Problem Statement
Post-operative surgical wound infections or surgical site infections are the conditions that develop after surgery due to insufficient post-operative care or negligence that obligates additional medical attention other than the issues initially presented. SSIs are the second most common hospital-acquired infections after urinary tract diseases. Nevertheless, they are more severe than any other nosocomial infections because they interfere with a patient’s recovery after an operation and limit their comfort. Surgical site infections have become a public health problem worldwide because they result in adverse outcomes. For example, there have been increased mortality and morbidity cases due to SSIs, as most of these infections are resistant to antibiotics. As a result, SSIs present notable therapeutic challenges to medical practitioners who are also exposed to the risk of losing their license if a patient resolves to sue the institution for damages.
Over the years, the US government, in collaboration with stakeholders in the healthcare industry, has provided numerous resources to help reduce the number of SSIs in medical institutions. Additionally, researchers have uncovered various risk mitigation solutions and strategies to assist nurses in delivering effective post-operative care and evaluation to rule out the possibility of infections. However, the prevalence of these conditions is still notable, raising several questions about the practical adoption of these guidelines (Tomsic et al., 2020). On that account, it is crucial to investigate whether available resources are effective in deterring the various forms of negligence that contribute to the high prevalence of hospital-acquired conditions in surgical site infections. Hence, the proposed research aims to investigate the use of evidence-based solutions and resources provided by healthcare organizations to limit hospital-acquired SSIs. The research will adopt a qualitative study approach to obtain relevant information from medical practitioners.
Purpose Statement
Nosocomial post-operative infections are destructive to healthcare service providers because they affect patients, their families, and healthcare service practitioners. Apart from putting an individual’s life at risk, SSIs facilitate mental and emotional trauma that interferes with recovery. Moreover, SSIs place undue pressure on patients’ families because of increased medical costs, unmanageable economic burdens, emotional tension, and stress, which can lead to depression (Yao et al., 2018). In addition, medical practitioners and institutions are at risk of litigation in case of severe outcomes like permanent disability or death. Similarly, a high prevalence of SSIs in a particular medical institution can have negative implications on the task force due to diminished motivation, anxiety, and low levels of job satisfaction. In turn, the reparations can interfere with the effective delivery of other healthcare services, resulting in more issues within the system and complex cases. Therefore, evaluating existing frameworks and identifying gaps is critical because SSIs are associated with adversities that go against quality healthcare service delivery.
The main purpose of the research is to review and examine the most recent recommendations proposed by professional organizations and peer-reviewed articles to identify evidence-based preoperative and postoperative pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions against SSIs. Moreover, the research aims to investigate whether medical practitioners effectively adopt these solutions to limit post-operative SSIs in medical institutions. Given the scope of the study, it is reasonable to obtain data from individuals who occasionally interact with and deliver post-surgical care to patients (Holmes, 2020). Consequently, the research plans to adopt a qualitative methodology to obtain information about their perceptions of the solutions’ reliability and their practices in medical settings. SSIs can significantly diminish patients’ trust in the effectiveness of surgical interventions and discourage them from taking life-changing surgeries. Thus, it encourages a wider gap in access to quality healthcare service delivery as wealthy individuals can seek treatment overseas or in expensive facilities with advanced systems. That being said, assessing whether the available resources are functional is important since nurses and medical practitioners rely on them to make decisions and prepare for surgical processes is important. The information obtained from the research will help develop better systems to apply evidence-based solutions to medical practice.
Research Question
Nurses and clinicians assigned roles in surgical wards are responsible for delivering high-quality post-operative care and ensuring that all patients experience an uncomplicated recovery process. However, errors are imminent during surgical procedures and medical treatment solutions due to the dynamic nature of the healthcare landscape and diverse developments in the field of surgery and medicine. Nevertheless, nursing standards suggest occasional personal development and training programs to inform medical practitioners of reliable solutions to improve healthcare service delivery (Tomsic et al., 2020). Moreover, nursing bodies advocate for the use of evidence-based practices to ensure quality service delivery and limit errors. Thus, these practitioners are expected to use these solutions to advance their practice and ensure that they observe the recommendations.
