Workforce Issues on Patient Safety

In this assignment, you will consider how workforce issues impact on patient safety.
Question 1
Using the South University Online Library, research workforce issues and patient safety.
Based on your research, complete the following tasks:
•   Identify and describe the research problems, purpose, objectives, and hypothesis of the research.
•   Evaluate the credibility and validity of the study.
Question 2
Read the following titles of research studies from the South University Online Library. Identify the type of research used in each study (qualitative or quantitative). Provide a rationale for your selection.
•   A study of the effects of cardiac rehabilitation exercise program on the morale and motivation of persons recovering from recent heart attacks.
•   An exploratory ethno-botanical study of medicinal plants used by the Turks in the treatment of eye disorders.
•   A study of the impact of different dietary patterns on breast cancer patients.
•   The effectiveness of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) Drug Assistance Program (ADAP).
•   A study of the effects of different types of music on sleeping patterns of elderly insomnia patients.
•   A study of the impact of political and social trends on the direction of nursing research.
Suggested References:
Shisana, O., Rice, K., Zungu, N., & Zuma, K. (2010). Gender and poverty in South
Africa in the era of HIV/AIDS: A quantitative study. Journal of Women’s
Health (15409996), 19(1), 39–46.
Ko, E., Nelson-Becker, H., Park, Y., & Shin, M. (2014). End-of-Life decision making
in older Korean adults: Concerns, preferences, and expectations. Educational
Gerontology, 39(2), 71–81.
Witzke, J., Rhone, R., Backhaus, D., & Shaver, N. (2008). How sweet the sound:
Research evidence for the use of music in Alzheimer’s dementia. Journal of
Gerontological Nursing, 34(10), 45–52.
Sandvik, A., Melender, H., Jonsén, E., Jönsson, G., Salmu, M., & Hilli, Y. (2014).
Nursing students’ experiences of the first clinical education: A nordic
quantitative study. Nordic Journal of Nursing Research & Clinical Studies /
Vård I Norden, 32(3), 20–25.
Cooper, C., Taft, L., & Thelen, M. (2004). Examining the role of technology in
learning: An evaluation of online clinical conferencing. Journal of
Professional Nursing, 20(3), 160–166.
Roulston, A., Bickerstaff, D., Haynes, T., Rutherford, L., & Jones, L. (2014). A pilot
study to evaluate an outpatient service for people with advanced lung cancer.
International Journal of Palliative Nursing, 18(5), 225–233.
All quantitative studies can be categorized as experimental, quasi-experimental, or non- experimental in design (Chapter 9). This chapter describes types of research that vary in study pur- pose rather in research design.The first two types (clinical trials and evalua- tions) involve interventions, but methods for each have evolved separately because of their discipli- nary roots. Clinical trials are associated with med- ical research, and evaluation research is associated with the fields of education, social work, and pub- lic policy. There is overlap in approaches, but to acquaint you with relevant terms, we discuss each separately. Chapter 26 describes the emerging tra- dition of intervention research that is more clearly aligned with nursing. Clinical trials are studies designed to assess clini- cal interventions. The terms associated with clinical trials are used by many nurse researchers. Clinical trials undertaken to test a new drug or an innovative therapy often are designed in a series of four phases, as follows:
Phase I occurs after initial development of the drug or therapy, and is designed primarily to establish safety and tolerance and to determine optimal dose. This phase typically involves small-scale studies using simple designs (e.g., before—after without a control group). The focus is on developing the best possible (and safest) treatment.
Phase II involves seeking preliminary evidence of treatment effectiveness. During this phase, researchers assess the feasibility of launching a rigorous test, seek evidence that the treat- ment holds promise, look for signs of possible side effects, and identify refinements to improve the intervention. This phase, essentially a pilot test of the treatment, may be designed either as a small-scale experiment or as a quasi- experiment.
Phase III is a full test of the treatment—an RCT with randomization to an experimental or con- trol group (or to orderings of treatment condi- tions) under controlled conditions. The goal of this phase is to develop evidence about treatment efficacy—that is, whether the treatment is more efficacious than usual care (or an alternative counterfactual). Adverse effects are also moni- tored. Phase III RCTs often involve a large and heterogeneous sample of participants, some- times selected from multiple sites to ensure that findings are not unique to a single setting.
Phase III is a full test of the treatment—an RCT with randomization to an experimental or con- trol group (or to orderings of treatment condi- tions) under controlled conditions. The goal of this phase is to develop evidence about treatment efficacy—that is, whether the treatment is more efficacious than usual care (or an alternative counterfactual). Adverse effects are also moni- tored. Phase III RCTs often involve a large and heterogeneous sample of participants, some- times selected from multiple sites to ensure that findings are not unique to a single setting.
THE DESIGN OF QUALITATIVE STUDIES
Quantitative researchers specify a research design before collecting their data and rarely depart from that design once the study is underway. In qualitative research, by contrast, the design typically evolves over the course of the study. Decisions about how best to obtain data and whom to include are made as the study unfolds. Qualitative studies use an emergent design that evolves as researchers make ongoing decisions reflecting what has already been learned. An emergent design is not the result of sloppiness or laziness on the part of qualitative researchers, but rather a reflection of their desire to have the inquiry based on the realities and viewpoints of participants—realities and viewpoints that are not known at the outset (Lincoln & Guba, 1985).
Characteristics of Qualitative Research Design
Qualitative inquiry has been used in many different disciplines, and each has developed methods for addressing questions of particular interest. How- ever, some characteristics of qualitative research design tend to apply across disciplines. In general, qualitative design: Often involves merging together various data collection strategies (i.e., triangulation)
• Is flexible, capable of adjusting to new informa- tion during the course of data collection
• Tends to be holistic, striving for an understand- ing of the whole
• Requires researchers to become intensely involved • Requires researchers to become the research instrument • Involves ongoing analysis of the data to formu-late subsequent strategies and to determine when data collection is done.With regard to the first characteristic, qualitative researchers often put together a complex array of data, derived from a variety of sources and using a variety of methods. This tendency has sometimes been described as bricolage, and the qualitative researcher has been referred to as a bricoleur, a person who “is adept at performing a large number of diverse tasks, ranging from interviewing to intensive reflection and introspection” (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000, p. 6)