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International evidence shows that nurses' work environments affect patient outcomes, including their care experiences. In Chile, several factors negatively affect the work environment, but they have not been addressed in prior research. The aim of this study was to measure the quality of the nurse work environment in Chilean hospitals and its association with patient experience.
A cross-sectional study of 40 adult general high-complexity hospitals across Chile.
Participants included bedside nurses (n = 1632) and patients (n = 2017) in medical or surgical wards, who responded to a survey. The work environment was measured through the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index. Hospitals were categorized as having a good or poor work environment. A set of patient experience outcomes were measured through the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey. Adjusted logistic regression models were used to test associations between the environment and patient experiences.
For all outcomes, the percentage of patients satisfied was higher in hospitals with good as compared to poor work environments. In good environment hospitals patients had significantly higher odds of being satisfied with communication with nurses (OR 1.46, 95% CI: 1.10–1.94, p = 0.010), with pain control (OR 1.52, 95% CI: 1.14–2.02, p = 0.004), and with nurses' timely responses in helping them to go to the bathroom (OR 2.17, 95% CI: 1.49–3.16, p < 0.0001).
Hospitals with good environments outperform hospitals with poor environments in most patient care experience indicators. Efforts to improve nurses' work environment hold promise for improving patient experiences in Chilean hospitals.
Hospital administrators and nurse managers should value, especially in the context of financial constraints and understaffing, the implementation of strategies to improve the quality of nurses´ work environments so that they can provide patients with a better care experience.
Primary dysmenorrhea (PD) is a global public health concern affecting women's health and quality of life, leading to productivity loss and increased medical expenses. As a non-pharmacological intervention, auricular acupoint therapy (AAT) has been increasingly applied to treat PD, but the overall effectiveness remains unclear.
The aim of this review was to synthesize the effects of AAT targeting menstrual pain among females with PD.
Eight databases (PubMed, EMBASE, AMED, CINAHL Plus, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure and Wanfang Data) and three registries (ClinicalTrials.gov, ISRCTN Registry and the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry) were searched to identify existing randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from inception to 21 August 2022. Two reviewers independently screened, extracted the data, and appraised the methodological quality and the evidence strength using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomized trials (RoB 2) and the GRADE approach.
A total of 793 participants from 11 RCTs were included. Despite substantial heterogeneity, AAT was more effective in reducing menstrual pain and related symptoms than placebo and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs). No significant subgroup differences were found between study locations as well as invasiveness, duration, type, acupoints number, ear selection and provider of AAT. Only minor adverse effects of AAT were reported.
AAT can help women with PD, particularly those who are refrained from pharmaceuticals. Primary healthcare professionals, including nurses, can be well-equipped to provide evidence-based and effective AAT for people with PD. AAT can be used in a broader global clinical community. To provide an optimal effect and have wider usability, a unified practice standard is required, which would necessitate further adaptation of clinical care of people with PD. AAT effectively decreased menstrual pain and other accompanying symptoms of PD. More research is needed to identify effective AAT features and explore optimal therapy regimes for PD.
The purpose of this study was to identify coping strategies, resources, and strengths that predict well-being in a community-based sample of youth with varying levels of adversity.
Grounded in the resilience portfolio model, we used a mixed methods approach with data from a cross-sectional sample of 231 youth ages 8–17.
Data were collected using a survey, participant-generated timeline activity, and brief interview. Measures included assessments of coping and appraisal, resilience resources and assets, and subjective well-being and depression.
Active and passive coping strategies predicted subjective well-being and depression. Controlling for demographics and coping, meaning making strengths and supportive relationships were significant predictors of subjective well-being and lower depression, and decreased the impact of adversity on these outcomes.
The results of this study provide support for the resilience portfolio model in a community-based sample of youth, with relationships as predicted for subjective well-being and symptoms of depression. For both outcomes, family relationships held the strongest associations with positive well-being and lower symptoms of depression. Supportive relationships with peers, meaning making strengths, interpersonal strengths, less passive coping, and fewer adverse life events were also associated with better outcomes.
These findings underscore the need to assess youth resources and strengths and to design interventions that target these protective factors for all youth, regardless of exposure to adversity.
A theory-informed understanding of resources and strengths that predict youth well-being is essential to inform strengths-based interventions for pediatric research and practice. The resilience portfolio model is a useful framework for understanding predictors of youth well-being.
To explore registered nurses' cultural orientation competence profiles for providing culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) nurses with orientation in the hospital setting, and to identify which factors are associated with cultural orientation competence profiles.
A descriptive, explorative cross-sectional study.
Data were collected from December 2020 to January 2021 using the Preceptors' Orientation Competence Instrument (POCI) and Preceptors' Cultural Orientation Competence Instrument (POCCI). A total of 844 registered nurses from one university hospital district in Finland participated, reflecting a response rate of 10%. A K-means cluster algorithm was employed to identify different cultural orientation competence profiles.
