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A Qualitative Versus Quantitative StudyJulie SaladinFerris State UniversityOctober 22, 2014The research studies that I chose to review dove into whether or not residents in nursing homes who have pneumonia should be treated in the nursing home, or sent to the hospital. The Qualitative study I chose to review is Carusone, Loeb, and Lohfeld’s (2006), “Pneumonia care and the nursing home: a qualitative descriptive study of resident and family member perspectives”. This study asks for the resident’s and the resident’s family member’s preference on whether or not the resident with pneumonia should stay in the nursing home for treatment to align with efforts to decrease hospital admissions, which would decrease risks to residents and reduce costs. My PICO question to restate this would be:P = nursing home residents with pneumoniaI = receiving treatment in the nursing homeC= receiving treatment at the hospitalO= increase safety and health-related quality of lifeFor nursing home residents with pneumonia, will providing treatment in the nursing home, compared to sending them to the hospital, increase the patient’s safety and health-related quality of life while reducing health care costs?The Quantitative study I chose to review is Loeb’s et al. (2006), “Effect of a Clinical Pathway to Reduce Hospitalization in Nursing Home Residents With Pneumonia”. This study asks if having nursing staff use a clinical pathway for treatment of pneumonia in the nursing home could reduce the number of “hospital admissions, related complications, and costs” (Loeb et al., 2006). My PICO question to restate this would be:P= nursing home residents with pneumoniaI = nurses using clinical pathways to treat in houseC= nurses providing the usual care O= decreased number of hospital admissions for treatment of pneumoniaFor nursing home residents with pneumonia, will nurses using clinical pathways to treat the residents in the nursing home, compared to providing the usual care, decrease the number of hospital admissions for treatment of pneumonia, the risks associated with sending the resident to the hospital, and reduce costs?The question in the qualitative study focuses on the patient and family preferences. Blessing and Forister (2013) revealed that “Qualitative research comprises a variety of methods that identify and address patient and provider preferences” (p. 159). This question depends on interviewing the residents and family members in order to collect information pertinent to gaining insight into how they feel. It was particularly easy to determine that Carusone et al. used a qualitative study because the study was more person oriented. Observation and record review were also used to collect data pertinent to the study. “Three basic data collection techniques are used in qualitative research: observation, intervews, and document review” (Blessing & Forister, 2013, p. 141). The question posed in the quantitative study is asking for numbers to provide statistical data that will help show whether the desired or expected results have been met. This study also used a randomized controlled trial which is indicative of a quantitative research study. Both studies had common elements that were used as the focus of the study. They both collected data in an attempt to show whether or not treating nursing home residents with pneumonia is better done in the nursing home itself, or in a hospital setting. They both discuss a cost savings by keeping the treatment in the nursing home as opposed to sending the resident to the hospital for treatment. Both studies attempt to show less risk to the resident by not transferring the resident to the hospital and as a result, they attempt to show an increase in health-related quality of life. This research in these studies is applied research because it is focused on answering a question and solving problems as opposed to just acquiring knowledge. It does not attempt to gain knowledge about behaviors or an emotional state. The implication is that this research can be used in the future to improve care to nursing home residents with pneumonia, increase health-related well-being, and decrease health care costs for the nursing homes. Blessing and Forister (2013) refer to generalizability as a way to say that the research is “widely applicable” (p. 33). According to the Institute for Work & Health website, “generalizability can be described as making predictions based on past observations” and “applying results from a study sample to the larger population from which the sample was selected” (2006).There are many potential sources of these research questions including nursing homes, because of the high cost of sending nursing home residents out to the hospital when they have staff quite capable to caring for them in house. Hospitals become overburdened with residents from nursing homes when the nursing homes can’t care for their residents. Many residents prefer to stay in the nursing home because that is their home and in the nursing home they feel less institutionalized. ReferencesBlessing, J. D., & Forister, J. G. (2013). Introduction to research and medical literature for health professionals (3rd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.Carusone, S. C., Loeb, M., & Lohfeld, L. (2006). Pneumonia care and the nursing home: a qualitative descriptive study of resident and family member perspectives. BMC Geriatrics, 6(2). doi: 10.1186/1471-2318-6-2Loeb, M., Carusone, S. C., Goeree, R., Walter, S. D., Brazil, K., Krueger, P., Simor, A., Moss, L., & Marrie, T. (2006). Effect of a clinical pathway to reduce hospitalizations in nursing home residents with pneumonia. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 295(21), 2503-2510. doi: 10.1000/jama.295.21.2503Institute for Work & Health, Research Excellence Advancing Employee Health. (2006). What researchers mean by…generalizability. Retrieved from ................
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