Understanding the key concepts of the knowledge base relevant to their profession means that a physiotherapist must have the relevant skills to critically analyse the most recent, relevant evidence. This must be used alongside gained experience and patient preferences to address specific issues arising in professional practice. This requires knowing how and where to systematically  search for up to date evidence from a variety of sources, comparing and contrasting the findings with similar work and being able to identify high quality findings which can be applied to practice. Therefore, for a healthcare worker to retain their ability of being fit to practice - digesting important recent literature and policy and analysing means of implementing it into practice should be the minimum requirement, as we strive towards our commitment to quality of care.

The bulk of these skills were harnessed in the completion of the SE726 'Research Activity', which entailed a literature review and a research proposal  Within this, I was required to complete a comprehensive, systematic search of the literature to find articles relevant to my research topic. To complete this I needed to decided on the appropriate terms in order to return a broad enough number of papers while minimising articles which have no relevance. I discovered using multiple different terms which describe the same thing was a helpful technique to insure I minimised the risk of missing relevant literature in my searches. Another approach, which I found useful to return the most relevant literature was to search a variety of sources - in my case, SPORTSDiscus, CINAHL and Medline databases. This allowed for a broader range of studies to be screened. This is presented here as 'search strategy/search terms'. This process took significant time to get the hang of. Initially with the terms I was using I was returning either too great/few results or that the majority of results were irrelevant to my topic. Through trial and error, I stumbled upon terms which yielded an appropriate number of results within the field I wished to investigate. Usually, being unsuccessful initially would make me panic, but due to expecting this process to involve trial and error from my reading of the literature (2), I felt more at ease and continued in my attempts. I feel this will stand to my practice, not only when conducting research but when searching for evidence relevant to a patients rehab in order to address the issue arising in practice.

After I had screened studies for eligibility and selected those that met the criteria, I began to critically evaluate the research. The first step for me was to use a critical appraisal tool as guidance, 'critical evaluation using a checklist'. This allowed me to grade the methodological quality of the research. This then formed a basis for my discussion. I discussed the findings of the included research articles and weighed this against the methodological quality of the study. This allowed me to arrive at a conclusion where I identified a problem with current practice. From there, I was able to address a specific issue as an area for future study based on my critical evaluation. These are presented here as 'aims/justifications of reasearch proposal' and demonstrate an ability to assure and reflect on the quality of practice.

Similar to my research activity , I have conducted other work prior to this, to sharpen these skills. These include tasks for an 'Evidence Based Practice' assignment, and a critical analysis of a the evidence for the creation of a complex patient resource. 'Task 1' involved reviewing how two studies investigating the treatment of knee osteoarthritis with exercise and education were using evidence based practice. This required the skill of critically evaluating research and using the appraisal to make recommendations to address specific issues arising in practice. 'Task 3' involved selecting 4 research papers and critically appraising by creating themes. Both these pieces of work presented separate challenges in the first year of my degree. Being able to receive feedback from lecturers via a formative submission allowed greater ease in completing the assignment, highlighting how important good feedback is (3). 

As part of my SE705 assignment, I was required to create a patient resource for a complex patient and critically appraise the evidence base that the resource is founded on, 'patient pathways 2 essay'. I believe this to be a relevant example of critically evaluating current research and using the appraisal to address specific issues arising in current practice. This piece of work also considered the service users needs and preferences as the resource was very specific and personal to the patient. Again this enhanced my exposure to critically reviewing practice, with the feedback received on completion important for completing similar work once qualified. While, elements of this presented challenges and I was at times not critically enough of the evidence base, I hope to implement a greater quality of critical analysis moving forward. I aim to do this my breaking down feedback I have received in this area, and making pointers on how I can develop.

This domain is important as to be a an effective physiotherapist, one must be able to practise as an autonomous professional, exercising their own professional judgement. This is achieved through having the skills to find up to date evidence, guidelines and policy and having the analytical skills to be able to decipher what findings should be allowed to inform my decisions in practice and which findings should be digested with a degree of skepticism. The more I have been exposed to research articles, the easier I have been able to identify limitations belonging to research. I believe my ability to analyse and collate findings of research and allow it to assure the quality of my practice is growing, however it can still take me some time to identify ways of allowing evidence to change my practice. As I move on to being a qualified physiotherapist, I will regularly discuss new research with my colleagues, whether it should mean a change to practice and how this change should be implemented. I believe by being aware of the opinions of others within the profession and how they view evidence can allow me to identify certain points within the evidence I may have otherwise overlooked and further develop this skill.