“Developing the Nursing Research Agenda…” by Garma et al. Essay

The article entitled “Developing the Nursing Research Agenda During the COVID-19 Pandemic”, discusses the key research priorities in nursing practice instrumental in ensuring effective care for COVID-19 patients. The areas of research singled out in the article comprise “context-specific patient responses and tailored interventions,” “a safe work environment for healthcare workers,” “addressing health inequities and disparities,” “technology-driven innovations,” and “advocacy and ethics of care” (Garma et al., 2022, pp. 294-295). Context-specific patient responses and tailored interventions presuppose dealing with patients’ feelings of anxiety and desolation caused by COVID-19. The method recommended to effectively deal with stress is incorporating cultural elements into nursing practice, thus making it more personalized and patient-centered.

A safe work environment for healthcare workers presupposes exploring the areas where nurses’ safety may be compromised and elaborating mechanisms to offset the negative factors through restructuring working environments and granting nurses power in decision-making. Health inequities and disparities must be addressed through nurses’ advocacy for the disadvantaged groups, such as elderly people or minority communities. Nurses should be involved in elaborating clinical guidelines that ensure proper treatment for everyone irrespective of age or income. Advocacy and ethics of care deal with protecting patients’ personal data in clinical trials and ensuring an ethical way of patients’ polling on how they feel taking certain types of medication. Moreover, nurse researchers should be involved in multidisciplinary research teams, thus promoting scientific knowledge as to how to improve nursing care for COVID-19 patients.

The sampling method selected for this study is probability sampling or random sampling. The method presupposes random choice of the participants for the study, enhancing generalizability and narrowing down the number of possible mistakes (Berndt, 2020). This method presupposes the use of a computerized random tool (Gill, 2020). It allows polling “nurse researchers, administrators and clinicians” as to the most relevant issues they encounter in their practice and the ways they propose to resolve them (Garma et al., 2022, pp. 294-295). Once the sampling method is determined, its effectiveness may be assessed depending on the subject recruitment and retention strategies used (Curtis & Keeler, 2021). This particular sampling method is effective provided there is an equal representation of nursing leaders, nurses-researchers, and clinical nurses to discuss their vision of improving nursing services in the COVID-19 pandemic. The three key questions I will ask when reading this research study are the following:

1. On what grounds will the nurses be selected to take part in the study, and will this selection be representative of the nursing community as a whole? How many nurses need to take part in the research to make its results credible?
2. How the viable proposals will be differentiated from populist or ineffective ones? What is the framework for proposal assessment?
3. Once the areas of work are established, what measures will be taken to put effective proposals into practice. How will nursing organizations be involved in the process?

The first question is relevant since it allows understanding of whether the research conducted will bear credible results through ensuring fair representation of the nursing community and an adequate number of nurses involved. The second question allows assessing the reliability of the research results since, to be reliable, they should be based on a solid theoretical framework. Moreover, effective evaluation methods should be used to assess the proposed initiatives. The third question connects theoretical results with their practical application and is essential since the research will only be valuable if its results are translated into boosting nurses’ performance in practice.

References

Berndt, A. E. (2020). Sampling methods.Journal of Human Lactation, 36(2), 224-226. Web.

Curtis, A. C., & Keeler, C. (2021). Sampling Design in Nursing Research. AJN The American Journal of Nursing, 121(3), 53-57.

Garma, P. F. U., Punzalan, M. C. E., Palcone, R. M., Tuanquin, M. G. T., & Veloso, P. S. I. (2022). Developing the nursing research agenda during the COVID-19 pandemic. British Journal of Nursing, 31(5), 294-295. Web.

Gill, S. L. (2020). Qualitative sampling methods.Journal of Human Lactation, 36(4), 579-581. Web.