¶ … Hourly Nurse Rounds Critiquing Validity and Robustness of Research in Hourly Nurse Rounds

There are different kinds of studies that are carried out in the nursing field to examine various issues in patient care. An understanding of these issues requires examining these studies to gain insights and inform practice. This paper evaluates two studies on the impact of hourly nurse rounds in lessening falls, pressure ulcers, and call light while increasing patient satisfaction based on evidence-based practice.

Olrich, Kalman & Nigolian (2012) conducted a qualitative study to examine the impact of hourly nurse rounds on fall rates, use of call light, and patient satisfaction in an inpatient unit with medical-surgical patients (p.23). The report is well-written and organized with clear title, accuracy and unambiguous. The authors have not provided a research question that reflects the identified phenomenon and guides the research process. The researchers did not conduct a comprehensive review of numerous studies as evidenced in their reliance on few articles.

While the sampling method is described, there is inadequate information about sample size though the participants are suitable for informing research. Data collection and analysis strategies are clearly described while the researchers followed the steps of the selected data analysis method, which also contributed to the achievement of data saturation. However, the article does not provide information regarding ethical considerations for the research process. The findings of this study are presented appropriately and in context of existing evidence on the phenomenon. The purpose of the research has been adequately addressed and recommendations provided for future research.

On the contrary, Meade, Bursell & Ketelsen (2006) carried out a quantitative study to determine the impact of hourly nurse rounds on patients' use of call light, safety, and satisfaction (p.58). The study lacks a clearly described and balanced literature review that is based on recent sources since literature review is incorporated in the introductory section. Moreover, there is a lack of a theoretical or conceptual framework to guide the research though nursing framework is seemingly used.

The researchers have also developed a clear hypothesis, which guides the research process. However, the researchers clearly identify the target population and demonstrate how the sample was selected and the inclusion/exclusion criteria. In addition, the operation definitions of the research methodology are clearly defined as well as clear description of data analysis strategies. They conducted a statistical analysis of data through STATS software and discussed the findings comprehensively in relation to their implications for future studies.

Types of Information

Through exploratory research approach, the qualitative study provides information regarding the importance of hourly nurse rounds. Actually, the study primarily contributes to existing body of knowledge regarding hourly rounds as an important process for improving patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes. The advantages of this approach include generating increased understanding of phenomenon under investigation, promoting concept testing, producing improved conclusions, and contains flexibility of data sources. In contrast, the disadvantages include probability of bizarre findings and likelihood of unclear conclusions. For instance, while the study demonstrated the importance of hourly nurse rounds, patient satisfaction and call light usage did not improve (Olrich, Kalman & Nigolian, 2012, p.26). These were bizarre findings since patient satisfaction was still found to improve anecdotally.

On the contrary, the qualitative study provides evidence and justifications for administering hourly nurse rounds in order to help hospitals make necessary operational changes to accommodate this practice. Since it's based on a quasi-experimental design, the quantitative study seemingly focuses on establishing cause and effect relationship among variables. The advantages of the approach include similarity to true experiments, probability of better conclusions, use of adequate sample, and effective demonstration of relationships between variables. However, it's disadvantageous in the sense that there lack of manipulation of variables, creates more burdens in determining causes, and likelihood of unknown variables to affect outcomes. For instance, even though this study showed that nurse hourly rounds improve patient safety and satisfaction while reducing call light use; its findings were influenced by other variable i.e. operational changes, which was not under investigation.

General Insights

Qualitative research should be considered as real science because judgments on whether research approaches are scientific should be based on strength of the study instead of the type of data collected. Generally, qualitative research provides researchers with descriptive insights since it's based on observation, interviews or case studies (Polit & Beck, 2012, p.487). On the contrary, quantitative research provides researchers with numerical or scientific insights regarding the phenomenon under evaluation (Polit & Beck, 2012, p.201). This implies that both qualitative and quantitative studies can provide valuable insights to researchers depending on their strengths rather than the type of data collected.

In conclusion, qualitative and quantitative studies...

These different research approaches provide different kinds of information that can be utilized by researchers for further studies and decision making regarding the specific issue or phenomenon under investigation.