Researchers studied 393 patients in a hospital’s coronary care unit. In the experiment, volunteers were asked to pray daily for a patient’s rapid recovery and for the prevention of complications and death.
None of the patients knew if he or she was being prayed for. None of the volunteers or patients knew each other. The research team categorized how each patient fared as “good,” “intermediate,” or “bad.” They concluded that “prayed for” patients fared a little better than other patients—the experiment having documented results that seemed to support the prediction that prayer might have beneficial effects for seriously ill patients.
The results brought a storm of criticism, mostly from scientists who cited bias in the experimental design. For instance, the patients were categorized after the experiment was over, instead of as they were undergoing treatment, so the team already knew which ones had improved, stayed about the same, or gotten worse. Why do you suppose the experiment generated a heated response from many in the scientific community? Can you think of at least one other variable that might have affected the outcome of each patient’s illness?
Want to see the full answer?
Check out a sample textbook solutionChapter 1 Solutions
Human Biology (MindTap Course List)
- Why are data sources so important in the health sciences? What do you think are important criteria for finding good data? What could be a potential problem with sources of data and how could this be avoided?arrow_forwardThe following case study is a paraphrase from "Good Clinical Practice. Standard Operating Procedures for Clinical Researchers" (Kolman, J., Meng, P. and Scott, G. editors; John Wiley and Sons publishers, 1998): “While a study subject and a relative were walking in town one day during the summer, a hanging flower basket fell on a study subjects head, resulting in the study subject falling down and becoming unconscious. The subject’s relative called for an ambulance. On arrival at a local hospital’s Emergency Department, in which the subject regained consciousness but could not recall the event, a x-ray revealed a fractured skull. The subject’s consciousness level at this point was deteriorating and after further tests a subdural hematoma was diagnosed, which was evacuated under general anesthesia. Postoperative recovery was uneventful and progressing well until day four, when the patient developed acute dyspnea (shortness of breath) at rest during visiting time. An emergency lung scan…arrow_forwardRead Nurse Staffing and Inpatient Hospital Mortality. Write a Memorandum (no more than 2 pages) directed to your faculty answering the questions: What questions the did researchers try to answer? What study design was chosen for this study? Why? What data was collected? Why? What biases the study was subjected to? What conclusions were made? How a healthcare manager can use this study to guide departmental staffing?arrow_forward
- What does Freedman say about Equipoise and the ethics of clinical research, does he respect the principle of Beneficence?arrow_forwardHow could the Konstanz Information Miner KNIME Analytics platform be used to analyze health care data? What benefits does this software have in comparison to commercial products that have similar functionality and use?arrow_forwardFrom the "Spurious Correlation: Definition, Examples & Detecting" article by Jim Frost, why spurious correlation is an issue when it comes to analyzing and interpreting public health data? How does it impacts public health? What is an example of spurious correlation? What is the variables being correlated, what the relationships being suggested is, why you think it is a spurious correlation, and what (if any) mitigating or confounding variables may be?arrow_forward
- You read a study in which 55 male participants (aged 55-70 years) were assessed for handgrip strength, and changes in cardiovascular health over a 2-year period. In the statistical analysis section of the paper you note that the researchers used regression analysis as the statistical procedure. The researchers identify the independent variable as handgrip strength, and the dependent variable as change in cardiovascular health. What do you think the research question could be?You read a study in which 55 male participants (aged 55-70 years) were assessed for handgrip strength, and changes in cardiovascular health over a 2-year period. In the statistical analysis section of the paper you note that the researchers used regression analysis as the statistical procedure. The researchers identify the independent variable as handgrip strength, and the dependent variable as change in cardiovascular health. What do you think the research question could be? Select one: a. Does handgrip strength…arrow_forwardNow consider the use of Table 1 within the nursing research article. When reading research articles, many people will skip over the tables and figures. Why do you think the authors included it? Was it helpful? Why or why not? Note: I can't post the article but here's a paragraph where Table 1 is mentioned. RESULTS Patient selection and baseline characteristics Between 2010 and 2015, 132 women were diagnosed with ovarian cancer at the Diakonessenhuis. Four patients were excluded from further analysis because they were treated elsewhere. Therefore, 128 patients were included in this study. Baseline characteristics for patients agedarrow_forwardIn a study to improve patient medication adherence, one group of patients with either diabetes or coronary heart disease were given pamphlets by a nurse on the importance of adherence to read while the other group watched a short video on adherence and had a discussion led by Community Health Worker. Both groups later reported on their medication adherence by phone, computer or mobile app. Which is the independent variable?arrow_forward
- If a researcher with an interest in medicine wanted to gain more insight into the healthcare industry and profession and conduct qualitative interviews with professionals like a doctor or nurse, as well as potentially interviewing medical students: a) Describe the content the researcher may cover in the interviews. b) What may be the researcher’s hypothesis, presumptions, or expectations? c) How does conducting these interviews enhance the researcher’s understanding of the healthcare industry?arrow_forwardCoffee may not affect blood pressure in women, reported an article in Mobile Register, November 9, 2005. This article was based on a study reported by the Journal of the American Medical Association (2005) that followed 155,594 mostly white female nurses, age 55 on the average, who took part in two long running health studies. The participants were questioned periodically about their diets and health and followed for over 12 years. a) Is this an observational study or an experiment? b) Caffeine is a well-known beverage in both coffee and cola and has been shown to cause short-term increases in blood pressure. The article reported that drinking coffee doesn’t seem to cause long-term high blood pressure. Can such a cause-and-effect conclusion be drawn from this study? Justify your response.arrow_forwardhe first involved an assessment of the relationship between cigarette smoking and incidence of lung cancer. For cigarette smokers, the lung cancer incidence rate was Ie = 200 per 100,000. For nonsmokers, the lung cancer incidence rate was Io = 25 per 100,000. The lung cancer incidence rate in the entire population was It = 100 per 100,000. The second study involved an assessment of the relationship between cigarette smoking and incidence of coronary heart disease. For cigarette smokers, the coronary heart disease incidence rate was Ie = 500 per 100,000. For nonsmokers, it was Io = 250 per 100,000. In the overall population, the coronary heart disease rate was It = 300. 1. What is relative risk the of developing lung cancer in the first study and of developing coronary heart disease in the second study? Interpret. 2. From the data involving cigarette smoking and lung cancer incidence, what are the attributable risk and the attributable-risk percent? Interpret the result. 3. From the…arrow_forward
- Human Biology (MindTap Course List)BiologyISBN:9781305112100Author:Cecie Starr, Beverly McMillanPublisher:Cengage Learning