Research Critique: The effectiveness of a pressure ulcer intervention program on the prevalence of hospital acquired pressure ulcers: controlled before and after study. Applied Nursing Research
Research design.
This study was a qualitative research. It used the data that was collected before and after an intervention program for curbing pressure area with the aim of caring for the pressure sores. The study was carried out to investigate a problem of decubitus ulcers that occur in a patient in facilities while at the same time building on the studies that had been done earlier on. This makes it a descriptive study (Yin, 2013).
The descriptive study design fitted the study as it can assess and provide desired information from the situation at hand. The outcome of the study had the potential of giving information on the specific interventions that have enhanced the reduction of the prevalence pressure sores. This study came up with the target population as well as a sample size that was to represent the entire population. It was conducted by involving 486 patients that were admitted to a hospital for a period between January 2012 and April 2013. It then used six months and six months post the data collection. In maintaining the eligibility, the study maintained and restricted its sample only to involve these patients that were at risk as well as those who ended up to develop the pressure ulcers during their hospital stay.
In the study, sampling plan variables were put into use since the participants included those who were at risk, as well as those who had pressure sores and their involvement in the study, was based on the variable which was being monitored during the entire time of the study. Its sample encompasses patients with pressure sores that developed during the period of hospitalization as well as those with a high score on the Braden scale. The setting used in the study which was a tertiary medical center was not that appropriate since it was not a representation of the entire population that would allow generalization of the findings of the study.
Data Collection.
The study made use of the informed consent by only allowing those who accepted to participate to be part of the study (Best & Kahn, 2016). They gave verbal consent to those who turned down had their way to keep off the study. In the data collection, nurses with more than three years’ experience who acted as the champions led the whole process. They collected data by doing a physical assessment of the sample population and scoring the patients. They scored the patient via the use of the Braden scale and did staging for their pressure ulcers.
Besides, records were kept on the intervention strategies employed and the time unto which the patient developed the sores. The tools of data collection in the study were stated since they included the Braden scale and the guideline of accurate staging according to the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel. The tools were also described to explain their content whereby the Braden Scale contained six variables on the state of the patient and the guideline elaborating on the considerations of rating the ulcers within the I-VI stages.
Data analysis.
This article used the t-test and univariate analysis to come up with a comparison on the rates occurrences of the sores before and after the interventions that were put in place. The use of a large sample size of 486 patients raised the validity of the study since the possibility of an explanation of the third variable is minimized (Best & Kahn, 2016). This study, on the other hand, lacked the strength of implementation of the outcome since it was based on a tertiary medical center whose information could not be generalized information. The study captured the issue of specificity and sensitivity in determining those who were truly affected by the pressure ulcers. The model was validated by the use of a chi-square.
Interpretation, Discussion and clinical application.
The outcome that was essential to the study such as patients at risk and intervention put into practice, the correlation between the components of interventions and occurrence of pressure sores as well as factors leading to the ulcers were discussed. The discussion also covered other issues such as staffing ratios which are essential in implementing the intervention programs. The rate of pressure ulcers was also discussed with the determinants turning out to be extraneous because it was being impacted by inadequate staffing, long period of stay in the hospital as well as other comorbidities.
The authors concluded that the pressures ulcer development is a key alarm to the care provided to any patient. In preventing their development, they recommended the nursing team to put evidenced-based practices into use and not just the clinical judgments to curb the development of the sores. Also, the prediction of the development of the pressure ulcers by the use of skin assessment as well as lower Braden Scale could give hints to the nursing team and recommended the nurses to use these methods as primary means of preventing the development of the pressure sores (Manzano et al., 2010).
The study placed a possibility of different outcomes in other centers of care and placed a recommendation for further studies on the prevalence of the hospital-acquired pressure sores. The authors advocated for the use of those methods that turned to be the useful son that better outcome can be realized.
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