Nursing as One of the Most Important Fields of Study (Essay Sample)

INTRODUCTION
Nursing has been one of the most important fields of study in this nation over the several past decades. Scholars have come up with a new way of investing nursing issues. This has been generalized to one main phrase; nursing research. Nursing research is a broad scientific term which involves, developing a scientific base to nursing activities and practices, controlling and curbing chronic diseases, increasing human life span, among many other aspects. Medical specialist have come up with nursing research, to use a scientific approach in dealing with the many endless and recurring nursing problems which arise frequently in daily nursing operations. Some of the priorities which should be undertaken for nursing research, alongside with a research proposal concerning the effects as a result of foot reflexology, is as epitomized below.
According to the National Institute of Nursing Research, commonly known as NINR, there are several priorities, which should be set aside for nursing research, as they have outlined them in their strategic plan. Some of these priorities are; intervention studies in nursing, putting into use, the approaches of research, deep analysis of outcomes of research and research costs, advancement in the knowledge of biology to understand terms such as genes and the associated symptoms, equity in health, among many other priorities. Personally I agree with these priorities. They actually explain the scope, which nursing researchers to follow and aim to accomplish, to solve nursing problems. However, I would suggest that the priorities should also include cooperation with the society for the research to be successful and fruitful in regard to the anticipated results.
All these research priorities outlined above, directly or indirectly affect nursing researchers. For such researchers to carry out investigations, they should strictly adhere to all these priorities. To start with, the nursing researchers should be well acquainted with knowledge of carrying out research. They should clearly understand the research methodologies, techniques, method of data collection and analysis, among many other aspects, which should be followed when carrying out a research. This negatively affects those nursing specialists who lack research knowledge. If such individuals, with inadequate research knowledge, are used to carry out the nursing research, the final results may not be actual, reliable and realistic.
Secondly, the priorities of the nursing research, requires health equity to be adhered to. However, lack of enough specialists in the health department, to ensure equity between the male and the female gender in the health nursing research, may indirectly affect the end results of the research. However, most nursing experts, who can be used to carry out the nursing research, are usually bestowed with the knowledge of biology in them at the basic nursing level. This favors the priorities of the nursing research.
For any practiced to be regarded as “based on evidence”, there must be a scientific approach to a certain problem or research objective (Parahoo, K., 2014). An Evidence-based research should have results gathered from experiments, observation, tallying, among other methods of data collection, to confidently support the research outcomes. For example, nursing researchers investigating about breast cancer, should give statistical data of how many women, in a certain geographical location are having breast cancer. This statistical data should come from practical research in that particular field of investigation.
Quality plays a very major role in any practice that can be regarded as evidence based. Quality here refers to the extent to which the research outcomes are reliable, biased and generally excellent. A good, quality evidenced-based practice is the one whose research outcomes are non-biased, reliable and which can be used to make generalization of a bigger population affected by the research problem. The vice versa is also true.
Based on the information and content learnt in class, group discussion and other research materials, the following is a research proposal on how foot reflexology affects lung and breast cancer patients in regard to their pain and anxiety.
Abstract
The term ‘foot reflexology’ is made up of two words; foot, and reflexology. Generally, foot is that part of the body in human beings, which is used to support the body weight, and is used primarily used for walking. On the other hand, reflexology is a scientific term used in nursing to refer to the act of manually exerting pressure in certain body parts which are regarded as reflex points. Therefore, foot reflexology refers to the process of applying pressure to the foot or feet of an individual (Gozuyesil, E. et al., 2016). Many reflexologists, among other nursing and health experts have a belief that, foot reflexology, helps to improve the health and the well-being of many patients and people. This act is carried out in different medical institution, for relatively low charges. Reflexology hardly requires specialized instruments. It is cheap to carry out and can even be performed at home. The triggers body sensations which in turn relieve pain, anxiety, discomfort, among other disorders.
Hypothesis
The hypothesis for this research proposal is that; foot reflexology decreases pain and anxiety, in patients suffering from lung and breast cancer.
Theory
The foot reflexology theory is based on the argument that, different parts of the body are interconnected in different areas in the body, which are commonly referred to as reflex points. The mostly known reflex points are usually located at the hands and the feet. According to Stephenson, N. L, et al., (2000), the feet usually have a large surface area and as a result, they are known to be the most useful reflex points. Foot reflexology is normally carried out by compressing the feet by use of fingers, thumbs or even hands. According to this theory, when pressure is applied on a reflex point, it triggers a certain response in another part of the body, which is interconnected to it.
The body, in regard to reflexology, can be divided into two; the right and the left part. The left hand and the left foot, stand for the left part of the body. Alternatively, the right hand and the right foot, represent the body’s right part. Therefore a reflect action at the left hand, is likely to trigger a response in an organ in the body’s left part.
Design model
The design models used in this research proposal were as listed below.
* Cross-over designs
* Pre and post experiments
* Quasi-experiments
Sample
The research involved a sample of in-patients who were 23 in total, many of whom were women of more than 65 years. All the in patients were either suffering from lung or breast cancer. This sample had a little educational background of utmost 12 years. Their earnings ranged from more than $20,000. They were subjected to similar opioids medications, at regular scheduled basis in the days when intervention and control took place.
Method
The methodology of this research proposal involved simple intervention conditions. First of all, an authorized reflexologist attended to each feet of one in-patient by reflexing bot