Discussion Replies
Read the four colleagues’ responses and respond to each by providing specific feedback and critiquing their problem statement using the following criteria (Gray & Grove, 2020):
· Does the problem have professional significance?
· Does the problem have potential or actual significance for society?
· Does the problem have the potential to build or refine evidence-based practice?
include at least 2 references EACH
evette:
Chronic illnesses like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases often require long-term medical management. However, studies have consistently shown that quite a significant proportion of patients rarely adhere to their prescribed medications. As a result, the lack of adherence has posed substantial risks, leading to increased hospitalizations, disease complications, and reduced quality of life for the affected patients (Gast & Mathes, 2019). There are a few known factors that could contribute to non-adherence to medications. These include a lack of knowledge on what medication to take at what time, a lack of understanding of the importance of medications, fear of side effects, and poor access to medications. Therefore, there is a need to explore the complex factors that reduce medication adherence deeply, a critical issue that affects and majorly influences healthcare outcomes worldwide.
Familiarizing with the nature of non-adherence is essential for developing effective targeted interventions (Kvarnström et al., 2018). Hospitals previously employed strategies such as educational programs, good communication, technology-based reminders, and individualized care plans, and they have shown great impact in promoting adherence to medications among chronically ill patients. On the contrary, there remains a need for a deeper exploration of the causes of non-adherence. There is a gap that needs to be explored, especially the relationship between the problem and patient factors, the healthcare system influences, and the behavioral aspects of patients that affect adherence. Additionally, one can examine the effectiveness of the education and communication strategies used by the healthcare system to impart knowledge to patients. Addressing these complexities can guide the development of effective interventions to improve medication adherence.
To effectively examine these factors, research needs to be carried out. The variables for the study would help fully explore the research objective in detail and derive the relationships between the factors and adherence to medication. Independent variables would be patient education level, sociodemographic factors, provider-patient communication, and use of technology. These variables would be examined against the dependent variable, medication adherence. In this case, medication adherence would be measured through self-reports and results of regular monitoring of patients in terms of blood pressure and blood glucose levels. Additionally, the study would benefit from the help of research questions and hypotheses that would further guide its conduction. The alternative hypothesis would be that “patients with higher education levels, improved therapeutic communication, and effective reminders will lead to increased medication adherence.” The research questions would be as follows: How does patient education level correlate with medication adherence in chronic illness management? What are the communication patterns between healthcare providers and patients, and how do these patterns affect medication adherence? What is the effectiveness of reminder systems or technology in improving medication adherence among patients with chronic illnesses? What are the perceived barriers hindering patients’ adherence to their medication regimens?
To conduct the study smoothly, it would be imperative to observe some ethical considerations in order to protect the privacy and confidentiality of the participants. This would be done by educating the participants on the importance, duration, and procedure of the study. Also, the researcher must assure the participants of their privacy, confidentiality, and autonomy throughout the study. After the education, the participants would show their willingness to participate by signing informed consent forms (Gelling et al., 2021).
Addressing medication adherence can lead to positive changes in nursing practice by creating tailored interventions. Such interventions include improving communication systems, such as adopting an effective telemedicine approach and expanding educational programs to cover all aspects of patients’ needs (Bingham et al., 2020).
iretioluwa:
One of the key system level issues that surround the health care system is the shortage of nurses (Al Zamel et al., 2020). This gives rise to the management or leadership issue of nurses’ retention. The problem of nurses’ retention is a major problem of health care leaders, as qualified nurses are needed to achieve the end goal of positive patient outcomes. There is no easy solution to the problem of nurses’ retention. The solution or the strategy to have a high level of nurses’ retention will depend on the overall organizational culture. Nurses’ burnout is a major reason for the issue of nurses’ retention. The research problem statement is:
Do nurse burnout at individual levels impacts nurses’ retention.
Independent variable: Nurses burnout
Dependent variable: Nurses’ retention
The ethical issues would come if this research is conducted with nurses at the organization. The privacy of research participants must be maintained and researcher must always collect written informed consent to maintain high ethical standards (Gray & Grove, 2020).
Nurses’ burnout is common in health care industry, as nurses have to work extra hours. It is important that health care organizations should be able to retain nurses, as it would help them to improve patient outcome and deliver positive patient experience (Brook et al., 2021). The balance between the professional life and personal life would be a great enabler for nurses to remain attached with organizational mission and vision.
vero:
The objective of the current research is to examine the factors influencing childhood immunization rates, with an emphasis on parental awareness and insight. The primary goal is to identify practical approaches to enhance immunization rates among children by addressing gaps in parental knowledge and misconceptions about the advantages of vaccinations.
