¶ … PICOT Format In the United States, The COP (Chronic obstructive pulmonary) disease is one of top serious diseases that places a great burden on patients and healthcare system because it is associated with high rate of outpatients visit, hospitalization and readmission. In the last few decades, the COP has become the top public health issues with over 65 million cases of COP In the U.S., the direct costs of the COP disease is enormous reaching $32.1 billon because of the associated prevalence of the COP disease. The UK is facing similar problem where 1.6% of the population is suffering from the COP disease, and costs burden reaching £800 million yearly with direct costs of hospitalization reaching £800 million per annum, and direct medical costs reaching £625 million. However, the prevalence of the COP disease is likely to rise because of an increase in the ageing population.

The telehealth is an effective healthcare intervention to manage the complication of the COP disease since the telehealth can assist in meeting the patients' healthcare needs. The telehealth is defined as an exchange of information between the healthcare professionals and patients to meet the health needs of people suffering from COP disease using the electronic devices. (Brewster, et al. 2013). Essentially, the telehealth can provide a significant healthcare benefits for patients thereby reducing healthcare costs, mortality rates and departmental visits. (Greenhalgh, Wherton, Sugarhood, et al. (2013).

The purpose of this study is to provide a critique of quantitative and qualitative research that explores the effectiveness of home telehealth in monitoring patients suffering from COPD as well as identifying and analyzing the effectiveness of increased confidence, self-managing, and decreasing COPD exacerbation and hospitalization.

Qualitative Study

This study provides the critique of the research paper completed by Gorst, Coates, Armitage, (2016). While telehealth can provide considerable benefits to people suffering from the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, nevertheless, many patients do not possess necessary skills to operate the telehealth electronic devices making 20% of patient abandoning the use of technology. Another barrier to the use of the telehealth technology is lack of technical skills of patients.. It has been noticed that many patients face challenges in manipulating the telehealth equipment. Thus, it is critical to identify factors that affect the patients decisions to continuing using the telehealth technology, and this issue is crucial in the mainstream telehealth goal for patients.

Research Problem

Analysis of the study show that the telehealth provides a significant benefits for people based on the scrutiny of different variables that include clinical...

Although, some patients might decide to abandon the home telehealth, there are other participants who will embrace the technology to manage their disease. (Gorst, et al., 2016). These patients will still more at easy knowing that their disease can be managed at home by monitoring their vital signs, knowing when to contact the health professionals after being discharged from the hospital (Gorst, et al., 2016). The frequent transmission of the physiological data collected at home with no direct health professional intervention and the data transmitted to the health care professional for review reveals the ability of patients for self-management. (Gorst, et al., 2016, p. 3).
Research Objective, Hypothesis, or Question

The research objective is to identify the most effective way in using home telehealth to reduce the COPD complications, re-hospitalization and assisting patients in self-monitoring. Self-management of the disease can enhance self-esteem, decrease stress and complication related to the COPD. Although, some patients were not impressed in using home telehealth, however, they still realize the importance of telehealth in self-managing the disease. (Gorst, et al., 2016, p. 7).

The research question is as follows:

Does the use of telehealth reduce the current health problems of patients suffering from COPD?

While this study frames a question related to the research objective, nevertheless, Gorst, et al., (2016) does not provide the research question related to their study, which is one of the shortcomings of the study. The researchers ought to provide the research question or the research hypothesis and collect data towards answering the research question and testing the research hypothesis.

Literature Review

The study provides a comprehensive literature review to enhance a greater understanding of the benefit of telehealth for patients suffering from COPD. One of the examples of the literature used is Greenhalgh, Wherton, Sugarhood, Hinder, et al. (2013) who also explain the barrier of using the home telehealth. The weakness of the research is related to the participants' cooperation and consistency in using the telehealth monitoring and understanding the importance of self-managing their disease. Greenhalgh et al., (2013), relates the difficulty of older population in using the new technology showing that the participants' difficulty of adjusting the new technology will have a negative impact in self-management of disease. (Greenhalgh, et al., 2013). Despite a comprehensive literature review provided by the authors, no literature has provided the solutions to the barriers in using the telehealth technology. Typically, solving the barrier to the use of the health technology is pertinent to effectiveness of modern technology, and the solution to the problems is critical in continuing using the new technology.

Frame of Reference

The researchers used the phenomenological theory, and arranged data collected during the interview using six steps. (Gorst, et al., 2016, p. 3). The authors used the frame reference of participants that include age, gender, living situation, time of diagnosed with COPD, and time using the home tele monitor. (Gorst, et al., 2016, p. 2). Furthermore, during the study the table used was used to measure the equipment used, time of monitoring the vital signs, follow up and the health care provider who was involved. (Gorst, et…