PICOT Critical Appraisal of the Picot Statement

Critical Appraisal of the Picot Statement
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Critical Appraisal of the Picot Statement
Introduction
The prevalence of Clostridium difficile in the United States and at the global level has attracted the attention of scholars and clinicians in the medical profession. Clostridium difficile is a leading cause of internal infection and diarrhea for people that have been treated by antibiotics. According to Abt, McKenney, and Parmer (2016), Clostridium difficile causes more than 29,000 deaths annually in the United States alone. While it is true that there has been a lot of research in this disease and its impact on the population around the world, there has been little progress to find lasting treatment and medical intervention. This has created a need for a possible medical intervention that could be based on evidence based practice.
One of the pressing issues when dealing with Clostridium difficile is that there has been a straight forward intervention in its treatment, creating confusion among scholar. According to Ofosu (2016), there has been little medical intervention in the past to help address this issue from the medical point of view. Nevertheless, the present study sought to explore how emerging interventions from medical point of view could help intervene and help minimize and possibly eliminate the prevalence of Clostridium difficile in populations. When studying and analyzing possible interventions, it is important that one understands the epidemiology of C. difficile. The current understanding of C. difficile is that it is hospital-acquired intervention. The following PICOT statement was formulated for this study.
Population: Patients exposed to antibiotic treatment
Intervention: Does hourly monitoring by nurses
Comparison: Compared to lack of monitoring
Outcome: Reduce the rate of incidences of C. difficile
Time: During the period of treatment
PICOT Question
Does hourly monitoring of patients exposed to antibiotic treatment reduce the incidence of hospital-acquired C. difficile infection in hospital setting?
While it is recommended that hourly monitoring of patients undergoing antibiotic treatment is likely to increase the positive outcome from the treatment, there is also an increasing concern on shortage of nurses in the clinical care setting. As a result, hourly monitoring of patients that are on antibiotic treatment and staying in hospitals attracts a lot of literature critique, considering that the number of people suffering from C. difficile infection keeps rising every day. According to Al-Jashaami and DuPont (2016), C. difficile is acquired mainly through infection. The scarcity of nurses in the hospital environment calls for the integration of the latest technologies when it comes to detection and monitoring of patients undergoing antibiotic treatment in the hospital care setting. Even though it is true that the length of time it takes for the first incident of C. difficile infection is still unknown, monitoring of patients undergoing antibiotic treatment can help determine the possible time the first incident occurs and help provide proper intervention.
According to Peng, Ling, Stratton, Li, Polage, Wu, and Tang (2018), effective treatment and containment of C. difficile depends on swift and accurate response from the medical team. This is in line with the timing and the need to have a patient or healthcare provider at the bedside of the patient undergoing antibiotic treatment. While it is true that such intervention could prove expensive and possibly impossible to implement due to shortage of nurses and healthcare providers in hospitals, one cannot underestimate the cost of lack of intervention on C. difficile on the healthcare sector. As such, the concern for incorporation of latest technologies with notifications sent directly to the healthcare provider or the nurse on duty could help address the prevalence C. difficile among patients undergoing antibiotic treatments in hospitals.
Quantitative and Qualitative Review of Literature
Scholars have made significant literature contributions to understand the impact of C. difficile on the patient and how it is acquired. After finding that C. difficile infection is an hospital-acquired infection and mainly acquired through injection, the focus has been on the possible intervention that could help reduce the prevalence of this condition in hospitals and maximize the health of patients. Most research literature on the treatment and management of CDI have focused on early intervention strategies that are meant to address the limitation of this disease. A review of literature on this infection helps determine the strength of studies and what they mean on the healthcare sector.
Barker, Duster, Valentine, Archbald-Pannone, Guerrant, and Safdar (2016) carried out a pilot study to determine the impact of probiotic interventions in the treatment and management of C. difficile in the hospital setting. The researchers note that the subsequence recurrence of C. difficile is dangerous to the health of the person and may minimize the chances of successful recovery from the treatment. According to Barker et al. (2016), C. difficile is pronounced among the patients above the age of 65 years. The researchers carried out an experimental and controlled two-phase study in adults undergoing antibiotic treatment. Participants were enrolled in the group from January 2013 to December 2015. Participants were treated with probiotics which have a significant impact in boosting the immune system of the person undergoing treatment.
A critical appraisal of the study by Barker et al. (2016) helps identify the strength of the study and its contribution to answering the PICOT question. The research article starts by using a descriptive title that links the title to the research and purpose of the study. Barker et al. (2016), define the purpose of their study, set the definition of terms for their study, and set the background to the study and explain the importance of probiotic interventions in treatment and management of C. difficile infections. Smits, Lyras, Lacy, Wilcox, and Kuijper (2016) found similar findings when they carried out a pilot study on the topic. The study is mainly centered on C. difficile infection in adults above the age of 65 years. One of the strengths of this study is that it is a PICO study carried out with the goal of determining the possible intervention to address the problem of C. difficile. The intervention of the study was for the subjects to take probiotic medicines for twenty-eight days. After the twenty-eight days, the participants stopped taking the medication and were monitored ...