The Area of Staffing in Nursing - Essay Example

? Research Critique Kalisch, B. J., & Lee, K.H. . Nurse staffing levels and teamwork: A cross-sectional study of patient care units in acute care hospitals. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 43(1), 82-88. Examination of purpose, objectives, questions, or hypothesis, and variables of the study The purpose of the research study by Dr. Beatrice Kalisch, a Titus Distinguished Professor of Nursing at University of Michigan’s School of Nursing, and Kyung Hee Lee, a research assistant and PhD student, aimed at exploring the area of staffing in nursing and investigated whether staffing levels had an impact on teamwork. In line with this, the objectives of the study were to investigate whether staffing predicted nursing teamwork and determine the relationship between the levels of staffing and the subscales teamwork. Hence, the study focused on two research questions that were based on the research objectives. The first question asked, “Does the level of staffing predict nursing teamwork?” Conversely, the second question asked, “Does the level of staffing predict subscales of teamwork” (Kalisch & Lee, 2011, p.83). Based on the research study, the hypothesis was that in instances when the unit level case mix index (CMI) and the size of the healthcare facility were controlled, the levels of staffing had an effect on the levels of teamwork. In addition, the researchers also hypothesized that the size of the hospital affected teamwork exhibited by the staff members (Kalisch & Lee, 2011). Independent variable An independent variable in a research study is the factor that causes change or an effect on another variable, which in most cases is change on the dependent variable in the research study (Polit & Beck, 2004). In this research study, staffing is the independent variable in the study since the levels of staffing in an organization affected the outcome in terms of teamwork. In this case, it is evident from the research findings that hospitals with high staffing levels experienced high levels of teamwork. On the other hand, since big hospitals have high staffing levels, they experienced high levels of teamwork. Dependent variable The dependent variable in a research study is the variable that may be changed or influenced by the independent variable (Polit & Beck, 2004). In line with this, the dependent variable of the research study by Kalisch and Lee (2011) is the level of teamwork in a hospital, which is a result of the staffing levels in the hospital. Research variables In a research study, research variables are concepts in a study, and these are concepts that vary as the name suggests (Polit & Beck, 2004). One concept, or research variable in this study, is the skills mix among nurses, which affect the level of teamwork in nurses and vary from one hospital to another hospital. On the other hand, the size of the hospital is another research variable since all hospitals are not equal in size. In fact, this research study identifies the importance of the size of the hospitals remaining controlled. Research attributes and demographic variables Research attributes and demographic variables are the characteristics of the subjects in the study (Polit & Beck, 2004). In this regard, the research attributes and the demographic variables in this study are the age and professional qualifications of the research subjects. In this case, the age of the nurses is essential in evaluating their skills mix, which influences the teamwork of the nurses in a hospital. On the other hand, it is essential to point out that the professional qualifications of the nurses play a crucial role in the skills of the nurses. In this case, the professional qualifications of nurses classify the nurses in the study as those who possessed a degree or a higher qualification, and those who did not hold a degree. In effect, these qualifications provide nurses with skills that contribute to trust among nurses, team orientation, and team leadership with these factors affecting the levels of teamwork. Research Design This research study is quantitative research, which means that it is based on, and carries out an analysis using numbers and measurements. Conversely, it is essential to point out that this research study is practical since it is a mix of problem and theoretical-based study. In this regard, the study has a theoretical component since it aims at defining the relationship between staffing levels and teamwork, and it also has a practical approach since it also attempts to improve teamwork in hospitals that had inadequate teamwork based on the research findings. The sample of the research was arrived out by using a cross-sectional, purposive, and a descriptive design that led to 2,545 respondents in four hospitals, and 52 units in these hospitals located in Midwestern United States (Kalisch and Beck, 2004). In line with this, the full population of the study was all hospitals, nurses, and units in hospitals located all over the United States, although the researchers worked with hospitals located in the Midwestern region. The respondents were given the Nursing Teamwork Survey (NTS) to complete with the survey designed to the teamwork among nurses in an in-patient setting. In this case, the NTS is a self-completion questionnaire with Likert-Type of scale that investigated teamwork in a hospital setting. The use of a questionnaire in this setting was crucial since they are standardized, which makes them more objective than other methods of collecting data. Pilot Study The researchers did not carry out a pilot study in their research work. Nonetheless, the researchers used different approaches to obtain reliability and validity of the National Teamwork Survey, which was the instrument of research used in the study. In this case, the researchers established construct validity by carrying out an exploratory factor analysis, which measured the relationship between variables in order to develop a scale that measured the research topics. Consequently, the researchers develop the Likert-type scale after determining the construct validity of the NTS questionnaire, which developed five-factor solutions with each factor contributing items that formed the NTS questionnaire that was given to the respondents for completion. Consequently, the researchers carried out a confirmatory factor analysis of these five factors and obtained a test-retest reliability of 0.92 with the overall consistency lying at 0.94 (Kalisch & Beck, 2004). In effect, this implies that the NTS questionnaire was both valid and reliable and its use in this research study would contribute to interventions that promoted quality care. References Kalisch, B. J., & Lee, K.H. (2011). Nurse staffing levels and teamwork: A cross-sectional study of patient care units in acute care hospitals. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 43(1), 82-88. Polit, D. F., & Beck, C. T. (2004). Nursing Research: Principles and Methods 7th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Read More