Nursing students' emotional intelligence, coping styles and learning satisfaction in clinically simulated palliative care scenarios: An observational study.

BACKGROUND: Emotional intelligence is highly relevant in palliative care training, considering the coping styles used by nursing students. Clinical simulation provides the opportunity to evaluate these variables in a realistic and natural context. OBJECTIVES: To analyze the possible relation between emotional intelligence, coping styles and satisfaction with one's own self-learning in nursing students participating in simulated scenarios related to palliative care at the end of life. METHODS: A descriptive, observational and correlational study of students in their second year of nursing at a Spanish University during the 2015/2016 academic year. Three variables were measured: emotional intelligence (Trait Meta-Mood Scale-24), coping styles (the Questionnaire for Dealing with Stress) and satisfaction with students' own learning (Student Satisfaction and Self-Confidence in Learning Scale, Spanish version CSLS-Sv). RESULTS: In total, 74 students participated in this study (ME: 20.3years). An association was found between satisfaction with learning, according to the EI attention subscale (in which the highest scores were registered) and two specific coping styles (FSP, with high scores and open emotional expression). CONCLUSIONS: Emotional intelligence and coping styles are desirable qualities in students, especially as they have a relevant role in satisfaction with one's own learning. Nonetheless, in part, these results depend on the characteristics of the educational activities designed, which is especially relevant in simulation applied to palliative care.

Association among presence of cancer pain, inadequate pain control, and psychotropic drug use.

INTRODUCTION: Pain is a common symptom in cancer patients, and its control and management are complex. Despite the high concomitant use of psychotropic drugs among such patients, the association among pain, inadequate pain control, and psychotropic drug use has not been fully determined. This study examined the prevalence of cancer pain and inadequate pain control and the association with psychotropic drug use. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, we investigated 402 medical records obtained by simple random sampling of oncology patients at a hospital in northern Spain from July 2012 to July 2014. Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) were estimated together with their 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) by unconditional logistic regression for each type of psychotropic drug (anxiolytics, hypnotics, and antidepressants). RESULTS: The mean patient age was 61.17 (standard deviation ± 13.14) years; 57.5% were women, 42.5% men. Pain was present in 18.4% of patients and inadequate pain control in 54.2%. We found a statistically significant association between the presence of cancer pain and anxiolytic use (adjusted OR, 3.15; 95% CI, 1.49-6.68) and hypnotic use (adjusted OR, 5.19; 95% CI, 1.77-15.25). Inadequate pain control was associated to a greater extent with the use of those drugs: adjusted OR for anxiolytic use, 4.74 (95% CI, 1.91-11.80); adjusted OR for hypnotic use, 6.09 (95% CI, 1.74-21.32). By contrast, no association was found between pain and antidepressant use (adjusted OR, 0.99). CONCLUSION: The presence of pain and (to a greater extent) poor pain control were associated with increased use of certain psychotropic drugs, such as anxiolytics and hypnotics. There appeared to be no association between pain and antidepressant use.

[Abdominal aortic aneurysm treated by endovascular surgery: a case report]. / Paciente intervenido de aneurisma de aorta abdominal por técnica quirúrgica endovascular. Caso clínico.

An aneurysm is an abnormal dilation or irreversible convex of a portion of an artery. The most common site of aneurysms is the abdominal aorta and their appearance is often due to degeneration of the arterial wall, associated with atherosclerosis and favored by risk factors such as smoking and hypertension, among others. Left untreated, aneurysm of the abdominal aorta usually leads to rupture. Treatment is surgical, consisting of the introduction of a prosthesis, composed basically of a stent and an introducer, into the aorta. We report the case of a person diagnosed with abdominal aortic aneurysm in a routine examination who was admitted for ambulatory surgical treatment. We designed a nursing care plan, following Virginia Henderson's conceptual model. The care plan was divided into 2 parts, a first preoperative phase and a second postimplantation or monitoring phase. The care plan contained the principal nursing diagnoses, based on the taxonomies of the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association (NANDA), nursing interventions classification (NIC) and nursing outcomes classifications (NOC), and collaboration problems/potential complications. The patient was discharged to home after contact was made with his reference nurse in the primary health center, since during the hospital phase, some NOC indicators remained unresolved.

[Analysis of arrhythmias in immediate post-operative period of cardiovascular surgery]. / Análisis de las arritmias en el postoperatorio inmediato de cirugía cardiovascular.

Cardiac arrhythmias are one of the most frequent complications in the immediate post-operatory period of cardiac surgery with extracorporeal circulation, this occurring in between 35% and 50% of the patients subjected to this therapeutic intervention. Among the causal factors, electrolytic alterations, direct surgical aggression on the heart tissue and alterations secondary to ischemic cell damage that is produced in the myocardial during extracorporeal circulation are found. Due to the frequency of appearance of arrhythmias, we decided to study them and know them in depth. Thus, the objective of our study was to know the incidence and prevalence of arrhythmias during the immediate post-operatory period of cardiovascular surgery. Out of all those admitted to the unit, all the patients who had undergone valvular and coronary surgery with a stay in the intensive care unit of the University Hospital Marques de Valdecilla that did not exceed 7 days were selected. This means 258 patients, the most frequent alterations during the post-operative period being right branch blockage (16%), atrial fibrillation (12%), ventricular tachycardy (7%), atrial ventricular block (4%), among other rhythm and conduction alterations. As conclusions, we stress that the most frequent alterations during the immediate post-operative period were branch blocks, arrhythmia being more prevalent than atrial fibrillation. A total of 85% of the patients undergoing valvular replacement and 89% of those operated on for coronary derivation plus valvular replacement had more arrhythmia episodes than the rest.