NRS 433 Week 3 Rough Draft Quantitative Research Critique

Rough Draft Quantitative Research Critique and Ethical Considerations

Background of Study

Congestive heart failure (CHF) is one of the most common health problems, according to reliable information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other recognized healthcare institutions. Remembering that CHF is characterized by a heart not working properly is vital. Due to functional or structural problems, the heart may fail to execute its usual function. Because the heart is responsible for supplying blood, other organs such as the kidney, brain, and liver are damaged once the heart develops the convoluted clinical condition.

Article Support of Nursing Practice

According to scientific evidence, CHF affects around 26 million individuals worldwide. The biggest number of CHF patients are from the United States of America (Butler, 2019). According to evidence-based research, there are only two ways CHF can be treated. The use of medicine is the first option. Some of the medications used to treat this disease include cardiac glycosides, diuretics, vasodilators, and antihypertensive (Du et al., 2018).

Furthermore, this ailment can be cured by altering one’s lifestyle. Most individuals, particularly Americans, fail to monitor their lifestyles, and as a result, they get diseases. Physical activity can help people change their lifestyles. Physical activities are beneficial to an individual’s health since they help people burn calories and lose weight. Weight loss reduces the risk of heart issues, leading to conditions like CHF.

Method of Study

This research utilized a qualitative, observational, non-experimental, retrospective, multi-center study design of adults discharged from a hospital diagnosed with CHF. The absence of a randomized study and the lack of experimental and control groups have evidenced the design of this study.

Due to the growing mortality rate, higher cost of caring for the sick, and morbidity, many people have raised their concerns about CHF. Since the number of people suffering from CHF continues to rise, morbidity has become a serious issue in modern health care (Xue et al., 2018). This has impacted all aspects of human life as the condition prevents people from engaging in productive activities.

The United States is one country where there have been multiple cases of CHF patients, which has impacted individual items, such as a low profit margin. It has also become more expensive to care for CHF patients as they need ongoing nursing care, which is costly. Because of the constant care required and the hefty cost, caregivers and families find it difficult to cope with such patients. This problem has now become more serious, and several healthcare groups have documented patient outcomes.

Results of Study

This study’s sample size is 4852. All these are adult patients (18 and above years) with a discharge from a hospital diagnosed with CHF. With this staggering roll excluded, this research involves January 2012 to 2014, December.54.8 was the mean age, and 55.5 was the median age of the sample. Further, 9.6%, n=444, were declared in the ICU, those declared in the ED were 75.5 percent (n=3459), and those declared in the ward were 14.8% (N=678).

Anticipated Outcomes and Outcomes Comparison

The data collected in this study comprised patients present in hospitals in one of the three DHS (Department of Health Services) in Los Angeles County Between January 2012 to December 2019. Additionally, it comprised a dataset of patients who met the criteria of septic shock or severe sepsis within the inpatient or the ED.

Nurses trained to utilize and review took records of the location of the declaration of sepsis (ED vs. ICU vs. ward) and timestamps related serum lactate levels measurement, antibiotics administration, and targeted fluid administration. Further, these nurses determined the infection causes through laboratory reviewing, data from radiography, and admission reviewable. Researchers used data from these events to assess adherence to the bundle.

Anticipated Outcomes and Outcomes Comparison

CHF management bundle adherence was related to the overall survival improvement in a large public healthcare system. Generally, this was correct regardless of the infection in the anatomic site. Interestingly, the bundle–adherent mortality benefit was focused on patients in the ICU; there was no benefit to bundle adherent care observed by the authors for sepsis patients in the ward or those declared in the ED.

The study’s Strengths

Having a relatively big sample size is one of the strengths of this study. This study had a sample size of four thousand and more, a positive indicator of increasing reliability and validity for non-experimental research.

Weaknesses of the study

This study is prone to hindrances present in a study design called retrospective. Possibly, the abstractors were influenced by pressure from the administration to meet the objectives of bundle-adherence even though they were blinded to the study’s goals. To curb this hindrance, time stamps at the bundle adherence and recalculated intervals and levels of the patients were used by the authors.

It is important to note that there are intrinsic dissimilarities between community and public hospitals. Unfortunately, inaccessibility to preventive care, increased boarding times in the ED, and prolonged waiting times are present and constantly in reality in current public hospitals. Lack of insurance may have led to a more significant percentage of patients being declared in the ED when their illness is in a bad stage.

This research utilized a qualitative, observational, non-experimental, retrospective, multi-center study design of patients who are adults discharged from a hospital diagnosed with septic shock or severe sepsis. The absence of a randomized study and the lack of experimental and control groups have evidenced the design of this study.

Ethical Considerations

The researcher considered several ethical considerations, such as seeking permission from the authority. It is ethical for all researchers to seek permission from the authority before conducting any form of research (Baker et al., 2016). It is sometimes referred to as consent. It is significant to seek permission since some respondents may not be willing to participate in research without consent.

The respondents remained anonymous throughout the research process. It is ethical for respondents to remain anonymous because it might affect them in one way or another. The researcher kept the respondents anonymous to ensure that accurate information or data was attained. Respondents usually cooperate when they know that their personal identity is not known by the public. Also, the researcher kept the respondents confidential by assuring them that they were safe.

Conclusion

Due to functional or structural problems, the heart may fail to execute its usual function. Since the number of people suffering from CHF continues to rise, morbidity has become a serious issue in modern health care. The researcher considered several ethical considerations, such as seeking permission from the authority.