mary Care in the Twenty-First Century: A Circle of Caring

1. A nurse has conducted a literature review in an effort to identify the effect of handwashing on the

incidence of nosocomial (hospital-acquired) infections in acute care settings. An article presented

findings at a level of significance of <0.01. This indicates that

A) the control group and the experimental group were more than 99% similar.

B) the findings of the study have less than 1% chance of being attributable to chance.

C) the effects of the intervention were nearly zero.

D) the clinical significance of the findings was less than 1:100.

Ans: B

Feedback: The level of significance is the level at which the researcher believes that the study results

most likely represent a nonchance event. A level of significance of <0.01 indicates that there is less

than 1% probability that the result is due to chance.

2. A nurse has read a qualitative research study in order to understand the lived experience of parents

who have a neonatal loss. Which of the following questions should the nurse prioritize when

appraising the results of this study?

A) How well did the authors capture the personal experiences of these parents?

B) How well did the authors control for confounding variables that may have affected the findings?

C) Did the authors use statistical measures that were appropriate to the phenomenon in question?

D) Were the instruments that the researchers used statistically valid and reliable?

Ans: A

Feedback: Qualitative studies are judged on the basis of how well they capture and convey the

subjective experiences of individuals. Statistical measures and variables are not dimensions of a

qualitative methodology.

3. A nurse has expressed skepticism to a colleague about the value of nursing research, claiming that

nursing research has little relevance to practice. How can the nurses colleague best defend the

importance of nursing research?

A) The existence of nursing research means that nurses are now able to access federal grant money,

something that didnt use to be the case.

B) Nursing research has allowed the development of masters and doctoral programs and has greatly

increased the credibility of the profession.

C) The growth of nursing research has caused nursing to be viewed as a true profession, rather than

simply as a trade or a skill.

D) The application of nursing research has the potential to improve nursing practice and patient

outcomes.

Ans: D

Feedback: The greatest value of nursing research lies in the potential to improve practice and,

ultimately, to improve patient outcomes. This supersedes the contributions of nursing research to

education programs, grant funding, or the public view of the profession.

4. Tracy is a nurse with a baccalaureate degree who works in the labor and delivery unit of a busy

urban hospital. She has noticed that many new mothers abandon breast-feeding their babies when

they experience early challenges and wonders what could be done to encourage more women to

continue breast-feeding. What role is Tracy most likely to play in a research project that tests an

intervention aimed at promoting breast-feeding?

A) Applying for grant funding for the research project

B) Posing the clinical problem to one or more nursing researchers

C) Planning the methodology of the research project

D) Carrying out the intervention and submitting the results for publication

Ans: B

Feedback: A major role for staff nurses is to identify questions or problems for research. Grant

applications, methodological planning, and publication submission are normally carried out by

nurses who have advanced degrees in nursing.

5. A patient signed the informed consent form for a drug trial that was explained to patient by a

research assistant. Later, the patient admitted to his nurse that he did not understand the research

assistants explanation or his own role in the study. How should this patients nurse respond to this

revelation?

A) Explain the research process to the patient in greater detail.

B) Describe the details of a randomized controlled trial for the patient