Quantitative Research Critique Essay
Background
The study by Russell et al (2018) aimed to examine the relationship between the level of knowledge, skills, and attitudes of nurses to infection control practices and their adherence to infection control. The problem in this study was the high rate of infections in patients among home healthcare. Hospital-acquired infections are very common in hospitals and thus adherence to the implemented infection control procedures by nurses can significantly reduce the infections. This study demonstrates the importance of complying with infection control procedures during nursing practice to reduce infections in hospitals (Russell et al., 2018). The research question in this study is “What is the level of adherence to infection control practices among nurses working in home healthcare settings”? Quantitative Research Critique Essay
The aim of the study by Lakshmi et al (2016) was to assess the appropriate utilization of Personal protective equipment (PPE) among healthcare workers. PPEs are critical for healthcare workers because they protect them from hazardous biological products or secretions from patients. This article is significant in nurses since proper use of PPEs has been demonstrated to protect healthcare workers from infections, and this includes dangerous infections such as the current Coronavirus (Lakshmi et al., 2016). The research question in this study was “What is the level of adherence to PPE by healthcare providers providing direct care to patients”?
How Articles Support the Nurse Practice Issue
Russell et al (2018) provide evidence on the importance of nurses complying with effective infection control measures when handling patients with communicable diseases. This prevents nurses from contracting communicable diseases and thus relevant to the PICOT question. Lakshmi et al (2016) provide information on the importance of nurses wearing PPEs to prevent injuries and infections and thus relevant to the PICOT question.
The intervention used in the research study by Russell et al (2018) included IC practices such as the use of PPEs and hand hygiene while the study by Lakshmi et al (2016) used PPEs as the intervention to prevent injuries and infections for the nursing staff. The interventions in the PICOT question are comparable as they include PPEs, protocol education, and other infection control measures such as hand hygiene.
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Method of Study
Russell et al (2018) used cross-sectional descriptive as the research design and questionnaires to collect the data. SPSS was used in data analysis. Similarly, Lakshmi et al (2016) used a cross-sectional study design and collected the data using a questionnaire and analyzed the data using SPSS software. Cross-sectional studies study the relationship between health-related aspects and other variables of interest. The benefits of cross-sectional studies are that they allow the study of numerous outcomes and exposures and also a large sample size is used increasing the reliability and validity of the findings. However, cross-sectional studies are venerable to biases like responders and social-acceptability bias; this may introduce bias and influence the findings of the study (Setia, 2016). Quantitative Research Critique Essay
Results of Study
Findings from Russell et al (2018) indicated that nurses were aware of the infection control measures but they did not adhere to the infection control measures. Accordingly, efforts to improve adherence to the infection control procedures within healthcare organizations such as in-home healthcare need to focus on approaches to change insights of healthcare practitioners regarding infection risk. This will increase their adherence to infection control measures and PPEs. Findings from Lakshmi et al (2016) indicated that nurses did not appropriately use of PPEs and observe other infection control practices during care provision. Both studies indicate low adherence to infection control measures and PPEs among nurses during practice.
Therefore, this points out the need for healthcare organizations to implement training and educational programs to educate nurses on the importance and the proper use of infection control measures and PPEs to protect them from contagious infections and prevent hospital-acquired infections during care provision. Nurses need to adhere to the appropriate infection control measures during practice. Evidence continually emphasizes the integral role of PPEs and adhering to the laid down infection control measures in the healthcare setting to prevent the transmission of infections (Bouchoucha & Moore, 2018).
Outcomes Comparison
The anticipated outcomes in the PICOT question are that proper and increased use of infection control measures, adequate use of PPE equipment and protocol education would prevent nurses from contracting infections when handling patients with communicable diseases and prevent nurses from harm when handling hazardous medication.
Similarly, outcomes from the selected articles show that effective use of infection control measures and wearing PPEs by nurses during care provision can significantly prevent them from contracting infectious diseases or other harm during care delivery. Therefore, just like in the PICOT question, nurses need to adequately use the PPEs and observe other infection control measures such as hand hygiene to prevent them from contracting infections.
References
Bouchoucha, S. L., & Moore, K. A. (2018). Infection prevention and control: Who is the judge, you or the guidelines? Journal of infection prevention, 19(3), 131–137. https://doi.org/10.1177/1757177417738332.
Lakshmi, G., Meriton, S., & Christina, M. (2016). A study on personal protective equipment use among health care providers, Tamil Nadu. International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health, 5. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20181
Russell, D., Dowding, D. W., McDonald, M. V., Adams, V., Rosati, R. J., Larson, E. L., & Shang, J. (2018). Factors for compliance with infection control practices in-home healthcare: findings from a survey of nurses’ knowledge and attitudes toward infection control. American journal of infection control, 46(11), 1211–1217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2018.05.005.
Setia M. S. (2016). Methodology Series Module 3: Cross-sectional Studies. Indian journal of dermatology, 61(3), 261–264. https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5154.182410.
Quantitative Research Critique Essay