critique of a research article

Critique of a research article

June 2007

In the report by MacLean et al (2003 ) the researchers examined the problem of allowing family of patients to be present at the bedside during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR ) and invasive procedures . The research problem under investigation is indeed a very relevant one given the varying opinions that have been expressed with regards to the presence of family members during invasive procedures . The study is therefore justified on the basis that the issue is pertinent to critical care , emergency nurses as well as relatives of

patients who are seriously ill

There were five research questions that guided the study . The first to find out the extent to which policies hospital policies exist that spoke on the issue of family presence in critical care units and emergency rooms . The researchers aimed to distinguish between formal and informal policies . The second research question was to determine whether critical care and emergency nurses the patient 's family to be present or not . The third question was to examine the practice of critical care and emergency care nurses in allowing the presence of patient 's families . The fourth research question was to discover what the preference of family members towards being present is and the fifth was to ascertain the common comments made by nurses about their experiences with the issue . The research questions are quite relevant to the focus of the study . By examining the perceptions and practices with regard to family presence , the researchers will be able to address the problem of whether or not families should be present

The research took the form of a survey . The survey-type instrument consisted of 30 items . The population targeted for the survey was registered nurses . The survey instrument contained questions requesting demographic information such as age group , sex , years of experience as a registered nurse , working hours and the percentage of time they are involved in directly caring for patients . Additional questions were asked about the location of the hospital at which they worked , the type of facility , the type of patients cared for , whether the hospital was affiliated to a university and if there were physician residents on the unit . The questions requiring demographic information took up the bulk of the survey with 20 items dedicated to this aspect

The remainder of the survey relates specifically to the research questions . Respondents were asked if there were policies , whether written or unwritten , in their units that allowed family presence , if they prefer written or unwritten policies allowing family presence , if in their own practice they allowed family members to be present or would do so if given the go ahead . These types of questions represented a question on the survey was open and asked the nurses to write about their experience of having family members present while undertaking invasive procedures and CPR

The questions chosen for the survey are quite relevant to the research questions being examined and all items are essential . The researchers ensured , before the...