Experience in the selection process of students to calculate hematological reference values in a public university in Nicaragua

Abstract

The selection of research subjects is determined by 3 factors, the first related to the researcher’s criteria according to the objectives, the second established by the inclusion criteria that define exactly who enters the study and the third by exclusion criteria that define why some subjects do not meet the mandatory requirements. The objective was to describe the experience in order to obtain a reference sample according to inclusion and exclusion criteria, taking as a model some aspects suggested by the EP 28-A3c standard while maintaining the rigorousness criteria of the research. This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study conducted at the Rubén Darío Campus (RURD) of the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua, Managua UNAN-Managua Nicaragua. Two phases were carried out: The first consisted of an open convocation and the second consisted of a clinical evaluation plus blood screening. The health survey was designed based on the EP 28-A3c standard. The health survey and blood screening was the instrument used to select the students to obtain the sample. The main results were: of 901 (100%) students who responded to the invitation, 607 (67.4%) met the selection criteria, distributed by sex: 340 (56%) females and 267 (44%) males. The 196 (32.3%) students were excluded at the clinical evaluation stage for presenting current medication 17.6%, recent consultation 12.03%, gynecological problems 10.48%, anemia 6.43%, abnormal blood pressure 5.72%, obesity 4.6%, consume of alcohol, tobacco or drugs 1.19% among others. An objective and successful result was obtained to obtain the sample selection through the application of standard EP 28-A3c, which allowed establishing selection criteria that guarantee the minimum of biological bias, increasing the validity and confidence of the study.