Gathering literature Search
According to Smith and Noble (2015), a literature
review gathers studies and research with significant
findings that are useful in informing clinical practice in
healthcare settings as well as improving patient care.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC, 2015)
who govern nurses’ practice, published a document
called The Code to advise and guide nurses on
various aspects of their role. This emphasises that
only current information and research should be
implemented into practice as nurses rely on literature
to deliver efficient care as well as helping them make
decisions that they are accountable for based on
evidence. Therefore to ensure literature is high quality
and accurate, Mhaskar, Emmanuel, Mishra, Patel, Naik
and Kumar (2009) state critical appraisal is essential
to ensure a robust process has been carried out. To gather research and studies, a variety of databases
were used to explore the topic of stoma care
including EBSCO, Medline, NICE, Psycinfo, Cochrane
Library, ASSIA and British Nursing Index. One search
found 203 articles specifically focusing on stoma
management, patients’ mental wellbeing and the
adjustment or adaptation process. A second search
was then conducted to explore the role of the nurse
in caring for patients with a stoma where 636 results
were produced. To refine these results, an inclusion
and exclusion criteria were applied.
When exploring the variety of available research,
many different forms were apparent including
qualitative, quantitative and cohort studies. Albers
(2017) explains that qualitative research is able to
identify the reasons behind ideas whereas Watkins
(2012) states quantitative research uses numerical
patterns to gather findings. Lastly, Song and
Chung (2010) cohort studies explore participant’s
experiences.
PICO
To refine and focus the hypothesised question for the
literature review, the PICO (population, intervention,
control and outcomes) framework was useful (Aslam
& Emmanuel, 2010). The population first of all, are
participants who have undergone bowel surgery
resulting in a colostomy or ileostomy. The next stage
of intervention would be introducing an educational
learning package into clinical practice to encourage
more education for nurses around pre and post-
operative stoma care. Finally, the outcome would be
that care would be expected to improve which would
decrease patients’ risk of developing anxiety and
depression following ostomy formation.
Inclusion criteria
The purpose of an inclusion criteria, according to Gill,
Roberts, Wang and Heneghan (2014) is to reduce a
large amount of search results. Firstly, only English
language was selected because during the translation
process, Van Nes, Abma, Jonsson and Deeg
(2010) state research findings can often become
misinterpreted. Additionally, a variety of studies
from the past ten years were selected because this
provided both older and current perspectives of the
nurses’ role in stoma management.
Exclusion criteria
Once the inclusion criteria had been applied to the
search results, the remaining titles and abstracts were
analysed for suitability. Some irrelevant literature such
as incorrect topic, duplicates or inaccessible articles
were not considered due to constraints on time as
well as limited financial resources.
Critical appraisal tool
According to Meyer (2017), a critical appraisal tool
helps to assess the value of an article or study.
Although Katrak, Bialocerkowski, Massy-Westropp,
Kumar and Grimmer (2004) found many of these
tools are not method specific therefore using the
same tool for qualitative, quantitative and cohort
studies, The Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP.
2018) is not only easy to use and cost effective
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