Response to the critical thinking exercise

Response to the Critical Thinking Exercise No previous research is available to the nurse regarding specific dressing methods. Thus, the nurse needs to test these methods. The nurse’s approach to testing her dressing technique must be based on deductive reasoning. The starting point would be to design an empirical study, from which it could be deduced whether certain methods indeed produced better results than others, based on objective, quantifiable data (Schmidt & Brown, 2012, p. 15). The study would be experimental in that methods would be randomly awarded to patients.
Deductive reasoning is necessary in designing the research method. Though no previous research on these specific methods is available, wound management theories are diverse and available to nurses through Google search, and databases such as PubMed, in deciding which method to use (McManus, 2007, p. 9). For example, in chronic wounds some types of methods such as moist wound healing might not work due to the recurrence of necrotic tissues (McManus, 2007, p. 10). Thus, literature review on known methods can serve to design the methodology for testing the research question whether some new methods are more efficient than other methods. Moreover, quantifiable study design, samples and data collection techniques can be borrowed from the already existent body of knowledge.
Though a nurse might be faced with absence of previous research on a method that arose from nurse’s experience and observations, previous theories can be used to design one’s own experiment and thus scientifically evaluate the efficiency of these methods.
References
McManus, J. (2007). Principles of skin and wound care: The palliative approach. End of Life
Care, 1(1): 8 – 19. Retrieved from http://endoflifecare. co. uk/journal/0101_palliative. pdf
Schmidt, N. A. & Brown, J. M. (2012). Evidence-based practice for nurses: Appraisal and
application of research. (2nd ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.