Quantitative Critique: Australian Graduating Nurses Knowledge, Intentions And Beliefs On Infection

Prevention And Control: A Cross Sectional Study

Research Article

Australian Graduating Nurses Knowledge, Intentions and Beliefs On Infection Prevention And
Control: A Cross Sectional Study.

Authors
Brett G. Mitchell- Faculty of Nursing and Health, Avondale College of Higher Education;
School of Nursing Midwifery and Paramedicine.

Richard Say- School of Health Sciences, University of Tasmania, Australia.

Anne Wells- Department of Health and Human Services, Tasmanian Infection Prevention and
Control Unit, Australia.

Fiona Wilson- Department of Health and Human Services, Tasmanian Infection Prevention and
Control Unit, Australia.

Linda Cleote- Faculty of Nursing and Health, Avondale College of Higher Education.

Lucinda Matheson- Faculty of Nursing and Health, Avondale College of Higher Education

Article URL

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6955/13/43

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Quantitative Critique: Australian Graduating Nurses Knowledge, Intentions And Beliefs On Infection
Prevention And Control: A Cross Sectional Study

Table of Contents

Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 3

Summary ......................................................................................................................................... 4

Title ................................................................................................................................................. 5

Authors ............................................................................................................................................ 5

Writing Style ................................................................................................................................... 5

Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... 6

Background ..................................................................................................................................... 6

Method ............................................................................................................................................ 8

Design ............................................................................................................................................. 8

Data Collection ............................................................................................................................... 9

Data Analysis .................................................................................................................................. 9

Results ........................................................................................................................................... 10

Discussion ..................................................................................................................................... 11

References ..................................................................................................................................... 11

Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 12

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Quantitative Critique: Australian Graduating Nurses Knowledge, Intentions And Beliefs On Infection
Prevention And Control: A Cross Sectional Study

INTRODUCTION

A critique is a balanced assessment, developed through a process of critical appraisal,

of both the positive and negative qualities of a research report (Taylor B., 2006). A research

critique is a careful and objective appraisal of a studys strengths and limitations and is

different from a research summary or synopsis (Polit & Beck, 2010). The aim of this project

is to capably examine the research article Australian Graduating Nurses Knowledge,

Intentions and Beliefs on Infection Prevention and Control whilst employing Beck and

Polits Nursing Research: Appraising Evidence for Nursing Practice as a manual and

reference to review the study. The critique will commence with a synopsis of the research

article, succinctly identifying the important qualities of the study, followed by the

evaluation of each heading contained in the article.

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Quantitative Critique: Australian Graduating Nurses Knowledge, Intentions And Beliefs On Infection
Prevention And Control: A Cross Sectional Study

SUMMARY
Mitchell, B.G., Richard, S., Wells, A., Wilson, F., Cloete, L., Matheson, L. (2014). "Australian

Graduating Nurses Knowledge, Intentions and Beliefs on Infection Prevention and

Control: A Cross-sectional Study." BMC Nursing 13.1: 1-17. Academic Search Complete.

5 Nov. 2017.

The study encompasses the need for education about hospital acquired infections and

the demand for infection control. The participants utilized were third year nursing school

students, who were evaluated based on their knowledge about standard precautions and

transmission-based precautions on the topic of Infection Prevention and Control (IPC). The

results showed that students exhibited a considerably stronger level of knowledge on the

topic of standard precautions, compared to transmission-based precautions. This result

suggests that education on transmission-based precautions may be inadequate. This

observation was particularly pertinent because of the increasing presence of new and

evolving pathogens in healthcare environments and the effect of clinician education on

reducing the spread of Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs). The study also identified some

interesting themes on how student nurses obtain IPC information. Nurses prefer to

approach colleagues for information rather than access evidence-based resources. This

pattern of information-seeking behaviour was also evident in graduate and undergraduate

nurses, primary health nurses, and acute and critical care nurses. The literature also reveals

that nurses generally ask for information from a colleague who they perceived to be more

knowledgeable or experienced than they are, whereas text-based resources as useful only

when readily available. Evidence-based information is therefore recommended to be

relevant for practice and must be made readily available.

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Quantitative Critique: Australian Graduating Nurses Knowledge, Intentions And Beliefs On Infection
Prevention And Control: A Cross Sectional Study

TITLE

Polit and Beck (2010) emphasizes that a good title conveys the nature of the study

in fifteen (15) words or less, and generally indicates the independent and dependent

variables and the population. The title of this article Australian Graduating Nurses

Knowledge, Intentions and Beliefs on Infection Prevention and Control: A Cross Sectional

Study, contains exactly sixteen words and gives the reader a distinct image of the

significant key variables in the research. The study population was also clearly expressed

in the title, giving the reader a clear insight into the type of research and the populace

involved. The overall title was appropriate and very distinctive with its bold, larger font

size and spacing. It was clear, accurate and unambiguous.

AUTHORS

The authors, along with their credentials were suitably placed in the beginning of

the document. The researchers positions indicate a degree of knowledge in the particular

field being explored in the study.

WRITING STYLE

Research reports should be well written, grammatically correct, concise and well

organized. The use of jargon should be avoided where possible. The style should be such

that it attracts the reader to read on (Polit and Beck, 2010). In this report, some grammatical

errors were noted in the abstracts background section; however, no use of jargon noted

and the format of the paper is well laid out and organized, making it seem inviting to read.

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Quantitative Critique: Australian Graduating Nurses Knowledge, Intentions And Beliefs On Infection
Prevention And Control: A Cross Sectional Study

Operational Definitions: In a research study, the researcher needs to ensure that the reader

understands what is meant by the terms and concepts that are used in the research. To

ensure this any concepts or terms referred to should be clearly defined (Parahoo, 2006).

The researcher provided sufficient definitions of terms used in this study, by expanding all

abbreviations and defining the expressions that were mentioned.

ABSTRACT

Polit and Becks (2010) definition states that an abstract is a brief summary of a

study in about one hundred to one hundred and fifty words that summarizes the main

features of the report. The organization of the abstract is consistent with main headings in

the report, rendering the abstract to yield more than the standard number of words, with

202 words. The abstract effectively recapitulated the article, giving a straightforward idea

of what is in the study. The objective of the study, the design, setting and participants were

lucidly identified as the purpose of the study. The appropriate measures were used to

effectively gather the information, the results and the conclusion identified that further

education in the topic should be done.

BACKGROUND

The introduction of a research article entails the research problem and its context

thereby familiarizing the audience with content such as the central phenomena, concepts,

or variables under study, the study purpose and research questions, or hypotheses to be

tested, a review of the related literature, the theoretical or conceptual framework, the

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Quantitative Critique: Australian Graduating Nurses Knowledge, Intentions And Beliefs On Infection
Prevention And Control: A Cross Sectional Study

significance of and need for the study (Beck and Polit, 2010). The first paragraph of the

introduction outlined a brief but fitting definition of terms and abbreviations, namely HAIs

with appropriate referencing, and the effects of such.

In the second paragraph, statistical values were mentioned along with suitable

references of sources, namely the World Health Organization. The second paragraph also

contained the measures that were launched for the prevention of HAIs in Australia the

population, which was beneficial to the reader. The problem statement, mentioned in the

beginning of the introduction, was easily identifiable. It can be effortlessly determined that

the population is final year undergraduate nursing students, nurses knowledge, intentions

and beliefs on infection prevention is the dependent variable and the compliance against

infection control procedures among healthcare staff as the independent variable.

This makes the title of the report a relevant one. In the background section of the

study, there was no mention of the types of data collection methods and statistical analysis,

which would have been fitting in the introduction and which was unsatisfactory about the

article. By incorporating previous research studies, the researchers used statistical data

collected in Australia as a basis for justifying the need for this research, which is to provide

healthcare staff with the necessary knowledge to make enhanced decisions and deplete the

number of HAIs.

The study stated that there is a lack of conceptual frameworks, theories and models

in the field of infection prevention and control, but, as mentioned in the study, the first step

in informing IPC education is to determine a baseline, described as surveillance in a

theoretical framework proposed by Mitchell and Gardner, which requires further critique

and discussion. Conversely, appropriate referencing were utilized throughout the

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Quantitative Critique: Australian Graduating Nurses Knowledge, Intentions And Beliefs On Infection
Prevention And Control: A Cross Sectional Study

introduction section. The purpose of the study was identified, which included the key

variables and study population, which were both fitting. The statements made in the

introduction contributed to the overall understanding of the subject.

METHOD

AIM: The aim of the study was aptly captioned and the research questions proposed

to the graduating nursing students knowledge towards IPC practices were organized

according to the sequence in which the results were reflected. The purpose of the study was

clearly identified.

DESIGN

Research Design: The researchers utilized a non-experimental, cross-sectional web

based survey to conduct this research, which was not an idyllic marker of practice because

it can only be used for identifying the beliefs and intentions rather than self-reported

practice. Nevertheless, the non-experimental cross sectional web survey was valuable

because it formed possible hypothesis for future research and tentative explanations.

Setting and Participants: The degree to which a sample reflects the population it was

drawn from is known as representativeness, and in quantitative research, this is a decisive

factor in determining the adequacy of a study (Polit and Beck, 2010). In selecting the

sample, the researcher should clearly identify who the target population are and what

criteria were used to include or exclude participants. It should also be evident how the

sample was selected and how many were invited to participate (Russell, 2005). In this

study, the target population were 349 participants from six universities, who were carded

to graduate in three months and were at the end of their final year of study. The target

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Quantitative Critique: Australian Graduating Nurses Knowledge, Intentions And Beliefs On Infection
Prevention And Control: A Cross Sectional Study

population was clearly identified and was of adequate size for this study. Probability

sampling was employed and the inclusion of the criteria was easily recognized.

