Nurse Practitioners in Primary Care - Research Proposal Example

? Nurse Practitioners Who Have Had Spanish for Health Care Practitioners’ Will Provide Better ive and Objective Assessments for SpanishPatients As Compared To Nurse Practitioners Who Have Not Have the Course Introduction Language is considered as a medium of communication. In the era of rapid globalization and internationalization, language and linguistic skills have emerged as a vital concern in various socio-economic dimensions owing to the fact that it fosters effective communication and thereby enhances the chances of identifying and taking advantages of the persisting opportunities of growth within the community. Contextually, it has emerged as a vital point of consideration for professionals to obtain differentiated advantages and attain better growth opportunities in the global context. Based on a similar notion, in nursing, language or rather the linguistic skills possessed by the nurses are determined as an important and beneficial attribute when aiming at better patient satisfaction (American College of Physicians, 2009). In today’s society, it is quite essential that what is transmitted by the nurse is effectively comprehended by the patients through effective communication. The role of communication in nursing profession is one of the significant aspects, where recent studies have depicted that many educated nurses face challenge to take care of the patients according to their requirements fundamentally because of linguistic barriers (Allen & Dip, 2007). Stating precisely, language skills play a significant role in the nursing profession which is quite essential in order to facilitate superior treatment to patients belonging from different ethnicity or cultural background. This enables the nurses to understand the needs of the patients more effectively as well as comprehend the information related to the healthcare with minimum chances of misinterpretation from the patients’ end. According to French (1983), there are three significant aspects of language skill which are quite essential for the nursing practitioners such as speaking, writing and reading in order to maintain quality treatment. It is in this context that communication and observation are equally important for nurses through which they can provide better healthcare services to the patients (French, 1983). Statement of the Problem Based on the significance of language skills among nurses, the problem to be examined in this study will emphasise that whether nurse practitioners who have obtained the course of Spanish language will facilitate better treatment for the Spanish patients in comparison to those practitioners who do not possess Spanish language skills. The philosophy behind the identified problem or research issue has been based on the belief that communicating in similar language is likely to facilitate effective communication process between the nurse and the patient, confirming better quality healthcare services. In the present scenario of globalization, language has apparently emerged as an essential skill for the nurse practitioners owing to the fact that they need to handle patients belonging to different cultures and linguistic backgrounds. Thus, the research issue in concern denotes that a practitioner who does not have the knowledge of Spanish language will not able to provide necessary care to the Spanish patients. Significance of the Problem for Nursing and Health The problems concerning the communication skills of the nurse practitioners can be observed as quite crucial in the present day context. From a generalized perspective, it can be affirmed that nurses who do not have the knowledge of a particular language will not be able to deliver superior quality care to an individual who belongs to that particular linguistic background. Based on this assumption, this study will attempt to emphasize upon the communication gap resulting because of the linguistic differences existing between nurse practitioners and the patients in the modern day global healthcare sector. Hence, focusing upon the linguistic differences existing between Spanish patients and non-Spanish nurses, this study will intend to present a structural and comprehensive explanation addressing the significance of language skills possessed by the practitioners in the healthcare sector. In recent studies it has often been argued that communication is essential in order to maintain a structural base of the organizational processes within the modern healthcare sector, to preserve efficiency in the flow of information amid the various organizational dimensions along with the patients and most significantly, to ensure better patient satisfaction through quality assured healthcare assistance. Contextually, with the intention to maintain transparency within its operational processes, healthcare organizations need to practice effective communication with their patients keeping them informed regarding the healthcare services being rendered to them and also to identify the patients’ requirement more accurately (Gleed & Seeley, 2005; Leonard & et. al., 2004). Therefore, the findings of the study, being based on evidences to prove whether language skills are necessary for nurses in the modern day healthcare sector, will assist medical practitioners as well as healthcare organizations at large, to ensure enhanced quality services to their patients. The findings generated through this study, will also be beneficial for professionals and researchers in obtaining a more in-depth knowledge of the healthcare sector operations along with revealing the significance of language skills in the 21st century service industry. Theoretical Foundation (The Model of Adult Learning by Malcolm Knowles) The theoretical foundation of the proposed study can be described in a structured way through the application of Malcolm Knowles’ Adult Learning Models which has been based on four fundamental principles i.e. relevance, engagement, activeness and learner-centred attitude (Sierra Training Associates, Inc, 2007). Relevant: This study emphasises on an ongoing phenomenon where most of the nurses are unable to communicate with the patients at the time of emergency, fundamentally due to limitations in relation to language skills. In order to obtain relevant understanding of the issue, the proposed research intends to experience the issues faced by nurse practitioners when communicating with patients