Nursing Effects of Nursing Rounds

Nursing Effects of Nursing Rounds on Patient's Call Light Use, Satisfaction, and Safety A Quantitative Research Critique The research process involves different phases and activities which researchers engage in to be able to obtain knowledge. The methodology, i.e.

The stipulated rules and procedures in which a research is based, can be classified as either quantitative (which has an inductive approach and aims to achieve in-depth understanding of the subject matter's lived realities and experiences) and quantitative (which aims to generalize and detect patterns to be able to predict future occurrences) (Hunt, n.d.; Nachmias & Nachmias, 1996). This article is directed towards a critical understanding of the quantitative research process.

For this purpose, we shall be utilizing the 2006 work of Meade, Bursell, & Ketelsen on the effects of nursing rounds to patient care. We will critically look into the work's structure and different parts and how they function in order to achieve the main objective of the study. Introduction According to Nachmias & Nachmias (1996), the introduction of a research work should clearly and briefly state the main purpose of writing the report.

Instead of clearly defining the problem of the study and its research goals in the introduction, the authors proceeded with the review of literature. Hence, the burden of the fulfilling the functions of the introduction fell on the abstract portion. But we should understand that an abstract cannot in any way act as substitute for the introduction. In fact, this is a common misconception among researchers and report writers (Ebert, n.d.) which, as can be observed, our case under scrutiny is guilty of.

What is also lacking in the introduction is its ability to hold the interest of the reader. There is a room for a more creative writing style, especially in the opening statement. Literature Review The strategy used by the authors is to present the literature review in the introduction which was then directed towards the establishment of the research problem, which is 'Can a systematic, nursing-only rounding protocol that anticipates patients' needs result in better patient care management?" (Meade, Bursell, Ketelsen, 2006, p.59).

Indeed, the introduction (which is functionally its literature review as well) provided a lot of details about the research problem. Since the literature review was able to show the research gap in the subject matter's domain, it was able to successfully establish its significance. Using secondary research sources, the literature review pointed out the questions that are still left unanswered in the nursing literature. However, the literature review is a bit scanty. This probably owes to the fact that the review was a focused literature review.

It could have been better had the authors presented a broad literature review until it narrowed down to the literature review on the chosen topic. In this way, readers can see a more expanded view of the subject matter and the readers will be able to better situate the research problem in terms of the larger and broader scheme of existing research works and findings. Through a broad to narrowed-down literature review, readers will also be able to see the many directions that nursing literature has taken.

Ethical Considerations In research, particular processes may involve not only scientific but ethical considerations as well. These ethical issues largely depend on the kinds of research problem that the researcher aims to investigate (Nachmias & Nachmias, 1996). Although this particular study is conducted in the domain of healthcare, there is not much risk involved in the process.

Although the unit of analysis in this study is the hospital institution, the RNs, CNAs, LPNs, patient care assistants, and patient care technicians were required to perform specific action (protocols such as assessing pain levels, put medication on RN's scheduled list, offer toileting assistance, assess patient's position and comfort, make sure call light is within the patient's reach, to name a few) during patient interface. Hospital patients were also asked to fill out survey forms which measured their satisfaction levels.

There are no perceived violations of ethics in this study as the participants are well-informed of the dynamics of this study. The authors first talked to the nurse managers of the hospitals regarding the study. These nurse managers then convinced their staff to participate in the study. Method and Analysis In terms of research design, this study employed quasi-experimental techniques to be able to see the effects of nursing rounds (and the prescribed protocols/actions to be taken) to patient management.

This particular design allows for pre-test and post-test comparison to be able to gauge the effect of the nursing rounds variable. The dependent variable in the study is the nursing rounds (which involves undertaking the prescribed protocols and actions to be taken as well as the frequency of rounds, i.e. one hour rounding and two hour rounding). The study aims to see the behavior of the nursing rounds variable when tested against the study's independent variables (which are patient's call light use, level of satisfaction, and safety).

The title of the article, as readers may notice, effectively points out the dependent and independent variables in the study. In terms of the relationships of the dependent and independent variables, the authors hypothesized that nursing rounds will reduce the call light use (negative direction, i.e. As one variable increases, the other decreases), increase patient satisfaction (positive direction, i.e. one variable increases and so is the other), and improve patient safety (positive direction). For the first hypothesis (nursing round and call light use), probability tests were used.

After establishing that the experimental (those with prescribed protocols/actions to perform) and control groups (one-hour rounding group and two-hour rounding group) of the study were comparable at baseline using significance testing, probability test (more particularly the binomial test was done). This test reflected the high probability of getting significant reductions in call light use for the increased (more frequent which is two-hour rounding group) rounding conditions.

For hypothesis 2 (patient satisfaction), t-test as used because the authors needed the mean score coming from the patient satisfaction scores pre and post tests. For hypotheses 3 (patient safety), paired-t tests were done to compare the number of patient falls (this variable was used to measure patient safety) during the pre and post test periods of both the control and experimental groups. Findings and Conclusion Results of the study showed that the first hypothesis was verified.

Indeed, rounding wherein the nursing staff performed specific (prescribed) actions resulted to lower patient call lights use. Patient satisfaction also increased during the performance of these rounding protocols. Patient falls were also reduced during the experimental rounding. The contribution of this study to what is known about nursing practices, or medical practices by and large, is undeniable. However, it is a fact that most (if not all) research works have their strengths and weakness.

One of the major strengths of this work lies on its ability to fill the research gaps in nursing literature. The study offers a new, fresher perspective to the way we understand patient satisfaction for example, or the way we view the rather mundane task of doing nursing rounds. However, as the authors themselves have stated, limitations of this study include the research design used. Although.