Novice nurses' transition shock and professional identity: The chain mediating roles of self-efficacy and resilience.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to explore the association between transition shocks and professional identity and the mediating roles of self-efficacy and resilience among Chinese novice nurses. BACKGROUND: Novice nurses experience transition shock when they start their careers, which might lead to decreased professional identity and ultimately turnover. By contrast, self-efficacy and resilience are excellent psychological resources that may be associated with higher professional identity. It is unclear how transition shock affects professional identity by influencing these two internal resources. DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey. METHODS: The STROBE guidelines were followed to report this study. Convenience sampling was used to recruit participants, and 252 novice nurses completed the Transition Shock of Novice Nurses Scale, the Professional Identity Assessment Scale, the General Self-Efficacy Scale and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale between April 2022 and May 2022. Influencing factors were primarily identified using independent-sample t-tests and a one-way ANOVA. Structural equation modelling was used to detect the mediating effects of self-efficacy and resilience. RESULTS: Differences in novice nurses' levels of professional identity were found across age groups, hospitals and departments. Transition shock was negatively related to professional identity. Self-efficacy and resilience mediated the complete chain relationship between transition shock and professional identity. CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, this study is the first to explore the mediating effect of self-efficacy and resilience on transition shock and professional identity. Higher transition shock may lead to lower professional identity by reducing self-efficacy and resilience. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Nursing managers ought to emphasise the significant role of psychological resources in the work adaptation process of novice nurses. It may be more effective to improve professional identity and maintain the stability of the health care system. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: Nursing administrators working at seven preselected hospitals actively assisted us in the process of collecting self-report questionnaires from novice nurses, such as by booking appointments and providing access for questionnaire administration. In addition, the participants were actively involved in the data collection process.

Exploring the psychological experience of novice nurses in stomatological hospitals in China: a phenomenological study.

BACKGROUND: At the onset of their professional journey, novice nurses often undergo a multifaceted psychological experience as they transition from theoretical knowledge to clinical practice, potentially impacting their development of professional identity. However, limited research has been conducted on the psychological aspects pertaining to newly graduated nurses in stomatological hospitals in our country. METHODS: The phenomenological method and semi-structured interviews were used in this study, and the sample size of the interview was purposive sampling method. A semi-structured virtual interview was conducted with 21 new nurses in the department of stomatology. Colaizzi's analysis method was used to analyse the interview data. RESULTS: Based on Kramer's reality shock theoretical framework and analyzing interview data, this study extracted the psychological experiences of novice nurses during their first year of employment across four distinct stages. The four stages include: cheerful period, frustration period, adjustment period and competency period. Six themes and nine sub-themes were derived from the four period. CONCLUSION: Due to the lack of professional knowledge, novice oral nurses will experience a series of complex positive and negative emotions at the beginning of their career. Through the research, the training of oral specialty theory, good psychological counseling and peer support can improve their participation in oral outpatient nursing. At the same time, the establishment of oral care quality assurance system and the improvement of oral care higher education in our country will become the focus of future research.

Common domains of nurses' competencies in public health emergencies: a scoping review.

BACKGROUND: A public health emergency can cause large numbers of deaths in a short period, with devastating social, economic and health consequences. Nurses are the main healthcare providers during such emergencies, and their competencies affect the control and outcomes of the situation. Studies on nurses' competencies in public health emergencies vary between countries and healthcare systems. Therefore, we conducted a scoping review to identify the common domains of nurses' competencies in public health emergencies worldwide. METHODS: We searched the PubMed, CINHAL, Scopus, Web of Science, Science Direct, Embase, Cochrane Library, WanFang and ECRI databases from their inception to 2023. All published articles on nurses' competencies in public health emergencies that were published in English and Chinese were included. We mainly analyzed and synthesized nurses' competencies, assessment instruments and the training described in the included studies. RESULTS: A total of 27 competency domains were identified following an analysis and summary. The most frequently cited domains were communication skills, self-protection skills, basic knowledge of a public health emergency, laws and ethics and the capacity for organizational collaboration. The Disaster Preparedness Evaluation Tool and the Emergency Preparedness Information Questionnaire were the most commonly used tools for assessing competencies. Most training was conducted online and the content that was covered varied by country. CONCLUSIONS: Given the significant roles and responsibilities of nurses in public health emergencies, knowing the domains of their competencies is essential to evaluating, developing, and conducting clinical training.

Development and testing of the knowledge-attitudes-practices questionnaire for nurses on the perioperative pulmonary rehabilitation of patients with lung cancer.

