Quantitative Research Article Review
The quantitative research article that I chose to review was a study completed by Dougherty and Thompson (2009), found in Research in Nursing & Health. Very few researchers have focused their study on the impact of cardiac arrest and ICD implantation on a patient’s intimate partner. What little is known about caregiving responsibilities and caregiver burden after a cardiac illness or event has previously been focused on the spousal experiences following an acute myocardial infarction or coronary artery bypass graft surgery (Dougherty & Thompson, 2009). The researchers in this article chose to study the physical and mental health effects of the intimate partners of persons after sudden cardiac arrest and receipt of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). Intimate partners were defined as being the spouse, lover, or significant other living in the same household as the patient during the study enrollment. Complete data collection was obtained from 100 intimate partners that participated in the study. Subjects were recruited from 10 Pacific Northwest hospitals after patient’s received an ICD after cardiac arrest. Data were collected by the researchers between 1999 and 2002.
Definition of Research and Type of Research
The article that was reviewed definitely satisfied the definition of research as given in Knapp (1998). According to Knapp (1998), “research is an investigative activity that has as its goal the advancement of knowledge” (p. 4). The article reviewed investigated intimate partner’s physical functioning, psychological adjustment, personal healthcare utilization, and relationship impact after their loved one experienced cardiac arrest and ICD implantation. Since...
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...rstand the effects of ICD implantation after cardiac arrest on intimate partners. Patients are increasingly surviving life-threatening illnesses and needing to be cared for at home by family members. In order for patients to become healthy and make a complete recovery, the physical and psychological needs of the intimate partner caring for them need to be addressed.
Works Cited
Burns, N. & Grove, S. K. (2009). The practice of nursing research: Appraisal, synthesis, and
generation of evidence (6th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Saunders Elsevier.
Dougherty, C. M. & Thompson, E. A. (2009). Intimate partner physical and mental health after
sudden cardiac arrest and receipt of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator. Research
in Nursing & Health, 32, 434-442. doi:10.1002/nur.20330
Knapp, T. R. (2009). Quantitative nursing research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Burns, N., & Grove, S. K. (2011). Understanding nursing research: building an evidence-based practice (5th ed.). Maryland Heights, MO: Elsevier/Saunders
Today, most hospitals have strict ICU visiting hours despite increasing awareness that family and friends play an active role in a patient’s care. Typically, patients in ICU are critically ill and are often at the end stages of their lives. The presence of family and friends in these circumstances is vital in creating the most comfortable and therapeutic environment for the patient. Studies have shown the benefit for the patients when the support and positive reinforcement of family and friends is present. Furthermore, a randomized controlled trial revealed that an unrestricted ICU visiting policy is associated with reduced cardio-circulatory complications, possibly because visits reduce patient anxiety and promote a more favorable hormonal profile (Berti, Ferdinande, Moons, 2007).
The American Heart Association gives sufficient evidence for the need of change by acknowledging that sudden cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death (2012). These fatalities affect both adult and child victims. Statistics also show that 70% of people feel helpless during a cardia...
Nursing research is a systematic enquiry that seeks to add new nursing knowledge to benefit patients, families and communities. It encompasses all aspects of health that are of interest to nursing, including promotion of health, prevention of illness, care of people of all ages during illness and recovery (or) towards a peaceful and dignified death (ICN 2009)
Perceptions of Adult Hospitalized Patient on Family Presence During Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation. American Journal of Critical Care, 26(2), 102-110. doi:10.4037/ajcc20175550
The cases used for analysis in the current paper were based on a larger study of 14 cases conducted by Seymour in 1997. The data was from two different hospital ICUs within the same city in 1995 and the first two months of 1996. It was purposive sampling, so for participants to gain entry into the study they had to be in a critical condition and at a high risk of death. Along with this, patients had to be over the age of 18, not ‘brain dead’, and have a next of kin appointed. Participants were chosen who were critically ill as they were judged as being able to highlight the interactions that would occur between health care professionals and surrogates- next of kin and their health care team.. Participants who fitted these criteria were approached once they had been in ICU for no less than 24 hours and no more than 72 hours. Since particip...
