Lived Experiences of Surviving In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest

Research Article Critique: Qualitative Study
Your Name
Subject and Section
Professor’s Name
Date
Review of Introduction
Background
The researchers provided a brief background about the main population and disease entity investigated in this study. Specifically, the researchers provided information about cardiac arrest, its epidemiology, and the differences in the description, statistics, and implications of inpatient hospital cardiac arrest versus outpatient hospital cardiac arrest (Bremer et al., 2019).
Problem Statement
The researchers had a clear problem statement, but it was not stated explicitly. The problems, including the past and present mental and emotional repercussions of experiencing a distressful event, such as anxiety, feelings of insecurity, feeling of worthlessness as one are being regarded as deadly secondary to the disease, and skepticism of the patient’s quality of life (Bremer et al., 2019). This shows that the problem is mainly at the intrapersonal level of the population involved. Furthermore, provided that they were able to provide the statistics, this illustrates that they indirectly implicated the significance of the study and the need to use this group as the population of the study.
Purpose and Research Questions
The researchers also provided a clear objective of the study, which states that the investigators aim to expound on the learned values of the lived experiences of patients who had inpatient hospital cardiac arrest. However, the objective was not discussed in detail (Bremer et al., 2019).
Congruence to Research Tradition
In a qualitative study, congruence refers to the significance of harmony among the research questions, the delivery of the research questions, and the methodology for answering these questions. In the introduction, only the first two apply. Since the researchers only provided the objective without a detailed explanation of research questions, they failed to comply with research tradition.
Review of Literature
The researchers utilized a combination of peer-reviewed and nonpeer-reviewed journals and both quantitative and qualitative papers. All of the journals used are related to the topic. However, the strength of evidence was not quite strong since most of the literature belongs to the lower hierarchy of evidence, specifically qualitative studies. According to Polit and Beck (2010), the review of entire journal articles is significant in gathering information about the knowledge gap. They added that quantitative studies belong to levels I to IV, with meta-analysis ranked the highest, while qualitative studies belong to levels V to VII. The researchers only had one systematic review of quantitative studies in this paper, categorized as level I evidence (Polit & Beck, 2010). On top of these, the research articles used for the literature review were published in respectable journals. An example of this is Circulation. However, the others were published in non-validated press such as the National Academies Press in Washington, DC (Bremer et al., 2019).
In the literature review, it is also critical to utilize updated research articles to know the real gap in knowledge. Using outdated research articles will provide misinformation and unrealistic point of view on the side of the researchers because this will give an assumption that the specific topic needs to be investigated because there is no published data or that there is a current unresolved argument about it. Moreover, the literature review is critical in knowing the current solutions, treatment regimens, or statistics about a topic in the medical field (Polit & Beck, 2010).
In this study, the researchers utilized a combination of updated and outdated research articles. Some were published beyond five years from the time of publication of the article. In the introduction part, which was the basis of the literature review, the most outdated article was published in 2011, which is three years outdated.
Review of Theoretical or Conceptual Framework
The research article did not explicitly show its theoretical or conceptual framework in the form of a figure. No formal theories or concepts are used in designing the fundamental research and deciding how to construct the objectives and evaluate the results. However, the researchers demonstrated how they had indirectly collected various concepts from different sources. The researchers were also able to establish the associations among these concepts. Overall, the theoretical framework supports the intent of the research. The processes were systematic and complied with the basics of a research study.
Review of Methodology
Description of Ideological Perspective
Polit and Beck (2010) explained that some qualitative studies are based on an ideological framework that emphasizes social problems in a particular population. Bremer et al. (2019) did not explicitly identify or explain the ideological perspective in their study. However, based on analysis, they based their perspective on critical theory. This is typically used to enlighten the participants and broaden their understanding of their situation. The primary objective is to analyze the knowledge and sociopolitical action of the participants and help them do a self-reflection (Polit & Beck, 2010). The study of Bremer et al. (2019) utilized an interview to understand the insights and experiences of the participants after suffering cardiac arrest. The study aims to force them into self-reflection so that the researchers will have an excellent understanding of their standing or position in life.
Design
The study design is an explorative, qualitative, and phenomenological hermeneutic method. It is based on Ricoeur’s and Husserl’s hermeneutical interpretation and phenomenology, respectively. The researchers attempted to incorporate the biblical interpretations to the participants’ lifeworld view and explore their understanding of the meaning of their lives post-cardiac arrest (Bremer et al., 2019).
The researchers designed an excellent approach appropriate to the study aim, as evidenced by the use of the phenomenological hermeneutic method by Lindseth and Norberg. Polit and Beck (2010) stated that hermeneutics must describe and interpret the data gathered. In the study, the researchers gathered the information through the interview with the participants, and they utilized the hermeneutic method to interpret the meanings of their lives. The researchers explained the three phases of this method and how the researchers interpreted the data in detail. They also explained how they arrived at a consensus and resolved the disagreements on the interpretation.
Limitations
Bremer et al. (2019) explained the limitations of the study, which are the basis for the implications of future research. It was good that the researchers realized that the hermeneutic phenomenology comes with a challenging interpretation that may be prone to mistakes that may have repercussions if other researchers follow and do not question the results of this study. Additionally, the researchers understood the implications of the relatively short interviews, which prevented the participants from explaining in detail the reasons for their life interpretations after suffering from a cardiac arrest inside the hospital (Bremer et al., 2019). The findings are also limited to the male participants, and this cannot even be translated to the general population due to the sampling method and the study design (Bremer et al., 2019). Hence, future research should use a better study design and sampling method, such as valid and reliable questionnaires to provide quantitative data.
The researchers failed to mention that the sampling method is another limitation of the study, making the results non-generalizable. Polit and Beck (2010) stated that purposive sampling, the method used in the research, is the typical strategy used in qualitative research because it does not need random assignment of the participants. This is appropriate when they need to pursue information-rich sources. It is still a limitation because future research designs may become quantitative research papers and require randomization.
Methodology
The researchers for this study have identified participants from two hospitals in one country. According to Polit and Beck (2010), the methodology shall be evaluated based on the sampling methods, setting, sampling strategy, appropriateness of the sampling size, inclusion and exclusion criteria, saturation, data collection methods, and data analysis. In line with the traditions of qualitative method...