Literature Review and Meta-Analysis

This assignment tasks students with conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis of existing research within a specific field. Students must identify relevant studies, extract data, analyze findings, and synthesize the results to draw meaningful conclusions about the topic under investigation. The assignment emphasizes critical appraisal of research methodology, evidence synthesis, and clear communication of findings.

RESEARCH PROPOSAL
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Consultation with colleagues.......................................................................................................3
Focused clinical question.............................................................................................................4
Description a search strategy...........................................................................................................4
Problem statement...........................................................................................................................6
Research Methodology....................................................................................................................7
Methods of data collection/ generation and analysis.......................................................................8
Ethical considerations......................................................................................................................9
Timeline, budget and dissemination plan......................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................13
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INTRODUCTION
The Medical Imaging Department combines technologically advanced imaging services
with delivery of high quality patient care in a professional environment. The department aims to
provide patients best services as per their requirements. According to generalised view, the
Medical Imaging department performs around 48,000 diagnostic cases each year through
radiologists (Cheng and et.al., 2014). The Medical Imaging Department is engaged in providing
diagnostic, ultrasound, CAT scan, bone densitometry, nuclear medicine and mammography
services to the patients as per their problems.
It also uses filmless environment with the use of PACS (Picture Archiving
Communication System) through which situation of the affected part is analysed. Thus, it can be
said that Medical Imaging Department offers a complete range of diagnostic and interventional
services in radiology and subspecialty areas (Thrall, 201). The present research proposal will be
made with an aim to analyse if out of hours and weekend services could reduce the waiting list of
Medical Imaging Department. Thus, considering the same emphasis has been laid on showcasing
why the need of out-of-hours and weekend services are generated.
Consultation with colleagues
Aboriginal Australians generally experience a lot of health issues; therefore for this
purpose they usually visit Medical Imaging Department to get to know about their health
conditions. Hence, in this perspective, the nurses have identified that waiting list is getting
increased due to unavailability of staff members and rescheduling of appointments (Berberat,
Grobholz and Roelcke, 2014). Thus, considering the problem, consultation has been carried out
among nurse and either Nurse Unit Manager or Clinical Nurse Consultant regarding the out-of-
hours and weekend services in Medical Imaging Department.
It has been noticed that health problems have been driving people to visit Medical
Imaging Department; however due to lack of sufficient staff members, patients have to wait for
longer time span (Mair, Love and Frazer, 2013). The problem has been identified afterwards
observing continuous waiting line in Medical Imaging Department. A large number of patients
most of the time left untreated due to lack of proper scheduling. It has been observed that
sometimes they do not get appointments and sometimes they do not come at the time when they
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are given the appointments. A few patients have also been observed who visit the department
frequently and even after that, they do not get timely appointments (Thomsen, 2014).
Thus, considering this issue, nurses of Medical Imaging Department have decided to
speak with Clinical Nurse Consultant so as to enhance the duration of services especially during
weekends so that patients may not have to wait for longer time span (Cullen and et.al., 2015).
Consulting with the same authorities could assist in enhancing the duration of the services; hence
patients will be able to get necessary treatment from the respective department. Face to face
conversation will be carried out so that all the situation could be communicated to the Nursing
authority in suitable manner. This can be done along with discussions and meetings where all the
authorities will sit together (Pariente Mary and Schreiber, 2015). Later on, the same information
will be communicated with the help of emails to the entire staff.
Focused clinical question
 Can out-of-hour and weekend services reduce the waiting line in Medical Imaging
Department?
Focused clinical question will be selected as waiting list in Medical Imaging Department
has been increasing; thus in terms of solution, the present proposal will be carried out. It can also
be said that with the help of clinical question, researcher will be able to carry out the entire
procedure of research in appropriate manner (Dang and Pheng, 2015). The question will guide
the literature and it will also assist in finding out how the services could be delivered
prominently. The proposal plan will be carried out for the purpose of finding solutions for the
patients who experience diverse problems due to increased wait list. Medline, CINAHL and The
Cochrane Library are the database that will be used for the purpose of searching literature for the
study. Researching such database will also assist the investigator to identify several solutions that
could be adopted to reduce the waiting line in Medical Imaging Department (Žikić, 2016).
