Free Quantitative Study on Bacterial Contamination Essay Sample

The research presents a quantitative study. The study is experimental as the samples obtained from the doctors’ scrubs are taken to the laboratory for testing. In order to obtain the correct results, an experiment is carried out to show the amount of bacterial contamination on the clothes. The experiment is carried out using the petri dish which is pressed on the theatre clothes to measure contamination of the clothes. Statistical figures are also used to determine the number of bacteria on the clothes worn by the participants. The quantitative design is appropriate to answer the problem presented in the research because it provides empirical evidence of the findings (Sivanandan et al., 2011).

The question posed is whether there are more bacterial contaminations in clothes worn outside the operating room than in clothes worn inside the operating room. This means that the only way to do this was to obtain samples from different doctors in order to determine if there was any bacterial contamination. The target population is the 20 doctors who were selected to participate in the study. The eligibility criteria are implied since the doctors who were chosen were those who were involved in activities both outside and inside the operating room. These doctors’ clothes were the appropriate to be tested to answer the question proposed. Sampling done for the research was done purposively. The samples were obtained for 8 hours in two hour intervals. The samples from the doctors’ clothes were obtained after every two hours to gauge whether the bacterial contamination increased with time. The clothes of the doctors where the samples were obtained from were washed in the hospital’s laundry prior to the experiment and they all came from the same manufacturer. The setting of the study is very appropriate as it is set in the hospital more so inside the theatre as well as outside. This setting is appropriate as it relates directly to what the question of the study is.

Informed consent is utilized because the authors state that the 20 doctors took part in the study after they had given their informed consent. This means that the participants were aware of the purpose of the study and were willing to participate in the study. The data was collected by the researchers who wrote the article. Data was collected through observance of the laboratory results obtained from the samples. The number of colony forming units was counted meaning the data was obtained through observation.  The measuring instruments are clearly described. The authors state that the study used petri dishes filled with horse blood agar which had been pre-incubated for 24 hours at 37 degrees centigrade. The samples were also put on plates that were taken to the laboratory. The accuracy of the measuring instruments is not addressed. The authors however stipulate that the doctors might have been engaged in different activities that might have slightly altered the findings. This might have had an effect on the reliability of the measuring instrument (Kimberlein & Winterstein, 2008). The authors explain that the two groups of paired observations, that is those inside and those outside the theatre, were statistically evaluated using the Wilcoxon signed rank sum test.

The important results in the study are discussed as the authors discuss the different bacteria found on the samples as well as the fact that the numbers of bacteria found in the samples from outside and inside the theatre were the same. This was the question of the research and the authors explain the factors that might have contributed to the results. The article also addresses the limitations of the study. The authors conclude that there should be evidence based protocols to ensure that there is less bacterial contamination from the theatre clothes. The authors also conclude that since the number of bacteria from the sample inside the theatre and those from outside, it means that the measures currently put in place to prevent this contamination are not efficient. There authors recommend that there should be new, preferably evidence based procedures put in place to prevent contamination in the theatre. Future questions for research include: the manner in which the bacteria from theatre clothes causes surgical site infections (Reichman & Greenberg, 2009), evidence based protocol for preventing surgical site infection and how long theatre clothes should be worn in the operating room.  The results of the study can be put into practice in the operating room in any hospital especially in joint replacement operations. 

 

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