This will be your first attempt at writing up a discrepancy, building the argument for the problem, providing your hypothesis, and finally a research question.
Choose a simple discrepancy that you have noticed at work. . Things should be like this, but they are like that. Below is an example – please find your problem from your work. (I work in a hospital, oncology unit)
Big Problem: Post-operative pneumonia in persons over 65 years of age causes disability and can cause death (Eltorai et al. 2018).
Current Discrepancy: All patients, especially those over 65 at risk for post-op pneumonia should be able to get pre-op teaching that includes proper use of an Incentive Spirometer (IS), but many patients, especially those over 65, do not get proper instructions during pre-operative education on the use of the incentive spirometer.
Four facts that help to build the current argument about the problem:
1) Incentive spirometers (IS), when used properly, increase lung expansion postoperatively (Eltorai et al. 2018).
2) IS and patient lung expansion reduce post-operative pneumonia incidence (Eltorai et al. 2018).
3) Patients over 65 who are undergoing surgery with general anesthesia are at higher risk for post-operative pneumonia (Marshall et al. 2021).
4) Routine pre-operative education includes information on the use of Incentive Spirometers for post-operative use (Eltorai et al. 2018).
However, not all nurses provide the same pre-operative education with instructions for incentive spirometer use. (the current problem)
Hypothesis: Therefore, if nurses provide pre-operative education on incentive spirometer, patients will be less likely to develop post-operative pneumonia.
Research Question: Among patients over 65 years of age who undergo surgery, how does receiving pre-operative education on the use of incentive spirometer by the nurses affect the development of postoperative pneumonia?
