The humpty dumpty falls scale - Essay Example

This paper critically analyses the paper ‘The Humpty Dumpty Falls Scale: A Case–Control Study’ which reports the findings of the aforementioned research study and a critique of the various components of this paper is presented in the discussion that follows. Research Problem/Purpose or Question Hypothesis  The authors have clearly stated the purpose of the study as being an assessment of the efficacy of the newly developed Humpty Dumpty Falls Scale (HDFS) in predicting the risk of falls in pediatric hospitalized patients, in a separate section entitled ‘purpose’ (Hill-Rodriguez, et al., 2009). Moreover, in the same section, the choice of the study design, i.e. case control study has been justified and the authors have explicitly mentioned that the research question was to elucidate whether the risk of falls predicted by the screening tool in question was in conjunction with the actual risk of falls.

This gives the readers a clear picture of the aims and objectives of this study and the rationale behind the conduction of this study. Review of Literature  An adequate review of the existing literature has been provided. The authors have quoted statistics to emphasize the magnitude of the burden that the problem in question poses. As pointed out by the authors, there is ample literature on the issue of falls occurring in the elderly population, but there is a paucity of existing data on the pediatric population in this regard (Hill-Rodriguez, et al., 2009). The importance of the development and implementation of screening and preventive strategies in the pediatric population is underscored by authors in this section.

Moreover, the authors have also identified the gaps in the existing literature and have thus provided the rationale of conducting this study in order to build upon the existing research findings and fill in the gaps which were identified. Theoretical/Conceptual Framework  No theoretical or conceptual framework for this study has been provided by the authors. However, the study design is such that it does not warrant the need for a theoretical/conceptual framework. Research Design  The study design employed in this study was a matched case control design (Hill-Rodriguez, et al., 2009). The cases and controls were matched in various regards such as This design is best suited for the research question identified by the authors, as case-control studies have been found to be a suitable study design to evaluate the effectiveness and usefulness of screening tools (Rothman, Greenland, & Lash, 2008).

Sampling Method/Data Collection  The data was collected from five different in-patient and two ICU pediatric units from a single center. (Hill-Rodriguez, et al., 2009) The sampling method is not mentioned clearly but it can be extrapolated from the given information that purposive convenient sampling methodology was employed. Although no specific inclusion criteria or cut-offs for age are mentioned, the exclusion criteria are defined and presented in the paper by the authors. The data collection tool used was the Humpty Dumpty Falls Scale (HDFS), which consisted of seven different assessment items.

This tool was designed after input from various skilled and expert nurses and other medical personnel (Hill-Rodriguez,