The cluster analysis identified three cultural orientation competence profiles (A, B and C). Nurses in Profile A evaluated their cultural orientation competence the highest, with members of profiles B and C demonstrating the second highest and lowest, respectively, cultural orientation competence scores. Several factors were associated with cultural orientation competence profiles, namely, orientation education and student mentoring education, support from managers and colleagues, motivation, willingness to act as a preceptor, time to provide orientation, sufficient clinical and theoretical nursing skills and current work title.
Cultural diversity and acceptance of it can be enhanced by building accepting culture towards new incomers and offering continuing education to improve the cultural competence of staff, which can further benefit patient care of CALD patients. Orientation practices can be improved by rewarding staff and building collaborative teamwork culture.
Organizations can strengthen nurses' cultural orientation competence; for example, by providing adequate orientation education and allocating more time to the orientation process.
The STROBE criteria were used to report the results of the observations critically.
No patient or public contribution.
To create a programme theory of family engagement in paediatric acute care to explicate the relationships between contexts and mechanisms of family engagement that align with family, direct care providers and healthcare organization outcomes.
Realist review and synthesis.
PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO and Web of Science searches for the 2.5-year period (July 2019–December 2021) following our 2021 scoping review.
Following methods described by Pawson and Rycroft-Malone, we defined the scope of the review, searched for and appraised the evidence, extracted and synthesized study findings and developed a supporting narrative of our results.
Of 316 initial citations, 101 were included in our synthesis of the final programme theory. Contexts included family and direct care provider individualism, and the organizational care philosophy and environment. Mechanisms were family presence, family enactment of a role in the child's care, direct care providers facilitating a family role in the child's care, unit/organizational promotion of a family role, relationship building and mutually beneficial partnerships. Outcomes were largely family-focussed, with a paucity of organizational outcomes studied. We identified four context–mechanism–outcome configurations.
This realist review uncovered underlying contexts and mechanisms between patients, direct care providers and organizations in the family engagement process and key components of a mutually beneficial partnership. Given that successful family engagement requires direct care provider and organizational support, future research should expand beyond family outcomes to include direct care providers, particularly nurses and healthcare organization outcomes.
The final programme theory of family engagement in paediatric acute care provides a roadmap for clinicians to develop complex interventions to engage families and evaluate their impact. The components of our final programme theory reflect family engagement concepts that have been evolving for decades.
The team conducting this review included members from the practice setting (JT & KG). In the future, as we and others use this model in practice, we will seek input for refinement from clinicians, patients and caregivers.
To analyse and describe the changes in the image of nurses perceived by the public pre- and post-COVID-19 in Korea.
Nurses play an important role in disaster situations such as COVID-19. In such disaster situations, we aim to confirm the image of nurses projected in the mass media and promote the professionalism of nurses through the image of nurses as professionals.
Qualitative media keyword networks analysis.
To understand the change in the image of nurses pre- and post-COVID-19, the big data program TEXTOM was used to collect data. From 19 January to 31 May 2020, data were set as ‘post-COVID-19’, and 1 year before 18 January 2020, data were set as ‘pre-COVID-19’. The keywords from 9533 articles were refined, frequency analysed and social networks analysed using TEXTOM and MS office excel, and the analysis results were visualised using UCINET 6 and the NetDraw program.
As for keywords related to nurses pre-COVID-19, those with the most frequent appearance and the highest networking degree in centrality were ‘work’, ‘older adults’, ‘care’, ‘time’, ‘care worker’, ‘caring labor’. As for keywords related to nurses post-COVID-19, those that appeared most often and had the highest degree of centrality networking were ‘COVID-19’, ‘USA’, ‘China’, ‘check’, ‘patient’, ‘work’.
This study shows that the public image of nurses has changed more positively after COVID-19 due to the media. Individual nurses and nursing organizations should pay attention to the deficiency in the image of nurses and provide a way to reform the public image of professional nurses.
The effects of global crises such as COVID-19 on nurses were confirmed, and information delivered through the media was an important way to improve the nursing profession.
Transitional care interventions have emerged as a promising method of ensuring treatment continuity and health care coordination when patients are discharged from hospital to home. However, few studies have investigated the frequency and duration of interventions and the effects of interventions on physical function. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the efficacy of transitional care for patients with stroke.
Six databases and the grey literature were searched to obtain relevant articles from October 1, 2022 to March 10, 2023. The primary outcomes studied were motor performance, walking speed, activities of daily living (ADLs) and caregiver burden following hospital-to-home transitional care. The quality of the studies was assessed with Cochrane risk of bias version 2. The quality and sensitivity of the evidence were assessed to ensure rigour of the findings. Meta-analyses were performed using stata 17.0.
A total of 2966 patients were identified from 23 studies. Transitional care improved post-stroke motor performance, walking speed and ADLs, and reduced caregiver burden.
The findings suggest that provision of transitional care model implementation in patients with stroke is important because it reduces disability in stroke patients and helps to decrease caregivers' burden.
The findings of the study emphasize the importance of transitional care programmes for stroke patients after they are discharged from the hospital and returned to their homes. To meet the needs of patients, all levels of health professionals including nurses should be aware of the discharge process and care plan.
