UOP Health & Medical Research Ethics and Validity Paper

Katie Sapkosky
HCS/465
Week4 Individual Assignment
Katie Sapkosky
HCS/465
Week 4 Individual Assignment
Research Ethics and Validity
Katie Sapkosky
HCS/465
Week4 Individual Assignment
Introduction
Any serious illness can be overwhelming for a family, making it tougher than it already
is. This is where hospice comes into play for both the patient and family affected by such illnesses.
Hospice care is healthcare that focuses on the easing of a terminally ill patient’s pain level and
puts a great emphasis on the patient’s spiritual and emotional needs during end stage. Hospice
cares main goal is to be there for patients and their families, assuring the best life remaining for
the beloved person or as it’s known endorsing relief and dignity and uneasiness at the end of
life(West, Galicia-Castillo, Cadieux, & Parks-Savage, 2018).
All ethical inclusion is vital to all research studies performed. This paper describes the
ethical and pragmatic concerns developing from the methods of doing a participant’s observation
research within an inpatient hospice setting. Hospice is healthcare given at end of life, geared to
help you or a loved one remain comfortable while addressing issues that arise from such terminal
Katie Sapkosky
HCS/465
Week4 Individual Assignment
illness. Studying every participant helps to provide a feasible and variable data compilation
procedure; though, it also has managed to bring about many dilemmas. Difficulties have come up
more than spoken of, especially in obtaining any informed consent from individual or the families
that were willing to take part in and think that it was still and is effective, even after the mental
and physical decline of the patients. In this study, all of the participating healthcare professionals
where stunned at their observances. It meant that they were gaining valuable information, which
reflected upon the individuals(patients) actions and behaviors. When the healthcare professionals
planned the research study, several of them had questions in regard to ethical inclusion in the
behavior of research with the calming care population. They argued that patient’s who are dying
are vulnerable. These patients are mentally and physically vulnerable, the monitoring for them is
tiresome. There are many unstable mental statuses, consent protocols, family members inclusion,
and the insensitivity of the evaluations where all reviewed. It honestly doe not matter what we
think, it’s what we know that works best during this time frame. As long as our knowledge of
palliative care allow us to help an important number of patients and families, many indications are
currently intractable (Bruera, 1994).
Healthcare professionals and all other members have heard conversations that may cause
unnecessary exhaustion to the patient. and can be, at times, impossible. Particularly in cases of
severe sedation or with those patients that are in a comatose state. Hospice staff members
responded to a positive issue since they went native to it and accepted the responsibility of
someone who would volunteer to do their research and collect the data through a direct
observation instead of the heavy-handed use of conferences. This approach allowed the hospice
Katie Sapkosky
HCS/465
Week4 Individual Assignment
staff to spend a good amount of time with patients, without affecting the larger dynamics taking
place in the common areas and wards of the place. The method was proper and fair, it did not
include requiring the patient’s time or emotional assets since all could be understood using
observation. Active learning strategies will allow growth of association, communication, and
critical thinking. All of these skills add to the ability of residents and faculty to develop a better
comfort with all hospice conversations. There will be new amplified heights in hospice care with
this research. More information will be given, hospice care will be talked about in a more
positive manner, and the patient hospice care will be greater than it was before with all of the
new findings. These findings will helped lead to an improved healthcare setting, during a time
where it is most critical.
Influences
As in any research study, consent is always taken for multiple reasons. Getting a consent
from a patient or family is part of the ethical practice in health care. With every new patient it was
hard to keep up with such consents, leaving room for error. If a patient willingly agreed to consent
upon admission date, things could change from day to day with psychological factors leaving it
impossible to use those patients in the study.
Validity
Validity is best described as the quality of being logically or factually sound, soundness or
cogency (Merriam-Webster, Inc, 2020). Validity is both internal and external. Internal validity is
the extent to which a piece of evidence supports a claim about cause and effect, within the context
Katie Sapkosky
HCS/465
Week4 Individual Assignment
of a particular study. External validity is extent to which the results of a study can be generalized
to and across other situations, people, stimuli, and times (Wikipedia-the free encyclopedia, 2020).
Stakeholders
In the health care industry there is always a negative to a positive, but everything in life
can be rewarding. These results mean better outcomes for those affected by severe illness. There
are always breakthroughs as time and technology advances.
Conclusion
Lack of adhering to standards of ethical issues in research such as notating findings or
documenting proper consent can and will lead to bias. This will happen because those patients will
give false information because of psychological factors unbeknownst to them. All parties involved
in the study need to be assured that they will receive correct information.
References
Merriam-Webster, Inc. (2020). Retrieved from Merriam-Webster: https://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/validity
Wikipedia-the free encyclopedia. (2020, September). Retrieved from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/External_validity
Bruera, E. (1994). Ethical issues in palliative care research. Journal of Palliative Care, 10, 7-9
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Week4 Individual Assignment
Cassatly, M. G., D.M.D. (2011). Stakeholder partners: The new landscape in U.S.
healthcare. The Journal of Medical Practice Management : MPM, 26(4), 199-202.
Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/856362342?accountid=458
Lawton, J. (2001). Gaining and Maintaining Consent: Ethical Concerns Raised in a Study of
Dying Patients. Qualitative Health Research, 11(5), 693–705.
https://doi.org/10.1177/104973201129119389
Roberts, P., Priest, H., & Traynor, M. (2006). Reliability and validity in research. Nursing Standard
(through 2013), 20(44), 41-5. Retrieved from https://search-proquestcom.contentproxy.phoenix.edu/docview/219850149?accountid=35812
West, T. D., Galicia-Castillo, M. C., Cadieux, C. P., & Parks-Savage, A. (2018). Hospice Care Needs
Study. American Journal of Medical Quality, 33(4), 443–445.