Unfortunately, several risk factors expose surgical patients to SSIs, including poor sanitation and inappropriate cleaning of wounds during post-operation care. In addition, Van Niekerk et al. (2020) cite doctors’ negligence as a contributor to the increasing rates of SSIs in institutions. Nevertheless, most of these issues, their causes, and how to prevent them are detailed in research resources and recommendations from health advancement organizations. Moreover, there are several other information sources to guide medical practitioners on the appropriate practice standards. However, Tomsic et al. (2020) report that resistance to change and the misinterpretation of these guidelines are some of the factors that limit their adoption. Hence, the high number of SSIs reported in medical institutions indicates gaps in the adoption of these practices. Therefore, it is reasonable to obtain information from medical practitioners in surgical wards about how these solutions can be integrated into training and development programs to aid their improvement and limit SSIs in medical institutions using the most recent research.
The research aims to scrutinize the solutions and recommendations offered by researchers and professional organizations to limit the development and high prevalence of SSIs in medical facilities. Therefore, the research will base its initiatives on the question, “how can recent recommendations from professional bodies and peer-reviewed articles aid nurses in identifying effective medicinal and non-medicinal interventions to minimize and prevent surgical site infections?” The study seeks to analyze the ideas of medical practitioners posted in surgical wards because they come into close contact with the patients featured in the research. Therefore, the research methodology is justified as it will assist the researcher in collecting information from experienced individuals in settings that align with the research objectives (Holmes, 2020). By answering this question, the research will uncover the limitations that prevent medical practitioners from applying research evidence during surgery or post-surgical care to reduce SSIs. Subsequently, the results will inform medical practitioners of strategies to improve adherence to nursing standards of practice, resulting in the improvement of other healthcare practices as well.
Data Collection, Reliability, and Validity
The research intends to collect non-numerical data on the adoption and use of healthcare research and information resources to reduce the prevalence of SSIs in medical institutions, particularly in surgical wards. Therefore, it will adopt a qualitative research approach using personal interviews and closed and open-ended questionnaires as the primary data collection tools. In addition, the research will apply secondary data collection techniques by drawing relevant information from nursing standard policies and documents, peer-reviewed articles, or journal articles discussing the aforementioned topics (Moser & Korstjens, 2018). Subsequently, the research will select participants using stratified sampling techniques, which involves dividing the study population into subgroups and randomly selecting the interview and questionnaire subjects from the featured strata. However, the study sample will be limited to about 20 to 30 individuals to enhance the quality of collected data and ease of analysis.
Surgical procedures and operations are complex tasks requiring unique expertise and knowledge in the field. Moreover, the individuals involved in the recovery process possess relevant skills to identify issues and relate them to specific causative factors. Therefore, given the main objectives of the research, the research methodology, data collection techniques, and sampling method are dependable to producing relevant results (Moser & Korstjens, 2018). Similarly, the research aims to investigate concepts in the immediate environment where the cases are reported. Thus, obtaining data from people who experience associated issues daily will help yield reliable results that can be repeated over several other studies. On that account, the data collection methods and methodology are aligned with the research purpose and objectives since they comprehensively address the research question and underlying issues.
References
Holmes, A. G. D. (2020). Researcher Positionality-A Consideration of Its Influence and Place in Qualitative Research-A New Researcher Guide. Shanlax International Journal of Education, 8(4), 1-10. Web.
Moser, A., & Korstjens, I. (2018). Series: Practical guidance to qualitative research. Part 3: Sampling, data collection, and analysis. European journal of general practice, 24(1), 9-18. Web.
Tomsic, I., Heinze, N. R., Chaberny, I. F., Krauth, C., Schock, B., & von Lengerke, T. (2020). Implementation interventions in preventing surgical site infections in abdominal surgery: A systematic review. BMC Health Services Research, 20(1). Web.
Van Niekerk, J. M., Vos, M. C., Stein, A., Braakman-Jansen, L. M. A., Voor In’t Holt, A. F., & van Gemert-Pijnen, J. E. W. C. (2020). Risk factors for surgical site infections using a data-driven approach. PloS One, 15(10). Web.
Yao, R., Zhou, H., Choma, T. J., Kwon, B. K., & Street, J. (2018). Surgical site infection in spine surgery: who is at risk?. Global spine journal, 8(4_suppl), 5S-30S. Web.