A few of the healthcare problems that are common with a life-altering illness are stress, trust issues with the healthcare system and family, depression, and end of life decision making. Having a good support system is so important to these patients so, keeping the communication open between the physician and patient will help tremendously. It will relieve some of the frustration that accompanies the illness.
Polit, D. F. & Beck, C. T. (2012). Nursing research: Generating and assessing evidence for nursing practice (9th ed.). Philadelphia: Lippincott.
Treating the patient and family as one, can have improved outcomes, decrease hospital stays, increased patient satisfaction, and improved reimbursements for the hospital. Developing a relationship with not only the patient, but family as well, can pay off in the long run by providing better communication, better quality of care, and trust. The patient and family can be strong advocates for improved performance improvement efforts. Including family in the treatment of the patient treats the “whole” patient through their hospitalization. Involving the family can enhance the patients care.
Iranian researchers Soltani, Molazadeh, Mahmoodi, & Hosseini (2013) conducted a quasi-experiment with 14 couples in distress. They randomly assigned couples to either a control group or a group exposed to EFT treatment for 10 weeks. Utilizing the Intimacy Needs Questionnaire and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, they measured pre-treatment and post-treatment intimacy. Significant improvement was found in intellectual, temporal, relationship, physical, sexual, psychological, and emotional intimacy. They found no change in social-recreational and spiritual intimacy. Since this study, much of the research has focused on specific populations such as infertile couples, survivors of abuse, and couples with substance abuse issues (Wiebe & Johnson, 2016). The efficacy of EFT in helping distressed couples increase intimacy and relational health is well established after 30 years of research. In the future, research will focus on utilizing EFT’s attachment-oriented principles for other applications including parenting, depressive disorder treatment, and couples facing chronic illness (Johnson & Wittenborn,
Smith, P. H., Homish, G. G., Leonard, K. E., & Cornelius, J. R. (2012). Intimate partner
Weng, L., Huang, H., Wang, Y., Chang, C., Tsai, C., & Lee, W. (2011). Primary caregiver stress in caring for a living-related liver transplantation recipient during the postoperative stage. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 1749-1757.
Lautrette, A., Darmon, M., Megarbane, B., Joly, L. M., Chevret, S., Adrie, C., et al. (2007). A Communication Strategy and Brochure for Relatives of Patients Dying in the ICU. The New England Journal of Medicine, 356(5), 469-478.
The nurse stated during the interview that “holding the hand of the patient just diagnosed with a terminal illness” (Appendix A) is difficult and requires a variety of techniques to face the situation. There are many ways to approach a dying patient, and one study identified four themes that help nurses in creating a “’curtain of protection’ to mitigate the grieving process and allow them to provide supportive nursing care” (Gerow et al., 2010). Of the four approached, there is one that appears to make the greatest impact on the nurse; the fact that initial patient deaths are formative. In this case, a study found that “significant death experiences early in a nurse’s career set the foundation for how the nurse began caring for future dying patients” (Gerow et al., 2010), which was further explained as the fact that those who had enough support and mentorship early on in their nursing practice were more likely to not be emotionally damaged by the event, and were able to better approach similar situations in the future. I plan on implementing this strategy in the future by surrounding myself with colleagues and mentors within my practice that I am comfortable confiding in whenever I happen to be struggling. A strong support network is key for maintaining proper emotional health, which is important for a nurse to have when working with vulnerable patients and providing competent
A new study has found that family members who observed resuscitation efforts were significantly less likely to experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress, anxiety and depression than family members that did not. The results, published in an online article in The New England Journal of Medicine, entitled “Family Presence during Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation,” were the same regardless of the survival of the patient. The study involved 570 people in France whose family members were treated by emergency medical personnel at home. These EMS teams were unique in that they were comprised of a physician, a nurse trained in emergency medicine, and two emergency medical technicians. The study found that the presence of relatives did not affect the results of CPR, nor did it increase the stress levels of the emergency medical teams. Having family present also did not result in any...