Introduction
Science and medicine are constantly evolving, and every year, innovations in the healthcare industry are designed to make people’s lives more convenient and better. Florence Nightingale was one of the founders of the nursing concept and brought many innovations to this business. Research has made significant progress since then, developing many methodologies and using evidence-based practice (EBP).
Evolution of Research Since the Florence Nightingale Era
In the time of Florence Nightingale, research was limited in time and knowledge resources. In addition, a clear disadvantage was that they did not have a clear methodological framework to facilitate the process (Phillips, 2019). Throughout the development of science in medicine, there have been more stringent requirements for research.
Distinctions Between Research and Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) in Nursing
Experiments and their practical verification, systematic observations, confirmation of hypotheses, and statistical data have become indispensable to qualified scientific work (Phillips, 2019). Research and EBP are distinguished by the fact that the first category requires the study of some phenomena to gain new knowledge on the topic. Thus, the main difference is that research should bring new knowledge, and EBP should apply it. Thus, research on the maintenance of EBP provides a theoretical basis for experimenting in practice.
Historical Unethical Breach of Research Conduct and Ethical Considerations for Participant Care
An example of a historical unethical violation is the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. The study took a relatively long period and was carried out between 1932 and 1972 (Lingayat et al., 2022). In the course of the experiment, African Americans were explicitly denied treatment for syphilis to monitor the development of the disease.
This study violated all the basic principles of medical ethics and spread racism and oppression that is unacceptable in today’s realities. Using the ethical consideration of informed consent, providing patients with better conditions would be possible. People could refuse to participate and receive treatment by receiving information about the experiment. Moreover, even with consent, it would be necessary to cure people and keep them under strict supervision throughout the experiment.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it should be noted that research in medicine and nursing is an essential part of modern health care. The development of research since Florence Nightingale has led to the fact that scientists began to rely more on proven facts and experiments. Thus, it allowed us to obtain more reliable information. Confirmation of ethics at the same time is also an essential factor that must be present during the investigation.
References
Lingayat, I., Mishra, P., Vasdev, N., Polaka, S., Mishra, A., & Tekade, R. K. (2022). Ethical defilements in clinical research and potential roles of institutional review board. In Pharmacokinetics and Toxicokinetic Considerations (pp. 727-750). Academic Press. Web.
Phillips, D. C. (2019). Evidence of confusion about evidence of causes: Comments on the debate about EBP in education. Educational Research and Evaluation, 25(1-2), 7-24. Web.