Commentary on: Liang C, Chung HF, Dobson AJ, Cade JE, Greenwood DC, Hayashi K, Hardy R, Kuh D, Schouw YTV, Sandin S, Weiderpass E, Mishra GD. Is there a link between infertility, miscarriage, stillbirth, and premature or early menopause? Results from pooled analyses of 9 cohort studies. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2023 Jul;229(1):47.e1-47.e9. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2023.04.009. Epub 2023 Apr 13.
Women with a history of recurrent miscarriages, infertility, or stillbirths should be informed of their increased risk of early or premature or menopause. Future studies should aim to evaluate whether a tailored counselling and management strategies considering this risk can improve patient outcomes and overall quality of care.
Menopause is a significant milestone for women, marking the permanent cessation of menstruation after 12 months of amenorrhoea. The onset of menopause is influenced by various factors, including genetics, lifestyle and...
Commentary on: Eglseer D. Development and evaluation of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) for healthcare professionals on malnutrition in older adults. Nurse Educ Today. 2023 Apr;123:105741. doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2023.105741. Epub 2023 Feb 4.
Massive open online course (MOOCs) can improve health professionals (HPs)’ knowledge and nutritional care skills for malnutrition in older adults efficiently. Implementation science studies are necessary to effectively change HPs’ behaviours and attitudes towards malnutrition by considering organisational, cultural and self-efficacy aspects. Future research should focus on identifying effective strategies for implementing evidence-based nutritional care for older adults, emphasising HPs’ attitudes and self-efficacy.
Malnutrition is a prevalent condition among older adults in acute hospital settings that can result in adverse clinical outcomes such as increased pressure ulcer development, reduced wound healing, increased infections and higher mortality rates.
Commentary on: Calderón-Larrañaga S, Greenhalgh T, Clinch M, Robson J, Dostal I, Eto F, Finer S. Unravelling the potential of social prescribing in individual-level type 2 diabetes prevention: a mixed-methods realist evaluation. BMC Med. 2023 Mar 13;21(1):91. doi: 10.1186/s12916-023-02796-9.
Integrating social prescribing (SP) in primary care increases opportunities to deliver holistic care and facilitate clinic-community partnerships. Research examining the effect of SP on prediabetes-related clinical outcomes is needed.
Recent data suggest that 464 million adults worldwide have pre-diabetes and are at increased risk for type 2 diabetes (T2D).
Commentary on: Ayers JW, Poliak A, Dredze M, Leas EC, Zhu Z, Kelley JB, Faix DJ, Goodman AM, Longhurst CA, Hogarth M, Smith DM. Comparing Physician and Artificial Intelligence Chatbot Responses to Patient Questions Posted to a Public Social Media Forum. JAMA Intern Med. 2023 Jun 1;183(6):589-596. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2023.1838.
AI assistants could be used to draft responses for physicians and nurses, potentially addressing a key element of burn-out. Further research is needed to assess the impact of communication on healthcare outcomes and should incorporate patient evaluations and feedback.
In the setting of increasing adoption of virtual healthcare and the surge in electronic patient messages, there has been a higher workload for physicians and nurses, contributing to burnout and potentially terse, unanswered or unhelpful patient messages. Given these challenges, there is a need to explore innovative solutions...
Commentary on: King C, Dudley J, Mee A, Tomlin S, Tse Y, Trivedi A, Hawcutt DB; Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health/Neonatal and Paediatric Pharmacist Group Joint Standing Committee on Medicines. For children admitted to hospital, what interventions improve medication safety on ward rounds? A systematic review. Arch Dis Child. 2023 Jul;108(7):583–588. doi: 10.1136/archdischild-2022-324772. Epub 2023 Feb 15. PMID: 36792347.
Medication errors can occur throughout many complex steps. Children are exposed to a higher risk of harm than adults when it comes to medication errors. High-quality evidence for interventions that reduce medication errors in children on rounds is lacking.
King et al conducted a systematic review of interventions aimed at reducing medication errors during inpatient rounds in children’s hospitals.
Commentary on: Shan Z, Wang F, Li Y, Baden MY, Bhupathiraju SN, Wang DD, Sun Q, Rexrode KM, Rimm EB, Qi L, Tabung FK, Giovannucci EL, Willett WC, Manson JE, Qi Q, Hu FB. Healthy Eating Patterns and Risk of Total and Cause-Specific Mortality. JAMA Intern Med. 2023 Feb 1;183(2):142-153. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2022.6117. Erratum in: JAMA Intern Med. 2023 Jun 1;183(6):627.
Wholesome eating diets can be customised to align with person’s culinary traditions and tastes in accordance with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans to decrease the mortality risk. Provide updated scientific evidences on the benefits of maintaining a healthy diet throughout the life course to take appropriate strategies and policies.
Healthy eating patterns play a prominent role in preserving public health. The association between dietary patterns with the mortality risk has been investigated in numerous countries.
Commentary on: Kelleher ST, Barrett MJ, Durnin S, Fitzpatrick P, Higgins A, Hall D. Staff competence in caring for LGBTQ+ patients in the paediatric emergency department. Arch Dis Child. 2023 Jul;108(7):525–529. doi: 10.1136/archdischild-2022-325151. Epub 2023 Apr 24.
