Telemonitoring of Heart Failure Patients, Article Critique Example

What methods were put in place to ensure that the subjects were giving true informed consent?

In order to have the information of the persons with heart failure, various methods were put in place, however, the most significant one was the qualitative design that used grounded theory technique method to inspect the ability of decision making of the caregivers of the persons with heart failure patients. Moreover, the number of participants was twenty participants from heart related offices and centers, patients, and examined for a one year period of 2008-2009. In addition, the population data collected included that of the caregiver marital status, ethnicity, gender, living status, and his or her relationship with heart failure patients.

What was the setting for the study?

The setting for the study was to get the number of patient suffering from heart failure, in addition to getting information of family members’ infections and diseases related to heart failure to determine whether the disease is genetically carried from one person to another in the family or otherwise. Having a family member suffering from a heart failure hurts the most as it brings the notion that any other member of the family can be suffering from the same since many of these diseases are genetic. Therefore, nobody knows who it my attack. This pains a lot as any of the family members maybe in the course of showing the same effect.

Was the sample adequate for the research design that was selected?

The sample for the study was adequate as it involved the patient and twenty caregivers. Moreover, the questions involved in the research were very relevant to the patients and hence provided the information needed to evaluate the conditions of the sufferers. The questioned asked were in one-way, or other related to the decision making of the patient and that of the caregiver. Therefore, notes of the key caregivers and the patients’ key points were recorded and addressed for further observations and clarifications. Moreover, the interviews with the affected persons were carried out to the end and hence the information given was relatively true although it would go through the clarification step. In addition, the interviewer had to keep memos of the process and about the whole experience with both the patient and the caregiver for that matter. To note specifically, the interview with each patient took 45 minutes to 2 hours that included the completion time.

Describe the data collection procedure

Data collection was conducted privately through mutually accepted ways on locations, caregivers, and the patients. For example, the caregivers were interviewed in their homes, work places, and their libraries. The data from the interviews were recorded in audiotapes and the interview queries began with general questions asking about the illness and family members who may have suffered from the same fate. Anyway, the questions became specific as the conversation went on, to a point where question were more specific concerning an individual suffering from heart failure.

What did the authors say about the reliability and validity of their data collection and analysis?

The authors stated that the caregivers are faced with several decisions to make. Some of them rely with the patient’s ability to overcome the situation upon the diagnosis and others depend on hospital and place of work decisions. Actualization is one of the biggest problems to handle this issue.

What demographic information was reported?

Demographic data reported included caregiver marital status, employment status, gender, ethnicity, living arrangement, and interaction with patient with HF.

What were the variables that were studied?

The variables were sex, age, race, status, health, socioeconomics, and the health of the caregiver and the patient. Moreover, the caregiver and the patients were weighed by self-report.

How were the data analyzed after collection? Was there any special software used?

The analysis of the data was put on verbatim to check for accuracy and the sent to Nvivo qualitative software. A study, theoretical, was developed describing the decisions of caregivers.

Discuss the use of any figures, graphs, and tables. Was the information conveyed in an understandable and meaningful way?

The figures about the studies have well been displayed on a table and graphs that give direct information of the study.

Discuss the authors’ conclusions. Do you feel these conclusions are based on the data that they collected?

The authors conclusion are based on the data collected as they are reviews of  the information in the studies and gives opinions of the ways families and caregivers of HF patients should handle them.

What methods were put in place to ensure that the subjects were giving true informed consent?

To ensure that the data given was true, the authors interviewed both the heart failure patients and the caregivers. The participants were patients and caregivers who were not impaired of activity of daily activity. The setting for the study was to get the number of patient suffering from heart failure, in addition to getting information of family members’ infections and diseases related to heart failure to determine whether the disease is genetically carried from one person to another in the family or otherwise.

What was the setting for the study?

The setting of the study was based in the southern American state of Ohio.

Was the sample adequate for the research design that was selected?

The sample was not satisfactory as it included only a part of people including males and females of all social status, from different location in only Ohio and occupying different types of works. This greatly contributed to the success of the researched as it was all rounded. Moreover, the study was conducted in Northeatern Ohio on 537 beds on teaching Hospital.

Describe the data collection procedure.

The data collection methods were setting and sampling where only 537 patients were interviewed, in addition to their caregivers in Ohio. Moreover, the participants who were aged more than sixty-five years of age were not eligible. After discharge, the participants were interviewed in their own homes in a period between 10-90 days of discharge.

How did the authors address the reliability and validity of their data collection and analysis of the instruments used?

The instruments used according to the author, were suitable for the study and hence recommendable for such a study. However, the author faces difficult in the gathering of information through false statements from the patients, while others fail to give any information about their undergoing.

What limitations did the authors face in data collection? How could these have been lessened or minimized?

The authors were facing lack of information because some of the caregivers and patients were not ready to give out information. By ensuring that the sample of the study was large, the problem could have been minimized.

What demographic information was reported by the authors?

The demographic information recorded was from southern American States, which was inclusive of twenty caregivers of family members of the affected or patients suffering from Heart Failure. The variables in this study are the number of people suffering from heart failure and the number of mortality caused by search condition.

What were the variables that were studied?

The variables touched on sex, age, race, status, health, socioeconomics, and the health of the caregiver and the patient.

Were there any inferential tests used in the analysis of data in this study? If so, what were they?

Measures of central tendency and dispersion, descriptive statistics, and frequencies were applied to describe the sample.

Discuss the use of any figures, graphs, and tables. Was the information conveyed in an understandable and meaningful way?

The figures about the studies have well been displayed on a table and graphs that give direct information of the study. This ensures easy accesses of the data, which can be analyzed and presented in any other forms as preferred by the reader.