U.S. National Library of Medicine

Introduction to Health Services Research : A Self-Study Course

Case Description | Case Background | Case Objectives | Case Exercise

Case 2. The End-Stage Renal Disease Program: Quality Issues (Page 5 of 34)

Phase One: Thinking About the Issues

Q1. Determine the problems or issues inherent in this research case and and begin to define the questions you need to ask.

Suggested Solution

Now that you have read over the case and background information you can begin to ask questions and plan your strategy for retrieving information of use to your researcher.

You might think about the following tasks...

• List approaches used to researching quality of care / quality of life issues in End-Stage Renal Disease
• List sources for published literature in health services research related to quality of care / quality of life issues
• Find current health services research projects in quality of care and quality of life issues in End-Stage Renal Disease
• Find relevant existing datasets and instruments
• visit and examine the key government and non-profit organizations with an interest in this area for possible funding and information
• evaluate retrieved articles and related content for quality
• determine how to keep current with new information on this and related topics

This is a complex issue despite its having been studied for nearly 20 years. It is likely that the more you study this complex problem, the more questions will arise and the more likely you will have to change your search strategy in response to your new knowledge.

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