Protective and risk factors of workplace violence against nurses: A cross-sectional study.

AIMS: To describe how workplace violence (WPV) is experienced by nurses in hospitals and community services and identify protective and risk factors. METHODS: An online cross-sectional national study was conducted from January to April 2021 in Italy. Hospitals and community services were involved in the study. The survey combined the adapted and validated Italian version of the Violence in Emergency Nursing and Triage (VENT) questionnaire, which explores the episodes of WPV experienced during the previous 12 months, the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI) and some additional questions about staffing levels extracted from a previous RN4CAST study. Nurses working in all clinical settings and community services were invited to participate in the survey. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. We adhered to the STROBE reporting guidelines. RESULTS: A total of 6079 nurses completed the survey, 32.4% (n = 1969) had experienced WPV in the previous 12 months, and 46% (n = 920) reported WPV only in the previous week. The most significant protective factors were nurses' age, patients' use of illegal substances, attitude of individual nurses and considering effective the organization's procedures for preventing and managing episodes of violence. The most significant risk factors included workload, recognizing violence as an inevitable part of the job, patients' cultural aspects and patients' agitated behaviour. The frequency of WPV was significantly higher in certain areas, such as the emergency department and in mental health wards. CONCLUSION: Workplace violence (WPV) against nurses is a very frequent and concerning issue, especially in hospitals and community services. Based on our findings, integrated and multimodal programmes for prevention and management of WPV are recommended. More attention and resources need to be allocated to reduce WPV by improving the quality of nurses' workplace environment and implementing violence-free policies for hospitals. IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION AND/OR PATIENT CARE: Impact Workplace verbal and physical violence is a widespread phenomenon, both in hospital and community settings, and even during COVID-19 pandemic. This problem is exacerbated by the lack of effective reporting systems, fear of retaliation and the tendency to consider violence as an inevitable part of the job. The characteristics of professionals, patients, work environment and organizational factors are involved in the spread of workplace violence, determining its multifactorial nature. Integrated and multimodal programmes to prevent and manage of workplace violence are probably the only way to effectively counteract workplace violence against nurses. Healthcare policymakers, managers of hospital and community services need to proactively prevent and effectively manage and monitor episodes of violence. Nurses need to feel protected and safeguarded against any form of verbal or physical violence, to provide high-quality care in a totally safe environment. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: No patient or public contribution.

Italian nursing students' attitudes towards care of the dying patient: A multi-center descriptive study.

BACKGROUND: International literature reports that nursing students feel unprepared when facing patients and families within dying care. They consider their curricula inadequate in teaching end-of-life care and promoting the attitudes required to care for dying patients. Findings of recent studies exploring nursing students' attitudes towards care of the dying patient are often contradictory. OBJECTIVES: To explore Italian nursing students' attitudes towards caring for dying patients. DESIGN: A multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted. SETTINGS: The Bachelor's Degree in Nursing courses of four Universities of the Lazio Region. PARTICIPANTS: The sample included 1193 students. METHODS: Data were collected between September 2017 and March 2018 using the Italian version of FATCOD-B-I. The differences between the mean scores were compared through t-test or ANOVA. Associations between scores and participant characteristics were evaluated through generalized linear regression. RESULTS: The mean score of FATCOD-B-I was 115.3 (SD = 9.1). Higher scores were significantly associated with training in palliative care (p < 0.0001) and experience with terminally ill patients (p < 0.0001). Students manifested more negative attitudes when they perceived patients losing hope of recovering, and patient's family members interfering with health professionals' work. Uncertainties emerged around knowledge of opioid drugs, decision-making, concepts of death and dying, management of mourning, and relational aspects of patient care. CONCLUSIONS: Italian nursing students seem to have more positive attitudes towards care of dying patients than most other countries. They believe that caring for a terminal patient is a formative, useful experience but they do not feel adequately prepared in practice. Deeper palliative care education, integrated with practical training, would prepare students better, enabling them to discover their own human and professional capacity to relieve suffering.

