Introduction
Minority populations in America have a higher chance of developing kidney issues. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) often coexists with other complications such as heart failure (Thaha et al., 2019). Patients with CKD and heart failure have high mortality and morbidity rates. Improving communication is one of the strategies that has been proposed by various studies to address the prevalence of CKD in African American communities (Murphy et al., 2020).
Health facilities are also looking at nurse education as another strategy for solving the issue. This is because nurses are an important link to care services for the patients. The African American community experiences a higher occurrence rate of CKD because of historical injustices. In the recent past, African Americans have been provided with the chance to access care at subsidized prices. This essay will review how the identified literature supports the PICOT by comparing the research questions, sample populations, and limitations of the studies and then providing recommendations for further research.
Comparison of Research Questions
Effective research questions or hypotheses should be clear and focused and should not be too broad or too narrow. Four of the identified studies use hypotheses while the other four use research questions. A hypothesis is a statement that researchers want to prove or disprove (Morselli, 2019). Research questions are queries that the scholar seeks to answer. Ali et al., (2016) study focus on the link between age and kidney functions of African immigrants.
The research by Anders et al., (2018) provides insight into the link between chronic kidney disease and diabetes. Some studies have similarities in the content of the hypothesis and research question. The study by Dean, (2020) investigates the issue of nurse education as a way of reducing CKD. Another study by Murphy et al., (2020) examines how clear language can help improve awareness of the disease within the community. The research questions used in the identified researches indicate the variables and groups that are being investigated. This is important as the project is specific to a particular community.
Comparison of Sample Populations
Most of the reviewed articles used respondents to perform their research. The participants were mostly patients of African American descent which fits well with the PICOT. The sample populations vary depending on the research being conducted. For example, the study by Iddrisu et al., (2020) was conducted with respondents aged 60 years. Sample populations are important because of the difficulty of studying a large population (Kaptein, 2019).
A review of the journals indicates that the studies were conducted in different countries which is essential as it provides diverse insight on the issue being researched. The research by Levey et al., (2020) is different from other studies because the authors reviewed articles from a conference held in 2019. The journal article aimed at improving communication among clinicians by standardizing the nomenclature. The article by Melgaard et al., (2018) used data for patients aged 50 years and above from the Danish national patient registry, National prescription registry, and the Danish civil registration. Therefore, most of the studies have diverse sample populations and are representative of the populations being investigated.
Comparison of the Limitations of the Study
Some of the studies are not representative of the heterogeneity of the sample population in the identified research setting. This means that the findings of the studies may only be limited to the specific sample population being studied. The study by Ali et al., (2016) investigated the possible joint effects of age interacting with kidney functions among African immigrants. The research recruited potential respondents through advertisements which may have made it hard for the researchers to gain a truly representative sample. In some of the studies, the results can not be generalizable because the researcher used a specific sample population.
These are the studies that focused on patients within a specific age group. The findings of the journal articles can only be applied to patients aged 50 and above. For the study by Melgaard et al., (2018) the selection of data from the Danish registries may not have captured all the patients with heart failure. Despite the identified limitations, the articles will be essential to the project because they describe the issues of diabetes and kidney diseases and how nurse education can change the statistics within the community.
Conclusion
The analysis of the identified literature indicates that CKD and diabetes are prevalent among African Americans. The project aims to identify whether using nursing education as a strategy can help reduce the rate of occurrence of diseases among the community. The studies use different strategies to come up with the findings. Future studies should focus on the specific patient’s needs and figuring out the causes and impacts of comorbidities of kidney disease and diabetes. Further clinical studies on the age of immigrants and its relation to kidney functions should focus on being representative of the heterogeneity of the African population. This is important as it will allow the research findings to be generalizable. Follow-up research studies are important as there may be changes along the way which may necessitate change.
References
Ali, M., Mwendwa, D. T., Sims, R., Ricks, M., & Sumner, A. E. (2016). Age at immigration and kidney function among self-identified healthy Africans in the United States. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 18(1), 194-201. Web.
Anders, H., Huber, T. B., Isermann, B., & Schiffer, M. (2018). CKD in diabetes: Diabetic kidney disease versus nondiabetic kidney disease. Nature Reviews. Nephrology, 14(6), 361-377. Web.
Dean, E. (2020). Acute kidney injury: Who is at risk and how to care for patients. Nursing Standard, 35(5), 67-68. Web.
Iddrisu, M. A., Abdelhak, S., Saidatulakmal, M., Ramendran a/l SPR, S. C., Yip, C. Y., & Lau, L. S. (2020). The impact of HPB on elderly diseases (diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, minor stroke, kidney failure, and heart problem): A logistic analysis. Ageing International, 45(2), 149-180. Web.
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Levey, A. S., Eckardt, K., Dorman, N. M., Christiansen, S. L., Cheung, M., Jadoul, M., & Winkelmayer, W. C. (2020). Nomenclature for kidney function and disease: Executive summary and glossary from a kidney disease: Improving global outcomes (KDIGO) consensus conference. Renal Failure, 42(1), 560-566. Web.
Melgaard, L., Thure, F. O., Skjøth, F., Christensen, J. H., Larsen, T. B., & Gregory Y.H. Lip. (2018). Risk of stroke and bleeding in patients with heart failure and chronic kidney disease: A nationwide cohort study. ESC Heart Failure, 5(2), 319-326. Web.
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Murphy, K. A., Greer, R. C., Roter, D. L., Crews, D. C., Ephraim, P. L., Carson, K. A., Cooper L. A., Albert M. C., & Ebony, B. L. (2020). Awareness and discussions about chronic kidney disease among African-Americans with chronic kidney disease and hypertension: A mixed-methods study. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 35(1), 298-306. Web.
Thaha, M., Kadariswantiningsih, I. N., & Empitu, M. A. (2019). Association of high blood pressure with elevated oxidative stress, inflammatory marker, and albuminuria in chronic kidney disease patients. Journal of Medicine, 20(1), 12-18. Web.