Outcomes Description
Introspect into the issues faced during the transportation of patients from the operation room to another setting, and vice versa, has shown that there is a need for introducing a more efficient tool for identifying the needs of target demographics during the transfer. Indeed, the outcomes of the analysis point to the fact that communication is maintained at very low quality during the transportation process. The process of transporting a patient from an operating room to award, and vice versa, may lead to significant physiological alterations in their condition (Salzwedel, Mai, Punke, Kluge, & Reuter, 2016). Therefore, it is critical to introduce the tools that will allow identifying the factors affecting patients’ state. Creating the devices that will help nurses determine the emergent threats and communicate essential information to the rest of the staff is the next step toward enhancing the quality of services provided to elderly patients.
The problem associated with overlooking certain threats that may affect patients’ health during the transportation from OR to award and, therefore, the further possibility of readmission should also be regarded as one of the key issues. Therefore, it is essential to introduce a framework that will allow nurses to collect patients’ personal data and use it to inform their further choices in the operating room setting, as well as during the transfer.
The significance of patient education is one of the factors affecting the successful transfer of target demographics from the OR setting to the environment of a regular ward. Particularly, the fact that elderly patients lack proper education and are often either reluctant or unable to memorize the necessary information that makes their transportation faster and more efficient should be listed among the key concerns. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that a program aimed at educating elderly patients should be introduced (McElroy et al., 2015).
However, when it comes to outlining the primary source of the issues that occur during the patient transportation process, the mismanagement of data should be mentioned as the palmary issue. The following inability to transfer crucial patient information from one nurse to another in a hospital setting must be listed among the key concerns. The lack of a tool that could help deliver essential information from one nurse to another and, thus, reduce patients’ exposure to threats clearly is a significant obstacle. By addressing it, nurses will be able to enhance the quality of patient transfer to a considerable degree.
Finally, the lack of clarity in identifying the responsibilities of a nurse in the identified setting was defined as the factor that defined the low quality of services and the exposure to threats for elderly patients in the specified scenario. The identified issue is defined by the issues in the current performance standards for nurses, as well as the absence of a uniform set of guidelines that could provide nurses with detailed instructions. As a result, the research points to a disturbingly low level of service quality shown during the process of transporting elderly patients from the operating room setting to award and back (Raskin, Balan, Khaitovich, & Golan, 2017).
Therefore, the outcomes of the analysis indicate that changes must be introduced into the contemporary hospital setting and especially to the manner in which information management occurs in the hospital environment. As a result, the data that is often lost in the process will be incorporated into the analysis and contribute to a massive improvement in patient outcomes.
The results of the study also indicate that there is a necessity for a more profound exploration of the subject matter. Particularly, the effects of different factors that have been located in the course of the research, such as the lack of patient education, the absence of a coherent communication framework, and the inconsistency in the guidelines provided to nurses, need to be analyzed. In addition, it is crucial to determine the factors that have the greatest effects on a drop in the number of positive patient outcomes and the development of comorbid issues in the elderly.
Additionally, an in-depth look at the strategies that can be used to encourage patient education and reinforce the information management strategies used in a hospital setting and during surgeries will have to be regarded as a necessity. Without a coherent framework for managing data and encouraging the acquisition of relevant knowledge and skills by patients, one will be unable to address the issue. Therefore, it is crucial to update the existing frameworks and create a comprehensive approach that will encourage a faster and more efficient data transfer between nurses, as well as reinforce the process of patient education.
In addition, creating a multidisciplinary team of transition experts was deemed as a legitimate solution in the course of the analysis. Because of the necessity to address a range of issues and take a vast number of factors into account when maintaining patient safety during transportation, one will have to use the assistance of several experts. Furthermore, the unique characteristics of patients’ health must be taken into consideration when designing a tool for managing patient transfer from an operating room setting to the environment of an award. Thus, a profound analysis of the identified scenario is required. As soon as a combined approach toward handling information in the healthcare setting, including patient education and instructing nurses, is designed, a rapid improvement in patient outcomes will be observed.
Statistical Tools: Results
Descriptive statistics were used as the means of exploring the issue of managing the needs of elderly patients during patient transportation from OR to a ward and vice versa. The specified statistical tools helped explore the connection between the key variables, i.e., the strategies used in the process of patient transportation and patient outcomes that can be witnessed after surgical interventions. Among other issues, the possibility of readmissions was explored extensively in connection to the approaches used by nurses to conduct the required transfer of patients from an operating room to a ward and vice versa.
Apart from basic descriptive statistics that helped explore the connection between the factors that were identified in the course of the study, no statistical tools were utilized in the study. The refusal to deploy statistical devices as the means of analyzing the links between the essential variables was justified by the study design. As stressed above, the research was primarily geared toward a qualitative analysis of the existing factors. In other words, an in-depth analysis of the nature of observed phenomena was the prime goal of the study. Thus, there was no need to quantify the outcomes of the research.
It should be noted that the use of a questionnaire as a tool for collecting essential data could be viewed as the means of introducing the elements of statistics into the study. Indeed, seeing that the identified device created opportunities for introducing a uniform approach toward gathering crucial data, it could have become the device for quantifying the collected information and, thus, building the foundation for statistical analysis (Creswell & Creswell, 2017).
Nevertheless, the questionnaire remained a device for gathering primarily qualitative information. The specified decision was supported by the fact that the nature of the study concerned exploring the variety of effects to which elderly patients were exposed in a contemporary healthcare setting. Focusing on the qualitative aspect of the study helped use the questionnaire as the means of discovering the nature of the problem. Furthermore, instead of detailing the statistical characteristics of the key variables, the identified approach gave participants an opportunity to provide the information that was not initially implied in the questions included in the tool. As a result, the Opportunity for understanding the identified phenomenon better is created.
Furthermore, the application of a qualitative analysis instead of using statistical tools leads to a more profound exploration of the issue. For instance, it becomes possible to locate a connection between not to but several variables. Particularly, the opportunities for studying the ostensible effects of patent education – or, to be more specific, the lack thereof – on patient outcomes and the chances of readmission becomes possible.
As a result, the application of the identified analysis toolsets premises for a follow-up study that will help analyze the effects of the located factors in depth. Consequently, a more profound study of the factors such as patent education, reconsideration of the current set of guidelines for nurses, and the redesign of the information management strategy can be conducted. A steep rise in positive patient outcomes among the elderly is expected after the identified issues are analyzed.
References
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2017). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
McElroy, L. M., Macapagal, K. R., Collins, K. M., Abecassis, M. M., Holl, J. L., Ladner, D. P., & Gordon, E. J. (2015). Clinician perceptions of operating room to intensive care unit handoffs and implications for patient safety: A qualitative study. The American Journal of Surgery, 210(4), 629-635. Web.
Raskin, D., Balan, S., Khaitovich, B., & Golan, G. (2017). Placement of a mobile fluoroscopic system in an obstetric operating room: A pilot study. Medical Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 5(2), 1102.
Salzwedel, C., Mai, V., Punke, M. A., Kluge, S., & Reuter, D. A. (2016). The effect of a checklist on the quality of patient handover from the operating room to the intensive care unit: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Critical Care, 32, 170-174. Web.