Diabetic education in nursing: A Rodgers' evolutionary concept analysis.

AIM: This concept analysis aims to clarify the concept of diabetic education in nursing to provide guidance for the further conceptualization and clarification of diabetic education in nursing. BACKGROUND: Patient education is a fundamental component of diabetes care. Nurses have taken up a major role in educating people with diabetes to manage their conditions. However, the exact meaning of diabetic education in nursing remains challenging. DESIGN: Rodgers' evolutionary method of concept analysis was performed to explore the concept of diabetic education in nursing. DATA SOURCE: We conducted a literature search on Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), MedLine, and PsycInfo for works published until October 2020 using "patient education," "diabetes," and "nursing" as key terms. RESULTS: The concept analysis revealed that key attributes of diabetic education in nursing include patient-centered and interactive approaches, planning, and problem solving. Antecedents related to individuals with diabetes are their backgrounds, needs, and motivations, while the antecedents related to nurses are experience and attitude. Finally, three different consequences of the concept emerged: an increase in knowledge and skills, a behavioral change, and the improvement of clinical outcomes.

[School nurse in the restrain of pandemics and the re-opening school. An integrative review]. / L'infermiere scolastico, la prevenzione della diffusione delle malattie infettive e la riapertura delle scuole nell'era della pandemia da SARS-Cov2. Revisione integrativa della letteratura.

INTRODUCTION: School nurse is present today in many countries around the world. Its contribution within schools is described in the literature especially with regard to the management of chronic diseases and health education interventions. The Sars-CoV2 pandemic has forced many states to close schools, involving major psycho-social problems. The reopening of schools is a great challenge, in this regard this work has the goal of evaluating the literature that identifies the figure of the school nurse as a strength in containing the spread of contagious diseases and the actions that can be effective for this purpose. METHODS: An integrative literature review was conducted by interrogating the main international medical-nursing databases, all research articles were included, editorials and letters were excluded. Results were screened independently by two investigators. RESULTS: 10 articles were included, the main purpose of which was to describe outbreak cases and strategies for their management. The major nursing interventions highlighted are surveillance, case reporting, education, management of relationships with families, collaboration with other professionals. DISCUSSION: Although the identified literature was quantitatively poor, it is clear that the school nurse is central to syndromic surveillance, educational role, decision making, clinical management, collaboration with the team of experts and management of communication.

Caring relationship: a qualitative research through the narratives of the students of the Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.

BACKGROUND: The caring relationship is a complex phenomenon, that is considered as a fundamental patient-centred care activity. It is a nursing skill that is neither directly visible nor measurable and can be taught to students only by referring to other equally abstract and com- plex concepts. Issues such as care, communication, counselling, narrative nursing and empathy are addressed within specific modules under the Study Plan and dedicated to the caring relationship. However doubts persist on the experience of the students about caring relationship. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was understand caring relationship meanings and experiences in basic nursing education. DESIGN: A qualitative research according to the interpretative theory was conducted. Partecipants: The study involved second-year students of the Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree (BSN): at an University of northern Italy. METHODS: Data were collected through narratives of actual caring relationship experiences that students had during their clinical internships. RESULTS: The themes emerged from the accounts of 24 students were communication and the emotions related thereto. In particular, the perception of the loneliness of the patients, the characteristics associated with the ability of nurses to grasp this state and the feeling of well-being that is established in both people involved in a significant caring relationship, often based on active listening by the students. CONCLUSIONS: This study allowed us to understand the main characteristics of the students' experiences as they develop the ability to relate in a therapeutic way.

[The evaluation of qualitative research published in nursing journals: protocol of a cross-sectional study]. / La valutazione della ricerca qualitativa pubblicata nelle riviste infermieristiche: protocollo di studio.

