Assignment:

Research a nursing/healthcare-related topic of your choice. Create a research question about that topic (that your thesis statement will later answer/address). Find at least 5 sources that could be used to support a document on this topic. At least 3 of the sources must be scholarly.

You will write an annotation for each source that is descriptive and evaluative and between 5-8 sentences in length. The description portion will describe and summarize what the source is about. The evaluative portion will analyze the usefulness of the source for your project and the accuracy/appropriateness of information.

You will also write a sentence outline to accompany the annotated bibliography. The sentence outline will provide 1 full sentence for each of the main points you would make in a paper on this topic and using these sources (minimum of 5 main points). NOTE: This is just an outline, not a paper.

See the explanation and student example on the following pages:

Outline

Thesis: In the last twenty years, the nursing profession has increasingly focused on recognizing and upholding patients’ rights to privacy and dignity as an evidence-based practice that leads to improved health outcomes.

• Patients are guaranteed rights and privileges from several overseeing health organizations and governing bodies.
• Dignity is one of the rights guaranteed to patients in the United States through bylaws and the Patient Bill of Rights.
• In addition to governing bodies and oversight organizations, lawsuits have also held many institutions in check as they may be held financially responsible directly to patients whose rights are violated.
• Acknowledging and safeguarding patients’ rights is a relatively new concern in the healthcare field, and more work continues to be done each year to improve patient outcomes and satisfaction.
• The interest in patient rights and patient dignity continues to grow as the healthcare field becomes increasingly patient-centered and outcomes-based.

Annotated Bibliography

Alaszewski, H., Holdsworth, L., & Billings, J. (2009). Privacy and dignity in continence care: Research review Nursing & Residential Care, 11(8), 393-396.

This article reviews a study that was carried out in relation to privacy and dignity in continence care. This review highlights four major themes, including privacy during toileting and continence care being vital to maintain dignity. In addition that it was easier to maintain privacy in care homes that provided en-suite bathrooms for the residents. This article is written by three health professionals who specialize in research two of whom are research associates and one who is a researcher and one health professional who is a senior lecturer at a university. Therefore, due to the nature of the authors the article is primarily based to health professionals. More specifically as it was published in Nursing and Residential care the health care professionals who work in nursing and residential homes. This article is not supported as it only gives reference to what the Health Care commission report caring for dignity says about dignity.

Foss, T. D. (2006). Grave bearing: How dignity will be dealt with on wards. British Journal of Nursing, 15(9), 481-489.

This article discusses the new duty that the British government has imposed on nurses: dignity nurse. In the article, the author argues that nurses simply have too many duties and adding another will make the nurses even more overstretched. In addition, it is pointed out that nurses already show the patients respect and dignity in basic care as nurses play an important role in keeping up dignity in mixed wards. The article concludes with the view that the government cannot deal with this with continuing learning courses as the nurses do not have the time nor do the trust have the money to send the nurses on them. As this article is published in the British Journal of Nursing and written by the editor of the journal, and it is aimed at an audience of health care professionals especially who work on wards and in Britain. As no reference is made to anyone else or any other publications, this article is unsupported.

Matiti, M. R., Trorey, G. M. (2008). Patients’ expectations of the maintenance of their dignity. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 17(20), 2709-2721.

This study was carried out to research into patient’s expectations of dignity while they were in hospital and how it was maintained. Due to both the authors being health lectures at universities in England and the article being printed in a nursing journal this article is aimed at any health professional who works in a hospital setting as this is where the study was carried out. The information about the study is clearly presented in this article as the information is divided into the different sections of the study. As this is a study that was conducted it is not supported in the traditional sense as it only makes reference to what other people perceive privacy and dignity to be.

McFarlane, J. K. (2003). Standards of care: What do we mean by care? Nursing Mirror, 143(23), 40-42.

McFarlane examines the meaning of the word ‘care’ within a nursing context. The responsibility of nurses to provide care is legitimized in numerous documents, and the author goes on to identify key concepts related to nursing care. In particular, these concepts include assisting, helping and giving a service; offering this service to people who need help with daily living activities and to others who are affected by health deviations or illness of some kind. Moreover, the nurse’s caring role is legitimized by the patients. The main limitation of the article is that all of the research was exclusively conducted in large city hospitals. Therefore, while the article is useful for an analysis of nursing care, the limitations of its research base will require some adaption to meet the needs of this assignment that requires a commentary on services in both city and country area hospitals.