Quantitative and Qualitative Research Review
Maintenance of sterility is vital in the operating room to ensure the safety of both the patient and the staff. The primary goal for all the staffs in the operating room is the prevention of surgical site infection hence all their activities must be geared towards realizing these goals. In doing so, the staffs in the operating room engage in various activities to maintain a sterile field, for instance, putting on the scrub attire, sterile gowns, mask, gloves and remaining within the sterile fields during the time of the surgical procedure. This article focusses to review two qualitative and quantitative articles on sterility within the operating room.
Birgand et al., 2014 conducted a study on the attitudes, risk of infection and behaviors that are found in the operating room as they have the influence on the sterility within the room. Their study dwelt on a focused assessment of the behaviors of the operating room staff via the use of a motion tracking system as well as the impact of these behaviors on the surgical site infection risks in the process of surgical procedures.
The above study is quantitative since it didn’t only seek to explore on the relationship between the behavior and the risk of infection but also to quantify the instances of surgical site infection from such behaviors. Also, the study came up with data leading to a statistical analysis of the information received. At the same time, the study utilized questionnaire which was a more structured method of data collection in the assessment of the perception of the surgical staff members concerning the risk of infection within their operating rooms beside the motion tracking system (Birgand et al., 2014).
I chose this journal to determine the risk that the behavior of the operating room staff pose to the sterility of the room. Besides, the article is peer-reviewed and scholarly as it was carried out on scholarly guidelines as well as based on surgery protocols to fit its aim.
A study by Megeus et al., 2015 dwelt on the observation of hand hygiene and aseptic technique in the operating rooms during the usual anesthetic procedures. This was a qualitative study in the sense that it aimed at exploring the indications as well as the opportunities where hand hygiene as well as aseptic technique while carrying out anesthetic care to the patient with the aim of being a guidance in the determination of improvement strategies for the patient.
The study is also qualitative on the basis that they used the observational method of data collection from theatres in four units namely orthopedic, urological, gynecological as well as general surgery units (Megeus et al., 2015). At the same time, the article was analyzed by describing the observed trends to come up with a conclusion of an overall adherence of 5.3% to the hand hygiene as well as aseptic technique guidelines in the operating room prior to the anesthetic care.
Despite the fact that the two articles are f different research designs they have a similarity on their contents. The reviews placed on the two articles are focused towards maintaining sterility in the operating room to improve both safety and quality in the care of the patient. Also as the study by Megeus dwelt on the exploration of adherence to the guidelines about aseptic techniques, the brigand et al went beyond the exploration and quantified the objectives of their study.
References:
Birgand, G., Azevedo, C., Toupet, G., Pissard-Gibollet, R., Grandbastien, B., Fleury, E., &
Lucet, J. (2014). Attitudes, risk of infection and behaviours in the operating room (the
ARIBO Project): a prospective, cross-sectional study.
Megeus, V., Nilsson, K., Karlsson, J., Eriksson, B. I., &Andersson, A. E. (2015). Hand hygiene
and aseptic techniques during routine anesthetic care-observations in the operating room.
Antimicrobial resistance and infection control, 4(1), 5.
