Biomedical subjects

Carol G Kelley

Publications and source records attributed to Carol G Kelley.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Benefits and challenges in developing a program of research.

The ultimate goals of nursing research are knowledge generation and improvement in nursing practice. Designing studies that provide the evidence needed for practice change and that have clear implications for immediate application to current practice environments is particularly challenging. Research programs that consist of sequential studies, each building on and expanding on the results of the previous work, offer the greatest promise for generating understanding of the human phenomenon relevant to nursing practice. The authors review their experience with a series of studies of inpatient and postdischarge needs and interventions associated with chronic critical illness to illustrate the benefits of developing a longitudinal research program as well as the importance of strategies that will foster application of results. Recommendations for developing such a program are discussed.

Chronic Disease↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Research partners: two teams, one study population.

BACKGROUND: Two large research projects funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Disease Management project and the Thrive study, which examine different phenomena in the chronically critically ill population, have combined research teams. Each study has its own project manager and maintains a separate database and budget. Operational tasks for both grants are streamlined through the collaboration and cross-training of all team members. METHODS: The Disease Management project is a randomized clinical trial testing the effectiveness of a care program in improving outcomes for chronically critically ill patients and their caregivers during the first 2 months after discharge. The Thrive study is a prospective longitudinal investigation that aims to describe the weaning patterns of chronically critically ill patients as well as the patterns of illness-related variables. RESULTS: To date, many participants (n = 400) have been enrolled in each study. The results of both studies will be available through future publications. CONCLUSIONS: Although much information has been gleaned from gathering longitudinal data across one study population and examining two rich data sets, there are some limitations to this collaboration.

Chronic Disease↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Use of advance directives in the chronically critically ill.

Although it would be ideal that all patients have the presence of an advance directive documented in their medical chart, it is especially important in the chronically critically ill, a patient population with an in-hospital mortality rate of 40%. How has the documentation of advance directives in the medical chart of chronically critically ill patients changed from 1997 to 2003? This article describes the patient characteristics and patterns of death in chronically critically ill patients, with or without an advance directive, enrolled in 2 consecutive studies.

APACHE↗