Clinical Audit. Clinical Research. Essay Example.

Post 1: Clinical Audit Considerations

One of the critical factors associated with general surgery is the need for excellent quality outcomes. Each practitioner is expected to adhere to guidelines and professionalism provisions to attain the expected patient outcomes. While the need for proper diagnosis remains a determining factor to effective treatment, preoperative and postoperative consideration are central to the nature of the quality of patient experience (Esposito and Canton, 2014). In such a case, clinical audits remain one of the essential strategies implemented to appraise and enhance healthcare outcomes.

The clinical experiences associated with my professionalism have taught me several practice efficiencies in line with the role of clinical audits. Based on the two significant cases that involved the assessment of performance in our unit, it was clear that surgeons should consider the centrality of the vital principles of clinical audit. While the corporate sector and other areas of investment have adopted audit frameworks to improve their level of efficiency, I realized that general surgery depends on adequate preparation to solve the clinical shortcoming or enhance the quality of patient care (Esposito and Canton, 2014). In such a case, incorporating the fundamentals of the existing guidelines guarantees appropriateness of the audits.

The first step of the clinical audit has been identified as the preparation stage. However, there is a need for emphasizing the advantage of choosing an appropriate topic for the review and setting the desired and relevant objectives. Such consideration will ensure that the practitioners focus on the existing practice gaps to enhance the quality of service and the level of professionalism. The provision of staff and other resources is fundamental at this level, but I realized that the incorporation of adequate resources and using the team with experience that correlates to the objectives of the audit ascertain relevant and sustainable outcomes.

Moreover, according to the second step, the indicators, criteria, and specific standards are set in line with the intervention in question. Several experts have pointed out how this stage is crucial in practice. However, there is need to consider the essence of the audit where more emphasis should be placed on the desire to establish strategies meant to improve quality and experience (Esposito and Canton, 2014). Although most of the clinical audits have been based on international guidelines, expert consensus, and scientific literature, I have noted that making recommendations that are specific to the associated cases is essential to particular units within the facility as well as the diagnostic conditions.

Furthermore, data collection and comparison and analysis in line with the desired corrective actions form the third and the fourth stages respectively. At this level, I have noted that the practitioners should focus on the link between the existing evidence and possible future changes to develop long-run intervention changes (Esposito and Canton, 2014). Although most of the clinical audits have been examined based on the case-by-case evaluation, the desire to draw a correlation as well as the need for generalization of the findings calls for the inclusion of high levels of validity and reliability.

References

Esposito, P. and Canton, A. D., 2014. Clinical audit, a valuable tool to improve quality of care: general methodology and application in nephrology. World J Nephrol., Vol. 3, Iss. 4, pp. 249 255.

Post 2: Planning for a Research in the Area of Teaching Skills

One of the critical academic activity for the semester is presenting a dissertation as a partial fulfillment of the program that I am undertaking. My area of consideration is teaching skills. In general surgery, constant learning is a vital component of professional development. Several scholars have evaluated different perspective of teaching, which is founded on the changing trends in clinical practice. However, current literature has depicted diverse approach to the assessment of the appropriateness of teaching and learning skills (Ahmadi et al., 2013; Gat et al., 2016). Nevertheless, there is a need for a comprehensive case study evaluation that could be used to inform practice for quality teaching and learning in general surgery, which is the reason why I chose this area for my dissertation.

Worth pointing out is that the success of the dissertation will depend on the extent to which the literature search will depict the appropriateness of the selected topic for the proposal. Therefore, I will adopt the use of the medical database with the search carried out using the key phrases associated with the teaching skills in general surgery. The database is essential because of the constant update to the publication as well as the high level of credibility of the articles published. Although the other secondary literature is available outside the database, the appraisal of these sources before inclusion will enhance the reliability of the review of the literature.

I have evaluated different methodological design and approaches with the objective of identifying the most appropriate choice for my expected dissertation. The use of a case-study technique to assess and evaluate the scenarios presented in line with the scope of the proposed study in teaching skills will be appropriate. Furthermore, I am anticipating to incorporate a mixed method approach which will include the use of both qualitative and quantitative assessment to achieve the objectives of the study. The purpose of the combined method is significant because it will allow me to incorporate the beliefs and perception of the participants with the statistical measures to draw a multidimensional perspective of the selected topic (Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill, 2007).

