Problem Statement
Chronic kidney disease is one of the most burning issues of the area of health care and epidemiology nowadays. Various factors discussed below lead to the sharp increase in the rate of chronic kidney disease incidence among the population of the United States of America and other countries. According to Stone (2008), the number of patients suffering from chronic kidney disease in the US has increased rather drastically over the several recent years making epidemiologists take more time to research the topic of chronic kidney disease and try to find ways to find this threat to the human health (p. 1).
The issue of chronic kidney disease is complicated by the fact stressed by NIH (2009), Bash, Coresh, Köttgen, Parekh, Fulop, Wang et al. (2009), Family Doctor (2009), and Stone (2008) arguing that most patients suffering from the disease usually experience more problems from the consequences and complications of the chronic kidneys disease that range from mild weaknesses to kidney failures, comas, and cardiovascular disease.
Research on Chronic Kidney Disease
- Research Importance;
- Research Methodology;
- Basic Research Procedures;
- Research Limitations;
The above problem statement allows seeing the very importance of the research on chronic kidney disease. The main points that facilitate the need for the chronic kidney disease research and handling program include the sharp increase of chronic kidney disease over the past decade, the increasing danger of the disease and its complications, and the need to formulate effective ways to treat chronic kidney disease and inform people on handling this disease (Stone, 2008, p. 2; Singh, Szczech, Tang, Barnhart, Sapp, Wolfson, et al., 2009, p. 2091).
Drawing from this, the epidemiological approach is chosen as the basic methodology for chronic kidney disease research. In epidemiology as a rather people-oriented science, direct communication with people as potential or current disease victims or specialists who can help treat the chronic kidney disease is considered, like Bash, Coresh, Köttgen, Parekh, Fulop, Wang et al. (2009) argue, to be a most effective technique. Therefore, the research will resort to the use of face-to-face and semi-structured interviews and questionnaire surveys to collect its primary data. The secondary data will be collected through the methods of literature review and documentation supervision.
Accordingly, the main research procedures used during the investigation of the chronic kidney disease data will start with the literature review aimed at getting preliminary, mainly secondary, information on the disease’s background (Fos and Fine, 2000, pp. 12 – 13). The next step will be the creation of questionnaires for the intended surveys and the development of questions for the face-to-face and semi-structured interviews. Special scales will be designed next for convenient and objective data measurement and analysis. As the literature review information and the primary research data are processes, the research results will be reported in public media and regular educational meetings will be established to timely inform people on chronic kidney disease and the ways to handle it (Singh, Szczech, Tang, Barnhart, Sapp, Wolfson, et al., 2009, p. 2097).
The limitations of the research will be observed mainly in its scope and the changing nature of the disease studied. Concerning the former, it will be impossible to quest every single chronic kidney disease patient and thus the study results can apply to the limited number of people and context. Further research will be necessary to eliminate this limitation, as well as the second one, as only the regular studies of the topic might help obtain data on chronic kidney disease in its development (Bash, Coresh, Köttgen, Parekh, Fulop, Wang, et al., 2009, p. 423).
Chronic Kidney Disease Program Objectives
- Importance of chronic kidney disease program objectives;
- Informational objectives of chronic kidney disease program;
- Introduction of the program information to the epidemiological and medical professionals;
- Defining program limitations and further research directions.
As a result of the need to have a structured program for handling chronic kidney disease, the following program objectives can be outlined as the fundamentals for research and practical work in the area of studying chronic kidney disease, its causes, and ways to treat it:
- Carry out the deep study of chronic kidney disease;
- Inquire in detail about the caused of the chronic kidney disease occurrence;
- Study the research works for the reported ways of treating chronic kidney disease;
- Select the most fitting principles and carry out the new research to trace the disease development over time;
- Synthesize research conclusions and formulate them into understandable and comprehensible statements;
- Inform the ordinary people, as the potential victims of chronic kidney disease, on the research findings;
- Implement regular educational work among the chronic kidney disease patients or potential victims of the disease;
- Introduce the research findings to the epidemiology and medicine professionals to allow them to update their treatment techniques and overall knowledge on chronic kidney disease;
- State the limitations of the current chronic kidney disease program;
- Outline the directions for further research on the topic of chronic kidney disease.
Accordingly, the above presented chronic kidney disease program objectives combined with the proper research data collection and analysis techniques will provide epidemiology with valuable data on chronic kidney disease, its development causes, and ways to stop the disease progression.
References
Bash, L. D., Coresh, J., Köttgen, A., Parekh, R. S., Fulop, T., Wang, Y., et al. (2009). Defining incident chronic kidney disease in the research setting. American Journal of Epidemiology, 170(4). P. 414-424.
Family Doctor. (2009). What is Chronic Kidney Disease? Chronic Kidney Disease. Web.
Fos, P. and Fine D.J. (2000). Designing Healthcare for Populations: Applied Epidemiology in healthcare administration, San Francisco, Jossey-Bass.
NIH. (2009). Chronic Kidney Disease and Kidney Failure. National Institute of Health Fact Sheet.
Singh, A. K., Szczech, L., Tang, K. L., Barnhart, H., Sapp, S., Wolfson, M., et al. (2009). Correction of anemia with Epoetin Alfa in chronic kidney disease. The New England Journal of Medicine, 355(20): 2085-2098.
Stone, A. (2008). Annual Report Targets Chronic Kidney Disease in the United States. NIH News, 1-2.