Medication administration and anxiety: an observational study with nursing students.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Medication administration errors represent a topic of great scientific interest. Medication administration is considered by nursing students a complex process during which it is easy to make mistakes; therefore, institutional measures have been adopted in order to reduce medication errors. However, it remains a critical issue in nursing practice for which several causes have been identified, including environmental factors and individual knowledge. Mistakes can be made by nurses and especially by students who must cope with additional causal factors including anxiety management. The aim was to investigate state anxiety levels among nursing students when it comes to medication administration. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: An observational study involving a convenience sample of 150 nursing students from a Northern Italy University has been conducted; they were asked to complete a questionnaire to measure the levels of state anxiety in relation to medication administration.   Results. There were no particularly high levels of state anxiety among students associated with medication administration; however, state anxiety levels were slightly higher in third-year students than in second-year students, and this is most likely due to the growing complexity of the medication administration process compared to the lack of experience.   Conclusions. Although the results don't show statistically significant data, the effectiveness of nursing education plays a crucial role in reducing medication errors, which is why it is essential to provide suitable tools for the professionals of the future and invest in clinical simulations.

The Nursing Management of Tourniquet: the infective risk related to its use.

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE WORK: Reusable tourniquets should be considered and used in clinical practice as semi-critical devices, as they are colonized by potentially pathogenic agents, a possible cause of care-related infections. The aim of the study was to analyse the management of tourniquets in the clinical reality of wards, investigating the aspects related to their use in venepuncture procedures, the cleaning process after their use and storage. METHODS: It has been conducted an observational study with a questionnaire on a sample of nurses (N = 73) and nursing students (N = 60) recruited in a hospital and in an University of northern Italy. RESULTS: Data revealed a very positive attitude regarding the high standards of hand hygiene among nurses and nursing students sampled; the critical issues concern the lack of shared protocols or guidelines for the management of tourniquets that lead to discussion both on their use in clinical practice and on the disinfection process after use as well as tourniquets disposal. CONCLUSIONS: Tourniquets can represent a serious potential danger in terms of infections transmission, especially in the pandemic period we are experiencing; their use is practically transversal in all healthcare settings and it is therefore necessary to implement the use of shared management and disposal guidelines / protocols. From this research it appears that in the setting explored, although much attention is paid to hand hygiene, this aspect still seems to be a critical point of nursing care.