Nursing Preceptors and First Patient Death - Assignment Example

Running Head: Quantitative and Qualitative Research Critique Nursing Preceptors and First Patient Death Student’s Name Professor’s Name Subject Code and Name Date Submitted Nursing Preceptors and First Patient Death Quantitative Research Critique 1. Differential dimension of death anxiety in nursing students with and without experience The article explained the different dimensions that were encountered by experienced and none experienced nursing students. 2. Abstract The abstract gives clear information on the stages of research study. It also predicted which group endorsed high level of anxiety but the reason leading to this was not explicitly explained. (Chen et al, 2006, pg919) 3. Introduction 3.1 Statement of the problem The research was conducted to derive the different dimensions of death anxiety in nursing students comparing those with and without experience. 3.2 Hypothesis or research question(s) This study was done to assess the hypothesis that, experienced nursing students endorsed higher level of death anxiety on one dimension of death anxiety, fear of the unknown. The study assesses the death anxiety in nursing students, the degree of self presentation towards a socially desirable response and impact of social desirability on death anxiety in leading to high level of death anxiety to experienced nursing students. 3.3 Literature review The problem researched was to determine when death anxiety began so that interventions could be implemented to mediate its development. 4. Method 4.1 Protection of participants’ rights; The participants were assured of security by the management of undergraduate nursing conducting the research on them. 4.2 Research Design The design used in the article is experimental study in which small groups of students were put under a test and answer some questions. 4.3 Population and sample The participants were specifically undergraduate nursing students in their first or final year in both medical and non medical fields. Those interested in the study were 169 in number but those who participated were only 152. It was voluntary to all who were interested (Chen et al, 2006, pg.923) 4.4 Recruitment Recruitment of the participants was based on their age, the death of someone close to them and seeing someone die in their life as nursing students. 4.5 Data collection Questionnaires were used to collect data in this article. The advantages of using this method of collecting data are that it is more objective and the reply is quick. Its disadvantage lies in the fact that the open ended queries take a long time to process and analyze. 5. Results 5.1 Data Analysis The method of data analysis used was content analysis in that the content of the article was compared to the hypothesis of the research to check if the two coincided. 5.2 Findings The research indicated that the older nursing students had most encounters with death of someone close or seen someone die than the inexperienced students. Suggestions made were that the staff should monitor the impact of age on the assessment of death anxiety. Limitations faced included availability of a small sample group which limited the owner of analyses to be made and inability to account for reports which was due to random selection of participants. 6. Discussion 6.1 Implications and recommendation The article implied that the nursing students lacked proper preparations while in their training and use of trained and qualified staff was recommended (Chen, 2006, pg. 924). 6.2 Presentation The article gave specific dimensions in which undergraduates were affected by exposure to dead bodies of patients and recommendations were given on how to cope up with the situation. Qualitative Research Critique 1. Dealing with death: first encounters for first year students The title coincided with the text of the article which clearly stated how the students dealt with death while in their training (Carroll and Terry, 2008, pg.760) 2. Abstract The abstract briefly mentions the effects of first encounter of the students and how it affected their lives. It mentions the solution to the research problem but it doesn’t explain the different ways in which students were prevented from experiencing this. 3. Introduction 3.1 Statement of the problem This research objective was to find how the first year nursing students dealt with first death encounter in their training. 3.2 Research question(s) The study was done to assess the hypotheses that first year students suffered emotionally and felt abandoned while training. 3.3 Literature review It was noted that the first year students felt abandoned when left alone with patients especially those who were not on treatment. Most of them suffered emotionally in that they kept having flashbacks on the dead patients. It was recommended that mentorship classes was to be taken seriously by the mentors (Carroll and Terry, 2008, pg.763) 4. Method 4.1 Protection of participants’ rights The participants received protection of their rights by the management which conducted them through the training process and wanted to ascertain how the students were affected and how they could be helped out. 4.2 Research Design The research design was sampling. A focus group was identified and the research conducted on them. 4.3 Population and participants Sampling method was used in that a focus group was identified and given questionnaires to answer. 