Write a critical appraisal that demonstrates comprehension of two quantitative research studies. Use the “Research Critique Guidelines – Part II” document to organize your essay. Successful completion of this assignment requires that you provide a rationale, include examples, and reference content from the study in your responses.  Quantitative Research Studies Essay Paper

Use the practice problem and two quantitative, peer-reviewed research articles you identified in the Topic 1 assignment to complete this assignment.

In a 1,000–1,250 word essay, summarize two quantitative studies, explain the ways in which the findings might be used in nursing practice, and address ethical considerations associated with the conduct of the study.

You are required to cite a minimum of three peer-reviewed sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be published within the last 5 years, appropriate for the assignment criteria, and relevant to nursing practice.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. A link to the LopesWrite technical support articles is located in Class Resources if you need assistance.

Quantitative research studies

Research articles play an essential role in presenting the best standards in evidence based practice. However, to ensure the quality of practices presented, there is need of a critique to some of these articles. If a need of a professional practice improvement arises, then the need to apply evidence is required for the purpose of increasing theoretical skills and knowledge which can only be achieved through the use of the research available (Cathala & Moorley, 2018). Article critique therefore helps identify the best evidence among the available research works. Article critique helps to identify whether the information contained is useful to the intended consumers. This paper aims at looking two quantitative research articles which aimed at answering the PICOT question concerning the effectiveness of hand hygiene in reduction of hospital acquired infections in acute care patients.  Quantitative Research Studies Essay Paper

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Background

Nekkab, N., Astagneau, P., Temime, L., & Crepey, P. (2017). Spread of hospital-acquired infections: A comparison of healthcare networks. PLoS computational biology, 13(8), e1005666. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005666

Haverstick, S., Goodrich, C., Freeman, R., James, S., Kullar, R., & Ahrens, M. (2017). Patients’ hand washing and reducing hospital-acquired infection. Critical care nurse, 37(3), e1-e8. https://doi.org/10.4037/ccn2017694

According to Nekkab et al., (2017), most healthcare industries and facilities are facing a common problem of multi-drug resistant organisms. These industries experience a difficulty in eliminating these micro-organisms once an infection has been identified. These organisms raise a great concern for hospital acquired infections which may result in development of an epidemic. The article continues to detail that it is not a concern for an individual healthcare facility but the whole system of facilities that the patient has been admitted. The reason behind this is that it is not common for patients to be transferred from one healthcare facility to the other. With the article creating this awareness, the authors seek to look into details the potential transfer of hospital acquired infections due to transfer of patients with HAIs into different healthcare facilities.

On the other hand, Haverstick et al., (2017) states that hand hygiene is paramount in prevention of hospital acquired infections. The case being so, the main focus is on encouraging healthcare providers towards hand hygiene leaving out the patients. The major concern in the research is that the environment within a healthcare facility constitutes of patients and healthcare providers. The study aimed at exploring the influence of hand hygiene encouragement to the patients while exploring the results according to the rates of microbial infections.

How the articles support the chosen nurse practice issue?

Hand hygiene as a way of preventing hospital acquired infections is the chosen nursing issue of concern. Haverstick et al., (2017) put forward an acknowledging statement that hand hygiene is essential in reduction of HAIs thus supporting the practice. The authors of the article further suggest that hand washing should not only be done by healthcare providers, but the patients also. The general population in the article are the patients while the population of interest in the PICOT question is also the patients. The results of the study can therefore be generalized in the case of the PICOT question. Quantitative Research Studies Essay Paper

On the other hand, the work of Nekkab et al., (2017) will be essential while addressing the issue of concern and recognizing hospital acquired infections as the main major concern. The article suggest that HAIs is not a concern for a single healthcare facility, but a concern of the system of healthcare facilities where the patient has stepped. The article therefore states that if a patient with a risk of developing a HAI in one facility is transferred to another facility, the patient is likely to transmit the risk to another patient in that particular facility thereby spreading the risk from one hospital to the other. The need for intervention is therefore created and effective means of prevention developed.

