Evidence-Based Practice Problem and Search Strategy

Answer

Evidence-Based Practice Problem and Search Strategy

This paper discusses my chosen topic problem, significance of the problem, and my search strategy in identifying three research articles that align to my selected topic. The areas covered in this paper are my selected evidence-based practice topic or problem, significance of the chosen evidence-based practice problem, description of my PICOT question, three articles selected to address the evidence-based practice problem, and search strategy. 

Selected Evidence-Based Practice Topic or Problem

My selected evidence-based problem concerns the recurrence of stroke for non-smokers and smokers after they have recovered from this illness. Patients or individuals, who have recuperated from stroke, often go back to their former behavior of smoking as they are unaware of the potential of smoking to cause stroke again (Chen et al., 2019).

Significance of the Chosen Evidence-Based Practice Problem

According to Feigin, Norrving, and Mensah (2017), stroke is considered the second largest death cause and the third largest disability cause, accounting for 10 percent of the world’s illness burden. Pan et al. (2019) and Chen et al. (2019) consider cigarette smoking a modifiable and well-established risk factor of stroke. Survivors of stroke have higher subsequent stroke risk, and recurrent stroke is considered more disabling and fatal relative to the first-ever stroke (Chen et al., 2019). Nonetheless, there is lack of adequate studies on the impact of smoking cessation and smoking on the recurrence of stroke (Chen et al., 2019).  As such, there is a significant need to establish the relationship between smoking and non-smoking, and stroke recurrence (Chen et al., 2019; Pan et al., 2019).  

Description of My PICOT Question

My PICOT question is described as follows:

Population: Patients who have experienced stroke

Intervention: Being a smoker

Comparison: compare to nonsmoker

Outcome: development of higher risk of recurrence

Time: during the first year after stroke

The PICOT question is as provided below:

In patients who have experienced stroke(P), how does being a smoker (I) compared to a nonsmoker (C)developed higher risk of recurrence (O) during the first 1 year after stroke?

Three Articles Selected to Address the Evidence-Based Practice Problem

The three articles that address my selected evidence-based practice problem are as follows:

1. Epstein, K. A., Viscoli, C. M., Spence, J. D., Young, L. H., Inzucchi, S. E., Gorman, M., ... & IRIS Trial Investigators. (2017). Smoking cessation and outcome after ischemic stroke or TIA. Neurology, 89(16), 1723-1729.
2. Matsuo, R., Ago, T., Kiyuna, F., Sato, N., Nakamura, K., Kuroda, J., ... & Fukuoka Stroke Registry Investigators. (2020). Smoking status and functional outcomes after acute ischemic stroke. Stroke, 51(3), 846-852.
3. van den Berg, M. J., van der Graaf, Y., Deckers, J. W., de Kanter, W., Algra, A., Kappelle, L. J., ... & SMART study group. (2019). Smoking cessation and risk of recurrent cardiovascular events and mortality after a first manifestation of arterial disease. American heart journal, 213, 112-122.

Search Strategy

My search was conducted on Proquest database. The inclusion criteria were articles not older than five years since their publication time, articles focusing on my PICOT question, and articles written in English. My exclusion criteria were articles older than five years since their time of publication, articles not focusing on my PICOT query, and articles not written in English. Since my search strategy was based on my PICOT question, the key terms for searches were derived from this question. In relation to this, the key terms employed in performing the search were “stroke recurrence,” “smokers,” “nonsmokers,” “higher risk,” and “after stroke.” Since there were no articles focusing on stroke recurrence 1 year after stroke, I settled on articles that focus on stroke recurrence from 3 months onwards.

Conclusion

There exists a robust relationship between smoking and the risk for the recurrence of smoke (van den Berg et al., 2019; Matsuo et al., 2020; Epstein, 2017). After suffering from stroke, patients who persist in the smoking behavior are highly vulnerable to the stroke recurrence risk (Matsuo et al., 2020; Epstein, 2017). Irrespective of a person’s age, the cessation of cigarette smoking following stroke is associated with a lower likelihood of stroke recurrence relative to persistent smoking (van den Berg et al., 2019).

\