across the life span: Electrocardiography and pulse oximetry. Critical Care Nurse, 38(2), e16-e20. https://doi.org/10.4037/ccn2018468
American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. (n.d.). AACN levels of evidence. https://www.aacn.org/clinical-resources/practice-alerts/aacn-levels-of-evidence
Blake, N. (2025). A multimodal approach to transform culture by implementing AACN's Healthy Work Environment Standards. Critical Care Nurse, 45(5), e1-e9. https://doi.org/10.4037/ccn2025911
Güner, Y., & Üçüncüoğlu, M. (2026). Identifying the alarm fatigue status of nurses working in cardiac intensive care units: A mixed-design study. American Journal of Critical Care, 35(1), 32-43. https://doi.org/10.4037/ajcc2026265
Lacey, S. R., Goodyear-Bruch, C., Olney, A., Hanson, D., Altman, M. S., Varn-Davis, N. S., Brinker, D., Lavandero, R., & Cox, K. S. (2017). Driving organizational change from the bedside: The AACN Clinical Scene Investigator Academy. Critical Care Nurse, 37(4), e12-e25. https://doi.org/10.4037/ccn2017749
Peterson, M. H., Barnason, S., Donnelly, B., Hill, K., Miley, H., Riggs, L., & Whiteman, K. (2014). Choosing the best evidence to guide clinical practice: Application of AACN levels of evidence. Critical Care Nurse, 34(2), 58-68. https://doi.org/10.4037/ccn2014411
Ulrich, B., Cassidy, L., Barden, C., Varn-Davis, N., & Delgado, S. A. (2022). National nurse work environments, October 2021: A status report. Critical Care Nurse, 42(5), 58-70. https://doi.org/10.4037/ccn2022798
What the NURS 492 Week 3 instructions ask
NURS 492 collects Research: The Science of Nursing Part 1 in Module/Week 3, a week that also carries Discussion Board Forum 3, Buresh and Gordon's chapters 8 through 11, two presentations and a website. The task is to research one professional nursing organization and discuss how it advances evidence-based practice. The result is a Word document of three pages or more, not counting the title page and reference list, formatted in current APA style. The guide asks for two or more scholarly sources no older than five years. Pick an organization tied to your specialty, since Part 2 the following week requires a research article from that same organization. Changing organizations between the two parts makes Part 2 much harder.
How this NURS 492 Week 3 example is built
The sample opens by naming the organization and why a progressive care nurse chose it. A short section covers the AACN's history, certifications and journals, and the rest of the paper is about evidence-based practice: the six levels of evidence, practice alerts with an example on monitor alarms, the research and clinical journals, the Clinical Scene Investigator Academy and the Healthy Work Environment Standards with national survey results. A closing section explains where these resources already appear on the writer's unit and names the practice she will review in Part 2, cardiac monitor alarm management, so the two parts of the project connect and the reader can see where the review will begin.
NURS 492 Week 3 grading rubric: where the points go
Papers on a professional organization are usually graded on accurate facts about the organization, how deeply they treat its evidence-based practice work, the connection to the student's own practice, two or more recent scholarly sources, clear organization and APA format at the required length. Faculty reward papers that describe particular programs, standards and publications instead of restating the mission statement, and that show the student explored the organization's own resources. A clear bridge to the practice question for Part 2 strengthens the paper, since the second assignment depends on it. Membership benefits and conference details add little unless they connect to evidence. Accuracy matters too: dates, program names and standards should match the organization's own published materials.
NURS 492 Week 3 help: mistakes that cost points
Choose the organization that matches your specialty, for example the AACN for critical and progressive care, AORN for perioperative nursing or AWHONN for women's health and newborns. Read the parts of its website on clinical resources, research and standards, and list at least three specific products or programs. Then search for recent scholarly articles that describe or evaluate those programs. Spend most of the paper on evidence-based practice rather than membership. End by naming a practice question you could review in Part 2 using articles from the organization's own journal, and confirm that the journal is peer reviewed. A quick look at the journal's author guidelines will usually say. Save the organization's research article for Part 2 as soon as you find it.
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NURS 492 Week 3 questions, answered
What is the NURS 492 Science of Nursing Part 1 paper?
A 100-point Module/Week 3 paper of at least three pages on a professional nursing organization and its focus on evidence-based practice, supported by at least two recent scholarly sources no older than five years.
Where can I find a free NURS 492 Week 3 sample paper?
The complete NURS 492 Week 3 paper on the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses and evidence-based practice is posted here for students to read at no cost.
What are the AACN levels of evidence?
A six-level scale: A for meta-analyses or metasyntheses with consistent results, B for well-designed controlled studies, C for qualitative, descriptive or inconsistent studies, D and E for standards and expert opinion and M for manufacturers' recommendations.
What is an AACN practice alert?
A short directive that summarizes current evidence on a clinical topic and states the expected nursing practice, developed with subject experts and graded with the AACN levels of evidence.
What are the AACN Healthy Work Environment Standards?
Six standards, first published in 2005 and revised in 2016, covering communication, collaboration, decision-making, staffing, recognition and leadership, which AACN surveys link to nurses' satisfaction and intent to stay.
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