Method of Study

The quasi experimental study design is one method that Haverstick., et al (2017) have utilized in their study. The method involves a pretest-posttest approach. In this case, the hand hygiene is the intervention in which the patients are subjected to as the support. The results of the findings are then compared for the contained amounts of bacteria before and after the intervention. The time interval and the comparison are engaged in the methodology between the intervention and control thereby allowing time series analysis to be done effectively. One key merit of utilizing the approach is that there is elimination of ethical issues involved during randomization of the patients due to the fact that the same group is used in the pretest and posttest (Bloomfield & Fisher, 2019). Lack of random assignment is one demerit of the approach which results in difficulties while determining causality.

The research made by Nekkab et al., (2017) made use of retrospective data analysis method. It is a method that engaged data retrieval of the discharge summaries in France databases as presented in the year 2014. Data evaluation was done where it was further assigned to three patient networks. They were then compared to HAI spread networks and clustering. One major benefit of using this approach is analysis of large amounts of data that utilize association to identify the potential risk factors (Astroth & Chung, 2018). However, the method is limited to determining association leaving alone causation.

Study Results

            According to the report made by Haverstick et al., (2017), provision of hand hygiene education and hand sanitizers to patients by healthcare personnel would help the patients to more frequently engage in hand washing practices thus reducing the rates and incidences of hospital acquired infections. The implication of this study is that an increase in patients’ compliance to hand hygiene would essentially reduce the incidences and rates of HAI patients. The research also indicated a successful influence from healthcare personnel through provision of hand sanitizers and education among patients.

According to reports from Nekkab et al., (2017), a retrospective data can only identify a three patient network. These networks include the suspected HAI network, general patient network and the HAI-specific network. The three have a common heterogeneous flow which makes them unique in their characteristics. The spread of HAI would follow the same underlying noted structure regardless of the population of the patients. The three transfer patterns are similarly reported for the three networks. The HAI intervention strategies have therefore shown their effectiveness on population groups hence can be effective to other groups of patients. Quantitative Research Studies Essay Paper

Comparison of outcomes

The PICOT question of concern is, “Among the acute care inpatients (P), does the hygiene of hands (I) in comparison to a no intervention (C) decrease the incidence/rate of hospital acquired infections (O) within a period of 8months (T)?” The major expectation at the end of the study is that a significant reduction in the rate of hospital acquired infections will be achieved when a comparison is made between control groups and intervention. The outcome is a good indicator that the practices of hand hygiene are effective in elimination of pathogens that result into hospital acquired infections. The aforementioned outcomes compare to the ones deduced by Haverstick et al., (2017) since similar results are expected. Similarly, the outcomes also compare to the once deduced from Nekkab et al., (2017) who showed that the interventions proved to be effective for a given patient population would be effective in other populations of patients.

In a recap, it is true that the quality of the available evidence research can only be assessed through article critique. Research critique helps to determine the usefulness of a research and whether they of sufficient quality for application into practice. One should also acknowledge that both Nekkab et al., (2017) and Haverstick et al., (2017) contain the desired implications to prove that hand hygiene is effective in prevention of hospital acquired infections. According to Haverstick et al., (2017), improvement of HAI should be achieved through ensuring hand hygiene among the patients. Nekkab et al., (2017) suggest that the incidences of HAI follow similar patterns for all populations and hence these similar interventions should be effective in all populations. The appropriate research is utilized in both articles thus showing that different interventions can be put into practice to reduce hospital acquired infections in acute care inpatients.

References

Astroth, K. S., & Chung, S. Y. (2018). Focusing on the fundamentals: Reading quantitative

research with a critical eye. Nephrology Nursing Journal, 45(3), 283-287.

Bloomfield, J., & Fisher, M. J. (2019). Quantitative research design. Journal of the Australasian

            Rehabilitation Nurses Association, 22(2), 27-30.

       https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.738299924514584

Cathala, X., & Moorley, C. (2018). How to appraise quantitative research. Evidence-Based

            Nursing, 21(4), 99-101. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/eb-2018-102996

Quantitative Research Studies Essay Paper