Observational Study Methods

Improved Essays
The study design of the Evans study was based upon the use of both direct interview and observational study methods. For the direct interview methods, social demographic data, medical variables, employment status, and subjective indicators were obtained via personal interview Interviewers were trained during a three-day training session to ensure uniform interview processes. Completed interviews were obtained from 90% of eligible patients (Evans et al, 1985). The responses to these interview questions was then compared to the existing indexes: the index of Physiological Effect, the Index of Overall Life Satisfaction, and the Index of Well Being (Evans et al, 1985).
Within the Evans study observational study methods were used to extract medical
…show more content…
(Evans et al, 1985). Types of centers included large and small, urban and rural, academic, for profit, and non profit. Centers were chosen for their diversity in offering all four types of ESRD treatment options (Evans et al, 1985). Population stratification was determined by the patient’s current treatment approach at the time of the start of the study (Evans et al, 1985).
The study population from the Finklestein study was the already existing cohort from FREEDOM Study. The overall cohort was formed from 500 participants at 70 clinical sites (Finkelstein et al, 2012). Participants are enrolled in the cohort for 3 years with a minimum of an 18 month follow-up. Cohort members were required to be adult patients with ESRD who were considered suitable candidates for special prescription of daily hemodialysis via the NxStage System One device (Finkelstein et al, 2012). Participants were all also required to have Medicare as their primary insurance payer for administrative reasons. The control group to this study consisted of 5,000 patients receiving three times-weekly in-center HD cohort as derived from the US Renal Data System database (Finkelstein et al,
…show more content…
The collection of statements by trained interviewers were collected as primary data sources. The outcome of these questions was then compared to existing scales and surveys of well being. The Index of Physiological Effect as well as the Index of Overall Life Satisfaction describe how patients feel about their present life and responses are averaged into a mean score (Evans et al, 1985). The Index of Well Being is derived from combing the two scores. The Index of Wellbeing ranges from 2.1 to 14.7 with a score of 2.1 indicating a low level of well being and 14.7 as a high level (Evans et al, 1985). Medical records and statements from personal care team members were formed into secondary data types. An index score was applied to account for comorbid physical conditions affecting the patient (Evans et al,

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    According to medplus.gov, when the nephrons have been damaged by 70%-80% a dialysis or transplant is required to sustain life. It is caused by poorly managed diabetes as related to Clarice’s situation where she quickly transitioned from chronic renal failure to end stage renal disease. Other factors that can cause ESRD include; hypertension, cardiovascular disease, family history. lupus, nephrotic syndrome, polycystic kidney disease and glomerulonephritis. Psychologically, a diagnosis of end stage renal disease can lead to chronic depression, anger and anxiety.…

    • 1832 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As a prospective, observational cohort study, this study assesses the relationship between levels of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and rates of acquiring and surviving a cancer diagnosis over Medicare age (≥65 years old). The sample (n=13,949) included men who participated in the Cooper Center Longitudinal Study and had Medicare part A and B claims of prostate, lung or colorectal cancer between 1999 and 2009. Anthropometric measurements were taken before the protocol, including height, weight, body mass index (BMI), cholesterol, and blood glucose levels. CRF was assessed using a modified-Balke protocol and participants were placed into low (lowest 20%), moderate (middle 40%), or high (highest 40%) categories. The National Death Index was…

    • 327 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    There are so many aspects to the healthcare field that affect the “Iron Triangle”. It is up to us as healthcare manager to know healthcare in and out so we can implement and decide what direction we need to direct our staff everyday.. We need to understand the impact modern medicine has, why healthcare cost is rising, what major issues we are facing, understanding Medicaid and Medicare and the current state of national health policy. If we were to change one thing it would have to be that there would be a cap on how things are charged so that people were not overcharged for something just because the doctor can. This would help the health care system so much in having a budget to plan for national epidemics.…

    • 1350 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Doctor Facilitated Denial: A Barrier to End-of-life Planning Among COPD Patients” by Lauren Seidman, examined the correlation between the motivation of COPD patients to pursue an Advanced Directive, and three factors which she hypothesized would impact that motivation. The three factors included: a) denial (either facilitated or refuted by doctors), b) patients’ self-perceived health, and c) patients’ trust in the information provided by the physicians. Seidman utilized data previously collected through decision aids such as the web program InformedTogether, and may also have conducted her own research based on recorded medical meetings and surveys. Her possible original research utilized a small, non-diversified sample of COPD patients at…

    • 698 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Cardiac Troponin Analysis

    • 224 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Cardiac troponins have played a vital role in management of ACS. It is reliable for both diagnostic and prognostic use in ACS. But their role in patients with CKD, whether symptomatic or asymptomatic, is complex. As in CKD patients constant elevated level of cardiac troponin are found even when there is no or relatively low probability of ishaemic cardiac pathology. Still the underlying mechanism behind this is not well described, but whatever is the underlying mechanism, regardless of the symptoms, in patients with CKD persistent increase in levels of troponin t, indicates myocardial injury and is predictor of higher risk of morbidity and mortality.…