Ethical Considerations: The participants were invited via email and were fully

informed about the nature of the research and, as such, ethical permission was granted for

the study. The students were asked to participate in an anonymous survey with no

obligation to participate. An incentive of winning an iPad was offered, which was effectual

in gaining participants. The confidentiality of the participants were guaranteed and the

participants were protected from harm. The study was also approved by the Avondale

College for Higher Education Human Research Ethics Committee (2013:22).

DATA COLLECTION

Methodology: The cross sectional research design was clearly identifiable in the

study and the data-gathering instrument, which was an online survey, was described

meticulously and was appropriate for the type of research. It was developed with the help

of the research team, trialled with infection control experts and cross- referenced against

national guidelines to determine the correct response. Reliability and validity testing were

assumed by presenting demographic questions in the survey. One negative aspect of the

survey was there was no evidence of academic performance of the students, such as grade

point average collected. No results were discussed in the data collection section, as it was

analysed later on in the study. No pilot study was undertaken in this research.

DATA ANALYSIS

Data analysis was performed using an applicable data and statistical analysis

method, which was the IBM Statistic SPSS (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA). All the students in

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Quantitative Critique: Australian Graduating Nurses Knowledge, Intentions And Beliefs On Infection
Prevention And Control: A Cross Sectional Study

the sample participated and findings were suitably divided into knowledge and beliefs

questions and self-reported compliance against infection control procedures, which was

aptly displayed via tables.

RESULTS

To enhance readability researchers frequently present their findings and data analysis

section under the headings of the research questions (Russell, 2005). This can help the

reviewer determine if the results that are presented clearly answer the research questions.

Tables, charts and graphs may be used to summarize the results and should be accurate,

clearly identified and enhance the presentation of results (Russell, 2005).

The results section commenced with an overview of the participants backgrounds

and the type of study that was undertaken, then an explanation of how the outcomes of the

survey were calculated. The following section of the results displayed three tables, which

accurately exhibited the results collected. This type of classification allowed the average

reader to understand the findings easily. The results were directly related to the title of the

study.

The significance of the findings showed that approximately sixty percent believed

that HAIs were preventable and compliance had no correlation to gender and age. The

results also displayed the participants information seeking behaviour, which was also

appropriate for the type of study conducted. This finding concluded that most of the

participants were likely to seek information from an infection control professional than a

senior nurse, scientific journal or the internet.

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Prevention And Control: A Cross Sectional Study

DISCUSSION

The discussion of the findings should flow logically from the data and should be

related back to the literature review thus placing the study in context (Russell, 2005). In

the discussion section, the researcher linked the current results to previous research in order

to make a connection and validate the information by giving a clearer understanding whilst

making reference to support the data. The negative aspect of the article was that the

researcher had no labelled or clear aspect of a literature review.

The researcher gave a brief but detailed discussion on the various limitations in the

research. These limitations could have potentially produced a different result, which affects

the credibility of the results. Despite the limitations, the researcher considered them as

alternative explanations for the findings. The discussion was fluent and clear and the

limitations and strengths of the study were examined. Recommendations were composed

for the need of evidence-based information, which is relevant for practice.

Another downfall was the lack of hypotheses or research questions which had no

justification for its absence stated anywhere in the study. The study also did not state any

conceptual framework, theory or model used as the basis for the research. Although the

absence was not justified, it did not affect the significance of the research due to the nature

of the topic.

REFERENCES

The research study should conclude with an accurate list of all the books, journal

articles, reports and other media that were referred to in the work (Polit & Beck, 2010). All

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Prevention And Control: A Cross Sectional Study

the books and journals cited in this study were appropriately referenced using the American

Psychological Association (APA) style of formatting.

CONCLUSION

To conclude, this article was particularly thorough research project that was

generally well presented, with little negative aspects. It was well written and well

organized, with very few grammatical errors. Suitable headings to each section made the

study easy to follow and understand. The results can be easily interpreted by the average

reader, as each abbreviation was expanded and words and phrases were properly defined.

The report followed the steps of the research process in a logical manner, making the steps

flow and the linkages clear. The conclusion in the study gave a concise review of the entire

paper, along with few recommendations. In my opinion, overall, this study would be useful

in the field of research, as adequate and valid investigations were done efficiently.

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Prevention And Control: A Cross Sectional Study

REFERENCES

Parahoo, K. (2006). Nursing Research: Principles, Process and Issues. Houndmills Basingstoke:

Palgrave Macmillan.

Polit, D., & Beck, C. (2010). Essentials of Nursing Research. Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott

Williams & Wilkins.

Russell, C. (2005). Evaulating Quantitative Research Reports. Nephrol Nursing Journal, 32(1),

61-4.

Taylor B., K. S. (2006). Research in Nursing and Health Care: Evidence for Practice. London,

UK: Cengage Learning EMEA.

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