RUA : analyzing published research
paper has to follow the attached guide line
Running head: ARTICLE REVIEW 1
ARTICLE REVIEW 2
Analyzing Published Research
Student’s name
Institutional affiliation
Date
Problem
In December last year, the first case of a possibly zoonotic infection in humans, a novel coronavirus was recorded in Wuhan China. This novel virus presented with symptoms of atypical pneumonia and had a range of symptoms from mild to severe, even leading to death. The infection is known to be among the most contagious infections ever known from the 1918 Spanish flu. The 2009 H1N1 influenza type A. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus type 2 or simply Coronavirus Disease 2019 has proven to be a very infectious disease. As of 11th March 2020, the World Health Organization declared it a global pandemic.
Advise of WHO and other experts were that, the disease is spread by being in close contact with those infected and as a result, advised on preventive and control measures. Some of these measures include sanitizing, maintaining mass social distance and wearing masks. Health information is very important to spreads these insights to the general public to generalize behaviour that may discourage the spread of the infection. However, there are those families and patients who do not have sufficient information regarding preventive measures to control the spread of the infection.
With limited information on the preventive measures and safe engagement, this part of the population continues to engage in high-risk behaviour that works to increase the spread of the virus. The result of this is that the infection continues to spread to the population and claim more lives. The morbidity and mortality rates increase with an increase in the rate of infection among the population. This makes the lack of health information on preventive measures and safe engagement practices against COVID 19 a social and health problem.
This paper aims to identify the effectiveness of health education on patients and their families on the best preventive measures against COVID19 and safe engagement practices during the period of the pandemic in controlling the spread of the virus. The paper hypothesizes that, with effective health education, patients and their families will engage in safe behaviour while in the hospital. As a result, there will be lowered chances of spread of this infection. Furthermore, the paper believes that limited education on preventive measures increases the chances of patients and their families engaging in high-risk behaviours in the hospital, which increases the chances of being infected with COVID19.
Synthesis of literature
References
Purpose
Variables
Study design
Sample size and selection
Data collection methods
Major findings
Tahan, H. M. (2020). Essential Case Management Practices Amidst the Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Crisis: Part 2: End-of-Life Care, Workers’ Compensation Case Management, Legal and Ethical Obligations, Remote Practice, and Resilience. Professional case management.
This paper aims to discuss the envisioned roles and responsibilities that case managers and their leaders have in an attempt to meet the needs of patients and support systems during the COVID19 pandemic. More focus on the paper is on acute care, palliative and end-of-life care by professional case managers.
The dependent variable, in this case, is the quality of palliative and end-of-life care in hospitals. The independent variable is the COVID 19 pandemic.
This study is based on a systematic review of the literature.
The study being dependent on secondary sources purely had no sample from which data was retrieved.
Different secondary sources relating to case management practices and strategies were selected and critically appraised. The best quality literature was extracted for data, data synthesized and refined and reports presented.
The study found out that COVID 19 prompted innovative thinking and instant creativity. There are emerging opportunities for innovation in digital and telecommunication technologies to improve the quality of care in hospitals. There were redefined roles of professional case managers and their leaders, especially in acute care, end-of-life care and palliative care in hospitals.
Verhoeven, V., Tsakitzidis, G., Philips, H., & Van Royen, P. (2020). Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the core functions of primary care: will the cure be worse than the disease? A qualitative interview study in Flemish GPs. BMJ Open, 10(6), e039674
This paper aims to gain insights on the impacts that COVID19 has placed on core competencies of general practitioners in the frontline.
The dependent variables are the core competencies in general practitioners. The independent variable is the COVID 19 pandemic.
The study was a qualitative study aimed at understanding the change in key competencies among general practitioners.
The research involved 132 General Practitioners in Flanders.
The researchers issued out questionnaires to the respondents to prompt their responses. After that, framework analysis was used to perform qualitative analysis and findings reported.
The study found out that there were changes in consultation strategies and practice management with the onset of COVID19 pandemic. The study also concluded that this might pose a challenge to the general health of the population and delivery of primary healthcare.
Variables
The first article by Tahan (2020) had its independent variable as COVID19. The dependent variable, on the other hand, is the provision of quality acute care, palliative and end-of-life care. The provision of quality care is dependent on the COVID19 pandemic as the pandemic mandates the professional case managers to provide the best quality of care during these challenging times of the pandemic.
The second article by Verhoeven et al. (2020) still has the independent variable as the COVID19 pandemic. In this case, the independent variable is the core competencies of general practitioners in the frontline. From the onset of the pandemic, there has been a change in the way the general practitioners perform their duties and as a result. Change in core competencies.
Methods
Both of these research articles were qualitative in nature. Qualitative research approaches are concerned with identifying and assessing a central phenomenon and the influence of other factors on the phenomena being investigated. The quality of care is investigated in the first article, while the core competencies of GPs are investigated in the second article.
