By: Isabella Roy and Jordyn Franzen
Category: Research
Fertility Rates in Women with Cystic Fibrosis
Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disorder that has recently developed more medical attention and knowledge. In the beginning years of this disease, the life expectancy was around the late 20s to early 30s. New medical technology and pharmaceuticals have prolonged the patient’s life expectancy to the late 60s. This improvement has uncovered new issues from cystic fibrosis such as infertility. As new research studies arise, they have all shown that this disease has an impact on fertility rates.
Final Reflection
Reflecting back on the evolution of this research paper, I have learned a lot about myself as a future nurse. I have learned that nursing is about helping people get better in the present moment and making the future better by introducing new policies, medications, and procedures. This is very important as this is an ever-changing profession. As new technology and disease arise it is important to re-evaluate the current practices to find the best outcome for the patients. As nurses, we have personal experiences that can provide insight as to what is working on a unit and what may need improvement. This is where evidence-based practice comes into play within the nursing profession. For this assignment, we were able to work with a peer. This has improved my communication skills, time management, and interpersonal compatibility. I have learned how to delegate certain tasks to my partner in order to break up the workload. I also learned how to read research articles and evaluate whether or not they are reliable. This is important because I may need to develop new guidelines for my floor based on the evidence from various articles. All in all, I have learned that a nurse has many roles and responsibilities some of which may change the course of our practice for the better!
Appraisal and Synthesis
I discovered many new things about fertility in women diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. My original assumption was that women with this disease have little to no ability to conceive naturally. As I analyzed our research studies, I was pleasantly surprised with the results. Women with cystic fibrosis have a slightly decreased ability to conceive naturally and if they need an alternative means such as IVF, this usually works. This finding will impact my future as a nurse, by being able to provide the best support and education for patients with CF. Having a support system is beneficial when dealing with the conception of a child. I may be able to educate the patient on alternative ways to become pregnant that have been effective for other women with this condition. As I reflect on this project, I have enjoyed the individual steps that have been helping me with the paper in little pieces. This has helped me with my time management skills considering I have other classes that are just as important. An issue that my partner and I have run into is dissecting the information in our articles. The evidence table and the critical appraisal worksheets have helped us break down all of the evidence in a manageable way.
From Inquiry Through Discovery
My partner and I did not need to revise our PICOT question upon searching for research articles. We encountered an issue with finding articles within the given time range. This assignment required us to find relevant articles that were written in 2017-2023. When I originally began looking for articles I did not find many that were conducted within our given year range. I then solved this issue by narrowing the year bracket to then populate articles that would qualify. Our PICOT question directly targets fertility in females, but when researching for articles many of the articles were about fertility in males. This was very interesting but was not what we were looking for. In order to fix this problem, I decided to change the keywords I was using in my search. I changed “Females” to “Women” and I also tried to use the word “Ladies”. This then helped narrow the search even further. Thus far this assignment has been manageable. I have used my time appropriately and given this paper about 30 minutes of my time each day depending on the assignment for class. A few things I will take away from this assignment are to change the year bracket before researching the topic. I would also think of synonyms for a word if I am not coming up with many results before I resort to changing my overall question.
