The Knowledge, Practices, and Perceptions of Surgical Nurses Concerning Spirituality and Spiritual Care.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this descriptive study was to describe the knowledge, practices and perceptions of nurses concerning spirituality and spiritual care. DESIGN: A descriptive study. METHODS: The study was performed with 142 surgical nurses working in three public hospitals in a city in Turkey. A "Personal Information Form" and the "Spirituality and Spiritual Care Grading Scale" were used for data collection. The data were analysed on SPSS 25.0 software. FINDINGS: While 77.5% of the nurses reported having heard about the concepts of spirituality and spiritual care, 17.6% reported having received instruction concerning spirituality and spiritual care during their initial nursing education and 19.0% after graduation. In addition, 78.2% provided spiritual care in the clinics where they worked, 40.5% reported that patients were given religious support and 37.8% stated that patients were given the opportunity to be involved in their own care. The nurses' total mean spirituality and spiritual care grading scale score was 57.6±5.6. A statistically significant difference was determined in mean scale scores between nurses who had and had not heard about the concepts of spirituality and spiritual care (P=0.049) and between those who practiced and did not practice spiritual care in the clinics where they worked (P=0.018). CONCLUSIONS: The majority of surgical nurses had heard about the concepts of spirituality and spiritual care but had not been exposed to them during their initial nursing education. However, the majority practiced spiritual care in their clinics, and their perception levels were above average.

The Efficacy of Lavender Aromatherapy in Reducing the Overcrowding-Related Anxiety in Health Care Workers.

In general, emergency departments (EDs) are stressful workplaces with excessive workloads and time pressures. Crowding, which is an important problem worldwide disrupting ED functions, leads further increases in the stressors which health care workers are exposed to. Long-term exposure to stressors can lead to anxiety in health care workers. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of aromatherapy on crowding-related anxiety in ED health care workers. Crowding was measured simultaneously with the National Emergency Department Overcrowding Scale objectively and the Health Care Workers' Crowding Perception Evaluation Form subjectively. The state-trait anxiety level was measured at each crowding level according to the health care workers' perception. When perceived crowding was at severely overcrowding level, lavender oil aromatherapy was applied. Anxiety level was measured before and after aromatherapy. Aromatherapy was repeated 3 times on different days. A significant positive correlation was found between state anxiety level and perceived crowding (r = 0.415, p < 0.001). Aromatherapy was found to have a significant correlation in reducing the overcrowding-related anxiety in health care workers (p < 0.05). This study showed that there is a significant correlation between anxiety level and perceived crowding, and aromatherapy is related to a decrease in overcrowding-related anxiety. In EDs, lavender oil aromatherapy can be used as a complementary method in reducing the overcrowding-related anxiety. But further researches are needed to verify that aromatherapy has a causative effect on reducing overcrowding-related anxiety.

Nonmedical methods to relieve low back pain caused by lumbar disc herniation: a descriptive study in northeastern Turkey.

Low back pain due to the effects of lumbar disc herniation is a common complaint of patients who often subsequently seek help from medical professionals. It is also a significant health problem which is quite difficult to treat. This descriptive study was conducted to determine nonmedical methods used by patients with lumbar disc herniation to relieve low back pain; the patients' intensity of low back pain when they were admitted to the hospital was also explored. Ninety-two patients with lumbar disc herniation participated in this study, which was carried out at a university hospital in northeastern Turkey. Data were collected using a patient information form and the visual analog scale (VAS). When the patients were admitted to hospital, their mean VAS score was 6.56 ± 2.45. The study results showed that as a first choice nearly all of the patients (94.6%) with lumbar disc herniation preferred consulting with their physicians before to obtain relief for low back pain. However, in addition to seeing their physician, more than one-half of these patients (57.6%) also used nonmedical methods. The primary nonmedical methods were hot/cold compresses, wrapping various substances on the back, and herbal preparations. An increase in pain was noted by 17.0% of patients after using nonmedical methods. Findings indicated that more than two-thirds of patients experienced either no change or an increase in pain after using nonmedical methods to find relief.