NURS 8000 Week 4 Assignment 1: Locating and Critically Analyzing Primary Research Articles

Students pursuing advanced nursing education require and should develop research skills so that they can locate and critically analyze articles to attain evidence for implementation in their practice settings. Through this approach, they attain not just success in nursing research but also advance in their careers as well-informed practitioners who leverage evidence-based practice (EBP) interventions to offer patient-centered care and reduce hospital readmission (Charosaei et al., 2021). The Walden University library offers resources and databases for advanced nursing students to conduct research and locate scholarly articles. Imperatively, through these databases which include PubMed Central, Medline, and CINAHL as well as BMC Central, one can locate articles on the topic of interest using keywords or terms. The purpose of this paper is to locate and analyze three articles from online resources provided by the identified databases or journals, summarize, and synthesize them from a scholarly perspective. In its final part, the paper explores the differences between summarizing and synthesizing research articles.

Article 1

The first article is by Bokhour et al. (2018) and focuses on strategies that healthcare organizations can implement to offer patient-centered care. According to the authors, a core part of implementing patient-centered care (PCC) is transforming the organization’s culture of care. Using the Department of Veterans Affairs, the authors conducted qualitative semi-structured interviews with employees to identify various factors that help entities to offer patient-centered care like effective leadership, patient and family engagement, engaging the staff, and focusing on innovation among other aspects. In their conclusion, the authors are categorical that an effective organizational culture is key to offering patient-centered care.

Article 2

The article by Hower et al. (2019) explores the organizational determinants from decision makers’ point-of-view on implementing patient-centered care. Using a qualitative approach across different health and social care organizations (HSCOs), the authors found that various aspects were important and determined the level of patient-centered care (PCC) that each facility can offer. Among these include effective communication among staff, addressing staff welfare to motivate them, and overcoming resource constraints, especially financial and human resource issues. The authors conclude by imploring HSCOs to tailor their interventions based on their situations to meet these needs.

Article 3

The third article by Rammohan et al. (2023) discusses the implementation of care transition teams to reduce hospital readmission and enhance patient outcomes. Using a two-phase study approach to investigate readmission rates and associated risk factors in a community hospital for about five years, and a care transition team after discharge and patient support to evaluate the social determinants of health (SDOHs). As such, the authors emphasize the critical role that care transition teams play in lowering the rates of hospital readmissions rates and mitigating the financial strain on healthcare organizations. The researchers assert that hospitals through care transition teams can lower the overall readmission rates by identifying and addressing individual risk factors that include evaluation of social determinants of health (SDOHs).

Synthesis of the Articles

The three articles emphasize the need for healthcare organizations to develop and implement effective strategies aimed at providing patient-centered care that can reduce hospital readmissions. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) (2020), patient-tailored interventions lead to increased participation of patients in their care plans and management of their condition. Tailoring these interventions ensures that patients get quality care based on care transition teams to reduce possible readmissions. Through these articles, one can identify the relationship between patient-centered care and reduced rates of readmissions, especially within the first thirty days after discharge. The articles are categorical that providing patient-centered care leads to improved care quality and reduces the possibility of readmissions.

Differences Between Summary and Synthesis of Articles

Article summary and synthesis are different based on the goals and focus. At the core of the article’s summary is detailing the topic of the study, methods, and approaches used, the results of the research, and the conclusion. The summary also outlines the main themes of the article. Conversely, synthesizing an article means identifying and critically analyzing the themes and areas of study covered by the authors. Article synthesis

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