Benchmark – Research Critiques and PICOT Statement Final Draft

Benchmark – Research Critiques and PICOT Statement Final Draft

Research Critiques and PICOT Statement Final Draft (Research Paper Sample)

Quantitative Research Critique and Ethical Considerations

PICOT statement
Population: Patients in an acute care setting
Intervention: Does hourly rounding
Comparison: Compared to responding to call lights
Outcome: Reduce the rate of patient fall incidents
Timeline: During patient stay at hospital
Question: Does hourly rounding reduce the rate of patient fall incidents and consequential injuries?
Patients in an acute care setting (P), does hourly rounding (I), compared to responding to call lights (C), reduce the rate of patient fall incidents (O), during patient stay at hospital (T)?
Introduction
Patient falls are a common occurrence within the hospitals especially within the critical care unit. Patient fall can be described as a situation in which a patient falls from a resting bed or falls as he or she attempts to walk within the unit. Patient fall may be caused by many factors such as polypharmacy, failure in diagnosis and failure in assessment of the patient by the care giver. All the same, there have been tireless efforts by the hospital administrators, nurses as well as researchers to try and get a lasting solution to minimize patient fall. There have been technological introductions such as the call lights which are fixed at the patient bed so that the patient may use them to seek for help from care givers or the nurses when they are feeling uncomfortable and need immediate attention. However, due to scarcity of nursing personnel in our hospitals, some call lights takes longer to be responded to. Another way boosting the hourly rounding is by increasing the number of staffs to increase the rate of rounding per day to ensure there is enough surveillance within the unit. These include monitoring and occasional assessment of the patient. However, there is no single most effective method of preventing patient fall and a combination of technology based methods as well as hourly rounding paramount in reducing patient fall.
Quantitative Research Critique and Ethical Considerations
The author sought to establish if the call light use rate and the average time to call light can affect the rate of falls and consequential injuries in an acute care setting. The author used archived data from the hospital to find out if the rate at which the call light was used and the average response time would contribute to patient falls and serious injuries as a result. The researchers were able to establish that high rate of patient calls resulted in less patient fall and prevented injuries (Tzeng & Yin, 2009). They also found that high rate of call light use led to longer response times, although the longer response to call light was lesser the fall rate and injuries. The authors were clear in the statement of the problem as well as the research questions (Tzeng & Yin, 2009). The methods used adequately adhered to the ethics of medical practice. The findings presented by the authors are meaningful and highly applicable in the acute care setting to prevent high patient fall and consequential injuries by responding to call lights as signaled by the patients.
This paper will conduct an appraisal of the study Tzeng & Yin (2009) so as to determine its findings and how they can be applied in nursing practice. It shall also establish the methods of study and determine whether the researchers considered ethical issues while conducting the study.
Background of Study
The researchers were elaborate enough in outlining the quantitative research problem which is clearly defined. The authors predict that if the patient caregivers or the nurses patrolled on an hourly basis or after every two hours, they would reduce patient call rates and at the same time prevent more falls. They also explain that if the nurses or the pat…

Research Critique and PICOT Statement Final Draft Essay

Benchmark – Research Critiques and PICOT Statement Final Draft