Emergency department staff self-identified the need for training in the care of youth who identify as LGBTQ+ to close a gap in knowledge and clinical preparedness. Intervention studies, using evidence-based science, are needed to improve competency and advance health equity for LGBTQ+ youth.
Individuals who identify as LGBTQ+ report discrimination in healthcare settings.
Commentary on: Kardas U, Yilmaz Sahin S. Investigation of the relationship between cultural sensitivity and effectiveness levels among nursing students. Nurse Educ Pract. 2023 Oct;72:103773. doi: 10.1016/j.nepr.2023.103773. Epub 2023 Aug 29 .
Nurse educators and policymakers can draw valuable insights from these findings to shape evidence-based strategies for enhancing cultural competence in nursing education, ultimately contributing to the provision of culturally sensitive and effective healthcare services. The unexpected decline in cultural sensitivity and effectiveness levels as students approach graduation raises intriguing questions about the factors influencing these dynamics. Longitudinal studies are recommended to provide a comprehensive understanding of how cultural competence evolves over the course of nursing education.
When intercultural competence is comprehensively addressed in providing healthcare services, it positively influences patients’ satisfaction levels, participation in care and safety.
Commentary on: Dawson LP, Nehme E, Nehme Z, Zomer E, Bloom J, Cox S, Anderson D, Stephenson M, Ball J, Zhou J, Lefkovits J, Taylor AJ, Horrigan M, Chew DP, Kaye D, Cullen L, Mihalopoulos C, Smith K, Stub D. Chest Pain Management Using Prehospital Point-of-Care Troponin and Paramedic Risk Assessment. JAMA Intern Med. 2023 Mar 1;183(3):203-211. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2022.6409.
In patients calling the emergency medical system for acute chest pain without ST-segment elevation, prehospital risk stratification using validated risk scores and point-of-care (POC) cardiac troponin measurement by emergency nurses or paramedics can result in substantial cost savings. The safety of this strategy needs confirmation by sufficiently powered prospective randomised clinical trials.
Acute chest pain is one of the most common reasons for emergency system activation and transfer to the emergency department (ED).
Commentary on: Chen A, Demaestri S, Schweiberger K, Sidani J, et al. Inclusion of non-English-speaking participants in pediatric health research: a review. JAMA Pediatr. 2023;177(1):81–88. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2022.3828.
In a review of inclusion of non-English speaking (NES) participants, 9% of research articles included NES participants, which may impact study generalisability. Research teams, research networks/databases, regulatory authorities and journals that disseminate study findings share responsibility for adequate inclusion of NES participants in research.
Non-English speakers (NES) and limited English proficiency (LEP) populations are growing.
Commentary on: Moyles J, Hunter A, Grealish A. Forensic mental health nurses’ experiences of rebuilding the therapeutic relationship after an episode of physical restraint in forensic services in Ireland: A qualitative study. Int J Ment Health Nurs. 2023 May 26. doi: 10.1111/inm.13176. Epub ahead of print.
Ensuring routine postrestraint-focused clinical supervision, experiential training for forensic mental health nurses involved in rebuilding therapeutic relationships postphysical restraint, effective debriefing and positive role modelling from senior staff is needed. Studies on models to combine goals of the therapeutic relationship and maintain safety are needed, besides establishing the effectiveness of different methods to facilitate a therapeutic relationship.
Forensic mental health nurses (FMHNs) are expected to manage potentially serious levels of risk while maintaining a proportionate balance between therapeutic care and potentially restrictive security.
Commentary on: Son YJ, Jang I. One-year trajectories of self-care behaviours and unplanned hospital readmissions among patients with heart failure: A prospective longitudinal study. J Clin Nurs. 2023 Sep;32(17-18):6427-6440. doi: 10.1111/jocn.16658. Epub 2023 Feb 23.
Timely identifying selfcare behaviour patterns over time may reduce the risk of hospital readmissions in patients with heart failure (HF). Further research studies are required to examine the effects of every 3–6 months self-care intervention on hospital readmissions among patients with HF.
Unplanned readmissions within 30 days and 6 months postdischarge are notably common in patients with HF.
Commentary on: Wu Q, Zhu P, Ji Q, et al. The effect of death education course utilizing constructivist learning theory on first grade undergraduate nursing student attitudes and coping abilities towards death: A mixed study design. Nurse Educ Today. 2023 Jul;126:105809. doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2023.105809. Epub 2023 Apr 6.
Death education courses (DECs) prepare healthcare students to manage future relationships with end-of-life (EOL) patients and their relatives. It would be better for DECs to use active methodologies, for example, creative arts therapies and constructivist and narrative techniques. Research should longitudinally monitor students who have completed a DEC to check their levels of willingness to work in palliative care and their levels of work satisfaction versus burn-out in both the EOL and other hospital wards after they become healthcare professionals.
Many healthcare practitioners suffer from a lack of competence in death...