Participants
The first article by Tahan (2020) was a study that was purely a recommendation on some of the best practices in the care of patients. It did not have any participants from whom the data was obtained. This research article purely used secondary sources and systematic literature review to extract data for the study. Verhoeven et al. (2020) conducted a study on general practitioners. The participants in this study were 132 General Practitioners from Flanders who were prompted to respond to questions on a questionnaire. The results were then subjected to qualitative analysis.
Instruments
The study by Tahan (2020) used a systematic literature review. This is a form of instrument that is used to identify, critically appraise and e4xtract data from articles related to a specific topic. A systematic literature review is valid, and since there was no comparison with the prior study, it cannot be tested for variability. Verhoeven et al. (2020) used framework analysis to conduct their qualitative analysis. The results that were obtained were both valid, and there was no variability to be tested.
Implications for future work
The results from both of these studies provide evidence that supports the clinical questions for this group project. Tahan (2020) indicates that there is a need for innovation in the times of COVID 19 to ensure that the infection has been controlled and prevented in the hospital set-up. Through the different strategies of improving the quality of healthcare, professionals can ensure that COVID 19 spread has been limited.
Verhoeven et al. (2020) provide insights into the different competencies that frontline general practitioners use. Through this information, we gain evidence on the best practices to employ in ensuring that COVID19 infection spread has been controlled. From this insightful article, we get the best information to use as health education in our recommendation to patients and families on safe engagement activities.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the COVID 19 pandemic has presented with challenges both to the general public and to the healthcare sector. The pandemic demands that there is improved quality of care for acute care and palliative care to ensure that the infection has been controlled. Roles of professional case managers have to be redefined to fit into the situation of handling this pandemic. Further, general practitioners have to redefine strategies of providing care in the centres. All of these are aimed at improving the lives of patients in the hospital. The general public has to be kept safe from the infection by providing quality health education to them. The main question remains, how can these insights be used in health education to sensitize the general public on safe engagement practices?
References
Verhoeven, V., Tsakitzidis, G., Philips, H., & Van Royen, P. (2020). Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the core functions of primary care: will the cure be worse than the disease? A qualitative interview study in Flemish GPs. BMJ Open, 10(6), e039674.
Running head: EFFICIENCY OF A MASK IN AVERTING COVID 19 1
EFFICIENCY OF A MASK IN AVERYTING COVID 19 7
Efficiency of a Mask in Averting COVID 19
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Effectiveness of the Face Mask Against COVID 19
Introduction
The Coronavirus 2019 is a disease that affects the respiratory system of an individual making it difficult for them to breathe and can be fatal to the affected individual (Di Gennaro et al., 2020). According to scientists Coronavirus disease, 2019 is a communicable disease which is caused by the coronavirus strain. As a result, this disease is transmitted through contaminated air droplets which can be dispersed from person to person through; coughing, sneezing, or through touching or coming into contact with contaminated surfaces (Di Gennaro et al., 2020). It takes fourteen days for the symptoms of COVID 19 to manifest. Within this period the disease is still transmissible thus increasing its infection rate.
The Coronavirus 2019 has no cure or vaccine thus making it quite dangerous. Currently, the global statistics of individuals infected with COVID 19 stands at 34,666,560, and coronavirus 2019 related deaths stand at 1,029,394 as of October third, 2020 (Worldometer, 2020). Its high transmission rate and the death rate has quite an effect on the health and quality of life of many individuals. Which consequently affects the health sector as it overwhelms it. This is why scientists and experts have developed preventive measures in the form of safe health practices to help control the spread of the virus.
One of these safe health practices is the use of face masks. Given that the Coronavirus disease 2019 is transmitted through contaminated air droplets that come from the nose and mouth regions a face mask is quite significant in controlling the spread of this disease (Di Gennaro et al., 2020). Also, the virus that causes the disease accesses the body through the oral and nasal regions. Therefore a face mask helps in curbing the spread by working as both an internal and external shield against the Coronavirus 2019.
The hospital setting is where the bulk of Coronavirus cases are handled (Wong et al., 2020). Even though special segmentations have been made as well safety measures have been taken to keep the initial occupants and the doctors in the hospitals safe from transmitting the virus, they are still at risk of infection. This, therefore, leads to the question; does wearing a mask reduce the risk of a patient in hospital from contracting COVID-19, 14 days after coming into contact with an infected patient? This article aims to answer this question using data from affected hospitals as it addresses the importance of face mask in the prevention of the spread of the Coronavirus disease 2019.
