Literature Search Paper Spring Essay Example

cost up to $1 billion, making them prominent health concerns. Patient compliance to treatments is seen to increase when they possess adequate knowledge about their health conditions according to Neil, J. (1999). The study mentioned offers a means of evaluating foot care behaviors following standard guidelines in foot care management. Moreover, it allows for the collection of updated data regarding foot care practices at different times. Such information could highlight a requirement for enhanced foot care education or additional support, particularly for individuals with insensate feet who are prone to developing foot ulcers.

The first investigation was carried out on the CINAHL database utilizing the P-Diabetic patients with foot ulcers. This search did not yield the desired information, leading to a redefinition of my P to Patients with diabetic foot ulcers, which provided a result of 255974 hits. Incorporating 'education' into the title narrowed the hit down to 10647. The search was then restricted to articles with abstracts, producing nine hits. However, adding systematic review to the search yielded no results. Removing the systematic review and adding a time limit from 2008-2010 generated four results (refer to appendix table A). I selected an article titled "The nurse's role in the prevention of diabetic foot ulcers" [Greek], (Rerkasem, K; Kosachunhanun, N; Tongpraser, S Khwanngern, K; Matanasarawoot, A; Thongchai, C; Chimplee, K Buranapin, S; Chaisrisawadisuk, S; Mangklabruks, A. et al., 2008). This is a researched-based journal article that compares the rate of amputations among patients who were treated through protocol care from August 2005 through March 2007 to those who received regular care from August 2003 to July 2005. The sample includes seventy-three and 110 patients

with diabetic-foot.

The article of Literature Search Paper 4 discloses that protocol care significantly improved the condition of diabetic foot ulcer patients compared to those who received standard foot care. This method can thus be utilized by hospitals to enhance health outcomes in diabetic patients (Rerkasem, K. et al., 2008). The validity of this particular article is further upheld due to it being peer-reviewed. In the following Medline Search step of the research procedure, a search was conducted focused on P- patients suffering from diabetic foot ulcers, which resulted in 18 relevant results.

Disabling the full text resulted in 63 finds. When abstracts were permitted, the outcome was also 63. Consequently, a timeline was set from 2005 to 2010, during which there were 37 papers incorporated. Adding Intervention (I-PICO) education to the filter produced five papers. The systemic review yielded just one paper, therefore the search reverted back to the five articles previously found. (Refer to Appendix table B).

The chosen piece, “Patient education for preventing diabetic foot ulceration” (Valk GD; Kriegsman DM; Assendelft WJ. 2005), examines the efficiency of instructing patients about preventing foot ulcers when afflicted with diabetes mellitus. This investigation was facilitated by exploring research sourced from the Cochrane Wounds Group Specialized Register, (September 2004) and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (The Cochrane Library Issue 3, 2004). The studies provide weak evidence suggesting that patient instruction can lower the prevalence of foot ulcers and amputations, especially among higher risk patients. Patient training appears to significantly enhance patient knowledge and behavior regarding foot care.

In the fifth Literature Review Paper, Valk, GD documented in 2005 that

the short-term internal validity score for individual Random Controlled Trials (RCTs) ranged from two to five. The last depository scrutinized was Google Scholar, famous for its extensive international network. Refining the search results proved difficult due to the immense data volume. An initial keyword search using 'diabetic foot ulcers' produced 38,000 articles. Introducing 'education' into the search parameters reduced this number to 18,600. When limiting it further to medical-themed papers only, there were 11,500 remaining articles. Restricting publication years between 2008 and 2010 yielded a total of 1440 articles. Further narrowing down these years to include only those published between 2009 and 2010 left us with just 704 articles. After integrating a systematic review into our search criteria we ended up with a mere ten relevant articles.

Initially, the search yielded 10 articles, but they didn't suit the required subject matter. To broaden the search, the timeline was expanded to 2007-2010, producing an additional 16 articles. One chosen article was “Diabetic foot ulcers — a comprehensive review” by P.C. Leung (2007), detailed in Appendix C. This paper outlines the escalating prevalence of foot ulcers among individuals with diabetes, emphasizing that it has now become a public health issue. Abnormal pressure points on the sole of the foot, foot deformities, and minor injuries are identified as predisposing elements. Feet susceptible to these ulcers typically exhibit vascular insufficiency and peripheral neuropathy. Due to their complex nature, these ulcers warrant specialized attention. The depth of the ulcer remains the most insightful prognostic indicator of healing, with ulcers that evidently touch underlying tendons, ligaments, or joints—especially those with observable gangrenous tissue—tending to heal poorly.

A single

Randomized Controlled Trial that included 749 participants studied the influence of foot care instruction incorporated into standard diabetes training in primary care. This review is distinguished as the first to conduct a comprehensive, validated evaluation of the methodological quality of the incorporated studies. One of the key outcomes highlighted by this review is the extremely poor quality of the included Randomized Controlled Trials. Every trial's internal validity score ranged from two to five out of a potential maximum of ten, indicating serious methodological shortcomings. This predominantly resulted from an absence of crucial data in the trial reports. Given these low validity scores, any positive effects observed must be treated with high levels of skepticism.

Due to a general scarcity of top-notch studies incorporated, we couldn't perform the planned stratified analysis or allocate appropriate weights to the researches based on their methodological merit. Owing to inadequate documentation of effect magnitude, we only sought additional data for a pair of studies. Efforts made to contact other authors for supplemental details about the study's design, execution, or findings were not fruitful. In summary, there appears to be minimal evidence endorsing patient education as a preventive strategy against diabetes-induced foot ulcers or amputations. However, this should be construed as an absence of evidence rather than confirmation of ineffectiveness. Leung, P.C. (2007).

Is there a reduction in diabetic foot ulcers due to the education of the concerned patient group? It cannot be overstated how vital education is for treating foot ulcers. But does it result in a noticeable change? Finding a distinctive article to substantiate this idea was rather challenging. Each information bank had compelling articles, many of

which put forth sound reasoning. The selected article from CINAHL was built around a research involving 173 patients.

In the Literature Search Paper 7, there was no absolute evidence illustrating the benefits of education. An article from a Medline search showed unsubstantiated claims of education having any merit, based on feeble proof. The Medline article's author had a publication record in several journals. A third search conducted on Google Scholar incorporated a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) involving over 700 patients, yet failed to provide any solid evidence asserting the benefits of education. This author has also featured various publications across multiple journals. From all three chosen articles, internal validity was dubious. There wasn't any concrete proof in these studies to unequivocally demonstrate that education assisted in improving the recovery rate of foot ulcers. I'm led to conclude that due to the multitude of variables involved, this study lacks external validity.