Distributed to the Nursing and Non-Medical Support

¶ … distributed to the nursing and non-medical support staff of an operating room. It appears that this article is intended as a case study. Therefore, it would be appropriate to only survey members of a single hospital. The population as a whole was only n=142. According to the necessary sample size for making reliable inferences regarding the entire staff of the hospital, the sample had to amount to n=103. The population consisted of the nursing and nonmedical staff of an entire hospital in Hong Kong.

There are limitations to the approach adopted by the researchers of this study. Since the entire population of Hong Kong EM nurses and staffers is not being sampled, there is no way to generalize other than about the population of the single hospital whose employees were selected a research subjects. Consequently, the implications of the study are limited due to this decision concerning the research design. Case studies, such as this, can be helpful in illuminating aspects of the empirical subject matter that can later be examined in the context of the whole population about which the researchers want to generalize. However, based upon this single study, it would be unwarranted to make conclusions regarding the entire Hong Kong population because there might be factors in play that are unique to this particular institution.

The study was approved by the appropriate boards both at the university where the researchers were employed in addition to the hospital in which the research was conducted. The subjects who were surveyed had to sign a waiver form in order to be included in the study. The research subjects maintained anonymity throughout the study. These procedures are typical when it comes to behavioral research conducted upon humans. The article did not provide specific information regarding what steps were taken in order to preserve the anonymity of the students.

The statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 12.0. The mode of analysis was a cluster analysis. Various criteria were used in order to group the respondents into one of several categories based upon demographics, knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward the standard precautions. Subsequently, a chi-square and other non-parametric measures were used to determine associations among the various classifications. With a small sample size, non-parametric tests are typically used. In this scenario, where the sample size is only n=103, the use of a chi-square -- a non-parametric test -- appears reasonable. The results of the statistical analyses yielded two clusters. One consisted of personal in possession of reasonable knowledge concerning the appropriate procedures for avoiding infection. The other cluster lacked sufficient knowledge regarding appropriate conduct. The first cluster was primarily composed of females. The second group was primarily composed of males in addition to being older and in possession of less education. Since the researchers wanted to know what groups working in hospitals were more likely to follow procedures for avoiding infectious diseases, the testing model appears to be appropriate.