discussion post

Note: This is a two-part prompt. Be sure to read and respond to both prompts by Thursday at midnight, and respond to two student posts by Sunday at midnight!

Part 1:

Because I like to get a lot of feedback from my students, I know one major question that floats around every semester is, "Why am I taking this class again?" If you're not going into a field that you think will be research heavy, it can seem cumbersome to take a class that focuses on research. One thing I hope to teach you in this class is that even if you are going into a clinical/practical field, having some basic research skills in your repertoire makes you stand out: either as a candidate for graduate/medical/nursing/physical therapy school, or as a potential employee.

Read these articles: "Elevate Medical School Applications With Research Experience (Links to an external site.)" and "The Importance of Nursing Research (Links to an external site.)" (especially under the "Benefits and Outcomes" heading). Then, write 1-2 paragraphs addressing if you think graduate or clinical schools might want candidates who have a least some basic knowledge of the research process, and why hospitals/practices/etc. might want employees who have done research or are at least skilled in the basics. Do you think learning how to read journal articles will ever come in handy as a clinical professional? What about knowing who the major names in your field of expertise are? What types of skills does doing research build in prospective doctors, nurses, physical therapists, and other professionals (i.e. critical thinking, writing, skimming, interpreting, etc.)? What types of research might a clinical practitioner or administrator undertake? Put aside your own feelings about research for a moment. If you were an admissions director at a clinical school, what might looking at the application of a student who has done research tell you?

 

Part 2:

I am sure most of you have heard about the infamous Wakefield autism/vaccination study that was later retracted by the well-regarded British medical journal The Lancet. Unfortunately, despite multiple methodological errors, questions, and conflicts of interest, by the time the study was retracted, the information was widespread.Check out this short video (Links to an external site.) and read this article about the story. (Links to an external site.)

Vidoe link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPyZ9rDkWb8

Now that you have learned the importance of a well-crafted methodology and of study ethics, critiqued an article, and done a discussion board to see how easily study results get translated incorrectly into popular media, think about the potential damage that can be done if health care providers act on information promoted by a faulty study. How important is it that a researcher has no bias or external objective or motivation in doing a study? What about the significant of a large, representative study sample in allowing for generalizability? What happens when the peer-review process goes wrong? Why is it important that healthcare providers are knowledgable about the research process? And how might you, as a healthcare professional, minimize the risk of acting upon a study that is flawed, invalid, or, at worst, falsified?