4.4 Recruitment The recruitment of the students was done at random depending on the experiences that each student was exposed to. 4.5 Data collection The method of data collection used was use of questionnaires and interview. The focus groups were interviewed to arrive on their conclusions. 5. Results 5.1 Data Analysis The method of data analysis used was content analysis and analytical induction. In content analysis, the text was looked at by the researchers and two themes were realized which included the themes of abandonment and emotional impact in which one affected the occurrence of the other. 5.2 Findings The researchers found out that most of the students in the training felt a feeling of abandonment when they encountered a dead patient. It was suggested that proper preparations should be made to the first year students who were going to have their first encounter with dead patients. Most of them got so shocked which affected their coping mechanism and future behavior (Carroll and Terry, 2008, pg.764). The limitation noted included avoidance behavior by students. 6. Discussion 6.1 Implications and recommendations The clinical practice implied that most of the first year students had a difficulty in coping up with encounters with dead patients. It was recommended that the students were to be taken through mentorship class with trained and qualified mentors. 6.2 Presentation The article clearly stated the experiences encountered by the first year students who were exposed to dead patients. Suggestions were also made on how to help such students. Literature review The purposes of literature review includes defining, and establishing the area of study (research topic), identifying studies and models of study and case studies supporting the topic of research, defines key terms and terminologies used in the research work and finally it establishes a theoretical framework for the topic to be researched on. Introduction The problem of study in the above articles was finding the nursing preceptors in supporting nursing students who had experienced their first patient deaths. Focus was on the different dimensions in which students were affected and its solutions. It looked at different suggestions by the management on how to handle the undergraduate students in their first encounter with the dead. The two themes realized included a feeling of abandonment and emotional impact (Carroll and Terry, 2008, pg 761) Abandonment The students felt that the dying patient, the relatives of the dying patient and themselves that they were being neglected and abandoned. The student observed that patients who refused treatment were left alone uncared. The students were given that responsibly of looking after them and they felt left alone because they feared that the patient would die while in their hands. Most dead patients were left for too long before the last offices were carried out. Some got scared when left alone feeling that they were abandoned on their death bed (Carroll and Terry, 2008, pg.762) The students indicated that most relatives were abandoned when their patient died. The relatives were denied the access to see their dead patients, in that most of them were taken to the mortuary immediately without being given a prior notice about this movement. The students were left with the responsibility of facing the relatives and most of them had no idea on how to deal with such an issue especially when they were left alone (Carroll and Terry, 2008, pg 762) The students had a busy schedule during the day and they had no enough time to share their experiences with the other staff members and other students. Some of their mentors were good in their job while others ignored the student’s needs. Emotional Impact on the students Most of the students did not receive death news positively. When the patients died in their hands, they blamed themselves for not being in a position to help them recover. Some students were affected personally displaying emotional distress and flashbacks that haunted them in their daily life activities. An example is a student who kept having flashbacks on her dead husband every time she saw a dead body. She suffered emotionally and developed a defense mechanism against this by avoiding looking at dead bodies (Carroll and Terry, 2008, pg.763) Apart from lacking sleep and getting scared of darkness, some kept dreaming about the dead bodies and therefore avoiding contact with dead bodies in future to avoid such flashbacks. The management or the trained staff could not minister any aiding programs to this students because they were left in the dark by the students themselves who so scared to report any such feelings to the management (Carroll and Terry, 2008, pg.765) Conclusions The findings obtained from this study states that most of the undergraduate nurses were not physiologically prepared to face death in patients while they were in their training. The management should therefore provide qualified mentors to help students who are affected physiologically. Students who are joining the nursing profession should learn to appreciate guidance and canceling as part of a learning process and they should always ask for assistance when faced with such dilemmas. Bibliographies Carrol .J. and Terry .M.L.,2008,’Dealing with death: First encounters for first year nursing students’,British Journal of Nursing,Vol 17,no 12,pp 760-764 Y-C Chen. 2006,’Differential dimension of death anxiety in nursing students with and without nursing experience’,Death Studies,Accepted 30 Jan 2006, pp 919-029 . Read More