Qualitative Research About the Lived Experiences of In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Survivors

Critique on a Qualitative Research Article about the Lived Experiences of In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Survivors
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Critique on a Qualitative Research Article about the Lived Experiences of In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Survivors
Health professionals, especially nurses, usually have to carefully understand their implications for individual patients and develop their own appropriate management plan before applying the results of any scientific research. Evidence-based practice enables health care workers to provide high-quality care to patients. This critique article appraises the validity and significance of the article ‘Lived experiences of surviving in-hospital cardiac arrest’ published in 2019 under the Scandinavian journal of caring sciences. The research article sought to shed light on the people’s lived experiences after in-hospital cardiac arrests. This paper critically analyses the methods used in developing the research in every section of the report and concludes whether the report’s implications can be adopted in the clinical practice of providing care to cardiac arrest survivors in and out of the hospital.
Title and Abstract
The title of the article is appealing and clear. It identifies the lived experiences of cardiac arrest survivors as the key phenomena of study. The group of study is therefore limited to hospitalized and just discharged patients who suffer cardiac arrest. Furthermore, the title also suggests that the experiences do not necessarily need to be patient-based. Still, care providers can also be included in information gathering even though the information was gotten from the former. The authors and co-authors are credible as they showcase a wide learning experience with the professor or associate professor titles. The study’s abstract is precisely and concisely stated with the background, aim, design method, findings, and conclusion sub-sections well summarized. These sub-sections are also identified in the article. These, plus the well-written state of the report, increased the credibility of the research.
Background
In the background, the study’s relevance is defined with the provided data of cardiac arrest mortality and the existence of causative differences in out-hospital and in-hospital cardiac arrest. The report also adequately summarizes the research that had already been conducted on the two distinct groups and recognizes the existing gap in the knowledge of their distinct lived experiences. Additionally, the background provides 2007 data on the survival rates and morbidity of the two forms of cardiac arrest. The research problem statement is the lack of accurate and wide knowledge on the experiences of in-hospital cardiac arrest survivors with the thought process to the conclusion of an aim is precisely explained. The theoretical framework of the research is clearly defined and appropriate to the study.
Research Design and Tradition
The article, as earlier mentioned, identifies the research tradition used as a hermeneutic phenomenological method to be precise. This design is congruent with the research question since it is focused on the lived experiences of cardiac arrest survivors. It thus satisfies the important requirement of exploring the consciousness structures of the human experiences of the group of study that is from their perception lies the subject of the findings. Interviewing of in-hospital cardiac survivors during their time hospital stay and that of discharge was in agreement with the phenomenological design of the study. Moreover, the study went ahead to apply the hermeneutic philosophical method to complement the collection of experiences by analyzing the meanings of activities.
With these two traditions, the design seems to be more explanatory. This, however, is not explained or justified but can be inferred from the data collection process, which allows the researchers to capitalize on the information to be interpreted. In the article, however, there is mention of the integration of phenomenological view and hermeneutics interpretations which would yield essential meanings in their interpretations hence identifying the philosophical underpinning that was used in the study. Furthermore, there is mention of reflexivity, which involves a critical self-reflection of shortcomings in the data collection and analysis. There was also the full collaboration between the researchers and participants, especially in the data collection phase. It had transformative power if it was well conducted, which was the case.
Sampling and Setting
An effective sampling plan should ensure that the findings contain a representative sample of the parameters in question and allow a wholesome collection of the required information by answering all questions. In Bremer A.’s study, the setting was appropriate by focusing on hospitals involved in a different study investigating a topic associated with cardiac arrest survivors. The setting location and parameters were adequately described, including participants with cardiac etiology and from two hospitals of the past study being recruited. The sampling size was further reduced from the two hospitals based on geographical location within the hospital’s catchment area, time since the cardiac arrest, gender, and age, which reflected a purposive selection strategy. Purposive sampling is a form of non-probability sampling that agrees with the study since the required data would only be gotten from people who had been directly affected by cardiac arrest. Having that in mind, the criteria used to recruit participants in the study were an in-hospital experience of cardiac arrest, ability to communicate in Swedish, and their consent to being part of the study. This sampling approach was effective in the study because of its non-randomized selection and the fact that sampling from an existing database made it even more effective and reliable. Out of the 18 identified, the sample size was reduced to eight in-hospital survivors who might have been inadequate and not appropriate considering the sample size covering two hospitals. However, the dimensions and closeness of the hospitals are not mentioned to provide a clear picture of the sample size. The eight shared a common cardiac arrest cause, which was ventricular fibrillation because of myocardial infarction. It is not mentioned whether saturation had been attained. Saturation refers to the point in data collection where researchers find redundancy in findings, which indicates the end of data collection. Consequently, the description of the eight participants in terms of a...