Point 1
Article 1
The first article selected, Burden of Hospital Acquired Infections and Antimicrobial Use in Vietnamese Adult Intensive Care Units, highlights a situation where patients tend to experience economic burdens associated with hospital-acquired infections. Phu et al (2016) provide readers with a background analysis of the impacts associated with such types of infections especially on matters associated with health care costs. One key aspect that the authors note when undertaking their study is that Vietnam lacks a national surveillance system for hospital-acquired infections. Thus, the number of infections occurring on an annual basis, especially when dealing with public hospitals, cannot be identified instantly. In addition, the authors also highlight specific situations where some of these infections have fatal outcomes for the patients involved especially when dealing with cases of severe infections. Based on the nature of the study and the conclusions derived, it is evident that the authors utilize evidence within level IV of the rating system when dealing with evidence. That provides the authors with a basic platform allowing them to collect information from participants within a study as part of understanding the impact of the problem highlighted.
Article 2
The second article selected, Hospital-acquired infections at an oncological intensive care cancer unit: differences between solid and hematological cancer patients, supports the idea that infections among cancer patients are more persistent when compared to infections for non-cancer patients. According to Cornejo-Juárez, Vilar-Compte, García-Horton, López-Velázquez, Ñamendys-Silva, & Volkow-Fernández (2016), cancer patients face higher risks of an encounter with hospital-acquired infections (HAI) particular when dealing with multidrug-resistant bacteria (MDRB) within oncological intensive care cancer units. Although the majority of health facilities dealing with cancer patients have implemented measures towards prevention of such infections, the prevalence rate of such infections has been on the increase especially within the last five years. The authors embark on an 18-month prospective study focused on the collection of views and information from approximately 157 admissions within a cancer center. The key aspect of focus for the researchers was to observe these patients as part of understanding the impacts associated with HAI some of which result in death. The results of the study indicated that approximately sixty-four patients (40.7%) developed different forms of HAI within the first 30 days of their admission to the cancer center. That acted as an indication of the high prevalence rate associated with HAI on cancer patients within an oncological intensive care cancer unit. The study uses level VI of evidence based on the rating system attributed to the nature of the study conducted by the authors as part of their data collection process.
Point 2
A master’s prepared nurse will evaluate evidence based on the data collection process, which would help towards establishing whether the data collected is valid and reliable. Some of the data collection methods employed in a given study tend to create some form bias in the study thereby resulting in an alteration of the study results. Consequently, this means that the data may not have the expected validity and reliability, as per the expectations of the researcher(s) involved in the study. Regarding the aspect of applicability, a master’s prepared nurse will focus wholly on the sample size selected for a given study, as this would determine whether the results would be applied to an entire population. Sample size selection is one of the key aspects of any given study, as it allows the researcher to evaluate a smaller sample with the results applying on a bigger scale or margin. However, a small sample size may reduce the applicability of the research results as the results collected from this sample size may not reflect on the results in an entire population.
References
Cornejo-Juárez, P., Vilar-Compte, D., García-Horton, A., López-Velázquez, M., Ñamendys-Silva, S., & Volkow-Fernández, P. (2016). Hospital-acquired infections at an oncological intensive care cancer unit: differences between solid and hematological cancer patients. BMC Infectious Diseases, 16(1), 274-281.
Phu, V. D. et al (2016). Burden of Hospital Acquired Infections and Antimicrobial Use in Vietnamese Adult Intensive Care Units. PloS One, 11(1), 1-15.
