The nursing profession and the scope improvement in the care delivery process are expanding with the increase in knowledge, technology and discovery of new medicines. Pressure ulcers are still one of the major issues in nursing practice. Thus, with time passing by it is getting important for the nursing professionals to increase their awareness about the disease in order to apply right procedure and use right medication to deliver better care. Additionally, it is a major concern for both hospital staff and patients due to elongated hospital stay and increase in healthcare expenditure. The nurses are now relying on evidence- based practice in order to meet the growing needs of their patients and manage their situation. Nursing professionals are now focussing more and more on research in order to determine strategies to identify issues within their profession, which are directly and indirectly affecting their daily practice. This would help them in improving their care delivery process. In this selected qualitative study, the authors have tried to explore the patient’s perspective, the impact of pressure ulcer and its related treatment on their daily life and their experience when suffering from pressure ulcer. In this paper, I will be critically analyzing the problem statement, literature review; problem issues, and will further evaluate and assess the conceptual/ theoretical framework used by the authors in this study.
Problem Statement:
Pressure ulcers are the most common and most prevalent issue for nursing professionals in their daily practice . The researchers found that healthcare expenditure gets highly influenced due to Hospital- acquired Pressure Ulcers (HAPU). Bearing the charges becomes an additional burden for these patients. It is evident that the Registered Nurses’ (RNs) and Assistant Nurses (ANs) highly dominates this cost as they are the ones who take care of their patients wounds by frequently repositioning, dressing, assessing the risks and by monitoring. Therefore, the researchers felt that strong guidelines are needed to enable appropriate management of Pressure Ulcers (PU). However, such research data that helps the nurses in providing quality care and managing pressure ulcers in their patients are limited. Thus, there is an urgent need for research that would study the impact of Pressure Ulcer and its related treatment on patients, their quality of life and other conditions.
Purpose and Research Question:
Literature Review:
The following paper was accepted by the Journal of Advanced Nursing on 5th September 2005 and was published in April 2007. The literature review was cited all throughout the article. The authors cited a total of thirty- two publications, which included qualitative, quantitative, reviews and descriptive studies. The authors also used policies and guidelines published by a different university press and healthcare services for nurses to manage pressure ulcers. The cited publications ranged from 1985- 2006. However, the qualitative studies cited were published in between 2000- 2006 and the quantitative study, reviews, guidelines and descriptive studies, which the authors included were older. All studies were relevant to the chosen topic and all older qualitative and quantitative studies were relevant to the qualitative studies included. The authors also discussed the strengths and weakness of the cited publications. The authors did not find two generic studies providing them with proper insight; while on the other hand, two of the selected qualitative studies provided them with appropriate insight related to the pressure ulcer impacts on the patients . The authors also discussed that they obtained useful insights from the prior published articles but they failed to relate their studies to the patients as they lived in a community that was narrowly defined. The cited reference also helped the authors to understand the patient’s perception and feelings. Additionally, these references helped them identifying the problem areas of the patients with a pressure ulcer, such as extent of pain, change in lifestyle, financial burden, loss of independence, wound exudation, emotional issues, wound healing, time taken for healing, body image, social isolation and relationships. The authors of this study also collected information from professional publications and sites within the healthcare system, which included nursing journals, pharmacists publication, qualitative study handbooks, MEDLINE, CINAHI and other EmBase databases using the terms—“ quality of life” and “pressure ulcers”.
Conceptual/ Theoretical framework:
Conclusion:
Critically analysis a published study is very much important as it helps in determining whether the data published is authentic or not. Additionally, it also helps in identifying the methodology used in a step- wise fashion, so that the data can be later reproduced. It also allows further analysis, comparison, and evaluation of the published data. The research critique of qualitative studies mostly focuses or targets on how the reliability of the methods used and the study design can influence the meaningfulness and the credibility of the published data. It also helps in determining the reproducibility and usefulness of the data during clinical practice. Based on it the healthcare professionals can appropriately carry out evidence- based practice during their clinical practice. Additionally, the data obtained can further help in identifying the areas in which future research needs to be conducted.
References
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Bennett, G. D. (2004). The cost of pressure ulcers in the UK. Age and Ageing , 230-235.
Fox, C. (2002). Living with a pressure ulcer: a descriptive study of patients' experiences. British Journal of Community Nursing , 10-22.
Franks, P. L. (2002). Health related quality of life and pressure ulceration assessment in patients treated in the community. Wound Repair and Regneration , 133- 140.
Krause, J. S. (1998). Skine sores after spinal cord injury: relationship to life adjustment. Spinal Cord , 51- 56.
Langemo, D. K. (2000). The lived experience of having a pressure ulcer: a qualitative analysis. Advances in SKin and Wound Care , 225- 235.
Spilsbury, K. N. (2007). e ulcers and their treatment and effects on quality of life: hospitalinpatient perspectives. Journal of Nursing .