INTRODUCTION: The nature of nursing has prompted researchers nurses to use a large number of qualitative methodology research. The trend showed a substantial increase in its production between 1997 and 2000 to settle back down in the following years although until recently the qualitative methodology was considered a non-scientific research. The growing number of publications with qualitative design is paid concern to verify the rigor and credibility of studies using this method. The use of the quality assessment tools showed that the methodological precision of studies with a qualitative design has grown over time. AIM: Assessing, using the tool Critical Appraisal Skills Programme, the quality of qualitative studies published in the last five years by international nursing journals with higher impact factor. METHOD: We will search the qualitative articles published on the ten most influential nursing journals that will be submitted by two independent researchers at the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme tool in its original version. EXPECTED RESULTS: The results make it possible to observe whether the qualitative research produced in the field of nursing uses a rigorous methodology in the drafting of the report, assuming that the quality has grown in the past five years than in previous years. CONCLUSION: The study will help researchers assess which level reached nurses in the development of qualitative research.

[Shared decision making: a scoping review]. / Processo decisionale condiviso: una scoping review.

AIM: This research aimed to explore the literature regarding the model of the Shared Decision Making (SDM) in the field of nursing. METHOD: A scoping review was conducted. The electronic literature research was made on Medline, CINAHL, The Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, using a combination of key words: "Decision Making", "Shared Decision Making", "Nursing", "Nursing Patient relationship". The review was carried out following the Levac model. RESULTS: 29 studies were included, in a time range between 1972 and 2015. The analysis identifies the main characteristics of the SDM model, the tools for its implementation, the patients experience, the fields of application and the integration among SDM e evidence based practice. CONCLUSION: the analysis showed that the Shared Decision Making model is not widespread, especially in the Italian context. This phenomenon could be explained by three fundamental aspects. The concept is not widely disseminated and full scientific maturity. His application also seems to be related to extensive knowledge of gold standard interventions and possible alternatives. Finally, there are cultural barriers to the implementation of the SDM.

The Concept of Care Complexity: A Qualitative Study.

BACKGROUND: Hospital organisations based on the level of care intensity have clearly revealed a concept, that of care complexity, which has been widely used for decades in the healthcare field. Despite its wide use, this concept is still poorly defined and it is often confused with and replaced by similar concepts such as care intensity or workload. This study aims to describe the meaning of care complexity as perceived by nurses in their day-to-day experience of hospital clinical care, rehabilitation, home care, and organisation. DESIGN AND METHODS: Fifteen interviews were conducted with nurses belonging to clinical-care areas and to heterogeneous organisational areas. The interview was of an unstructured type. The participants were selected using a propositional methodology. Colaizzi's descriptive phenomenological method was chosen for the analysis of the interviews. RESULTS: The nurses who were interviewed predominantly perceive the definition of care complexity as coinciding with that of workload. Nevertheless, the managerial perspective does not appear to be exclusive, as from the in-depth interviews three fundamental themes emerge that are associated with the concept of care complexity: the patient, the nurse and the organisation. CONCLUSIONS: The study highlights that care complexity consists of both quantitative and qualitative aspects that do not refer only to the organisational dimension. The use of the terminology employed today should be reconsidered: it appears to be inappropriate to talk of measurement of care complexity, as this concept also consists of qualitative - thus not entirely quantifiable - aspects referring to the person being cared for. In this sense, reference should instead be made to the evaluation of care complexity, which would also constitute a better and more complete basis for defining the nursing skills required in professional nursing practice. Significance for public healthIn recent years, reference to the concept of complexity has become increasingly frequent in the management of healthcare systems. This interpretation of reality and of knowledge reflects the increasing use of a multi-disciplinary approach, in both clinical and research fields, that re-evaluates the importance of the environment and the preferences of the individual. The influence of the epistemological theory of complexity in healthcare can also be identified in discussions on the role and methods of epidemiology and public health; in breaking the walls between the exact sciences and the humanities; in the appreciation of qualitative methods of research and the Bayesian approach to biostatistics.