Objective: This study aims to develop and validate a suitable scale for assessing the level of nurses' knowledge and practice of perioperative pulmonary rehabilitation. Methods: We divided the study into two phases: scale development and validation. In Phase 1, the initial items were generated through a literature review. In Phase 2, a cross-sectional survey was conducted involving 603 thoracic nurses to evaluate the scale's validity, reliability, and difficulty and differentiation of items. Item and exploratory factor analyses were performed for item reduction. Thereafter, their validity, reliability, difficulty, and differentiation of items were assessed using Cronbach's α coefficient, retest reliability, content validity, and item response theory (IRT). Results: The final questionnaire comprised 34 items, and exploratory factor analysis revealed 3 common dimensions with internal consistency coefficients of 0.950, 0.959, and 0.965. The overall internal consistency of the scale was 0.966, with a split-half reliability of 0.779 and a retest reliability Pearson's correlation coefficient of 0.936. The content validity of the scale was excellent (item-level content validity index = 0.875-1.000, scale-level content validity index = 0.978). The difficulty and differentiation of item response theory were all verified to a certain extent (average value = 2.391; threshold ß values = -1.393-0.820). Conclusions: The knowledge-attitudes-practices questionnaire for nurses can be used as a tool to evaluate knowledge, attitudes, and practices among nurses regarding perioperative pulmonary rehabilitation for patients with lung cancer.

Attentional impairment and altered brain activity in healthcare workers after mild COVID-19.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) is highly transmissible and pathogenic. Patients with mild cases account for the majority of those infected with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Although there is evidence that many patients with COVID-19 have varying degrees of attentional impairment, little is known about how SARS-COV-2 affects attentional function. This study included a high-risk healthcare population divided into groups of healthcare workers (HCWs) with mild COVID-19 (patient group, n = 45) and matched healthy HCWs controls (HC group, n = 42), who completed general neuropsychological background tests and Attention Network Test (ANT), and underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) using amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) to assess altered brain activity; Selective impairment occurred in orienting and executive control networks, but not in alert network, in the patient group, and widespread cognitive impairment encompassing general attention, memory, and executive dysfunction. Moreover, the patient group had significantly lower ALFF values in the left superior and left middle frontal gyri than the HC group. SARS-COV-2 infection may have led to reduced brain activity in the left superior and left middle frontal gyri, thus impairing attentional orienting and executive control networks, which may explain the development of attentional deficits after COVID-19.

Decision-making ability limitations and brain neural activity changes in healthcare workers after mild COVID-19.

Studies have demonstrated that the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) extensively affects brain function. Although cognitive dysfunction is considered a common manifestation in COVID-19 patients during the recovery period, the potential changes in decision-making ability, are not yet clear. Decision-making functions are essential to the work of healthcare workers. However, there is a lack of a multidimensional assessment of its functioning in COVID-19 cases. Here, we used tests combined with the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) stabilization feature amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) to explore decision-making behavior and brain neural activity changes in healthcare workers after mild COVID-19. Participants were divided into the SARS-CoV-2 infected group (SI, n = 41) and healthy controls (HC, n = 42). All participants underwent a series of neuropsychological tests. They performed the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and the Game of Dice Task (GDT), followed by fMRI (n = 20) to assess their decision-making ability under ambiguous and risky conditions and changes in brain neural activity. The SI group performed worse in verbal memory than the HC group. Furthermore, the SI group performed worse in the IGT, whereas no significant difference was observed in the GDT. In addition, rs-fMRI showed enhanced spontaneous neural activity in the postcentral gyrus and inferior parietal lobe in the SI group compared to the HC group.

A Cross-Sectional Descriptive Study on the Attitudes Towards Patient Safety and Influencing Factors of Nurses in Infectious Diseases Wards.

Background: Patient safety is an important aspect of healthcare delivery and is critical to healthcare quality. An assessment of the attitudes of nursing staff in infectious diseases wards towards patient safety may identify deficiencies and allow for the development of educational programmes to train nursing staff to participate in good patient safety practices. Objective: To explore the current situation and influencing factors on nurses' attitudes towards patient safety in infectious diseases wards. Methods: This cross-sectional study enrolled 446 nurses from infectious diseases wards in eight hospitals in the Hebei Province to participate in an electronic questionnaire survey from October to December 2020. The Chinese version of the safety attitude questionnaire was used to gather the opinions of these participants, and SPSS 22.0 statistical software was used to analyse the data. Results: The average score of safety attitudes towards patients was 3.59 ± 0.30. The scores for each dimension, from high to low, were as follows: management perception: 3.77 ± 0.42 points, pressure perception: 3.77 ± 0.42 points, safety atmosphere: 3.57 ± 0.43 points, job satisfaction: 3.57 ± 0.43 points, teamwork: 3.55 ± 0.50 points and working conditions: 3.50 ± 0.45 points. The results of the multiple stepwise regression analysis showed that the influential factors on nurses' attitudes towards patient safety in infectious diseases wards were as follows: night shift working (ß = 11.885, P = 0.000), years of nursing experience (ß = 2.862, P = 0.001), education level (ß = 4.462, P = 0.001) and marital status (ß = 3.871, P = 1.002), which together explained 33.5% of the total variance. Conclusion: Nurses' attitudes towards patient safety in infectious diseases wards were moderately high. Night shift work, years of nursing experience, education level and marital status affected nurses' attitudes towards patient safety. Managers should focus on these groups of nurses and improve their working conditions and job satisfaction to further enhance patient safety.