belonging to different linguistic backgrounds Moreover, as the study intends to examine the practical scenario taking into account both the historic evidences and individual experiences of nurse practitioners, the findings obtained can be expected as quite relevant to be applied in the real scenario. Engaged: This study further intends to engage the nurse practitioners in the data collection process whereby the professionals will be motivated to get involved with the entire research and consider the outcomes with due consideration. This is also quite likely to enhance the scope of the study from a realistic perspective. Active: This study attempts to reflect upon the challenges witnessed by nurses in the real scenario of the current healthcare sector, rather than being based upon outdated information or theoretical assumptions facilitating the active participation of the research elements. Learner-Centred: The proposed study further attempts to measure the obtained data through the field survey and also with the assistance of previous research applying various tools such as descriptive explanation of the qualitative information supported by the empirical testing of the quantitative data. Question of Focus The research issue considered in the proposed study is concentrated on learning the influences of language skills upon the efficiencies of nurses to deal with the requirements of the patients, especially in the case of Spanish patients. Based on this context that question to be focused on in this study has been framed as, “Does it make a difference in the healthcare services rendered to Spanish patients, if the nurse practitioners possess language skills in Spanish?” Critical Review of Pertinent Literature In present day context, it has been observed that majority of the nurse practitioners face linguistic issues where they cannot appropriately communicate with the patients witnessing limitations in conveying the healthcare services as well as identifying the patients’ requirements efficiently. According to Gleed & Seeley (2005), nurses, in today’s practical healthcare industry scenario, have to face inevitable challenges while practicing services under culturally diverse structure making it mandatory and a common phenomenon to deal with patients and interact with healthcare professionals from different ethnic, cultural as well as linguistic backgrounds. In this context, Gleed & Seeley (2005) observed that in UK, majority of the hospitals recruit nurses who belong from different cultural backgrounds owing to which they are often observed to witness certain barriers when providing treatment facilities to the patients due to inefficiency in terms of language skills. A similar concern has been presented by Singleton & Krause (2011) affirming that the challenges witnessed by nurses in practicing quality assured healthcare services to the patients from worldwide context is becoming gradually more apparent and noteworthy in the modern phenomenon. It is in this context that Leonard & et. al. (2004) revealed linguistic barriers to impose significant threat to the quality assured in the healthcare industry. Stating precisely, when nurses are observed to possess limited communication skills in terms of language barriers, it results in lowered patient satisfaction and thereby restricts the effectiveness of the healthcare services on the whole (Singleton & Krause, 2011). According to Edmunds & Scudder (2009), insufficient linguistic skills possessed by nurse practitioners can create negative impacts upon the patients and may also hamper the relationship among the patients and nurses. In the modern day perspective, a large degree of the operational processes in the healthcare sector can be observed as based upon the interactions or rather the effectiveness in the flow of information within the various practitioners along with the patients play a fundamental role in assuring quality services which further render greater satisfaction to the patients. In other words, in order to understand patient’s conditions and their requirements, it is quite important for the nurse practitioners to communicate with the patients in a manner which will make them more comfortable and encourage them to share their experiences with the professionals. This exchange of information amid the nurses and the patients further assist the professionals to diagnose the medical problems faced by the patient more efficiently and thereby render quality assistance to the community. Contextually, it has been observed that lower educated and elderly group of patients with limited language skills feel comfortable in sharing their experiences in their mother-tongue rather than in other languages. Therefore, if the nurses are competent to speak the language of the patients, it becomes easier for the practitioners to render efficient services to the patients (Edmunds & Scudder, 2009). Based on a similar context, Munro & Panek (2007) stated that communication procedures imply the care of the patients from the time of admission to discharge. Moreover, in major instances, it has been studied that inappropriate treatment of patients reflect the consequences of poor communication skills possessed by practitioners at every level of health care. Hence, the communication skills of nurse practitioners must be improved by executing standardized approaches, such as ‘hand-off communication’ which can enhance the abilities of these practitioners to ask and respond to patients’ questions in an appropriate manner. This approach should also implement upon those practitioners who understand the patients’ requirements properly, but lack in responding according to their conditions (Munro & Panek, 2007). Methods Research is commonly referred as a systematic method through which researchers can gather reliable information relevant to the identified research issue and purposefully utilize the obtained data for their studies. There are also various types of research methodology used in social research nowadays, such as Descriptive vs. Analytical, Applied vs. Fundamental, Quantitative vs. Qualitative and Conceptual vs. Empirical (Lingaya’s Group, 2012). Notably, the application of these methods depends largely upon the determined objectives of the research in consideration. In this research study, a mixed approach of quantitative and qualitative methodology has been taken into consideration. It is worth mentioning in this regard that the proposed study focuses