Investigating the Needs of Patients Suffering from Chronic Diseases: A Cross-Sectional Study.

INTRODUCTION: Chronic diseases represent a huge challenge for the health systems globally due to the rapidly increasing number of patients and their long-term need for healthcare. The purpose of this study was to investigate the needs of patients suffering from chronic diseases. METHODOLOGY: This is a cross-sectional study. The study population consisted of 840 adults with chronic diseases. The data collection was done with an improvised needs survey questionnaire, which included 56 questions. Statistical analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, v.25.0, statistical significance being considered at p < 0.05. RESULTS: The main diseases of the patients were chronic renal failure (22.6%), multiple sclerosis (19%), cancer (19%), diabetes mellitus (7.1%), dementia (6%), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (6%). The majority of patients (82.1%) were sick for more than 24 months. Patients seek information from health professionals (4.07 ± 1.4), feel tired (4.05 ± 1.4), have to share their feelings with other family members (4.01 ± 1.4), feel anxious about the future (3.94 ± 1.3), and feel out of control (3.80 ± 1.5). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with chronic diseases suffer from numerous physical, mental, emotional, and cognitive problems. Paying attention to the unmet needs of patients could have beneficial effects on both patients and their caregivers.

Investigating Physical Activity Habits and Sleep Disorders in the Nursing Staff of Greece During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Multicenter Cross-Sectional Correlational Study.

INTRODUCTION: The social isolation (lockdown) used worldwide as a measure to effectively prevent the infection of COVID-19 has been shown to be responsible for the high prevalence of depression, anxiety, insomnia, and post-traumatic stress symptoms. The aim of this study was to investigate the physical activity habits and sleep disorders in the nursing staff. METHODOLOGY: This is a multicenter cross-sectional correlational study. The study population consisted of nurses and nursing assistants. Data were collected using the Greek version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Fear of the COVID-19, and the Physical exercise questionnaire of the American College of Sports Medicine. Statistical analysis of data was done with IBM SPSS v. 22.0. RESULTS: A total of 1710 nursing personnel aged 42.3 ± 9.1 years were included. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, 190 (11.1%) participants were physically active, and 2 years after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, active were 130 (7.6%) participants. Both at the beginning and two years after the beginning of the pandemic, the sleep dimensions that scored higher were subjective sleep quality (1.98 ± 0.2 vs. 1.98 ± 0.3), sleep onset latency (1.89 ± 1.5 vs. 1.64 ± 1.6), and sleep duration (1.55 ± 0.9 vs. 1.65 ± 0.8). The total sleep score was 8.64 ± 3.1 at the beginning of the pandemic and 8.11 ± 3.7 two years after the beginning of the pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: Nurses and nurses' assistants had less physical activity habits, slept less, and had more sleep disorders 2 years after the beginning of the pandemic in relation to the beginning of the pandemic.