Living With Atrial Fibrillation Qualitative Study

Research Critique of:
Living With Atrial Fibrillation: A Qualitative Study
Sarah E. Garcia
Grand Canyon University: NRS-433V
10/19/2014

Research Critique of:
Living With Atrial Fibrillation: A Qualitative Study Patients living with atrial fibrillation suffer daily from the side effects of their condition and the treatments pertaining to it, yet not much consideration is taken to help understand and alleviate this burden. As healthcare workers, it is our duty to research and develop innovative ways to ease suffering and provide the best care possible for those in our care. The study that is being critiqued attempts to gain insight on patient experiences of living with atrial fibrillation. This research critique will examine the study and identify its problem statement, purpose and research question, literature review, and the conceptual/ theoretical framework utilized.
Problem Statement
As of 2011, there were 3 million people affected by atrial fibrillation with that number expected to increase by 2.5 fold by 2050. The cost of atrial fibrillation is more than $6 billion per year. With numbers like these, it is surprising that there is not a greater amount of research concerning this topic. The study addresses the problem of limited information concerning first-hand information from patients living with atrial fibrillation as demonstrated in the review of literature within the article. The point is made that though conditions such as myocardial infarction, coronary artery disease, and heart failure fall within the same rhelm as atrial fibrillation, this problem is unique to those living with it and deserves to be studied further (McCabe, Schumacher, & Barnason,