DESCRIPTION A SEARCH STRATEGY
Under search strategy, various database like Medline, CINAHL and The Cochrane
Library will be accessed for collecting data about the subject matter. Further, Google research
will also be carried out for the purpose of collecting wide range of data. The database will assist
the researcher to carry out the process of searching in suitable manner. Several key terms will be
used to research the content for the study (Boehm and Thomas, 2013). A search strategy is a
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structured organization of terms that is used to search a database. It shows how these terms
combine in order to retrieve the best results. All the mentioned databases work in different ways;
hence it is essential to adopt search strategy for each of the database that will be used (Hay and
et.al., 2014). The process of searching is also called as tailoring the search so which is essential
in managing different aspect of the research procedure.
In the present research study, Medline database will be accessed which is a bibliographic
database that includes life science and biomedical information (Bailey and et.al., 2016).
Academic journals, nursing, pharmacy and health care are some of the sections that are covered
under this database. It is freely available on different sources of internet and it is also researched
via PubMed and NLM’s system. Medline will be accessed in the present study since it comprises
several biomedical literature from different sources (Athappan, Gajulapalli and Kapadia, 2014).
Moreover, CIINAHL will be used in the present research study since it provides indexing
for more than 3000 English- language journals and publications in the field of nursing and allied
health. It will be useful for the present research work because it covers nursing, biomedicine and
health science. It also offers access to health care books, nursing dissertations and selected
conference proceedings; hence this will be highly useful for researcher (Gillies, Habicher and
Pearse, 2014).
Similarly, The Cochrane Library will be accessed for the study as it is a collection of
databases in medicine and other health care specialities provided by Cochrane and other
organizations. It includes a database of systematic reviews and meta- analyses which summarizes
and interpret the results of medical research (Polanczyk, Willcutt and Rohde, 2014). At the same
time, it can be said that The Cochrane Library is being used since it aims to make the results of
well- conducted controlled trails that is readily available.
Stating about inclusion and exclusion criteria, specific dimensions will be included as
well as excluded and on that basis, data will be collected and selected. Under inclusion criteria,
studies that are done after 2010 will be included; however at the same time studies that are
completed before 2010 will not be selected in the present research work (Simou and
Koutsogeorgou, 2014). Other than this, only English language will be used and studies carried
out in any other language will not be used. Nonetheless, studies that are made on Medical
Imaging Department will only be considered and any other study will be excluded from the
research work (Sessler and Imrey, 2015).
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The present research study will be completed within the time period of 5 months and the
specific time period will be selected so that researcher could include all the aspects of research in
appropriate manner (Grimes, Henry and Cotton, 2014). 5 months will be selected so that
researcher could include specific content about the area of research (Bergs, Hellings and
Vandijck, 2014). At the initial stage, researcher will seek permission from the hospital authority
so that participants can be included accordingly. Further, researcher will emphasize on the
process of sampling in which on the basis of random sampling technique, management staff
members will be selected. Afterwards, data will be collected as per the subject matter and
primary as well as secondary both the sources will be utilized at the same time (Toscano and
Schoser, 2013). Next will be to analyse and refine the data so that final conclusion could be
made appropriately. At last, the results will be disseminated to the respective people through
emails and discussion sessions.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Medical Imaging Department has been engaged in delivering Imaging services to the
patients and recently the issue of wait list has been increasing due to unavailability of staff; thus
as a result, lot of patient left untreated (Cheng and et.al., 2014). On the other hand, rescheduling
and cancellation of appointments also affects the functioning of the entire unit. Thus, looking
towards the problem statement, the study proposes the need for out-of-hours and weekend
services to reduce the waitlist in Medical Imaging Department. There are various health
problems that arises among Islander Australians; hence the need for Imaging services is
increasing on higher pace. This is much common in use as that helps the patients to get
knowledge about their health facets (Thrall, 2013).
