Peds

Reply 1

The patient-centered issue selected concerns patient education on hygiene as a strategy for reducing the rate of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs). I recently observed that some patients are engaging in unhygienic practices. Notably, I realized that some patients in the male general ward where I was practicing were not washing hands after visiting the washrooms, such that they are at risk of acquiring HAIs considering that surfaces are infected. I believe that the unhygienic practices are responsible for the high rate of HAIs that the hospital is reporting. I was surprised to learn that most of the patients are not aware of the hygiene practices. I wish to establish whether providing hospitalized patients with education on hygiene will improve self-hygiene towards reducing the rate of HAIs.

     My research question is as follows. Does the provision of patient education on self-hygiene to elderly hospitalized patients help in reducing the rates of HAIs at a general ward for elderly patients? The independent variable would be the provision of patient education on self-hygiene. There would be two dependent variables. I would wish to establish whether patient education would lead to a change of behavior. Therefore, self-hygiene would be one of the dependent variables. Further, I would measure whether there is a change in the rate of HAIs in the general ward. For that reason, the rate of HAIs would be my second dependent variable.

     I would use a pretest-posttest research design. It involves assessing the independent and dependent variables before and after the treatment (Hilt, 2020). I would start by establishing self-hygiene behavior and HAIs rate before patient education. I would then provide patient education on self-hygiene, after which I would take measures for self-hygiene and HAIs rate. Comparative analysis between pretest and posttest measures would help me answer the research question.

     I would use a purposive sampling strategy. The strategy entails using the available participants and those willing to participate (Schmidt & Brown, 2016). The purposive sampling strategy would be the most appropriate since patients keep coming and leaving the ward. Therefore, I cannot select specific patients for the study. Instead, I would keep providing patient education to patients who come in and then assess self-hygiene behaviors and whether they develop HAIs during the hospitalization period.

 

 

References

Hilt, N., Lokate, M., OldeLoohuis, A., Hulscher, M. E. J. L., Friedrich, A. W., & Voss, A. (2020). Hand hygiene compliance in dutch general practice offices. Archives of Public Health = Archives Belges De Sante Publique, 78, 79–79. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-020-00464-5

Schmidt N. A., & Brown, J. M. (Eds.). (2015). Evidence-based practice for nurses: Appraisal and application of research(3rd ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Reply 2

Patient centered care is the idea of a more personal or patient specific intervention. Something that may not change the outcome of the patient's condition but, can change their attitude or acceptance of it. For instance in this article (Dhurjati, 2011), explains a story of a patient on chemotherapy who felt better after dancing with her husband to their wedding song. Recently I dealt with a patient who was bed bound from gastric surgery who really loves basketball. We spoke about the current finals going on and the patient's entire demeanor changed completely when the topic went from how he was feeling to who he thought was going to win it all this year. I think the dependent variable in this situation would be the patient's interest in basketball and the independent variable would be his ability to play it or watch it some how. My hypothesis is that doing something small like getting the patient a small basketball hoop toy that they can use in their room would make a big difference to them specifically. 

Dhurjati, R., & Bachmeier, P. (2011). Patient-centered care. The American Journal of Nursing, 111(3), 12–12.