[Jen]

1. Look back at the research tool for your two articles from last week (week 4) focusing on the last Question: How does this research study relate to your own practice?
2. Reflect on how you would translate this knowledge into your practice to address your research question.
3. Based on your reflection from this week’s module, modify and re-submit your response to How does this research study relate to your own practice? for each article from last week.

[Ashley]

Article 1: Cost-Benefit Study of School Nursing Services
It’s old, beyond five years, and based in the American system, however I do feel like it provided some strength to my question about the positives of having nursing support in the school system.

Although finances are only one part of the puzzle this article did reinforce the loss of productivity for teachers and parents, shedding light on future study options related to caregiver experiences with or without nursing support.

The lack of research available on my topic lends to the need for more research to occur and I think this study would be well cited to entice funding and interest to further research the population and question at hand. Simply speaking it posed the possibility of support at the school level being a net investment for the community so I think it would be a good option to refer to this study when presenting a case for more research.

Article #2: The psychosocial impact of rare diseases among children and adolescents attending mainstream schools in Western Australia

This paper affirms my feelings that starting inclusion early and often creates more empathetic students all around. My patient deals with questions from peers and adults daily regarding her care needs and differences. A huge part of the school nurse role is to help steer these conversations in a way that empowers the child to share their truth and maintain their privacy as they see fit. I have had the privilege of running a circle time where students could ask questions and share how they are all different and we celebrate our differences. This reminds me to keep thinking of new ways to bridge the gap for my patients and their peers.

[Megan]

Hi Everyone,

Article 1: Systemic Failures in nursing home care – A scoping study

My nursing practice has been on pause since working in long-term care. During my time there, I felt the challenges of insufficient staffing of RNs, RPNs and PSWs. When we were short PSWs, RPNs and RNs would need to step in to help complete tasks, leaving their other work to be put on hold. If there was a shortage of RPNs, RNs on duty would step in to do that role. Insufficient staffing issues was a persistent conflict that I faced almost daily. This article helped me to see that these issues are in fact a global issue that extends far beyond my singular experience.

Working in long-term care helped me to develop my research question.
This article depicts several reasons for failures in nursing homes on a global scale. It alludes to a need to make the safety and quality of life of residents the top priority at all levels. A common link between my research question and this article is the need to increase staffing in such a way that it makes an impact to provide more resident-centred care.

Article 2: Aged care residents’ prioritization of care: A mixed-methods study

This article I felt was linked to my research question in terms of the connection between staffing ratios and their impacts on residents. In the article it referred to long waits for call bells to be answered, and a delay of care. It was also part of the article’s recommendations for policy and practice that safe staffing ratios was in the top 3 of priorities to residents. Whilst the study has limitations such as being isolated to the residents at one singular care home, it amplifies the voices of those in care, and their feelings of living with insufficient care.

I developed my research question as a result of my previous experience working in long-term care. I wished to research the current state of long-term care in terms of staffing ratios to determine if there was evidence to support a need to devise and implement safer ratios of nursing staff. This article demonstrates there is a need for safer staffing ratios from the perspective of the residents.

Megan S.

[Author]

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