Nursing Research Article Review Worksheet - Essay Example

Nursing research article review worksheet Introduction Nursing research is a research which provides evidenceused in supporting nursing practices (Polit & Beck, 2004). Nursing education puts substantial emphasis on the use of evidence from various researches. This is for the purpose of rationalizing nursing interventions. The main objective of nursing research is to report any empirical finding from the highest quality basic as well as clinical research focused on understanding illness experience and health (Polit & Beck, 2004). It welcomes integrative reviews of recent development in basic translational research and biological sciences relevant to emerging issues of nursing science. With regards to this, this paper focuses on a peer reviewed article in nursing research. This article takes into consideration the nurse staffing in hospitals and its effects on patients as well as the nurses. The Study and how it relates to my Area of Nursing This article focuses on staffing of nurse in hospitals. The study aims at estimating the cost of increasing the number of nurses in hospitals and its effects in reducing deaths, besides adverse outcomes. In addition, it looks at various ways of improving the quality as well as safety of the patients. These include investing in training and education, investing in new technology and increasing nurse staffing. In this study, there is provision of data for the purpose of helping hospitals as well as policy makers to consider both social cases and business for investing in increasing the number of nurses in hospitals. This is through estimating the costs of increasing nurses and cost savings as a result of avoided deaths and reduced length of stay (Jack, Peter, Maureen, Katya & Mattke, 2006). In addition, it is through decrease of the outcomes of adverse patients, related to a higher number of nurses in the hospitals. While estimating the increased number of nurses in this study, there are no considerations of the patients’ value and their families, improved reputation of the hospital and the economic value with regard to lower liability. In addition, the study does not consider estimating the potential cost savings as a result of reducing the turnover of nurse through increased nurse staffing. This study significantly relates to my area of study which is nursing. Through this study, nurses are able to understand the benefits of increasing the number of nurses in hospitals. In addition, they became aware of the feasibility of increasing nurse staffing with regards to the costs involved in increasing nurse staffing in hospitals. Peer Reviewed Article Peer review is the process which journals use for the purpose of ensuring that articles published represent the best scholarship currently available. Peer reviewers usually scrutinize articles for relevance, significance, accurate representation, clarity and sound research design before they are accepted for publication. In most cases, this process is blind review as the authors name is not on the manuscript during review. In addition, reviewers and the authors do not know each others identity. The article in this study is peer reviewed. This is because by checking the article in the database Ulrichsweb.com, there is an indication that this article is peer reviewed. Research Questions Research questions are methodological points of departure with regard to scholarly research in both social and natural sciences (Polit & Beck, 2004). They guide the research in answering all the questions posed. The research questions serve two main purposes. First, they help in determining where and what type of research the writer will look for. Secondly, it helps in identifying the specific objectives that the study addresses (Polit & Beck, 2004). With respect to this study, there are several research questions. Te central questions, which emerge from this study, are as follows. How significant is the objective of improving the quality of patient? Should there be an encouragement of increasing nurse staffing for the purpose of realizing this goal? Should there be available funds in hospitals to help pursue this goal? Lastly, what are the required assurances to prove that hospitals actually use any funds provided to increase nurse staffing (Jack, Peter, Maureen, Katya & Mattke, 2006). Hypothesis and Variables Hypothesis is an important tool of nursing research (Polit & Beck, 2004). It is a formal and tentative prediction about a relationship between two or several variables in a given population under the study. Hypothesis usually translates the research questions to prediction of outcomes expected. The hypothesis of this study is that increasing the nursing staff improves the quality of services offered by nurses in hospitals. A variable is a component of hypothesis (Polit & Beck, 2004). They are characteristics, properties or qualities of things, persons or situations that can change. It also involves those that are controllable in a research study. From this study, variables from the hypothesis include nurses as well as the quality of services in hospitals. Theoretical Framework A theoretical framework refers to a collection or related concepts. A theoretical framework usually guides research through determining the things that the researcher needs to measure (Polit & Beck, 2004). Theoretical frameworks are usually important when it comes to exploratory studies. They tend to guide the researchers on what they notice in an organization. With regard to this research, the theoretical framework is eclectic in nature. This is because it takes into consideration many elements which hospitals have to consider before increasing the nursing staff in order to improve service quality. It embraces various elements of Jean Watson’s Theory of human Caring as well as Patricia Benners Novice to Expert Theory. These theories aim at providing patient care of exceptional quality for the purpose of meeting physical, spiritual, psychological and social needs of all patients. Qualitative or Quantitative Research Study Research on nursing usually falls into two areas. These are qualitative research and quantitative research. Quantitative research has its basis on the paradigm of logical positivism, and it focuses on outcomes for clients which are measurable (Polit & Beck, 2004). These are general statistics. On the other hand, qualitative research as its basis on grounded theory, phenomenology and ethnography among others (Polit & Beck, 2004). It takes into consideration those involved in delivering the nursing care, putting more emphasis on the meaning which it holds for the individual. With respect to this study, it is evident that it falls on the qualitative research. This is because it focuses on increasing nursing staff for the purpose of improving the quality of service given to patients in hospitals (Polit & Beck, 2004). In addition, it looks into the ways of reducing deaths in hospitals through increasing the number of nurses in the hospitals (Jack, Peter, Maureen, Katya & Mattke, 2006). Conclusion Nursing research plays a significant role in the development of the nursing field. This leads to the improvement of services offered to patients. From the above study, it is true that increasing the number of nursing staff in the hospital contributes greatly in the betterment of service quality. References Jack Needleman, Peter I. Buerhaus, Maureen Stewart, Katya Zelevinsky and Soeren Mattke (2006);Nurse Staffing In Hospitals: Is There A Business Case For Quality?.Market Research. Polit, D. F., & Beck, C. T. (2004). Nursing research: Principles and methods. Philadelphia, Penns: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Read More