The potential independent variables for the study include parental awareness of childhood immunizations and parental insight into the advantages of vaccinations. The dependent variable is childhood immunization rates.
Hypothesis:
Null Hypothesis (H0):
· There is no significant relationship between parental awareness and childhood immunization rates.
· There is no significant relationship between parental understanding of vaccination benefits and childhood immunization rates.
Alternative Hypothesis (H1):
· Higher parental awareness is associated with increased childhood immunization rates.
· Better parental understanding of vaccination benefits positively correlates with higher childhood immunization rates.
The ethical considerations for the research include informed consent and confidentiality. Concerning informed consent, the parents and guardians will be asked to provide informed consent before participating in the study. This will involve clear communication of the research’s purpose, procedures, potential risks, and benefits to the potential participants. Anonymized data and protection of personal information will be achieved by safeguarding confidentiality. The participants will be assured that their responses will remain confidential and not disclosed without their explicit consent (Gray & Grove, 2020).
Addressing the research problem will bring about positive nursing practice change in various ways. Targeted parental education programs that address specific knowledge gaps and misinformation identified in the research will be used. For example, workshops will be conducted at healthcare centers to equip parents with accurate information about the significance and safety of childhood vaccinations (Alshammari et al., 2018). A positive nursing practice change will also be achieved by creating easily accessible and culturally sensitive information resources, like pamphlets, websites, or mobile applications, to empower parents with dependable information about childhood immunizations (Ganczak et al., 2018).
hillary:
Healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs) are the most common adverse outcome in clinical practice. This issue occurs in all settings of care, especially surgical centers, ambulatory clinics, and long-term care facilities. Studies show that approximately one in 10 patients acquire an infection while receiving care in these settings. Patients who are susceptible to this health issue are young children, older people, and individuals with compromised immune systems. Other factors contributing to its prevalence include the use of indwelling catheters, failure of healthcare workers to observe proper hand hygiene protocols and abuse of antibiotics. This safety concern results in increased length of hospital stay, healthcare costs, morbidity, and mortality (Grasselli et al., 2020). Moreover, the misuse of antibiotics results in increased spread of antimicrobial resistance, making it challenging to manage them. Studies report that some of the HAIs are preventable. Hence, the identification of patients who are at greater risk is paramount.
The proposed research problem will be assessing the root causes, patterns, risk factors, and potential interventions suitable for decreasing the prevalence of HAIs to ensure patients receive safe, high-quality, and patient-centered care. Identifying variables relevant to this context would help explore the research objective in detail (Gray & Grove, 2020). The variables will be classified as independent and dependent variables. Independent variables include hospital practices and protocols, patient and environmental factors, and healthcare worker-related factors. Dependent variables will consist of the incidence of hospital-acquired infections and patient outcomes. Formulating the research question will be essential since it will help guide how the study will be conducted (Gray & Grove, 2020). The research question would be: Will increased compliance with hand hygiene protocols among clinical staff decrease the incidence of HAIs among hospitalized patients?
Ethical Considerations
Since this research will require the involvement of patients and clinical staff, it will be essential to observe several ethical considerations to successfully attain the desired research objective. Among them include obtaining informed consent from the participants and ensuring they fully understand the research objective, potential risks, and benefits before participating. Additionally, seeking approval from the ethics committee will be vital since this will help ensure the research complies with ethical guidelines and standards. Protecting patient confidentiality and anonymity will be necessary (Edwards & Kochhar, 2020). This will be achieved by anonymizing sensitive patient data to prevent unauthorized access or disclosure. Taking measures to prevent causing any harm to participants will be considered. This will include avoiding unnecessary invasive practices and ensuring the research does not compromise patient safety. Additionally, it will be necessary to determine whether the potential benefits outweigh the risks when researching to enhance patient safety.
How Addressing this Research Problem May Bring About Positive Nursing Practice Change
Addressing the issue of HAIs can contribute to several positive changes in nursing practice. For instance, the research findings will help identify the most effective infection control practices nurses can use to prevent HAIs. Additionally, there will be improved patient education since the findings can inform the nurses of the latest infection prevention approaches they can share with the patients both in the hospital and after discharge. The research can also share information regarding the impact of antibiotic abuse on HAIs and strategies nurses can use to champion antibiotic stewardship programs (Smith et al., 2021). Nurses can also use the findings to participate in quality improvement initiatives, including monitoring infection rates and adopting strategies that improve patient outcomes. The findings can also be used to enhance collaboration among the clinical staff, which can play a crucial role in providing holistic patient care.