This cross-sectional study assessed the risk factors for infection in 150 diabetic foot patients admitted to the Xiamen University Hospital between October 2020 and October 2022. Patients were categorised as infected (n = 80) or uninfected (n = 70) cohorts. The diabetic foot was evaluated using the American Diabetic Foot Grading system, whereas ulcers were categorised using Wagner's method. Analysed were patient-specific information, clinical data and risk factors including neuropathy, arterial disease and foot deformities. Our findings revealed no statistically significant differences between infected and uninfected cohorts concerning age, body mass index, gender, duration of diabetes or ankle-brachial index values (p > 0.05). However, infected group had a higher proportion of smokers and reduced socio-economic status (p < 0.05). Wagner grades indicated a greater severity in the infected group, with grade 3, grade 4 and grade 5 differing significantly (p < 0.05). Comparative analysis of ulcer characteristics revealed no statistically significant differences in ulcer surface area and depth, but the infected group had a higher prevalence of osteomyelitis and a greater number of ulcers (p > 0.05). Blood vessel complications, retinopathy, the presence of three or more ulcers, osteomyelitis and diabetic nephropathy were substantially more prevalent in the infected group, as determined by univariate analysis (p < 0.05). Subsequent multivariate logistic analysis revealed that patients with blood vessel complications, retinopathy, osteomyelitis, diabetic nephropathy and three or more ulcers were at increased risk for infection (p < 0.05). In addition, lifestyle factors, such as smoking, sedentary behaviour, inadequate foot hygiene, obesity and poor glycaemic control, were also associated with higher infection rates. A multivariate analysis of foot wound factors revealed that deeper, longer and recurrent lesions increased the likelihood of infection. Escherichia coli was the most frequently isolated bacterium from the infected group's bacterial culture, followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. The study enhanced our comprehension of the multifactorial risk factors associated with infections in diabetic foot patients, highlighting the need for thorough clinical evaluation, lifestyle modification and vigilant infection control.
Diabetic foot ulcer and diabetic kidney disease are diabetes-related chronic vascular complications that strongly correlate with high morbidity and mortality. Although metformin potentially confers a wound-healing advantage, no well-established clinical evidence supports the benefit of metformin for diabetic foot ulcer. Thus, this study investigated the effect of metformin on diabetic foot ulcer from a large diabetic kidney disease cohort for the first time. This retrospective cohort study enrolled 10 832 patients who visited the nephrology department more than twice at two South Korean tertiary-referral centers between 2001 and 2016. The primary outcome was diabetic foot ulcer events; secondary outcomes included hospitalization, amputation, a composite of amputation or vascular intervention, and Wagner Grade ≥ 3. Multivariate Cox analysis and propensity score matching (PSM) were used to balance baseline intergroup differences between metformin users and non-users. In total, 4748 patients were metformin users, and 6084 patients were metformin non-users. Over a follow-up period of 117.5 ± 66.9 months, the diabetic foot ulcer incidence was 5.2%. After PSM, metformin users showed a lower incidence of diabetic foot ulcer events than metformin non-users (adjusted hazard ratio 0.41; p < 0.001). In a sensitivity analysis of 563 patients with diabetic foot ulcer, metformin usage was associated with lower severity in all four secondary outcomes: hospitalization (adjusted hazard ratio 0.33; p < 0.001); amputation (adjusted hazard ratio 0.44; p = 0.001); composite of amputation or vascular intervention (adjusted hazard ratio 0.47; p < 0.001); and Wagner Grade ≥ 3 (adjusted hazard ratio 0.39; p < 0.001). In conclusion, metformin therapy in patients with diabetic kidney disease can lower diabetic foot ulcer incidence and progression.
The increased peripheral arterial disease (PAD) incidence associated with aging and increased incidence of cardiovascular conditions underscores the significance of assessing lower limb perfusion. This study aims to report on the correlation and utility of two novel non-invasive instruments: transcutaneous oxygen pressure (TcPO2) and forward-looking infrared (FLIR) thermography. A total of 68 patients diagnosed with diabetic foot ulcer and PAD who underwent vascular studies at a single institution between March 2022 and March 2023 were included. Cases with revascularization indications were treated by a cardiologist. Following the procedure, ambient TcPO2 and FLIR thermography were recorded on postoperative days 1, 7, 14, 21 and 28. In impaired limbs, TcPO2 was 12.3 ± 2 mmHg and FLIR thermography was 28.7 ± 0.9°C. TcPO2 (p = 0.002), FLIR thermography (p = 0.015) and ankle–brachial index (p = 0.047) values significantly reduced with greater vascular obstruction severity. Revascularization (n = 39) significantly improved TcPO2 (12.5 ± 1.7 to 19.1 ± 2.2 mmHg, p = 0.011) and FLIR (28.8 ± 1.8 to 32.6 ± 1.6°C; p = 0.018), especially in severe impaired angiosomes. TcPO2 significantly increased immediately post-procedure, then gradually, whereas the FLIR thermography values plateaued from day 1 to 28 post-procedure. In conclusion, FLIR thermography is a viable non-invasive tool for evaluating lower limb perfusion based on angiosomes, comparable with TcPO2.
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