Article: Healthcare Quality: A Concept Analysis, Angela Allen-Duck, MSN, RN, Jennifer C. Robinson, Ph.D., RN, CNE, FAHA, and Mary W. Stewart, Ph.D., RN
An article critique in any field is very important as it helps to evaluate the presentation of a research article by looking at how the results and methodology aligns with the aims and objectives of the study. In healthcare and nursing, article critique plays a key role as they are used in determining how a research study conducted, the study planned from the study, the methodology was used and the presentation of the results, and how they are discussed ((Dale, Hallas & Spratling, 2019). It also analyzes if the study was consistent and credible in answering the research question in solving the problem identified for the research. During the critique process, the strengths and the weakness of the research are analyzed and evaluated on how they affected the research results. This essay will critique an article on healthcare quality by analyzing how the authors presented the abstract, methodology, results, discussion and identification of the study’s strengths and weaknesses, and recommendations for further studies.
The article’s abstract has been presented well, and the authors captured the contents required to be in the abstract. An abstract should constitute the reason for writing, the research problem, the methodology, results, and implications. The article’s authors have effectively highlighted the research problem as worsening quality of care indicators. They also included the reason for clarifying the concept of healthcare quality (Allen‐Duck, Robinson & Stewart, 2017). The authors have also captured the methodology used in the study, the results, and the discussion. In the abstract, recommendations and the implications of the study are included making it a complete research abstract. The authors used the Walker and Avant concept analysis, an eight-step analysis of identifying the antecedents and consequences (Dale, Hallas & Spratling, 2019). I find the methodology very satisfying because, in every step, it is designed to allow the transition of the abstract phenomenon to a meaningful definition. The data collection used was a systematic literature search to identify the outcomes, the uses, and the attributes of healthcare quality.
This literature search was effective as I find it aligns with the aim of the study, which is to analyze the concepts of healthcare quality and to clarify them. The literature was obtained from credible sources and databases like PubMed and CINAHL, which are trusted medical and clinical journals. This means that the data obtained from the literature search was viable and credible for the study. During the data synthesis, hallmark sources like Florence Nightingale and Avedis Donabedian were used. The 87 articles used in the analysis represent a good sample size to make the research acceptable (Allen‐Duck, Robinson & Stewart, 2017).
The authors only used the articles that met the criteria, with 3,159 articles being rejected. This means that the authors only used valid articles in the research, making the study more credible and trustworthy. Similar terms were searched in the articles used, and the authors effectively used the Descriptive exploratory design to provide the meaning and measures of healthcare. I find the results found in this study very consistent as it mixed the study designs with 76 of the articles using qualitative or mixed-methods designs. This ensured a wide range of knowledge in the study (Allen‐Duck, Robinson & Stewart, 2017). The articles provided a clear and up-to-date theoretical definition of healthcare quality which played a key role in understanding the concepts and knowledge of quality care. To further make the research authentic, the authors used a model case study to illustrate more the knowledge about quality healthcare concepts. This made the research applicable in real practice in healthcare. The authors identified the concepts of healthcare quality and the antecedents and consequences of healthcare quality. This means that the authors achieved the study’s objective; thus, the research question was answered.
The author wrote a very clear and concise discussion of the study results, and they found that without a proper meaning of what quality healthcare is, it will be very difficult to implement quality improvement (Dale, Hallas & Spratling, 2019). The authors highlight that the insights identified from this research will make it easier to measure the quality of healthcare and investigate relationships with other concepts, which I believe will play an important role in clinical practice. Also, the authors assert that the insights found in this research will serve as a guide to the development theory and for testing future theories of research, which I support (Allen‐Duck, Robinson & Stewart, 2017). The theoretical definition will enhance professional and transprofessional communications, and I agree with the authors that they will contribute to improving quality efforts in healthcare.
One of the strengths that I find in this article and with which I agree with the authors is that concept analysis and thematic classification are the most prevalent in the current academic literature. This strength will be vital to battle today’s threats to optimal patient outcomes. But the research had one weakness which I agree with the authors, the selection of the journal articles from the five databases with a condition of literature not older than 12 years posed some limitations (Allen‐Duck, Robinson & Stewart, 2017). This is because if the articles were selected from a more diverse and wide range of databases, it would have given more credible results, and the age limit of the articles posted a limitation that would have provided more credible articles to use in the study. Also, in selecting the articles and relevant data sources, some vital information was emitted because only English sources were selected, which created some bias in that non-English and gray literature was not used.
In future studies, I would recommend using this component of the theoretical framework and combining it with additional concepts like patient outcomes. These components may yield better results and much more significant knowledge on the quality of healthcare and the provision of evidence-based care in nursing. Another recommendation for future research is the employment of the Donabedian framework with a careful examination of healthcare quality concepts, as this can help yield a relationship that will ultimately give insight into improving quality practices in healthcare.
In conclusion, an article critique is important in objectively reviewing a piece of research. It helps to identify the strength and limitations of the research and whether the research presentation met the aims and objectives of the study. The article critique above has effectively highlighted the major strengths and weaknesses of the research on the quality of healthcare. It has allowed future research on the same topic to be improved in giving recommendations that will help gain more accurate results in future research studies.
References
Allen‐Duck, A., Robinson, J. C., & Stewart, M. W. (2017, October). Healthcare quality: a concept analysis. In Nursing forum (Vol. 52, No. 4, pp. 377-386).
Dale, J. C., Hallas, D., & Spratling, R. (2019). Critiquing research evidence for use in practice: Revisited. Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 33(3), 342-346.
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