The challenges I found in developing the PICOT question this week were being able to accurately get the idea in my head onto paper in a manner that made sense to those reading it and met the requirements. Defining the age of the population was something I found difficult for my area of interest, which was the care of psychiatric mental health patients in the ED setting. Since we have no age restrictions in the ED, this was an area of struggle. After reading the comments from the collaboration posts and discussing this information with my nurse manager in the ED, we (my manager and I) discovered that more than 75% of the patients we see in our locked psych unit in the ED were between 18-65, so that is the age range I chose to look at for my question.
Finding information on my chosen intervention did prove as difficult as I thought it might be. From my research, it seems that the use of Telepsychiatry for the treatment of mental health patients in emergency departments has gained popularity in the last few years, and I was able to find several good resources that showed the positive benefits of using these services. My ED currently does not use Telepsychiatry, however, in my asking around my department for this week’s assignment, I was able to get contact information for those in upper management who may be able to help in establishing this kind of service in my ED.
How hard was it to find a quantitative article related to your area of interest?
I did find it slightly difficult to find a quantitative article for my area of interest. I did find plenty that were qualitative, and as I am dealing with a mental health issue, I can see how it would be easier to obtain qualitative data. There were quite a few articles that had quantitative data related to the mental health field. However, finding something that was specific to the boarding time of mental health patients in the emergency department did prove difficult.
Did you have any difficulty determining whether the articles you reviewed were quantitative?
I do not believe that determining if the article was quantitative or not was difficult, and the Johns Hopkins worksheet helped immensely. I believe that worksheets will prove useful throughout my career for assisting in examining articles and other research I come across.
Is the quantitative approach appropriate for your area of interest? Would you be able to replicate the study you found?
Yes, I think the approach from the article I chose is appropriate for my area of interest and could be easily replicated in my emergency department. The fact that the researchers used every patient who checked into the ED and required a mental health evaluation adds to the ease of replicating the study.
Overall, it was much easier to find qualitative information on my area of interest. It was slightly more difficult to find one that was directed at the telepsychiatry aspect being utilized to reduce mental health patient boarding time in the ED. There seem to be many opinion-type articles on the subject but fewer articles with actual research done. Determining if the article was qualitative was not as difficult as deciphering if the article was quantitative for week three. (Plus, the article stated it was a qualitative research study in the title, so that helped.) I believe that qualitative research would be useful regarding my area of interest, as finding out from personal opinions and experiences will always be beneficial in guiding how to reform a system that is currently not working. The study would not be difficult to replicate, and I believe this type of interview-based study on how providers perceive the use of Telepsychiatry in the ED may open the eyes of upper management to how broken the current system truly is and that it does, in fact,, need to be revamped. In terms of which kind of research would best suit my area of interest, I believe that a combination of all the methods would provide a well-rounded and comprehensive picture of the dire state of mental health care in emergency departments and provide needed information to begin enacting changes to how these patients are moved through the healthcare system.
Was it difficult to find evidence related to your selected area of interest? It was slightly difficult to find articles that specifically touched on using Telepsychiatry in the emergency department to reduce boarding time. There were multiple articles related to the use of Telepsychiatry in the ED but no mention of boarding time, as well as studies on patient/insurance/provider characteristics that contributed to boarding time.
What types of evidence were easiest to find (quantitati
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