What is the purpose of this research?
The goal of the study is to define patients’ and healthcare practitioners’ perspective on innovative control tools (a device for measuring heart rate and the cardiac autonomic reflex) for identifying the presence of Cardiovascular Autonomic Neuropathy (CAN) in diabetic patients in a hospital setting (Pals et al., 2015).
What is the research question (or questions)? This may be implicit or explicit.
The research seeks to explore the attitudes toward the introduction of innovative techniques for patient health monitoring in the hospital setting among customers and healthcare providers alike. Thus, possible issues in the implementation of the said technique in the environment of a healthcare organization can be identified successfully.
Give a complete description of the research design of this study.
Seeing that the study was aimed primarily at exploring the attitudes and beliefs of patients and healthcare providers, the study design can be defined as qualitative. The authors use interviews as the source of information for further analysis, thus, giving preference to primary data. The analysis, in turn, also implied a qualitative perspective on patients’ and physicians’ vision of the innovative approach
What is the population (sample) for this study?
Nineteen interviews and field observations were selected as the research sample to collect the required information. A total of 55 CAN tests and interviews with 31 physicians were used as the key data resources.
Was the sampling approach adequate for the research design that was selected and explain why?
The approach toward the sampling procedure can be deemed as reasonable since the qualitative design did not require a large number of participants. Furthermore, the use of the convenience sample model, while comparatively limiting, helps reduce the amount of time and resources spent on the research process to a considerable degree.
Describe the data collection procedure.
As stressed above, the process of gathering the relevant information included mostly interviews. The participants were asked a series of questions aimed at developing a better understanding of their perception of the control technology mentioned above. Furthermore, nine physicians were interviewed after the conversations with the patients.
How were the data analyzed?
The information gathered during the interviews, as well as the exploration of the existing records, was studied with the help of an analytical approach based on the framework designed by Orlikowski and Gash (Pals et al., 2015). Particularly, the retrieved data was categorized based on the source thereof (i.e., whether it was retrieved from patients or physicians). Afterward, the data was sorted into logical categories. Finally, the categories were compared, and respective conclusions were made.
Discuss the limitations found in the study?
It should be kept in mind, however, that the research also has its limitations. For example, the study does not allow making the sample diverse since the convenience sampling approach was chosen. As a result, the credibility of the research results may be slightly impaired.
Discuss the authors’ conclusions. Do you feel these conclusions are based on the data that they collected?
Pals et al. (2015) ultimately prove that the use of control tools for determining the risks of CAN in diabetic patients is fully justified and needs to be encouraged. Thus, the development of CAN will be prevented or addressed at its earliest stages.
How does this advance knowledge in the field?
The outcomes of the study shed a lot of light on possible opportunities for introducing an efficient and all-embracive intervention that will help cater to the needs of target demographics. Furthermore, it opens possibilities for both patient and nurse education, as well as the enhancement of the consistent communication between the two due to the control device. As a result, opportunities for enhancing the efficacy of treatment are created.
References
Pals, R. S., Hansen, U. M., Johansen, C. B., Hansen, C. S., Jørgensen, M. E., Fleischer, J., & Willaing, I. (2015). Making sense of a new technology in clinical practice: a qualitative study of patient and physician perspectives. BMC Health Services Research, 15(1), 1-10. Web.