Scientific Merit Paper: Patient Input

This qualitative study of Doekhie (et al., 2018) demonstrated scientific merit in advancing the knowledge base of the extent to which elderly, chronically ill patients can have a role in exercising oversight over their care. As more and more of the population base is classified as geriatric, facilitating patient autonomy and improved mental health becomes more and more critical. This is one of the reasons the study employed a qualitative approach, to allow patients to have direct input into shaping the trajectory of their care to the maximum extent possible. The article did not have an underlying theory, however, such a Dorothea Orem’s self-care deficit theory, which stresses that the nurse is present to step in only when the patient is unable to supply needed self-care for him or herself (Clarke, et al., 2009). This study suggests that patients have the willingness to provide more input into their care plans than is currently common.

Given that the study is qualitative in nature, it was not subject to the standards of validity and reliability that a quantitative study might be. Providers, patient’s families, and patients themselves were all interviewed, the latter of which all had different backgrounds, limitations, and states of wellness or illness. In other words, given its phenomenological nature, there was little effort to limit the variables to which may have impacted the results. To improve the scientific merit, given the broad scope of the study, the study designers might have wished to take a more limited scope and focused on patients who were either competent or who had dementia, rather than combining the input of patients in such dramatic stages of physical and psychological health. The study also has very clear ethical merit as a reminder to listen to the voices of patients when orchestrating a plan of care.

References

Clarke, P. N., Allison, S. E., Berbiglia, V. A., & Taylor, S. G. (2009). The impact of Dorothea E. Orem’s life and work: An interview with Orem scholars. Nursing Science Quarterly, 22(1), 41–46. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6250873/

Doekhie, K. D., Strating, M., Buljac-Samardzic, M., van de Bovenkamp, H. M., & Paauwe, J. (2018). The different perspectives of patients, informal caregivers and professionals on patient involvement in primary care teams. A qualitative study. Health Expectations: An International Journal of Public Participation in Health Care and Health Policy, 21(6), Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6250873/