Comment on the following post by a student on cardiac tamponade.
The clinical scenario details cardiac tamponade being diagnosed in an infant after cardiac surgery. This was diagnosed after fluid or blood was found in the pericardial space subsequent to the pulmonary artery catheter being removed.
Melnyk and Fineout-Overholt detail the importance of compiling strong, relevant research, “… to assist in developing an addition to your unit protocol manual to create awareness of possible complications arising from removal of monitoring catheters and how to prevent complications” (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2015, p.108). Research should begin with a carefully crafted question written, “…in PICOT format (i.e., P: population of interest; I:intervention or issue of interest; C:comparison of interest; O:outcome expected; and T:time for the intervention to achieve the outcome)…” (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2015, p.25). Thabane, Thomas, Ye and Paul explain that, “The success of any research process relies, in part, on how well investigators are able to turn a clinical problem into a research question—something that is not so simple for novice investigators”(Thabane, Thomas, Ye & Paul, 2009, p.72).The appropriate question as stated by Melynk and Fineout-Overholt is, “… In infants who have had cardiac surgery (P), how often does removing pulmonary artery catheters (I) influence cardiac tamponade (O) within the first week after surgery (T)? …”( Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2015, p.108).
It is equally paramount that the researcher consults clinically sound databases. Medline is a government produced database and CINAHL is a privately run database. (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2015). The Cochrane Library is an additional respected health information database (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2015). Schwartz, Young and Hicks discussed in their article the growing need for more medical research networks, “The emergence of collaborative educational research networks in medical education is an exciting development for the field” (Schwartz, Young and Hicks, 2016, p.72). As we strive to fulfill our patients’ needs the Nurse Practitioner and all in the medical field will benefit with the development of more research databases.