The shortage of doctorally prepared nurses
The shortage of doctorally prepared nurses increases the concerns about the quality of patient care and patient safety when it comes to the nurses’ lack of the knowledge required to take care of a wound. To solve this problem, nurses should generate knowledge through research and application of scientific theories and principles. They should integrate that knowledge into their clinical practices to improve the quality of patient care and overall improved performance. Nurses can acquire knowledge of taking care of wounds through conducting the quantitative and qualitative analyses and using tools that appraise the studies.
Cohort studies and case-control studies give analytical evidence of a case. Through these studies, a nurse can determine the assessment of wounds in various patients. There are different types of wounds, each with different causes. Nurses perform wound assessment to determine the appropriate treatment from a diverse group of disease processes. Through the case study, a clinician can reveal what has caused the wound and how it was created. This can be done by studying a sample of the population of individuals with wounds and those without. In the cohort studies, the researcher can use two groups of people with identical wound outcomes but different geographical areas or occupations.
Qualitative studies and systematic reviews provide the information needed to discover the underlying etiologies of a particular wound. Though systematic review, nurses can use observations to determine where the wound is located and what the anatomy does it extend, for instance, to the dermis, epidermis, bone, or the tissue. In the qualitative studies, clinicians can use a purposive sample of patients with different types of wounds where they can be interviewed to get information like on how long a wound has been present.
Analyses ensure that data provided reflect the diversity extent of treatment and care experience. There are many factors that nurses need to consider when approaching a wound. Understanding the underlying factors and the nature of the wound can lead to effective assessment and treatment of the wound.
References
Estimating Direct Effects in Cohort and Case–control Studies. (2015). Epidemiology, 26(4), 623. https://doi.org/10.1097/ede.0000000000000320
Greatrex-White, S., & Moxey, H. (2013). Wound assessment tools and nurses’ needs: an evaluation study. International Wound Journal, 12(3), 293–301. https://doi.org/10.1111/iwj.12100
Resnick, B. (2013). Publishing a DNP capstone: The where, what and how. Geriatric Nursing, 34(2), 95–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gerinurse.2013.02.003