Over the past several months, I have worked alongside group of three other students to devise a topic of interest to further research regarding our future as nurses. Interestingly, this was perhaps the most difficult task of our project thus far. We wanted to find an area of nursing research that would appeal to all of us so that this project could be both enjoyable and educational. After much discussion, we decided to pursue research regarding the effects, if any, of vitamin D levels in women with postpartum depression. After our initial inspection of research articles, we realized that we needed a more specific PICOT question, especially with regards to the intervention and comparison. We struggled with whether we wanted to focus on vitamin D levels in prenatal women or postnatal women. Additionally, there were many avenues we could follow as to the source of vitamin D, whether that be through nutrition, supplementation, or UVB exposure. With further research, we chose to focus on whether adequate prenatal vitamin D levels in childbearing women had any effect on postpartum depression.
Since choosing a suitable PICOT question there have been very few challenges in our research. One of the more difficult aspects of the project that comes to mind is the lack of in person communication. Since we began this project, we have relied heavily on class time to have direct in person discussions. However, as class has not been live over the past several weeks, it has been difficult to rely on communication through the phone. Over the course of the past week, we have come to realize that weekly meetings would be necessary in order to complete the necessary assignments and stay on task with our project. Fortunately, this was an easy challenge to solve for the four of us.
With further reflection, I have also found many successes of my team. Our communication skills have made an enormous impact on our success so far as we are comfortable enough with one another to state our feelings and own thoughts on the project. This was evident from the beginning of the project as we settled on a topic of interest as well as more recently when we realized the impact of not meeting in person. Because of our exceptional communication skills, I am confident in our ability to solve any further adversities we may face as we continue our work on this project.
