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Rough Draft Quantitative Research Critique and Ethical Considerations

Daniel Nweke

NRS-433V Introduction to Nursing Research

Professor Tijana Zelenovic

Grand Canyon University

April 7, 2022.

Rough Draft Quantitative Research Critique and Ethical Considerations

Background.

The impact of medical face masks on reducing the spread of covid-19 is investigated by Li et al. (2020). The researchers looked into three aspects that influence mask efficacy and the rate of covid-19 transfer. Mask availability, mask aerosol reduction rate, and mask population coverage are among the parameters evaluated. Covid-19 is an emerging disease, therefore there is little literature on containment measures. The research is very important to nursing because it sheds more light on what works and what doesn't work regarding covid-19. The research also helps nurses to get prepared for future pandemics that may emerge. Li et al. investigated the effect of medical face masks on preventing the spread of covid-19 (Li et al., 2020). The researchers investigated three factors that determine mask efficacy and covid-19 transmission rate. The criteria tested include mask availability, mask aerosol reduction rate, and mask population coverage.

Chiu et al (2020) wanted to see how effective wearing a mask was at preventing the transmission of covid-19. The impact of covid-19 control methods on pneumonia and other viral infections like as influenza is also being studied by the researchers. The study is significant in nursing because it gives quantitative information on the prevention of infectious disorders such as covid-19 and other viral infections. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the researchers wanted to see how adopted infectious control techniques affected the occurrences of influenza, enterovirus infection, and all-cause pneumonia. During the COVID-19 pandemic, what effect did the adopted infectious control techniques have on the incidences of influenza, enterovirus infection, and all-cause pneumonia?

Articles and chosen nurse practice

My picot question is: Will the spread of Covid-19 in PG county reduce after the Implementation of Early preventive measures of social Distancing, mask-wearing, and Nursing education, compared to Neighboring counties with more cases where such actions were not implemented to reduce the spread of the virus over the next few months? The two articles support this since they provide quantitative evidence on how to mask-wearing helps in reducing the spread of covid-19. According to Li et al. (2020), masks play two key roles in preventing the population from covid-19. Masks affect the respiratory gas emanation and unsettled gas cloud formation. Masks can either block gases released by coughing or filter the gases by redirecting them in less harmful ways. The second purpose of masks is to filter infected particles like droplets and aerosols. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Chiu et al. (2020) discovered a significant reduction in cases of influenza, enterovirus, and all-cause pneumonia due to the implementation of control measures such as mask use, isolation, social distancing, and hand hygiene.

Method of Study.

The impact was calculated by Li et al. (2020) monitoring and computing the transmission risk per contact rate (numbers per period) between infected and susceptible persons in the community. Based on interaction, the researcher computed the infectivity rate. The viral infectious dosage and virus transmission in the population were used to determine the effectiveness of wearing masks. Using the electronic database of the Taiwan National Infectious Disease Statistics System, Chiu et al. (2020) extracted COVID-19, influenza virus, enterovirus, and all-cause pneumonia occurrences. The diseases' occurrences were compared between week 45 of 2016 and week 21 of 2020. Case occurrences were plotted weekly using Microsoft Office and SPSS. Linear regression analyses were performed for each year. Both researchers used quantitative methods. The advantage of quantitative research is that it can be tested and checked. The limitation of the method used by Li et al is that a percentage of the population could be asymptomatic meaning that they could have validated the effectiveness of wearing masks simply because they studied asymptomatic individuals. The fundamental processes and causal linkages could not be determined since Chiu et al used a retrospective study design.

Results of Study.

Li et al. (2020) propose a quantitative study that examines the effect of mask use on viral infection reproduction rates and, as a result, the COVID-19 epidemic curve. Wearing a mask greatly reduces the viral reproduction number in the population, according to the study. The combination of mask-wearing, social distancing, and avoiding crowding significantly reduces the COVID-19 burden on society. Covid-19 became a global public health crisis. Preventing diseases such as covid-19 requires containment of the virus and reducing the rate of spread. The effective non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) interventions to fight covid-19 include isolation, social distancing of seniors, home quarantine, social distancing of the entire population, and school closure. Before the implementation of vaccination, wearing masks played a greater role in reducing the covid-19 transmission. According to the research, timely NPIs are essential in preventing a secondary wave of covid-19. The effectiveness of wearing masks in the prevention of covid-19 depends on the availability of masks, public awareness, and government policies and advocacy.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a considerable reduction in enterovirus, influenza, and all-cause pneumonia, according to Chiu et al. Hand cleanliness, wearing masks, and social separation are among the containment measures in place, which help to prevent not only covid-19 but also other viral illnesses and pneumonia. Technology interventions such as big data analysis, mobile technology, web-based dashboards, and social media platforms also help with covid-19 reactions (Chiu et al., 2020). The researchers used electronic epidemiologic statistics which facilitated the acquiring of timely preliminary findings. Universal masking is important because asymptomatic patients potentially spread the virus. The implementation of aggressive infection containment measures was effective in reducing the spread of covid-19.

Outcomes Comparison.

The anticipated outcome for my PICOT question is that early intervention measures such as wearing masks, social distancing, and nursing education are effective in reducing the spread of covid-19. Both articles have proven that covid-19 prevention measures significantly reduced the spread of the virus. According to Li et al., NPIs including isolation, social distancing of seniors, home quarantine, the social separation of the entire population, as well as the shutdown of schools, are both beneficial in decreasing the spread of covid-19. Chiu et al determined that mask-wearing, and hand hygiene measures dis not only reduce the spread of covid-19 but also reduced cases of viral infections and pneumonia. In addition to the containment measures, health education on covid-19 prevention significantly reduces the spread of the pandemic (Hornik et al., 2020).

References

Chiu, N., Chi, H., Tai, Y., Peng, C., Tseng, C., Chen, C., Tan, B. F., & Lin, C. (2020). Impact of wearing masks, hand hygiene, and social distancing on influenza, enterovirus, and all-cause pneumonia during the coronavirus pandemic: Retrospective national epidemiological surveillance study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(8), e21257. https://doi.org/10.2196/21257

Hornik, R., Kikut, A., Jesch, E., Woko, C., Siegel, L., & Kim, K. (2020). Association of COVID-19 misinformation with face mask wearing and social distancing in a nationally representative US sample. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/k8pds

Li, T., Liu, Y., Li, M., Qian, X., & Dai, S. Y. (2020). Mask or no mask for COVID-19: A public health and market study. PLOS ONE, 15(8), e0237691. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237691