In Australia, almost every hospital has Medical Imaging Department; however the
availability of staff members is quite minimum; therefore because of this, patients have to wait
for longer time span. This not only enhances waiting list; but also it leads the hospitals to make
new schedules as per the appointment and availability of staff members (Berberat, Grobholz and
Roelcke, 2014). Henceforth, most of the management members have identified that waiting list
of patients needs to be minimized and for that specific solution is required to be undertaken.
Prior reaching to any decision, the management identified that due to improper shifts and
unavailability of staff members, several patients have to wait for longer time span (Mair, Love
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and Frazer, 2013). Further, patients also have to wait as most often they do not visit the hospital
when they are provided the appointments.
This, not only affects the scheduling process; but also it impacts the entire service unit.
The staff members are unable to work for longer shifts; thus most often they have to reschedule
the service provision (Thomsen, 2014). This enhances the efforts of managing services and other
patients have to wait till the other one gets free from appointment. Thus, the study will be
emphasizing on result of out-of-hour and weekend services in Medical Imaging Department. In
order to reach out to any decision, it is crucial for the department to consider various things such
as training to the staff members, proper appointment to the patients and suitable scheduling of
the services (Santos, 2014). Thus, it can be said that discussion on weekend and after hour
services would assist the management staff members to reach out to any decision. This would be
beneficial for the patients and for the entire Nursing care unit (Hawkins, Duszak and Rawson,
2014).
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The study will be adopting Qualitative research methodology in which different
secondary studies will be accessed. However, both the sources of data collection will be used in
the present research work. In the present research work, Qualitative research method will be
selected because it emphasizes on the value of looking variables in their natural setting where
they are commonly found (Dang and Pheng, 2015). It is also useful in grabbing comprehensive
data and that will be collected through carrying out interview. This will be used in the study
since it includes case studies, interviews, personal observation and focus groups. Henceforth,
according to the techniques, interview session will be conducted from the management staff
members of hospitals (Baldwin, 2016).
As per the technique, issues and subjects covered can be evaluated in depth and in detail;
therefore interview will not be limited to particular questions and can be redirected or guided by
the researchers in real time (Chen, 2016). Further, human experience is the main aspect that
underpins Qualitative technique and this is also more compelling and powerful as compared to
Quantitative research. Researcher has a clear vision on study expectations; thus according
specific data will be collected according to subject matter.
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For the present research study, Interpretivism philosophy will be used since it will assist
the researcher to interpret elements of the study according to integrated human interest (Gabriel,
2015). Further, it will be selected because it assumes that access the technique can access to
reality through social constructions and shared meanings. It will also be selected as researcher
believes that reality is multiple and relative and it also explains multiple realities which are
depended on other systems for meanings (Žikić, 2016). The knowledge acquired in this
discipline is socially constructed rather than objectively determined. In the study, rigid structural
framework will be avoided so as to adopt a more flexible and personal research structures. Thus,
it can be said that Interpretivism studies will assist the researcher to focus on meaning and it may
also employ multiple methods to reflect different aspects of the issue.
With the help of random sampling technique, researcher will select the participants
(management staff members) so that the opportunities of biasness could be avoided (Hooper and
Gunn, 2014). Moreover, sample size for the present study will be 10 management staff members
working in hospitals of Australia. The subsequent sample size will be selected so that researcher
could find out the feasibility of the solution. Sample size will be relevant to the study as there are
only few members in the management team that are availed during the process of research
(Sessler and Imrey, 2015).
Participants (management staff members) will be recruited on the basis of their
knowledge regarding the research problem. Further, researcher will also seek consent from the
participants prior involving them in the procedure of research. A consent form will be given to
them so that they can make declaration about their involvement in the research work.
METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION/ GENERATION AND ANALYSIS
In general, there are two methods of data collection such as primary and secondary and in
the present research study, both will be used. Under, primary source of data collection, interview
will be conducted so as to seek information regarding the problem statement. Hence, primary
source will be used wherein management staff’s opinion about Medical Imaging Department will
be considered (Sunderland, Chenoweth and Ellem, 2015). With the help of random sampling
technique, management staff members will be selected. However, on the other hand, secondary
sources will also be utilized in which books, journals and articles will be reviewed.
