Reflect upon the nursing practice issue of interest that you identified in earlier discussion assignments. In addition, consider the intervention that you proposed to improve the issue.

With both the issue and the proposed practice change in mind, respond to the following:

  1. What type of evidence produced through qualitative research would be helpful to better understand the selected practice issue?
  2. How might qualitative research findings shape your efforts to improve the issue?
  3. Describe an example (real or hypothetical) of a qualitative research design that would provide valuable evidence regarding this issue.

Solution

As a refresher, the issue at hand I have been discussing is that of patients spending more time than necessary in the hospital when placed in observation status, and housed in a room that is not on a designated observation unit.  Studies have shown that observation patients placed on a clinical decision unit (CDU) or an emergency department observation unit (EDOU) spend less hours in observation status  than those scattered throughout inpatient units across the hospital.

Helpful evidence produced through qualitative research would be to review studies about patient satisfaction surveys completed on observation patients who were placed on a designated observation unit, and those placed on random inpatient units throughout the hospital. Reviewing feedback on what patients had to say about the discharge process and comparing the feedback between the two types of units will help give insight on how they perceived their experience.  Since the EDOU or CDU has been shown to reduce length of stay (LOS), it is important to know if these patients feel they were discharged too soon.  I feel it is important to….Kindly click the purchase icon to access the full solution at $5