Читать книгу 100 Questions (and Answers) About Action Research - Luke Duesbery - Страница 24

In the health sciences, action research is often referred to as participatory action research or sometimes people-centered health. However, unlike in business and industry, action research in health care is a fairly new phenomenon. It is most often encountered in nursing. New because in the health sciences, the tradition is to rely on large-scale randomized studies. And so, action research does not fit well with the research tradition in the field. In large-scale medical research, much attention is directed at validity (or more generally threats to the validity of the findings) and generalizability (these findings will be applicable to other settings and other individuals). The notion that small-scale research is only applicable to a particular situation does not fit well with the broader field. In the health science fields, the focus remains on rigorous and technical investigations, whereas action is participant (or patient) centered and focused on small-scale learning and development. This dichotomy in the field is less prevalent in the nations of Europe, but it remains a source of tension, particularly in the United States. Let’s explore an example from the field of health sciences.

Do We Need Hospital Support Nurses? Hospital administration is becoming increasingly aware that nursing staff are spending much of their time conducting intake interviews. This time might be better spent on direct patient care. Administration decided to create and administer a hospital-wide survey, to all medical staff, seeking guidance on appropriate steps. While the perceptions of the nursing staff would likely be the most informative, other hospital staff are also stakeholders, for example, doctors, clients, and patients, and may guide better decision making.

Administration was particularly interested in the possibility of hiring several Hospital Support Nurses (HSNs). These new staff positions could directly support the nursing staff in tasks that are not directly related to medical care. The survey posed questions in three general areas: (1) Identify tasks that HSN staff could perform, (2) determine the relative acceptance of this new staffing position, and (3) gain awareness of and better understand other possible solutions.

Once the survey results were compiled, administration shared the results along with an executive report to summarize results. Several open focus group meetings were scheduled to discuss results and make decisions. Hospital administration decided they would conduct a similar follow-up survey on the resulting decision in 6 months.

More questions? See questions 13, 15, and 16.