Nursing students' expectations of group supervision while writing a bachelor thesis: A pre-post survey.

BACKGROUND: Writing a bachelor thesis has a central role in nursing education. Nursing students require both information and academic literacy in order to write their theses, and there is an expectation that these skills will contribute to putting their knowledge into practice. OBJECTIVES: To describe students' perceptions of the student and supervisor roles and to investigate students' experienced self-efficacy during the supervision of their bachelor thesis. DESIGN: A cross-sectional pre-post design. SETTINGS: Four universities were included. All four had bachelor thesis courses organized as a group supervision process, with a student active approach. Nursing students met together one hour prior to meeting with their supervisor, in order to discuss concerns, try to solve upcoming problems, and plan the agenda for the upcoming supervision session. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 472 undergraduate nursing students were invited to participate. METHODS: A web-based questionnaire was used, incorporating the Supervision of Thesis Questionnaire and the General Self-Efficacy Scale. Data were collected at two points: before and after the thesis course. Descriptive statistics and frequencies were calculated, and the independent t-test and Mann-Whitney U test were used for analytic analysis. RESULTS: The response rate was 39 % (160/472) pre-course and 28 % (130/472) post-course. Nursing students had high expectations of supervision at both time points. Students reporting high self-efficacy had higher expectations of the supervisor's knowledge of the subject and the methods, compared to those reporting lower self-efficacy. CONCLUSIONS: Nursing students reported high expectations for the supervision process, the supervisor, and themselves, both when entering and when ending the bachelor thesis course. Self-efficacy may contribute to these expectations. Active learning in a group (i.e., collaborative learning) may contribute to nursing students' commitment during the group supervision process in a bachelor thesis course. Further studies are warranted on the optimal group composition to support learning during bachelor thesis courses.

Bacterial growth and wound infection following saphenous vein harvesting in cardiac surgery: a randomized controlled trial of the impact of microbial skin sealant.

The aim of the present study was to compare microbial skin sealant versus bare skin on the leg regarding intraoperative bacterial presence in the surgical wound and time to recolonization of the adjacent skin at the saphenous vein harvesting site. A second aim was to evaluate the incidence of leg wound infection 2 months after surgery. In this randomized controlled trial, 140 patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) between May 2010 and October 2011 were enrolled. Bacterial samples were taken preoperatively and intraoperatively at multiple time points and locations. OF the patients, 125 (92.6 %) were followed up 2 months postoperatively regarding wound infection. Intraoperative bacterial growth did not differ between the bare skin (n = 68) and the microbial skin sealant group (n = 67) at any time point. At 2 months postoperatively, 7/61 patients (11.5 %) in the skin sealant versus 14/64 (21.9 %) in the bare skin group (p = 0.120) had been treated with antibiotics for a verified or suspected surgical site infection (SSI) at the harvest site. We found almost no intraoperative bacterial presence on the skin or in the subcutaneous tissue, irrespective of microbial skin sealant use. In contrast, we observed a relatively high incidence of late wound infection, indicating that wound contamination occurred postoperatively. Further research is necessary to determine whether the use of microbial skin sealant reduces the incidence of leg wound infection at the saphenous vein harvest site.

Bacterial recolonization of the skin and wound contamination during cardiac surgery: a randomized controlled trial of the use of plastic adhesive drape compared with bare skin.

BACKGROUND: Sternal wound infection after cardiac surgery is a serious complication. Various perioperative strategies, including plastic adhesive drapes, are used to reduce bacterial contamination of surgical wounds. AIM: To compare plastic adhesive drape to bare skin regarding bacterial growth in wound and time to recolonization of the adjacent skin intraoperatively, in cardiac surgery patients. METHODS: This single-blinded randomized controlled trial (May 2010 to May 2011) included 140 patients scheduled for cardiac surgery via median sternotomy. The patients were randomly allocated to the adhesive drape (chest covered with plastic adhesive drape) or bare skin group. Bacterial samples were taken preoperatively and intraoperatively every hour during surgery until skin closure. RESULTS: Disinfection with 0.5% chlorhexidine solution in 70% alcohol decreased coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS), while the proportion colonized with Propionibacterium acnes was not significantly reduced and was still present in more than 50% of skin samples. P. acnes was significantly more common in men than in women. Progressive bacterial recolonization of the skin occurred within 2-3 h. At 120 min there were significantly more positive cultures in the adhesive drape group versus bare skin group for P. acnes (63% vs 44%; P = 0.034) and for CoNS (45% vs 24%; P = 0.013). The only statistically significant difference in bacterial growth in the surgical wound was higher proportion of CoNS at the end of surgery in the adhesive drape group (14.7% vs 4.4%; P = 0.044). CONCLUSION: Plastic adhesive drape does not reduce bacterial recolonization. P. acnes colonized men more frequently, and was not decreased by disinfection with chlorhexidine solution in alcohol.