on understanding the language skills necessary for the better performance of nurses in the modern healthcare sector from a global perspective by taking into account both empirical evidences and historic information obtainable from previous researches based on similar issue. Therefore, to analyse the empirical evidences, a quantitative method will be applied, while in order to analyse the secondary data, a qualitative approach will be applied. Description of Population In this research study, the population of respondents will comprise the nurses working in the US healthcare industry for at least past five years. The population will further involve nurses who possess adequate communication skills in Spanish and those nurses who do not possess any communication skills in Spanish. Another group of population to be considered in this research will the patients of the US healthcare industry who belong to the linguistic culture of Spain and are comfortable in speaking in Spanish rather than in any other language. Notably, the two sets of population is being selected for the purpose of this study in order to obtain a two dimensional perspective when examining the differences between the service quality assured by Spanish speaking nurses and other nurses. The total sample size in this study will be considered on a random basis selecting 100 nurses and 50 patients from the identified population. Outcomes In this study, it is necessary to gather relevant information from the recognized nurse practitioners in order to maintain reliability and validity of the data. Both descriptive and statistical tools will be used in order to examine the collected information; wherein the quantitative data will be analysed with the application of regression statistical tool and the obtained data will be further analysed in correspondence with the obtained secondary information (from historic researches) through the implementation of a descriptive method. This will allow greater precision in explaining the key findings of the study and thereby assuring reliability and validity of the entire process. Procedures for Implementation The intended research process to be followed for this particular study is presented in a graphically below. Plans for Data Collection In order to obtain relevant information from the respondents, it is necessary to collect the data in a systematic way. In this study, both primary as well as secondary data will be required for the successful accomplishment of the determined objectives owing to which it becomes more crucial to determine a well-defined data collection process so as to avoid confusion and thereby ensure reliability and the validity of the entire process. As was mentioned above, both nurses and the patients from the US healthcare industry will be taken into consideration as respondents in the data collection process in order to obtain adequate amount of primary data required for the purpose of the study. Therefore, two sets of questionnaires will be designed, one intending to the nurses as respondents and the other set of questionnaires intended towards the patients belonging to the Spanish linguistic background. The questionnaires will be finalised through the pilot testing approach where a smaller group of the respondents (e.g. 20% of the determined sample size of nurses and 20% of the sample size of patients) will be surveyed preliminary in order to ensure the viability of the questionnaire and make any necessary changes so as to avoid confusion in the decoding phase of the obtained information. Correspondingly, only secondary sources, which have been approved by authorized bodies, will be taken into consideration when gathering the historic evidences based upon the identified research issue. Protection of Human Subjects Owing to the fact that the proposed study in this context emphasizes upon the inclusion of human subjects, ethical responsibilities will be regarded with due significance when performing the planned data collection process. In the initial level, approval will be obtained from the management of the healthcare organizations from where the respondents are to be selected. Furthermore, due regards will be rendered towards obtaining free consent from the respondents prior to the questionnaire survey making them informed regarding the actual purpose of the study which will ensure better assistance from the subjects. In order to make the process more convenient for the patients, who will be involved in the study as respondents, the questionnaires will also be communicated in Spanish. Additionally, confidentiality will be maintained in relation to the identification of the respondents so as to ensure that their interests, when depicting their experiences in the data collection process of the study, are secured. References Allen, S. & Dip, G. (2007). The importance of language for nursing: does it convey commonality of meaning and is it important to do so. Australian journal of advanced nursing 24 (4), pp. 47-51. American College of Physicians. (2009). Nurse practitioners in primary care. Retrieved from http://www.acponline.org/advocacy/where_we_stand/policy/np_pc.pdf Edmunds, M. W. & Scudder, L. E. (2009). Communication styles of nurse practitioners. Retrieved from http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/709254 Gleed, A. W. & Seeley, J. (2005). Strangers in a British World? Integration of International Nurses. British Journal of Nursing, 14(17), pp. 899-906. Leonard, M. & et. al. (2004). The human factor: the critical importance of effective teamwork and communication in providing safe care. Qual Saf Health Care, Vol. 13, pp. i85–i90. Lingaya’s Group. (2012). Research methodology: an introduction. Retrieved from http://www.limat.org/data/research/Research%20Methodology.pdf Munro, N. & Panek, S. T. (2007). The nurse practitioner role: the communication link for cardiac surgery patients. Retrieved from http://nursing.ahmu.edu.cn/swygt/upload/editorfiles/2012.2.29_13.59.31_5286.pdf Peter, F. (1983). Social skills for nursing practice. United Kingdom: Routledge. Sierra Training Associates, Inc. (2007). We can teach the way we were taught, or we can teach the way people learn. Retrieved from http://sph.bu.edu/otlt/teachingLibrary/Learning%20Theory/adultlearning.pdf Singleton, K. & Krause, E. M. S. (2011). Understanding Cultural and Linguistic Barriers to Health Literacy. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 14(3), pp. 1-12. Read More