Assessment of mental health status among Chinese nursing staff in the intensive care unit: a network analysis.

Backgrounds: Nursing is the key group to provide healthcare services, and it is easy for nursing staff to develop mental health problems. Aims: The study aimed to evaluate prevalence of psychological symptoms in nurses working in an intensive care unit (ICU) and the inter-relationship of associations of psychological symptoms using network analysis. Methods: This study is a cross-sectional design study. The Chinese version of the Symptom Check List-90 (SCL-90) was used to measure the psychological status of ICU nurses. The network structure of psychological symptoms was characterised, and indices of 'Expected influence' were used to identify symptoms central to the network. Network stability was examined using a case-dropping bootstrap procedure. Results: Multiple logistic regression analysis found those who had worked more than 15 years were less likely to experience positive psychological symptoms, whereas nurses working in emergency ICU and other ICUs, nurses working in departments with over 16 beds were more likely to develop psychological symptoms. In addition, 'Anxiety', 'Mental degeneration' and 'Depression' were central symptoms in the network. Conclusions: ICU nurses reported a high level of psychological symptoms, which may affect the quality of their work and worsen public health problems.

Occupational hazards to health of port workers.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this article is to reduce the risk of occupational hazards and improve safety conditions by enhancing hazard knowledge and identification as well as improving safety behavior for freight port enterprises. METHODS: In the article, occupational hazards to health and their prevention measures of freight port enterprises have been summarized through a lot of occupational health evaluation work, experience and understanding. RESULTS: Workers of freight port enterprises confront an equally wide variety of chemical, physical and psychological hazards in production technology, production environment and the course of labor. Such health hazards have been identified, the risks evaluated, the dangers to health notified and effective prevention measures which should be put in place to ensure the health of the port workers summarized. DISCUSSION: There is still a long way to go for the freight port enterprises to prevent and control the occupational hazards. Except for occupational hazards and their prevention measures, other factors that influence the health of port workers should also be paid attention to, such as age, work history, gender, contraindication and even the occurrence and development rules of occupational hazards in current production conditions.

Tuberculosis prevention in healthcare workers in China 10†years after the severe acute respiratory syndrome pandemic.

BSL3 and respiratory isolation wards protect healthcare workers from nosocomial TB infection in China http://ow.ly/PGvSl.

Challenges and a response strategy for the development of nursing in China: a descriptive and quantitative analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the challenges to and provide a response strategy for the development of nursing and make suggestions for promoting the nursing discipline, platform, and talent teams based on current best available evidence. METHODS: We searched CNKI(China National Knowledge Infrastructure), VIP information(Chinese Scientific Journals database), CBM(Chinese Biomedical Literature database), and Web sites of the World Health Organization, International Council of Nurses, World Bank, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education of China, and relevant schools in China. Data analyses were performed using SPSS 13.0. RESULTS: We identified 886 nursing schools in China in 2012. Results showed that 38,212 nursing students were enrolled in universities or independent colleges and 130,837 nursing student were enrolled in colleges or senior vocational schools. The doctor-to-nurse ratio was 1:0.9 in 2010. The actual demand for doctors was 2.6 million, whereas the nursing shortage was approximately 346,000. Nurses aged ≤ 35 years accounted for 50% of the total. A total of 64% to 69% of nurses had primary professional titles; fewer than 2.5% of those had advanced titles. The training costs for one doctor or one nurse in China was only two-fifths that in India and one-fifth to one-fourth that in sub-Saharan Africa. To date, only 30.1% of disaster nursing studies in China provided research data; 30.6% were related to clinical experience and 38.3% were reviews. CONCLUSIONS: Education and health systems need to be extensively reformed. It is necessary to train nursing students with core competencies using transformative learning. It is necessary to update textbooks and teaching methods, and funding should be appropriately increased. Nursing should co-operate with other disciplines, and apply evidence-based nursing methods to improve the quality of healthcare services and patient satisfaction.