Appendix A
Association Between Universal Masking in a Health Care System and SARS-CoV-2 Positivity Among Health Care Workers
This study conducted by, Xiaowen Wang, Enrico G. Ferro, and Guohai Zhou (2020) focused on the infection rate of COVID 19 among healthcare professionals. The purpose of their study was to investigate the association of the infection rate of Coronavirus 2019 in relation to the wearing of masks. The study, therefore, sought to support or deny the hypothesis that masks reduce the rate of COVID 19 infection. The variables for this study entailed the number of infections as the dependent variable alongside the population of masked healthcare workers as the independent variable. The study design entailed a case-control study conducted for over two months. During this period there were three phases, including; pre-mask intervention for health providers, implementation, and post-application of the masking of health care professionals. The study involved 12 health care institutions in Massachusetts, within which over seventy-five thousand health care professionals were involved ((Xiaowen et al., 2020)). The data was collected from the Mass General Brigham Occupational Health Services and Human Resources Database. The data amassed from this study were analyzed using the weighted non-linear regression. The results indicated a significant increase in the infection rate of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 among the health care providers from zero to 21.32%. Once masked were introduced, the study indicated a major decline in the positivity rate to 11.46% from 14.65% ((Xiaowen et al., 2020)).
Appendix B
Mask Use During COVID-19: A Risk-Adjusted Strategy
This publication facilitated by, Jiao Wang, and his colleges address the lack of agreement across different cultures on the impact of wearing masks in curbing the spread of Coronavirus 2019 (2020). The purpose of conducting this study is therefore to elaborate on the transmission paths for the COVID-19 virus and express the relevance of wearing face masks in curbing its transmission within any setup. There were no variables since the study was qualitative. The study design involved research collected from peer-reviewed articles pertaining to the spread characteristics of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 that causes COVID-19. After reviewing over twenty peer-reviewed articles the authors of this study established that the use of masks was quite fundamental in reducing the risk of Coronavirus 2019 infection (Jiao et al., 2020).
Analysis
In both appendices, the use of face masks as a measure taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is the main focus. However, bother studies take a unique approach in addressing the matter. The study in Appendix A entails a controlled case study experiment conducted on the healthcare professionals in 12 hospitals within Massachusetts (Xiaowen et al., 2020). Here the main variables include the infection rate and the population of masked health caregivers. The study in appendix B on the other hand has no variables but rather focuses on other scholarly articles on the different aspects of the spread of the Coronavirus disease 2019 as well as the impact of mask-wearing in the control of this spread (Jiao et al., 2020).
Xiaowen’s study entails a quantitative approach whereas Jiao’s paper approaches the topic using qualitative data. The quantitative approach used in appendix A’s study entailed a population of more than 75,000 health care workers of a median age of 39 years of both genders. The use of quantitative data in the study in Appendix A shows an accurate depiction of how wearing masks relates to curbing the spread of the coronavirus 2019. This means that the study approach is quite valid in handling the study topic. The study in Appendix B on the other hand used qualitative data from different sources. This study expresses a higher level of reliability since it shows a consistent view of how wearing face masks in different institutions helps to regulate the transmission of the respiratory disease from different perspectives.
Based on the findings of the two studies above, there was substantial support for this paper’s hypothesis that masks reduce the rate of COVID 19 infection. According to Xiaowen’s study, there was a significant increase in the positivity rate before universal masking was introduced in the 12 medical institutions. The same study showed a significant decrease in positivity post universal masking (Xiaowen et al., 2020). According to Jiao’s paper, wearing masks has a significant effect on the decreased infection rate of COVID-19 within a community (Jiao et al., 2020). This, therefore, means that patients in hospitals with face masks are less likely to contract COVID-19 in the event that they are come to contact with a positive patient.
Based on these findings, therefore, the following questions arise;
Are face masks the most effective non-pharmaceutical intervention for preventing COVID-19 spread?
Should face masks be made a mandatory utility in hospitals for every individual?
Conclusion
All in all the transmission of the Coronavirus disease 2019 has been recognized to majorly be spread from contaminated air droplets from the nose and mouth of an infected person. Therefore, the use of a face mask is a significant non-pharmaceutical intervention in curbing its spread. Evidence from both articles in appendices A and B indicate improved results in terms of reduced positivity rates across different institutions. However, it is important to understand wearing a face mask is not the ultimate protection. Practicing proper hygiene and safety practices improves the reduction of the spread of this respiratory disease. Also, these practices should be carried forward even after the Coronavirus 2019 pandemic, because it might not be the last of its kind.
References
Di Gennaro, F., Pizzol, D., Marotta, C., Antunes, M., Racalbuto, V., Veronese, N., & Smith, L. (2020). Coronavirus diseases (COVID-19) current status and future perspectives: a narrative review. International journal of environmental research and public health
Jiao Wang, Lijun Pan, Song Tang, John Ji, & Xiaoming Shi. (2020). Mask Use During COVID-19: A Risk-Adjusted Strategy. Elsevier Public Health Emergency Collection.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7314683/
Worldometer. (2020). COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/?utm_campaign=homeAdvegas1
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Xiaowen Wang, Enrico G. Ferro, & Guohai Zhou. (2020). Association Between Universal Masking in a Health Care System and SARS-CoV-2 Positivity Among Health Care Workers. Research Letter.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2768533