NURSING RESEARCH CRITIQUE OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH - Assignment Example

Experiences of Patients, Families, and Their Nurses in the Intensive Care Unit al affiliation The study focuses on experiences, inintensive care unit, of critically ill patients, as well as the nurses taking care of those patients and the relatives of the patients. The relationship between these three classes of people is analyzed with an aim of determining how those relationships affect the recovery of the patient. This study involves the collection of qualitative data, through conduct observations alongside intensive interviews.

In this study, it is important to understand the subjective nature of the experiences.2. Yes, since the participants are allowed to talk their mind; their opinions, beliefs, judgments, and assumptions among other issues.3. The researchers used the method of research by Van Manen. The method was not well described, but it is a good method because it focuses on fully understanding the everyday experiences, of the nurses, the relatives and the patients while in ICU.4. The presence of relatives in ICU motivates the patients.

Critically ill patient in ICU needs not only medical treatment but also spiritual and psychological support from both nurses and families.5. Ethical aspects were considered. The participants were informed of what they would be going through, and they signed a consent form. Besides, the research was approved by the institutional review board at a recognized university and the hospital where the research was done.6. Participants included five nurses, five patients and five family members. The researcher describes the criteria for choosing the participants, for example, the patients should be mentally stable, and the nurses were experienced, fully qualified and registered.

The purposeful sampling strategy was used. However, we are not told how the sample size was determined.7. The study was carried out in an urban community hospital in the Bronx.8. The researcher describes the process of collecting and recording the data. Data was collected through audiotaped interviews. The second interview was done four days after the first to clarify the data. The researcher stopped collecting the data when data saturation was achieved. There were no biases in data collection since all the participants were treated the same way.9. A professional transcriptionist transcribed the taped interviews, and the data was then analyzed by Van Manen’s selective, holistic and detailed line-by-line approach.

The researcher put him/herself in the shoes of the participant for better understanding. So as to understand the participants experiences, theme analysis was done through triangulation of the data obtained from the three categories. The method of analysis used is fit for such qualitative research.10. From the research, it was found that nurses view both the patient and the relatives as a family. Nurses were regarded as part of the family too. Nurses suggested that it was important for relatives to be with the patient most of the time for spiritual and psychological support thus quick recovery.

The nurses are expected to give medicine to the patient, wash the patients and provide psychological support. Other nurse specific themes included up keeping the privacy of patients and respecting their decisions like the living will. Triangulation is used to illustrate clearly the results. The findings prove that there is a benefit to the patient if nurses allow family members in ICU. Medical schools should train nurses on how to focus on what the patients experience when sick and the healthcare delivery system should be patient-oriented and not disease-oriented.

ReferenceCypress, B. S. (2010). The intensive care unit: experiences of patients, families, and their nurses. Dimensions of Critical Care Nursing, 29(2), 94-101.