The effectiveness of a pressure injury prevention program for nursing assistants in private for-profit nursing homes: A cluster randomized controlled trial.

AIM: To examine the effectiveness of a pressure injury prevention program for private for-profit nursing homes. DESIGN: This study was a two-arm cluster randomized controlled trial. Ten private for-profit nursing homes made up the clusters. METHODS: The participants were nursing home residents who aged 60 or above regardless of whether or not having pre-existing pressure injuries and also three types of nursing home assistants who provided direct care to the residents from 10 private for-profit nursing homes. These 10 nursing homes were randomly assigned to either the experimental or the control group. There were 477 and 536 resident participants and 51 and 62 nursing assistant participants in the experimental and control groups, respectively. The residents were the study participants and the nursing assistant participants were the interveners. The experimental group had the pressure injury prevention program implemented while the control group received the usual care. The primary study outcome which was the pressure injury incidence was analysed by GEE. Significance was set at a p-value of ≤.05. The data were collected between September 2017-March 2018. RESULT: There were significant interactive effects of time and group on the incidence of pressure injuries (p = .0015) and on the skill performance of the nursing assistant participants (p < .0001). CONCLUSIONS: An evidence-based pressure injury prevention program reduced the development of the pressure injuries and improved the skill performance of the nursing assistant participants. It is highly recommended that private for-profit nursing homes with high proportion of non-professional nursing assistants and insufficient nurses adopt this program for improving the prevention care of pressure injuries. IMPACT: This research has an impact on prevention care of pressure injury in private for-profit nursing homes with high proportion non-professional nursing assistants which have the similar characteristics as the nursing homes studied in various regions and countries. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The Controlled Trial registration ID is NCT02270385.

Nurses' preparedness for infectious disease outbreaks: A literature review and narrative synthesis of qualitative evidence.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To explore the core components that constitute nurses' preparedness in an epidemic event. BACKGROUND: Healthcare service providers have worked to augment efforts to protect the public from the impact of epidemic events. While constituting the major healthcare taskforce, nurses are frequently tasked with fronting the response to an infectious disease outbreak. Given the crucial role of nurses in the management of prevailing epidemics, the constituents of their preparedness in epidemic events should be identified. DESIGN: A systematic search was undertaken to identify eligible studies from the literature. A narrative synthesis approach was employed to extract and synthesise findings of the reviewed qualitative studies. METHODS: Seven qualitative studies on nurses' experience and perceptions of epidemic events were examined for scientific quality using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme Qualitative Checklist. Findings of these studies were synthesised adopting a narrative synthesis approach. RESULTS: Three interplaying themes were identified as follows: (i) personal resources, (ii) workplace resources and (iii) situational influences. The findings suggest that an effective epidemic outbreak response would require further effort to reinforce the interplay between individual nurses, healthcare institutions and the governments. CONCLUSIONS: The practical interplay among individual nurses, healthcare institutions and the governments is crucial in establishing an effective epidemic response. Further research on the understanding of the dynamic process of preparedness development is recommended to set future directions in research. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: This study offers important insights for devising future strategies in enhancing nurses' preparedness and response to an epidemic event. These include recommendations on providing education and training to nurses regarding infectious diseases, fostering institutional assistance and support in an outbreak and revising government policies and planning.

Understanding Elderly Chinese Cancer Patients in a Multicultural Clinical Setting: Embracing Mortality and Addressing Misperceptions of Vulnerability.

Chinese patients face higher risks of gastrointestinal (GI) cancers and greater cancer-related deaths than Canadian-born patients. The older population encounters barriers to quality healthcare, impacting their well-being and survival. Previous studies highlighted Chinese immigrant perceptions of not requiring healthcare support. During the COVID-19 pandemic, their underutilization of healthcare services garnered attention. The present study explores the experiences of older Chinese cancer patients to improve culturally sensitive cancer care. A total of twenty interviews carried out in Cantonese and Mandarin were conducted with Chinese immigrants, aged 60 or above, diagnosed with Stage 3 or 4 GI cancer. These interviews were transcribed verbatim, translated, and subjected to qualitative descriptive analysis. Among older Chinese immigrant patients, a phenomenon termed "Premature Acceptance: Normalizing Death and Dying" was observed. This involved four key themes: 1. acceptance and letting go, 2. family first, 3. self-sufficiency, and 4. barriers to supportive care. Participants displayed an early acceptance of their own mortality, prioritizing family prosperity over their own quality of life. Older Chinese patients normalize the reality of facing death amidst cancer. They adopt a pragmatic outlook, acknowledging life-saving treatments while willingly sacrificing their own support needs to ease family burdens. Efforts to enhance health literacy require culturally sensitive programs tailored to address language barriers and differing values among this population. A strengths-based approach emphasizing family support and practical aspects of care may help build resilience and improve symptom management, thereby enhancing their engagement with healthcare services.

