Practice-based Research in (allied) healthcare

1 Research competence for a professional context

Clear solution for Simon In late August, two weeks before her due date, my pregnant colleague’s water broke. She had some doubts about the clarity of the amniotic fluid. This was her first pregnancy, so she had no experience with this. To top it off, it was the middle of the night. What to do now? Just to be safe, she decided to call the obstetrician’s emergency number. When she described what her amniotic fluid looked like, the obstetrician had her own doubts and wanted to come over. My colleague had a far better idea: she took a picture of her amniotic fluid and sent it to the obstetrician via WhatsApp. (…) After a little while, it became clear that my colleague’s amniotic fluid was clear and there was no foetal distress to worry about. My colleague was able to give birth to Simon in the comfort of her own home. The moral of the story: we do not yet make enough use in the care sector of the available solutions that have become commonplace in our private lives. It’s all about your mindset! Source: Wouters (2013) In “Clear solution for Simon”, an everyday solution is found for the obstetrician’s time-consuming activity (clinical problem). You may wonder whether the quality of a picture taken with a smartphone is good enough to accurately assess the situation. If it is not possible to properly assess the clarity of amniotic fluid in this manner, this may result in a wrong decision. That, in turn, may lead to unnecessary stress and to an unsafe situation during the home delivery. In order to make a well-informed decision in a similar situation in the future, you will look for “evidence” as part of the EBP cycle. It is important to first think carefully about what your aim is and consider what specific question you want to answer in this case (delineating your research question ). A more general aim might be to provide insight into the available diagnostics regarding this issue. A possible question would be: “What diagnostic tests are available to assess the clarity of amniotic fluid during a home delivery?” A more specific aim might be to find an answer for the case that inspired the question in the first place. In that case, you might ask the following question: “To what extent do images of amniotic fluid made with and sent via a smartphone provide the obstetrician with enough information to make a reliable and correct indication regarding whether or not to take action?” It is important to include all relevant elements that factor into answering the question in the question itself. Section 4.6 offers a detailed description of the approach and tools that can help you come up with a clearly delineated question.

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