The background and foreground information is crucial in clinical nursing practice. The learner or even the health practitioner seeks the knowledge of background information when there is a general clinical question concerning a particular topic such as what is the disease? The cause? Signs and symptoms? And, Treatment options? The background questions are answered using “background” resources which include textbooks and peer-reviewed journals. On the other hand, foreground information tries to answer specific questions that the health practitioner has concerning a particular patient. The paper describes the difference between foreground and background information related to the PICOT question identified in unit 1.
The PICOT question identified in the unit is “In pediatrics below five years suffering from an autoimmune infection, how can administration of plasmapheresis treatment when compared to immunosuppressant drugs help in the treatment of autoimmune diseases from occurring during the child’s recovery period?” The question can be written as “In children below the age of five years with autoimmune infection, how effective is plasmapheresis treatment as compared to immunosuppressant drugs in fighting against autoimmune infections during the healing period?”
The background question which can be asked in this case is “What are the causes, signs and symptoms and treatment options for autoimmune infections?” Applying background information to the query, the disease is an autoimmune infection caused by excessive exposure to chemicals and environmental factors. Besides, the common signs and symptoms include fatigue, hair loss, skin rashes, and numbness of the hands and feet. The disorder is treated using immunosuppressive drugs and plasmapheresis as stated in the PICOT question. As health practitioners advance in knowledge, they become experts in the mastery of background information, and thus there is a shift toward asking more complex questions. These questions are foreground questions that focus on finding a relationship between a specific patient, the patient’s problems, possible interventions and clinical outcomes. The PICOT question described above is a foreground question because it tries to establish the relationship between the aforementioned entities. Epidemiological evidence suggests that environmental factors such as infections, chemical exposure, and eating foods high in fat and sugar content significantly contribute in the contraction of autoimmune infections. Therefore, the study tries to compare plasmapheresis treatment and immunosuppressive drugs to determine which one is more effective in treating autoimmune infections.