Over 200 health journals call on the United Nations (UN), political leaders and health professionals to recognise that climate change and biodiversity loss are one indivisible crisis and must be tackled together to preserve health and avoid catastrophe. This overall environmental crisis is now so severe as to be a global health emergency.
The world is currently responding to the climate crisis and the nature crisis as if they were separate challenges. This is a dangerous mistake. The 28th Conference of the Parties (COP) on climate change is about to be held in Dubai while the 16th COP on biodiversity is due to be held in Turkey in 2024. The research communities that provide the evidence for the two COPs are unfortunately largely separate, but they were brought together for a workshop in 2020 when they concluded that: ‘Only by considering climate and biodiversity as parts of the same...
Commentary on: del Pozo Cruz B, Ahmadi MN, Lee IM, Stamatakis E. Prospective Associations of Daily Step Counts and Intensity With Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease Incidence and Mortality and All-Cause Mortality. JAMA Intern Med. 2022 Nov 1;182(11):1139-1148. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2022.4000.
Encouraging daily steps and increasing the daily time with high cadence steps may be important means to prevent morbidity and prolong lifespan. Assessment of daily steps over a longer period may further elucidate the shape of the dose–response relationship and better quantify the benefits of increasing daily step counts.
Physical activity is widely recommended due to the extensive evidence supporting its numerous health benefits, including lower risks of morbidity and mortality. While current physical activity guidelines quantify their recommendations in terms of minutes of physical activity, step count has emerged as another popular metric for quantifying physical activity. However,...
This is a summary of Cant R, Gazula S, and Ryan C. Student satisfaction is important as it positively influences both student retention and institutional rankings. The concept of student satisfaction with education is poorly understood, although some studies suggested its related elements such as learning environments; student motivation to learn; student and teacher accountability; classroom diversity, and assessment approaches. By identifying factors that influence nursing students’ satisfaction, nurse educators will have the opportunity to further improve the curriculum and student education experiences. This integrative review aims to discover basic conceptual elements that affect higher education students’ satisfaction, focusing on nursing education.
Twenty-two studies were included: 19 with an experimental, quasi-experimental design and three systematic reviews from 15 countries. Service quality, institutional image and...
Commentary on: Barker N, Sinha A, Jesson C, Doctor T, Narayan O, Elphick HE. Changes in UK paediatric long-term ventilation practice over 10 years. Arch Dis Child. 2023 Mar;108(3):218-224. doi: 10.1136/archdischild-2021-323562. Epub 2022 Nov 29.
Up-to-date information on the use of long-term ventilation (LTV) in the UK paediatric population helps LTV centres to plan services and support healthcare needs. The future development of a national LTV children database could advise clinical guidelines and assist resource allocation planning.
LTV consists in the delivery of respiratory support provided on a daily basis for a minimum period of 3 months through various mechanical interventions.
Commentary on: Alahmad B, Khraishah H, Royé D, Vicedo-Cabrera AM, Guo Y, Papatheodorou SI, Achilleos S, Acquaotta F, Armstrong B, Bell ML, Pan SC, de Sousa Zanotti Stagliorio Coelho M, Colistro V, Dang TN, Van Dung D, De' Donato FK, Entezari A, Guo YL, Hashizume M, Honda Y, Indermitte E, Íñiguez C, Jaakkola JJK, Kim H, Lavigne E, Lee W, Li S, Madureira J, Mayvaneh F, Orru H, Overcenco A, Ragettli MS, Ryti NRI, Saldiva PHN, Scovronick N, Seposo X, Sera F, Silva SP, Stafoggia M, Tobias A, Garshick E, Bernstein AS, Zanobetti A, Schwartz J, Gasparrini A, Koutrakis P. Associations Between Extreme Temperatures and Cardiovascular Cause-Specific Mortality: Results From 27 Countries. Circulation. 2023 Jan 3;147(1):35-46. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.122.061832. Epub 2022 Dec 12.
Nurses need to be aware that extreme temperatures—whether hot or cold—increase the likelihood of death from cardiovascular causes. More...
Researchers often refer to the type of ‘reasoning’ that they have used to support their analysis and reach conclusions within their study. For example, Krick and colleagues completed a study that supported the development of an outcome framework for measuring the effectiveness of digital nursing technologies.
This article will explore inductive and deductive reasoning and their place in nursing research. We will also explore a third approach to reasoning—abductive reasoning—which is arguably less well-known than induction and deduction, but just as prevalent and important in nursing practice and nursing research.
Induction, or inductive reasoning, involves the identification of cues and the collection of data to develop general...
Commentary on: Sarkhosh S, Abdi Z, Ravaghi H. Engaging patients in patient safety: a qualitative study examining healthcare managers and providers' perspectives. BMC Nurs. 2022 Dec 29;211,:374. doi: 10.1186/s12912-022-01152-1.
Without a shift in organisational culture, patient participation in patient safety may continue to be haphazard in Iranian hospitals. Researchers should consider and report the impact of gender when investigating patient participation in care.
Despite Iran’s economic crisis, brought on by sanctions, years of war and improper government resource management, Iranian healthcare is now considered among the finest in the Eastern Mediterranean region.