Research Critique

Quantitative studies have proven to be very important especially to the medical world and research institutions since through quantitative analysis provide institutions in this case medical institutions with numerical data that show the real world problem. From the data provided by the quantitative studies, institutions can find a better way to deal with the problem at hand by devising strategies that would reduce the risks associated with the arising problem. In this assignment the first article on Quantitative study selected is titled “Risk factors for 30-day hospital readmission among general surgery patients” by Krumholz et al. (2017). This is because examining readmission information among patients who have been admitted multiple times provides the hospital with an opportunity to identify the common trends or healthcare challenges that need to be overcome to reduce readmission rates and improve patient health and quality care outcomes.

In addition the second article whose quantitative information can be applied to nursing is “factors affecting early unplanned readmission of elderly patients to hospital” as written by Reed & Pearlman, (2012). The goal of the studying the first article by Krumholz, 2017 is to examine readmission outcomes among patients who have been admitted multiple times for similar diagnosis at one or more hospitals within a given year. Moreover, the objective of studying the second article is to help hospitals to quantitatively determine the main reasons that could be leading to more readmission cases, this would go in a long way to help streamline the hospital performance and improve the quality of medical care offered. The research questions of the studies are focused on finding out whether patients who have multiple readmissions have better outcomes compared to those with minimum or no readmission. The second research question is what factors contribute to the occurrence of incidences of readmission among the elderly patients in the hospital. Also, the purpose of the research question related to the problem since readmissions occurs following health complications on the patients.

The two articles will provide insight to the PICOT question which is reduction in the quality of medical care offered by hospitals. Primarily hospitals are meant to offer quality health care to the patients who are admitted as either in or out patients, this been the primary mandate of all medical institutions some hospital face challenges in meeting quality standards of health services they offer as dictated by the World Health Organization (WHO). Additionally, the first article which talks about the risks which come with hospitals conducting several medical surgery procedures on patients with complicated medical conditions like abdominal health related disease and even brain tumor if not performing surgeries on Siemens twins. The above surgery procedures are often very sensitive and if not done properly during the first operation might lead to many cases of readmission which might interfere with the normal schedule of the hospital. For instance, in John Hopkins hospital the number of patients who were readmitted after different surgery increased from 124 patients in 2003 to 140 patients in 2004. This article helps in answering the PICOT question which is trying to determine if it’s the quality of medical care that has reduced to cause an increase in the readmission cases and if so, what factors could be behind this problem.

The intervention as offered by both articles was to increase the quality level of the medical services offered by the hospitals specifically by medical professionals ensuring hygiene is given the first priority in any surgery or medical related procedure.

Both authors haven’t identified the specific benefits or risk that was associated with participating in the study. Consent was obtained from the healthcare organizations for providing data on Medicare and Medicaid Services. It would be appropriate to point out that the hospitals seemed to have participated voluntarily in the study. The authors did not identify and define the significant variables for the study. Data for the study was collected by reviewing hospital readmission information of the hospitals for July 2014 to June 2015 by diving them into two random samples (Arman. 2016). The author believes that that data collection method is effective for finding patterns and insights on the readmission rates. Sample performance quartile was utilized to describe the characteristics of the identified hospitals. To minimize the research bias, the researchers focused on a large group of patients within the identified hospitals to increase the scope of the study.

The results of the study pointed out that there is a significant difference in the rate of readmission when patients from a worse performing quartile seek care services from the best performing quartiles. The findings are valid and accurate in reality, and I support it because utilizing effective post-discharge interventions could be the result of the positive outcomes. Various limitations were identified by the author, which include using hospital-wide readmission, which did not focus on individual patients. Also, the study did not detect the difference between principal diagnosis and admission characteristics. The results can be used in nursing to signal the importance of readmission rates in evaluating the effectiveness of healthcare processes (Barnett et al. 2015). Therefore, nurses will work to ensure that they continually improve these processes to promote the desired outcomes. Future studies can be undertaken to evaluate a particular hospital rather than a group of hospitals to determine their individual performance and readmission rates.

The study was approved by the United States National Library of Medicine National Institute of Health resulting in its publication. Patient privacy was protected as the information utilized by the study did not focus on private health information but rather the trends in the readmission rates. Also, the author does not identify any ethical considerations that were considered for the treatment of the target population or audience.

Utilizing risk-standardized readmission rates provide an opportunity to evaluate reliable hospital readmission rates that can be used to improve the quality of healthcare outcomes and the success of the healthcare industry. Standardizing risks help healthcare organizations and nurses to determine the specific areas of care that needs to be improved to realize the desired positive outcomes. Improving hospital quality is crucial for reducing hospital readmission rates by improving the health of the patients.

References

Aman, M. W., Stem, M., Schweitzer, M. A., Magnuson, T. H., & Lidor, A. O. (2016). Early