Research Critique

Research Critique

Part 1- Summary

Background

What is the nature of the article? Who wrote it and what are her/his qualifications for writing it?

This article, written by five Iranian nursing professionals, Memarian Salsali, Vanaki, Ahmadi and Hajizadeh, is a qualitative look at the factors that influence the clinical competency of nurses in Iran. The authors indicate that such studies have been done both and quantitatively and qualitatively in the past based on western clinical practice, however, such studies had not been done from the eastern perspective (Memarian et al. 2000). The overarching themes of competence and ethical nursing in Iran are broken into two sub categories:

Cultural competencies and relationships, which includes cultural self-knowledge and appropriate delegation of authority in culturally sensitive situations.

Education, which includes longer training courses and improved induction phases to ensure that exposure to critical care situations, is first addressed during education as opposed to on the job.

Purpose

Previous work had found culture to be at the forefront of importance in clinical competency. Clinical competency is influenced by a number of culturally specific factors, however what has been reported in the literature is primarily related to nursing in the western world and applies specifically to these societies. In Iran, we do not have patients from other countries” (Memarian et all, 2007, pp. 204). In order to conduct this research, a qualitative was used with a grounded theory approach. Grounded theory takes into account the interpersonal aspects of nurse/client/employer interactions.

The qualitative method is becoming more popular in social sciences due to its ability to allow for personal reflection in respondents, “qualitative research is an attempt to understand, describe, explain, and make sense of the social world” (Cutcliffe, 2002, pp. 611). Purposeful sampling collected the data and audio taped semi-structured interviews. The interviewers allowed respondents to talk freely and if a topic was not covered, it was addressed afterwards (Memarian et all, 2007). These interviews gave some idea of the opinions and perspectives of the medical personnel regarding the factors influencing clinical competencies.

Aside from the fact that little or no qualitative research had been done on this subject in Iran, the authors also noted some inconsistencies between the educational aspects of the profession in Iran and the real life expectations of practicing nurses there. For example, in the past, nurses were required to have a degree from a university, but that is no longer required. “The completion of nursing education to degree level was viewed as a sufficient level of competency, however this has recently been abandoned because of changes in administration and it is imperative that alternative assessment methods should be established by bodies responsible”(Memarian et al., date, p. 211 ). The study aims to make new changes in assessment method by the bodies of nursing education.

With the research considered, the authors found explicitly that improvements should be made at the educational level and that while culture and morals are important, they will come naturally when adequate education and standards in the field lead to adequate experience among ...