A pressure ulcer prevention programme specially designed for nursing homes: does it work?

AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate a pressure ulcer prevention programme for nursing homes to ascertain the feasibility of its implementation, impact on care staff and outcomes for pressure ulcer knowledge and skills and pressure ulcer reduction. BACKGROUND: No pressure ulcer prevention protocol for long-term care settings has been established to date. The first author of this study thus developed a pressure ulcer prevention programme for nursing homes. DESIGN: A quasi-experimental pretest and post-test design was adopted. METHODS: Forty-one non-licensed care providers and eleven nurses from a government-subsidised nursing home voluntarily participated in the study. Knowledge and skills of the non-licensed care providers were assessed before, immediately after and six weeks after the training course, and pressure ulcer prevalence and incidence were recorded before and during the protocol implementation. At the end of the programme implementation, focus group interviews with the subjects were conducted to explore their views on the programme. RESULTS: A statistically significant improvement in knowledge and skills scores amongst non-licensed care providers was noted. Pressure ulcer prevalence and incidence rates dropped from 9-2·5% and 2·5-0·8%, respectively, after programme implementation. The focus group findings indicated that the programme enhanced the motivation of non-licensed care providers to improve their performance of pressure ulcer prevention care and increased communication and cooperation amongst care staff, but use of the modified Braden scale was considered by nurses to increase their workload. CONCLUSION: A pressure ulcer prevention programme for nursing homes, which was feasible and acceptable, with positive impact and outcome in a nursing home was empirically developed. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The study findings can be employed to modify the programme and its outcomes for an evaluation of effectiveness of the programme through a randomised controlled trial.

Investigating the Strategies Adopted by Emergency Nurses to Address Uncertainty and Change in the Event of Emerging Infectious Diseases: A Grounded Theory Study.

Emergency nurses frequently encounter uncertainty and changes during the management of emerging infectious diseases, which challenge their capability to perform their duties in a well-planned and systematic manner. To date, little is known about the coping strategies adopted by emergency nurses in addressing uncertainty and changes during an epidemic event. The present study explored emergency nurses' behaviours and strategies in handling uncertainty and practice changes during an epidemic event. A qualitative study based on the Straussian grounded theory approach was established. Semi-structured, face-to-face, individual interviews were conducted with 26 emergency nurses for data collection. Adapting protocol to the evolving context of practice was revealed as the core category. Four interplaying subcategories were identified: (1) Completing a comprehensive assessment, (2) continuing education for emerging infectious disease management, (3) incorporating guideline updates and (4) navigating new duties and competencies. The nurses demonstrated the prudence to orientate themselves to an ambiguous work situation and displayed the ability to adapt and embrace changes in their practice and duties. These findings offer insights into the need for education and training schemes that allow emergency nurses to acquire and develop the necessary decision-making and problem-solving skills to handle a public health emergency.

A qualitative descriptive study of the contextual factors influencing the practice of emergency nurses in managing emerging infectious diseases.

Purpose: Emergency nurses are engaged in the management of epidemic events that unfold along with the evolution of diseases. The goal of this study was to explore the contextual factors that inhibited the ability of emergency nurses to perform their duties in response to an outbreak. Methods: A qualitative descriptive design was used to explore the experiences and perceptions of emergency nurses. Participants were purposively recruited from 12 emergency departments in Hong Kong. Semi-structured face-to-face individual interviews were conducted with 26 emergency nurses. The audio-recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim and interpreted with a thematic analysis approach. Results: Four intertwined themes emerged from the analysis: resource constraints, threats of infection, ubiquitous changes and lingering uncertainties. These themes portrayed the constraints and challenges surrounding the work environment of emergency nurses. Conclusion: This study described the instabilities and vulnerabilities of the circumstances in which the emergency nurses were situated in during epidemic events. The findings shed light on the importance of hospitals and emergency departments in addressing both the technical problems and adaptive challenges that face emergency nurses during epidemic events.

A collaborative endeavor to educate community nurses in Guangzhou, China.

A collaborative endeavor was initiated between a Hong Kong school of nursing and a school of health in Guangzhou to develop a prevention-focused community nursing educational program. The collaboration aims were to increase the ability and confidence of Guangzhou nurses in performing their community healthcare roles and to train local community health nursing trainers in Guangzhou. The collaborating parties participated in a series of review for planning the teaching team, the taught subjects in the curriculum, the education approach, the student assessment and the train the trainer scheme for the program. The program was developed after the review, planning and implementation phases. This collaboration provided the groundwork for the education of community nurses in Guangzhou and developed local trainers in community health nursing; it enhanced understanding of the present status of community health nursing for both the school of health and the students; and it provided a reference for others that may collaborate with institutions in the People's Republic of China to initiate or strengthen educational programs to build up community health nursing.