Remember this is a scholarly discussion and you will be evaluated on both your initial posting and your participation in the discussion. This assignment aligns with the course and module learning objectives (CO 1, CO2). Describe the elements of a clinical needs assessment. How can this apply to your scholarly project? Clinical Needs Assessment -Gathering Data on the Scope and Possible Gaps in Care Delivery Clinical Needs Assessment -Gathering Data on the Scope and Possible Gaps in Care Delivery How are ethical principles applied to the Institutional Review Board (IRB) process? When is informed consent necessary?
Clinical Needs Assessment -Gathering Data on the Scope and Possible Gaps in Care Delivery
Clinical needs assessment involves gathering data on the scope and possible gaps in care delivery. Rayan-Gharra et al. (2022) note that clinical needs assessment is integral to all projects seeking to address aspects of the current care delivery. It provides a systematic review and analysis of contemporary health issues to improve health and healthcare and lessen healthcare inequalities. This paper discusses the elements of a clinical needs assessment and how ethical principles are applied within the Institutional Review Board (IRB) process.
Elements of a Clinical Needs Assessment
Clinical needs assessment is an elaborate process that encompasses the identification of clinical needs, data collection and analysis, application of data, and data evaluation (Bias et al., 2020). Needs identification involves scanning the current healthcare landscape to discover potential areas of improvement. Scholarly projects are often centred on addressing current care gaps and are often conceived after scanning the current care landscape. On the other hand, data collection involves utilizing research methodologies to extract answers that address the identified. Following this, data analysis interrogates the applicability and relevance of the collected data. This step is important as it ensures that findings and subsequent recommendations are accurate. Consistently, data application involves implementing the recommendations, while evaluation helps in determining the workability of the plan and areas that require improvements to enhance the overall effectiveness of the project.
How Ethical Principles are Applied With the Institutional Review Board (IRB) Process
Institutional Review Boards (IRB) play a role in reviewing research. They perform ethical reviews on proposed human research. In human research, the ethical principles of confidentiality, informed consent, integrity, social responsibility, intellectual property, beneficence, and others are often considered (Gelling, 2019). Ensuring that human research proposals conform to these ethical principles remains a central role of IRB. Notably, informed consent, a founding principle of research ethics, guides participation in the human research process. It is required before participants get involved in any research (Grant, 2021). It is a demonstration that the participant is not influenced in any way to participate in the research.
References
Bias, T., Abildso, C., & Sarkees, E. (2020). The importance of individual-site and system-wide community health needs assessments. Frontiers in Public Health, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.00020
Gelling, L. (2019). Research ethics in real-world research. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 29(7–8), 1019–1022. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.15083
Grant, S. C. (2021). Informed consent—we can and should do better. JAMA Network Open, 4(4). https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.10848