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The categories of data collection is based on the type of study and the present study is
Qualitative in nature. Interview session will be conducted among the management staff members
so that they can depict their views about extended services in Medical Imaging Department. It
will a semi- structured interview which is a Qualitative method of inquiry and which combines a
pre-determined set of open ended questions (Mitchell and Pithouse-Morgan, 2014). It will be
used in the present research study as it will not limit the respondents to give pre-determined
answers to the research questions.
At the same time, data will be analysed with the help of Thematic analysis in which each
and every theme will be clearly discussed. Further, researcher will also specify the responses to
participants on the basis of charts, diagrams and tables. This is useful in terms of enhancing
presentability of the research work (Žikić, 2016).
However, several issues could arise at the time of data collection such as a few
participants might not get time to participate in the process of research. Other than this,
researcher could also experience numerous issues because of inaccessibility of the websites.
There are various websites that are subscribed and cannot be viewed; thus this might impact the
research procedure. While collecting the data, researcher might not get willingness from the
participants. At the same time, understanding problem may also arise in which participants might
face problems in comprehending the subject matter (Hooper and Gunn, 2014).
ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Approval is required to be collected from the Hospital Ethics Committee regarding the
present proposal (Krutsinger, Reed and Eberlein, 2015). Along with this, all the ethical
guidelines of National Health and Medical Research Council will be sternly adhered. It is crucial
to consider ethical aspects so that validity and reliability of the research work can be enhanced
(Suhonen, Stolt and Charalambous, 2014). Thus, in this respect, researcher will be focusing on
seeking consent from the participants so that their views can be properly involved in the research
procedure.
At the same time, while collecting the data, researcher will emphasize on including only
those articles and journals which are relevant and integrated as per the subject matter. Data will
be included only after accessing the relevancy and authenticity aspects (Braun, 2017). Similarly,
to get approval from the participants, researcher will be giving them a consent form in terms of
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getting declaration from them. All the consent forms will be giving to them through emails and
they will have to forward the consent form through the same source only. This will be an ethical
research because it will include approval from all the respective authorities (Sharif, 2017).
Therefore, it can be said that all the ethical challenges might be reduced through adhering ethical
and legal framework. Researcher will also consider NHMRC (National Health and Medical
Research Council) guidelines which is developed by Australian Government. The guldens will
be considered as it provides a single entry point for access to clinical practice guidelines
developed for Australian health care settings.
TIMELINE, BUDGET AND DISSEMINATION PLAN
The study will be completed within the period of 5 months and all the activities will be
completely monitored and analysed. Activities that will be carried out in the entire procedure
will be- getting permission from the participants (management staff members), selecting sample
size, emphasizing on data collection, conducting data analysis procedure and dissemination of
results to the respective authorities.
Activity
Duration
Getting
permission
from the
participants
Selectin
g sample
size
Emphasizi
ng on data
collection
Conducting
data analysis
procedure
Disseminatio
n of results to
the
respective
authorities
March
2016
April 2016
May 2016
June 2016
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July 2016
Required budget
Estimated budget for the research procedure will be £250 for entire 5 months. The
expenditure might get increased because a few proceeding consume time and financial resource
both. Expenses would be amended in the stage of disseminating the results to respective
authorities.
Activities Resources
Carrying out the research 50
Internet charges for laptops and systems 30
Fees of getting permission from the Hospital
Ethics Committee
100
Stationary expenses 20
Publishing the study 50
Total £250
CONCLUSION
Concluding the entire research study, it can be said that the major issue of waiting list can
be reduced through adding several provisions in the existing services of Medical Imaging
Department. The proposal could assist the Medical Imaging Department to identify several new
methods that can be adopted to manage the waiting list of patients for Imaging services. After
undergoing with thorough research, it is evident that increase in timings and shifts could assist
the nurses to render timely services to all the patients.
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