What is the purpose of this research?
The research is aimed at evaluating perspectives of new technology in clinical practice for patients and physicians.
What is the research question (or questions)? This may be implicit or explicit
Is a new technology to detect Cardiovascular Autonomic Neuropathy (CAN) in a specialist diabetes clinic useful for physicians and patients?
Give a complete description of the research design of this study
The research follows a qualitative design. It includes observations of medical consultations, interviews with patients, and interviews with physicians.
What is the population (sample) for this study?
The sample included eight medical consultations which presented the results of the CAN test; nineteen patients who got the CAN test; and nine physicians who reported the results of the CAN test (Pals et al., 2015).
Was the sampling approach adequate for the research design that was selected and explain why?
Since Cardiovascular Autonomic Neuropathy is one of the complications observed with diabetes, the selection of sample among specialist diabetes clinic physicians and patients was a proper choice. It also simplified interviewing the participants since they all were in the same location which made the process of data collecting less time-consuming for this qualitative research.
Describe the data collection procedure
Some patients got CAN test and were supposed to receive the results at one of the following medical consultations. A patient coordinator from the clinic helped the researchers to identify those patients. Thus, observations were provided on the days of consultations. After the observation, a patient and a physician were invited to the interview (Pals et al., 2015).
How were the data analyzed?
An analytical approach was used to interpret the data obtained during observations and interviews. Content analysis was applied to discover inferences about the intentions and interpretations of experiment participants. The data were separated into statements and actions of physicians and patients; the data were sorted into categories suggested by the data; the categories generated by the data of physicians and patients were compared to reveal common themes; and finally, data were recorded using the previously suggested themes (Pals et al., 2015).
Discuss the limitations found in the study?
One of the limitations of the research is the small sample. Not all the patients who received the CAN test used it and thus were not able to share their experience. Another limitation is that the study did not compare the CAT technology with similar popular technologies which have been applied for longer periods.
Discuss the authors’ conclusions. Do you feel these conclusions are based on the data that they collected?
The authors’ discussion is based on the study findings. They stress the significance of research in revealing patients’ and physicians’ interests and awareness of new technologies. The investigation results prove that physicians are not always efficient in explaining the results of tests to patients and thus patients do not acknowledge the importance of such tests and their influence on the treatment process and disease control.
How does this advance knowledge in the field?
The research proves that patients are not conscious of the opportunities of disease control provided by different technologies. Thus, there is a necessity of informing them about technologies such as CAN tests or similar.
References:
Pals, R. S., Hansen, U. M., Johansen, C. B., Hansen, C. S., Jørgensen, M. E., Fleischer, J., & Willaing, I. (2015). Making sense of a new technology in clinical practice: a qualitative study of patient and physician perspectives. BMC Health Services Research, 15(1), 1-10. Web.