Research is an integral part of the healthcare sector. It helps improve patient outcomes as well as elevate healthcare outcomes. Research work has a structure to it. It cannot exist arbitrarily. If you’re part of a research team, You will relay the topic and the type of participants to you. Since research work can easily blur the lines of morals and ethics, you need to pay attention to what you do. It’s not worth endangering someone’s life to learn about the work you’re trying to conduct. As a nurse, ensuring the volunteers’ comfort falls on you. Everyone’s tasks and duties are divided. So don’t try to handle everything on your own without paying attention to your tasks. Research work is data sensitive. If you’re not careful about controlling the variables, the information is redundant. So as a nurse, here’s what you need to do to help the research process:
Learn the Work
Research is a proper process. You can’t jump into it headfirst without knowing how to conduct research. However, before taking any decision, you need to know what it takes to carry out the process. It will help if you search online how to become a research nurse and find out what you need to do. Are there any courses you can take, or is there any other requirements? Unless you’re sure about your skills, don’t participate in any research. These are human lives that will go through different challenges to get healthcare outcomes.
Finding Proper Volunteers
Not everyone can become a volunteer. You need to set the prerequisites beforehand. Discuss with your research team what the hypothesis is. Once you have a list narrowed to the type of volunteers you need, send out forms. For example, if you’re studying obesity in women, you want to ensure you get only women. You will also need to have control, such as their height and age. If the study also goes across their ethnicity, that narrows down the list further. Once you have a list of volunteers, phase two begins. You can screen these women further. Make sure they’re not on drugs or have any underlying health conditions. Find out if they gained weight due to their genes or lifestyle. When you have volunteers who fulfill all your checklists, proceed with the trial.
Provide the Necessary Information
People have jobs. You can’t enroll someone for a study if they don’t know what to expect. Will the research happen during the day or the night? Will they have to undress or stay clothed? Will it pull them from their responsibilities? These are questions people need to know. It will also help if you inform them whether there is money involved or not. Disclose all the necessary information a volunteer needs to prevent getting into legal trouble. You need to have your paperwork to show legitimacy. If the questions are too complicated for you to handle, connect volunteers to head researchers. Explain the purpose of the study. It will make your work more accessible if you compile an excellent brochure to help your case.
Informed Consent
Informed consent is slightly different than providing information on the experiment. It is about giving information about what the volunteer will go through. You need to tell them if they’ll have to ingest medicines and know their allergens are essential. Volunteers also need to know the potential side effects or hazards of the test itself. Is it straightforward, or will they get impacted? For example, if you’re studying the impact of sleep deprivation on the mind, that is a very extreme case. The experiment can negatively impact a volunteer in more than one way. Comparatively, if you’re experimenting on what controls the way we sweat. Some investigations are very intensive, and some are light. Unless you provide all the necessary information, a volunteer can sue you.
Double Check the Data
It would help at the end of every experimental data you sit and allow the researcher to check data. You want to make certain factors such as names, dates, and times consistent. You also want to make sure the data is accurate across the board. It will help your cause if you compute your results every day. Try keeping an eye on the initial trends to the last trend. If you don’t stay on top of data from day one, an anomaly can appear anytime. While margins of errors do exist, significant errors do not. A careless mistake can cost thousands of dollars of funding and universities to avoid working with you.
Check Volunteer Safety
You want to make sure that you’re ready for all situations. The room where the experiment is getting conducted should have a proper ventilation system. There needs to be both a fire extinguisher and a fire bucket to prevent all types of fire. When you’re allowing the volunteer to have a break, monitor their conditions. If you feel the test is too heavy on a volunteer, discuss it with your head researcher. Document all the volunteers equally. They all need to have the same break and the same amount of food. You’re also not allowed to spring any surprises on your volunteers. Every step of the way, tell them what’s going to happen.
Final Word
Research work is essential for the sector to grow and expand. However, the process itself is very long and tedious. You need to first decide on your research sample to deduce a timeline. The more critical your research work, the higher the funding. Volunteers are an integral part of the process. It is through researching them you learn about the hypothesis. Therefore the screening process needs to be as strict as possible. Volunteers should know what they’re getting into. Withholding information can form the basis of a legal lawsuit. As the experiment proceeds, make sure you’re monitoring a patient at all times. Suppose they seem injured or sick, which isn’t part of the experiment. Document and pull them out. No investigation is worth someone’s life.