The impact of burnout on paediatric nurses' attitudes about patient safety in the acute hospital setting: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Patient safety is the cornerstone of quality healthcare. Nurses have a duty to provide safe care, particularly to vulnerable populations such as paediatric patients. Demands on staff and resources are rising and burnout is becoming an increasingly prevalent occupational hazard in paediatric healthcare today. Occupational stress is a barrier to maintaining a positive patient safety culture. PURPOSE: This paper seeks to explore the impact of burnout on paediatric nurses' attitudes about patient safety. METHODS: A systematic review approach was used. Embase, Cochrane Library, Medline, CINAHL, and PsycINFO were the databases searched. All quantitative, primary, empirical studies, published in English, which investigated associations between burnout and attitudes to patient safety in the paediatric nursing workforce were included. RESULTS: Four studies were eligible for inclusion. These studies examined a total of 2769 paediatric nurses. Pooled data revealed overall moderate to high levels of burnout. All studies exposed a negative association between emotional exhaustion and safety attitude scoring (r = -0.301- -0.481). Three studies demonstrated a negative association to job satisfaction (r = -0.424- -0.474). The potential link between burnout and an increased frequency of adverse events was also highlighted. CONCLUSIONS: Burnout may negatively impact paediatric nurses' attitudes to patient safety in the acute hospital setting. Targeted interventions to tackle burnout are urgently required to protect both paediatric nurses and patients. IMPLICATIONS: Managers and policy makers must promote nurse well-being to safeguard staff and patients. Educational interventions are required to target burnout and promote patient safety. Further research is required to investigate the long-term impact of burnout.

Ordering of quantum dots using genetically engineered viruses.

A liquid crystal system was used for the fabrication of a highly ordered composite material from genetically engineered M13 bacteriophage and zinc sulfide (ZnS) nanocrystals. The bacteriophage, which formed the basis of the self-ordering system, were selected to have a specific recognition moiety for ZnS crystal surfaces. The bacteriophage were coupled with ZnS solution precursors and spontaneously evolved a self-supporting hybrid film material that was ordered at the nanoscale and at the micrometer scale into approximately 72-micrometer domains, which were continuous over a centimeter length scale. In addition, suspensions were prepared in which the lyotropic liquid crystalline phase behavior of the hybrid material was controlled by solvent concentration and by the use of a magnetic field.

Viral assembly of oriented quantum dot nanowires.

The highly organized structure of M13 bacteriophage was used as an evolved biological template for the nucleation and orientation of semiconductor nanowires. To create this organized template, peptides were selected by using a pIII phage display library for their ability to nucleate ZnS or CdS nanocrystals. The successful peptides were expressed as pVIII fusion proteins into the crystalline capsid of the virus. The engineered viruses were exposed to semiconductor precursor solutions, and the resultant nanocrystals that were templated along the viruses to form nanowires were extensively characterized by using high-resolution analytical electron microscopy and photoluminescence. ZnS nanocrystals were well crystallized on the viral capsid in a hexagonal wurtzite or a cubic zinc blende structure, depending on the peptide expressed on the viral capsid. Electron diffraction patterns showed single-crystal type behavior from a polynanocrystalline area of the nanowire formed, suggesting that the nanocrystals on the virus were preferentially oriented with their [001] perpendicular to the viral surface. Peptides that specifically directed CdS nanocrystal growth were also engineered into the viral capsid to create wurtzite CdS virus-based nanowires. Lastly, heterostructured nucleation was achieved with a dual-peptide virus engineered to express two distinct peptides within the same viral capsid. This work represents a genetically controlled biological synthesis route to a semiconductor nanoscale heterostructure.