Critique of Quantitative Research Article

Dr. Karrie Hendrickson published an article in 2009 analyzing patterns of hospital resource utilization of children with leukemia and CNS tumors. Dr. Hendrickson used quantitative research as her means of analysis. In her article, Dr. Hendrickson specifies the population as children ages 0 to 19 years diagnosed with cancer at a large north-eastern hospital between fiscal years 2000 and 2004. Specifically, she focused on children diagnosed with leukemia and CNS tumors, as these account for about 50% of deaths of children with cancer each year. The article clearly identifies the variables as well as the relationship between the variables such as relationship between PICU admissions and survival rates of patients. The article’s significance in nursing is imbedded in the drive to “decrease the mortality rate associated with childhood cancer and to improve the quality of life for those who survive their illness”.

Dr. Hendrickson relies very heavily on current and primary sources, such as the hospital tumor registry as well as resource information management database. She also addresses relevant variables such as type of cancer, survival rate, length of hospital stay, and associates costs. Significant gaps in information lie in the 26.8% of patients who were cared for by community-based physicians rather than university based physicians. It is suggested that the description may underrepresent the total cost of care.

The connection between variables is made evident by Dr. Hendrickson’s correlation between PICU admission and death rate. While comparing the group of cancer patients as a whole with PICU admission percentages showed no significant association with death rate, the two types of cancer compared individually revealed signif...

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... and validity.

Dr. Hendrickson did an exceptional job of interpreting the data analysis and presenting the results, especially in the breaking down of the different types of cancer to reveal further significance. The discussion of the results is very descriptive and thorough. She points out correlations that were made and identifies areas in need of further research.

In her conclusions, Dr. Hendrickson notes that, “The findings highlight the differences in hospital resource utilization and costs between the two childhood cancers with the highest mortality rates.” She speculates that a three-fold approach to patient care including cancer treatment, palliative care, and financial management, presented to parents upon initial diagnosis could help parents to prepare, thus alleviating the uncertainty and unexpected financial costs associated with childhood cancers.