    • 224 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Exploration Project 3 Participant Observation By Devon Tiedemann-Pikala Minneapolis Community and Technical College GLOS World Religion I am catholic; I was baptized and raised catholic. So I do not have a lot of knowledge of many outside religions, this class has opened my eyes up to the views of many other religions and one of those that has caught my eye was Buddhism. Some of the reasons I was attracted to learning more about the Buddhist religion it seems like a very peaceful and relaxed religion also its followers seem to be very spiritually in touch. As a follower of the catholic religion I do not see a lot of those things within my religion, and that is the reason why I wanted to learn more about the Buddhist religion. Growing up…

    • 1519 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Annotated Bibliography

    • 1041 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Halvorsen, K., Helene, K. E., Sortland, K., & Almendingen, K. (2016). Documentation and communication of nutritional care for elderly hospitalized patients: Perspectives of nurses and undergraduate nurses in hospitals and nursing homes. BMC Nursing, 15, 1-10 doi: http://dx.doi.org.db03.linccweb.org/10.1186/s12912-016-0193-z The research article is about “Documentation and Communication of nutritional care for the elderly hospitalized patients: perspectives of nurses and undergraduate nurses in hospitals and nursing homes.” This article is a qualitative research.…

    • 1041 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A. Analyze one federal government payer program for healthcare services making an impact on today’s healthcare ecosystem. “The United States has a unique system of health care delivery and it is unlike any other system in the world” (Ch. 1, n.d.). Most other countries around the world have a form of health care that is run by the government and paid for through taxes. In the U.S., one must enroll through an employer, agent, etc., and most pay monthly premiums to be able to have access to healthcare through their insurance.…

    • 1093 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Continuing the research topic from last data collection assignment, I will further investigate on how people in real life actually memorize and remember their ancestors, and different family traditions and customs to sacrifice their ancestors by utilizing the participant observation and the observation research methods. I recalled the memories of my personal experience during last August when I was engaging in my grandmother’s worship, which applied to both the participant observation and the observation research methods. On the one hand, for the participant observation, I would like to share what my family members did during my grandmother’s worship. It was the first anniversary after the death of my grandmother, which was a significant day for all family…

    • 599 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Participant-observation is one of the key research methods in anthropology. It is often used by sociocultural anthropologists and other academics in attempt to understand as best as possible different aspects of a culture. Participant-observation is a method where researchers choose to live directly in the cultural group that they are studying. By living and immersing oneself within a culture for a long period of time, participant-observation works by allowing anthropologists to get deeper into the complexity of culture.…

    • 383 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Observational Observation

    • 203 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Observational method is as clear as it sounds. Children learn from what they observe. Since adults are the “role models” in a child’s eyes, they normally presume that every single act from an adult is correct or normal. When I was a kid, I was very curious like all the other kids. Whenever I go with my mother inside the ladies’ room, I would see pretty young professionals putting on some make-up, lipstick and other beauty products.…

    • 203 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    It contributes to greater nurse efficiency and professionalism which helps results in better health outcomes for the patients. EBP is a crucial element of quality care since individual nurses are able to position themselves to provide optimal care to the patients by using the competencies acquired from the practice (Polit & Beck, 2010). Patients will often have an improved outcome where EBP has been used because it promotes the collection, interpretation and integration of reports from the clients, observations of the practitioner and the research obtained from evidence to give maximum results. As a result, the preferences of the patients themselves, their families and those of the community as a whole are served (Polit & Beck,…

    • 1561 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Many people are unaware that when they first encounter a nurse for the first time, for care in a hospital or clinic setting they have begun the Health Assessment interview. This interview is usually done as a conversation therefore it appears trivial to the client, however it’s a conversation with a purpose. The nurse is using interpersonal skillfulness to collect subjective and objective data. This data is then processed and will help the nurse and other health care professional provide adequate care for the client. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a healthy assessment interview with my client whom I will call MJ.…

    • 1369 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Similarly, Lahlou-Laforet et al. (2015), which aimed to validate the French version of the BDI in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients, assessed inter-rater reliability of the BDI through 23 interviews rated by three psychiatrists. Using an Intra-class correlation coefficient, researchers found that inter-rater reliability was .87, suggesting that the BDI is a reliable test to assess depression in CHF…

    • 2037 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Chronic Illness Essay

    • 1279 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Quality of life is more than just the length of survival, but it also involves psychosocial consequences. My grandfather says that he has accepted his chronic disease and tries to make the best out of it, but he wasn’t always so optimistic about it. When he was first diagnosed he suffered from depression. He says that he felt that he let himself down and was hard on himself for not living a healthier lifestyle. According to the American Diabetes Association, people with diabetes have a greater risk of depression than people without diabetes.…

    • 1279 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays