Patient Risks and Nursing Ratios in NSG 6101 Nursing Research
Patient Risks and Nursing Ratios in NSG 6101 Nursing Research
Synopsis
Share your research question and problem statement to start the conversation. Talk about your sampling plan after that. Talk about your research design as well. Think on the following when you formulate your answer.
Sampling Procedure:
1) How will the sample be chosen?
2) What kind of sampling technique is applied? Does it fit with the design?
3) Does the sample accurately represent the population that the problem or purpose statement refers to?
4) Is the sample size suitable? Why not, and why not?
5) To what demographic can the results be applied broadly? What are generalizability’s constraints?
Study design:
1) Which kind of design will be applied?
2) Does the design appear to be derived from the hypothesis, theoretical framework, literature review, and suggested research problem? My research question and problem statement are below.
2013 is the latest year for both APA style and sources.
Given the current state of healthcare, hospitals need to look for further ways to reduce expenses. Budget cuts typically start with staffing. Nonetheless, it has been observed that a decrease in staff tends to increase patient safety errors (Frederickson, 2013). A few states have imposed maximum patient-to-staff ratios on their own. Staff satisfaction is better in these states and there have been fewer incidents (Tellez & Ann Seago, 2013). Patient Risks and Nursing Ratios in NSG 6101 Nursing Research.
PROBLEM: Patient safety hazards are also increased by higher staff-to-patient ratios.
RESEARCH PURPOSE: To ascertain whether a rise in medication errors, treatment errors, falls, cardiac arrests, and fatalities is correlated with higher patient to staff ratios.
PICOT Questions: (P) Over a period of six months to a year, do nurses with larger patient loads (I) make more mistakes and (O) perhaps have lower patient outcomes (C) than nurses with smaller patient loads (T)?
The research question and the statement of the problem
This study aims to investigate the relationship between patient safety risks and staff-to-patient ratios. In an effort to save costs, hospitals and other healthcare facilities are cutting back on the number of healthcare employees they employ (Frederickson, 2013). Numerous studies addressing the matter have demonstrated that either a higher or lower staff-to-patient ratio leads to adverse health consequences as a result of enhanced patient safety.
The purpose of this research is to determine whether higher patient ratios are associated with a rise in medication errors, treatment errors, patient falls, fatalities, and cardiac arrests. The study’s research question, which is based on the problem statement, is: Do nurses who have higher patient loads over the course of six months to a year end up making more mistakes and possibly having the worst patient outcomes than the nurses who have lower patient loads? Patient risks and nursing ratios in NSG 6101 Nursing Research.
Choosing the Sample
South Carolina hospitals situated in suburban and urban locations will be included in the study’s sample. The study would involve compiling a list of hospitals that see an average of between 100 and 400 patients every day. Hospitals in major South Carolina cities like Greenville, Columbia, and Charleston will be on the list.
However, the investigation will also take into account a hospital located in South Carolina’s suburban areas, such as Mauldin, Beaufort, and Fort Mill Township. Next, a random selection will be made from the hospitals’ list that was chosen from the group. The response to this has been provided in compliance with Patient risks and nursing ratios in NSG 6101 Nursing Research..
Kind of Sampling Method Employed
Every hospital in South Carolina’s metropolitan and suburban districts will have an equal chance of being chosen for the study’s purpose through random sampling. The goal of this approach is to determine whether the variables under investigation are correlated. Since random samples may be measured both before and after the treatment, the sampling technique is suitable for the experimental research design that will be employed in the study. The rationale is that a random technique will be used to assign each participant—in this example, the randomly selected hospitals—to a treatment.
The chosen sample’s reflection of the population in the problem or purpose statement
The population covered by the sample will be able to be represented in the problem statement. Important details regarding the ratio of staff available to patients in need of care can be obtained from the designated hospitals. The samples will allow for the comparison of several hospitals with varying patient-to-staff ratios in order to ascertain the number of deaths, cardiac arrests, medication errors, patient falls, and treatment errors.
The research will be able to determine whether an increase in the patient to staff ratio is likely to result in a rise in medication errors, patient falls, cardiac arrests, and treatment errors within healthcare facilities by analyzing the variables from the chosen sample. The research findings are ensured to be inclusive of a variety of backgrounds and geographical areas by selecting samples from South Carolina’s suburban and metropolitan areas. Patient risks and nursing ratios in NSG 6101 Nursing Research.
Suitability of the Sample Size
A sample size of seven hospitals from the chosen areas is used in the study. The sample size is suitable for the study. The sample is suitable since a sizable number of hospitals will be included in the study. Because there are fewer, more manageable hospitals, conducting the research will take less time and money. Additionally, the sample size saves time because it may take a while to do research on a large number of hospitals.
The sample size also aids in the elimination of mistakes, which frequently arise when there are many samples being studied. It is possible to get results that cover not just places with high population density but also regions with slightly lower population density because this sample size includes hospitals in South Carolina’s suburban and metropolitan districts. Patient risks and nursing ratios in NSG 6101 Nursing Research.
Expansion of the Results
The research’s conclusions are not limited to hospital settings. The results can be applied to other healthcare settings such as surgery centers, assisted living institutions, and urgent care clinics. The problem of how many personnel is needed to attend to a group of patients has an impact on other industries as well as the quality of service and expected results in the health care sector (Hopkins, 2008).
The results of this study can be applied by businesses, public administration organizations, and law enforcement agencies to clarify the significance of the staff-to-client ratio in enhancing performance outcomes. Patient Risks and Nursing Ratios in NSG 6101 Nursing Research. The generalizations do have certain restrictions, though. Initially, variations may exist about the many factors influencing distinct variables. The health sector’s dynamic changes may mean that the results achieved now cannot be applicable to a later time. The topics under analysis may only apply to a few US locations.
Design of Research
Because of the nature of the research issue, a quantitative experimental research design will be used in place of a descriptive one (Hopkins, 2014). The experimental strategy is chosen because it prioritizes time in the causal link between the two variables being studied. Additionally, the design works best when studying outcomes like mortality, injury, or expense where the magnitude of the correlation has a significant impact.
According to the concept, a random process must be used to assign treatments to the hospitals that were chosen at random. Association between higher patient to staff ratios and a rise in treatment errors, prescription errors, fatalities, cardiac arrests, and patient falls could be investigated by this study. Patient Risks and Nursing Ratios in NSG 6101 Nursing Research.
The research design follows from the research problem since experimental, quantitative research is best suited to address studies that focus on establishing the relationship between various variables. About the theoretical framework, it focuses on elaborating the existence of a causal association between an increase in the patient to staff ratio and a rise in adverse health outcomes.
In this sense, the design makes sense because it helps identify the relationship between any variables under investigation. The literature now in publication gives quantitative research a lot of credit for elucidating the correlations between various factors. Patient Risks and Nursing Ratios in NSG 6101 Nursing Research. The main focus of the research appears to be whether there is a relationship between the variables and whether raising the patient to staff ratio increases patient safety risks. This expectation of a relationship is in line with the research design (Clarke, 2017).
References
1) Clarke, S. (2017). Nurse Staffing and Patient Care Quality and Safety – Patient Safety and Quality – NCBI Bookshelf. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2676/
2) Frederickson, W. (2013). Nurses Are Exposing the Reality: Patients Are At Risk. Minnesota Nursing Accent, 5-7.
3) Hopkins, W. (2008, July). Quantitative Research Design. Retrieved from http://www.sportsci.org/jour/0001/wghdesign.html