LDRS 591 Activity 8.1

LDRS 591 Activity 8.1

Unit 8 Learning Activities

Action research is a new term and concept for me. I have been a consumer of research for a long time, but the formal research process has always been intimidating to me. Reading Plano-Clark and Creswell’s (2015) chapter in action research, I realized that to practice action research one does not have to be a trained researcher; the primary prerequisites being inquisitiveness, a desire to improve one’s practice, and basic knowledge of research practices.

The top three problems at my work place where I could apply action research are:

1. A number of my patients live in institutional settings like nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Many of them have diseases for which dietary modification is necessary. Since the patients don’t always have control of their meals, it is very difficult for them to comply with the recommended diets. I wonder how we can make sure patient diets are complied with? This issue can be addressed with action research involving patients, colleagues, administrative representatives from assisted livings and nutritionists.
2. I work in a Geriatric clinic, with a lot of our patients being disabled because of various health conditions or age. A lot of them have disabled parking permits. I often hear complaints from patients that it takes them a long time to find parking in one of the designated handicap parking spots, or they have to park in non-handicap parking spots and walk a long distance. How can we provide more convenient parking to geriatric patients, without using up more than our designated paring space in an institution ? I would like to engage with my colleagues, some patient representatives and organizational leadership to address this issue.
3. Office space in our clinic is not spacious. Physicians do not have individual offices, instead we share one big space that is sectioned into cubicles. Our desks are placed quite close together and at a time there could be 7 physicians in that space. Our desk work involves dictating or typing patient notes, making phone calls to patients or family members, interacting with our office staff in one to one or phone conversation, occasional consultations amongst ourselves of over the phone with our physicians etc. Sometimes this creates a lot of background noise, precluding critical thinking. How can noise be better managed in a shared working space?  would like to try and address this issues with action research involving my colleagues, clinic staff, organizational leadership.

Since these are local problems limited to my practice setting, I could implement most of the steps as outlined by Plano-Clark and Creswell (2015, p. 440). The biggest constraint I foresee is time.  I could consult with my colleagues and try to recruit some of them as co-researchers.

Reference

Plano-Clark, V., & Creswell, J. (2015). Understanding research: A consumer’s guide (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.