Discussion 1
Advances in healthcare have rendered the research aspect almost a core component in practice. The need to respond to changing healthcare demands across the population explains the need for regular research and update of diagnosis and treatment procedures and therapies. However, research is a process and involves a systematic approach to identifying and implementing any new advances (Burns & Grove, 2010). The initial step always is for the clinicians and the organization to learn of an advance. They then have to make a decision concerning its efficacy by determining the costs and benefits of the advance and more importantly its compatibility and safety. The third step is the process of application where the advanced is put into practice in a normal healthcare setting. The process cannot be done by an individual and thus, requires a collaborative network (Hulley et al., 2013).
Research committees spell an important component of any healthcare organization. At my facility, research is considered an absolute requirement with the objective to improve outcomes. However, the delicate handling of healthcare change processes is a key consideration. A research committee handles the range of legislation, ethical and financial aspects of the research project (Burns & Grove, 2010). Any proposal of research presented by members of the facility is submitted to the research committee which then analyses to assure adherence to set guidelines of clinical research. An approval means a go-ahead to conduct research. Upon completion of the research, the recommendations are submitted to the committee upon which it determines the reliability, viability and validity of the research recommendations (Hulley et al., 2013).
In many cases, handling children who have experienced a traumatic experience early on in life has proved difficult. This is because of the need to ascertain the feelings of the child and the role of the caregiver or the parent in helping the child overcome the trauma effects. Previously, emphasis has been laid on the child with little regard to the role of the parent or the caregiver. This has sidelined the parent who as a result of their close relationship with the child may at one point or another may be affected by the child’s condition. In my practice, I have been involved in the implementation of a therapy that caters for the child and the parent simultaneously in cases of trauma affected children. The process was applied, and follow-up made. Later on we focused on the evaluation of the program that proved to have a comparative advantage to previous clinical procedures in handling child trauma. I had a feeling that the success of the program was based on the systematic approach adopted by the research committee within our facility.
Discussion 2
One of the major challenges I have experienced in practice is dealing with mentally-affected patients when diagnosing and making decisions about the therapy or treatment procedure to be adopted. In most cases, these patients lack the ideal capacity to make a reasonable decision even under informed-guidance. In some instances, these individual reject the idea of surrogates or caregivers to be involved in making clinical decision regarding care procedures. I would think that this dilemma presents a major problem that impact on both quality of care and the ethics and guidelines of the clinical practice.
The reliability on the choices of a mentally-affected person could potentially harm the process of care, and this could, on the other hand, place the clinician in legal liability situation. As such, it is important that research is applied along this aspect to determine the process of decision making in clinical procedures, medication and prognosis. Research would help unearth whether the patient has any limits in decision-making and provide a rationale to handle such cases in the future (Hulley et al., 2013).
References
Burns, N., & Grove, S. K. (2010). Understanding nursing research: Building an evidence-based practice. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Hulley, S. B., Cummings, S. R., Browner, W. S., Grady, D. G., & Newman, T. B. (2013). Designing clinical research. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