Moreover, data analysis will be a critical component of the dissertation; therefore, it will be essential to have a comprehensive framework that will define how the collected data will be analyzed based on the fundamental themes. The process of transcribing the qualitative data emanating from the interviews will ensure that my data analysis focuses on critical issues. The coding of the quantitative data will provide a wide range of statistical tests and comparison. Nevertheless, the nature of the hypotheses will define specific criteria to be carried out. For example, where a relationship or correlation will be needed, T-tests and regression analysis will be vital (Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill, 2007).

Furthermore, the limitations and constraints that I have prepared to handle the accessibility to critical resources that will enhance the success of the study. Outsourcing of the appropriate technology for data analysis and funds for data collection will be a relevant solution. The possibility of a small sample is a challenge that could affect by study; however, the use of the different method of data collection will ensure that the level of validity is enhanced.

Reference

Ahmadi, N., Dubois, L., McKenzie, M., Brown, C., and MacLean, A., 2013. Role of evidence-based reviews in surgery in teaching critical appraisal skills and in journal clubs. Can J Surg., Vol. 56, Iss. 4, pp. E98 E102.

Gat, I., Gelblum, L., Givati, G., Haim, N., Shimon, S., Unterman, A., and Ziv, A., 2016. Innovative, integrative bedside teaching model improves tutors self-assessments of teaching skills and attitudes. Med Educ Online., Vol. 21.

Saunders, M., Lewis, P., and Thornhill, A., 2007. Research methods for business students. Prentice Hall: United States.

Post 3: Appropriateness of Experimental Designs in Clinical Research

The increased interest in clinical research has enhanced the development of experimental designs. Such a consideration has been enhanced by the best approach to statistical applications and appropriateness in the validation of the findings through empirical methodologies. Experimental models have been efficient in the maintaining a higher internal validity in the studies since it allows for the repeat of the experiments under the same conditions to achieve consistency. In such a case, the experimental designs are suited for a high degree of internal validity compared to other plans, like observational (Kang, 2013).

Through the experimental approach, the research can determine causation in a given case study since the researcher is in full control of the procedures and collection of the data compared to instances of observations, where the participants will control their outcomes. In such regards, experimental case studies allow the researcher to obtain data of particular interest while eliminating or avoiding the unnecessary. The demonstration of control of data enhances the focus of the researcher on the experiment that will help in establishing the causative agents between variables in the study rather than their associations.

In the experimental design, randomization is often used in allocating study population to different groups that assist in the elimination of confounding and selection biases. Such a move will enhance the comparison between the groups in spite of the various factors being investigated. Randomization process will strengthen the realization of better results in the study through the balancing of the experimental element, measurement, and justification of the statistical analyses. However many randomized groups are encouraged in the experimental design, they do not guarantee any significant statistical differences dependent on the baseline features in the study. The baseline characteristics and clinical treatment groups might include some aspects of differences in the population despite the correct execution of the randomization procedures. After the completion of the clinical case study, the researcher should address the clinically relevant imbalances in the population to assist in the data analysis. Such a consideration can necessitate for the development of statistical reports to assist in handling adjusting the final results of the case study. The mechanism will help in appropriating the outcomes of the experimental design to suit the objectives and identify the causation.

More so, the appropriateness of the experimental design can be manifested when the clinical research abides by the ethical considerations, especially on the use of human subject in the study. The case study should reflect on common diseases among patients to enhance conclusiveness. The variables of research should be easily manipulated to achieve the objectives of the study. The experiment should not be too much time-consuming and costly to enhance objectivity and focus in the research in shorter timescale and sufficient budget. However, based on the advantages of experimental designs, it is highly considered and reliable that most scientific approaches due to the opportunity of researcher control and randomization of the groups to avoid biases while maintaining the comparison between the study groups. Through the experiments, the researcher will establish the causality.

References

Kang, H. 2013. Appropriate design of research and statistical analyses: observational versus experimental studies. Korean J Anesthesiol. 65(2): 105-107

Post 4: Analyzing Data in a Case Study in Clinical Research

The analysis of data often presents a challenge to clinical researcher since they have the responsibility of conducting case studies and explore the associations between the certain diseases and exposures as well as causalities. Such information is vital in the development of appropriate interpretations on the result findings to improve the clinical outcomes and medical interventions. Proper data analyses...