A Multicentered Study In Utah And New Jersey

Research Critique Name Institution Research Critique Using an umbilical cord tissue to detect fetal exposure to illicit drugs: a multicentered study in Utah and New Jersey The study by Montgomery et al., (2008), aimed at determining the use of umbilical cord tissue as a way to discover fetal exposure to five categories of drugs of abuse. The study was done in Uta, and New Jersey examined 498 umbilical cord samples from participants who met high-risk classification for maternal illicit drug use. The particular drug classes in question were methamphetamine, opiates, cocaine, cannabinoids, and phencyclidine. The study found out that ELISA-based tests are adequate to clinically test the exposure of the fetus to methamphetamine, opiates, cocaine, and cannabinoids. The study further notes that research from umbilical cord tissue can give a more rapid result to the clinician as opposed to meconium since waiting for the latter to be passed may take several days. Further, in some instances, meconium is passed in utero. Thus, the collection cannot be done, while the umbilical cord tissue ought to be at all times available for drug testing. Before this research, the team gave a preliminary proof that assays of umbilical cord tissues can identify the exposure of the fetus to illegal drugs. However, the study was limited in the sense that it was single-centered. Another limitation of the preliminary finding was that the sample size was small. However, the finding was provocative to the extent that the team decided to expand the scope. The study findings are not only helpful to the nursing practice in so many ways (Montgomery et al., 2008). One, it provides an easier as well as convenient way to detect fetal exposure to illegal drugs. The statistics on the use of illegal drugs during pregnancy vary widely. According to Farst et al., (2011), about 5-10% of women self-report using illegal drugs while pregnant. On the other hand, in high-risk populations, a universal test for illegal drug use i...