Running Head: RESEARCH ARTICLE CRITIQUE

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Problem statement critique

Peripheral intravenous device (IVD) insertion is the most commonly performed invasive procedure in hospitalized patients, with an estimated 150 million peripheral intravenous devices placed each year in North America alone. IVDs are vital for delivery of hydration, medicines and nutrition but are not without complications. (Rickard et al., 2005)

The statement is clear and it is supported by justification that peripheral IVD is a popular procedure in many hospitals though it has complications resulting after or during its use. Nurses are responsible for handling hospitalized patients which also includes the IVD dressing and checking. By studying the complications occurrence in cases where IVDs are used, it will give an informative way forward as to the nurse’s education and therefore improve the nursing practice on use and management of IVD. Clinical Guidelines(2009) give instructions as to how infections resulting from peripheral intravenous devices can be reduced through proper dressing, hand hygiene and management of the intravenous device.

The researcher provides a strong argument for the study while giving relevant information. With the increasing cases of infections resulting from peripheral intravenous devices, there is increased concern over which method is effective to prevent or control this infection. The method is also popular in many hospitals and so there is need to do further study on the impact of IVD on patients (Lavery & Ingram, 2006). The problem stated by Rickard can be researched because all hospitals make use of IVDs so it is possible to find cases of infection and predict their cause which can be due to wrong insertion of the catheter, not properly dressing the insertion or simply not observing for potential infections at the place of insertion. IVD equipment is available in all hospitals and also the patients to be used as subjects are present but the routine replacement could be expensive to the hospital. The only hurdle would be getting informed consent from the patient on whether they want to participate in research However, the feasibility of this study will depend on the expertise of the researcher. The researcher needs to know the procedure that is involved in proper management of peripheral intravenous devices and also the guidelines provided by the government or a health institution. This will be essential in determining how infections result from these procedures. The investigator is supposed to have the time to perform the experiment given that infections take time to establish and also have ethical clearance on involvement of human subjects in research.

The problem statement is not stated specifically as to narrow down the research. It broadly identify presence of infections in peripheral intravenous devices but it is impossible to depict which method will be used in research as one has to weigh the effective methods that can be used in studying such cases.

The purpose of the study was to compare the impact of 3-day routine resite with clinically indicated resite on peripheral IVD complications (Rickard et al., 2005). The purpose statement is supposed to give the variables that are going to be investigated in the research and how they relate to one another. It is one statement stating the aim of the study. However it fails to state what population the study is being undertaken whether it will be researched in laboratory animals or humans and where the study is going to take place, hospital, clinic or laboratory. These are important elements in a purpose for study statement summarizing what the experiment entails.

References

Lavery, I. and Ingram, P. (2006). Prevention of infection in peripheral intravenous devices Nursing Standard, 20(49), 49-56.

Rickard, C. M., McCann, D., Munnings J and McGrail, M. R (2010). Routine rebsite of peripheral intravenous devices everyday did not reduce complications compared with clinically indicated resite: A randomized controlled trial. BMC medicine. 8, 53-62. DOI: 10.1186/1741-7015-8-53

The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne. (2009) Clinical Guidelines (Hospital): Peripheral intravenous (IV) device management. Retrieved 20 April 2011, from, http://www.rch.org.au/rchcpg/index.cfm?doc_id=9507