The diverse cultural landscape of Europe underscores the importance of culturally safe healthcare. There is a necessity to assess cultural competence among European nursing faculty to provide an international perspective on cultural competence.
A descriptive, cross-sectional study.
An assessment of cultural competencies was conducted using the Cultural Competence Assessment scale, either in its original language (English) or in its translated and validated versions in Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Turkish. An online questionnaire was used to collect data.
The study was conducted in 71 higher institutions, distributed across 17 countries through a consecutive sample of 1364 nursing faculty.
The ethical principles of biomedical research were respected during the study, and the confidentiality of the data was guaranteed.
The mean level of cultural competence of the European nursing faculty was at the level of ‘good’. They showed greater cultural awareness and sensitivity than cultural competence behaviors. Significant associations were found between cultural competence level and the language of the questionnaire, level of education, having a nursing degree, leisure stays abroad, having friends from other countries or cultures, and international experiences abroad and at home. The better levels of cultural competence were found in profiles with the categories of: women with a Nursing Degree, a higher level of education, and with an ERASMUS+ stay experience.
This study offers an international overview of the cultural competence of nursing faculty. While the overall level of cultural competence was good, there is a need to reinforce the behaviors and factors that influence it.
Ensuring an appropriate length of stay (LOS) is a primary goal for hospitals, as prolonged LOS poses clinical risks and organizational challenges. Children and adolescents are particularly susceptible to prolonged LOS due to frequent hospitalizations and unique vulnerabilities, including developmental disabilities that may necessitate additional care and monitoring. This study aims to describe the LOS of children and adolescent patients and identify the sociodemographic, organizational, clinical, and nursing care factors contributing to prolonged LOS in this population.
Observational, retrospective, monocentric study.
A sequential sampling approach was used to select the clinical records of 1538 children and adolescent patients admitted to an Italian university hospital in 2022. The study included all children and adolescents aged 3–18 who were hospitalized for a minimum of 2 days. Patients from outpatient units and those with LOS shorter than 2 days were excluded. The Neonatal Pediatric Professional Assessment Instrument (PAIped) and the Hospital Discharge Register were used to collect sociodemographic, organizational, clinical, and nursing care patient data, including nursing diagnoses (NDs) and nursing actions (NAs). A forward stepwise regression approach was used to identify predictors of LOS among the selected variables. A mediation analysis was conducted to explore the role of nursing predictors, identified in the stepwise regression, as mediators between the number of medical diagnoses and LOS.
Positive correlations between the number of medical diagnoses, NDs, NAs, and LOS were discovered (r s = 0.262, p = < 0.001; r s = 0.114, p = < 0.001; r s = 0.384, p = < 0.001, respectively). Longer hospital stays were associated with an increased number of medical diagnoses, NDs, and NAs. The number of NAs emerged as an independent predictor of LOS (β = 0.516; p < 0.001). Other significant determinants of LOS included a higher number of NAs and medical diagnoses, the presence of a medical DRG category, increased DRG weight, emergency admissions, residency in rural areas, and older age (F = 122.222, p < 0.001, R 2 = 0.361, adjusted R 2 = 0.358). The mediation analysis showed that the number of medical diagnoses positively predicted the number of NAs (β = 2.774, p < 0.001), which, in turn, positively affected LOS (β = 0.162, p < 0.001). A significant indirect effect of the number of medical diagnoses on LOS through NAs was observed (β = 0.448, 95% CI [0.34, 0.55]), along with a significant direct effect of medical diagnoses on LOS, even with the mediator in the model (β = 0.633, p < 0.001), indicating partial mediation (F = 321.6892; R 2 = 0.295; p < 0.001). These results highlight the influence of medical diagnoses on LOS through the mediating role of NAs.
Our study highlights the significant interplay between determinants of LOS in children and adolescent patients, emphasizing the need for targeted interventions, resource planning, and the integration of clinical nursing information systems to enhance care quality and support evidence-based practices.
Optimizing resource distribution and implementing specific interventions for patients at risk of prolonged LOS could help mitigate this negative outcome and enhance the quality of care. Incorporating nursing data into DRG systems could improve reimbursement accuracy and benefit the nursing profession, which may result in better patient outcomes and lower hospital expanses.
To explore the impact of 12 American Nurses Association recognized standardized nursing terminologies (SNTs) on patient and organizational outcomes.
Previous studies reported an effect of SNTs on outcomes, but no previous frameworks nor meta-analyses were found.
Systematic review and meta-analyses.
PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, and OpenGrey databases were last consulted in July 2021. All abstracts and full texts were screened independently by two researchers. The review included primary quantitative studies that reported an association between recognized SNTs and outcomes. Two reviewers independently assessed the risk of bias and certainty of evidence for each meta-analyzed outcome using the “Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation” (GRADE) approach.
Fifty-three reports were included. NANDA-NIC-NOC and Omaha System were the most frequently reported SNTs used in the studies. Risk of bias in randomized controlled trials and not-randomized controlled trials ranged from high to unclear, this risk was low in cross-sectional studies. The number of nursing diagnoses NANDA-I moderately correlated with the intensive care unit length of stay (r = 0.38; 95% CI = 0.31–0.44). Using the Omaha System nurse-led transitional care program showed a large increase in both knowledge (d = 1.21; 95% CI = 0.97–1.44) and self-efficacy (d = 1.23; 95% CI = 0.97–1.48), while a reduction on the readmission rate (OR = 0.46; 95% CI = 0.09–0.83). Nursing diagnoses were found to be useful predictors for organizational (length of stay) and patients' outcomes (mortality, quality of life). The GRADE indicated that the certainty of evidence was rated from very low to low.
Studies using SNTs demonstrated significant improvement and prediction power in several patients' and organizational outcomes. Further high-quality research is required to increase the certainty of evidence of these relationships.
SNTs should be considered by healthcare policymakers to improve nursing care and as essential reporting data about patient's nursing complexity to guide reimbursement criteria.