Missed Nursing Care in the Postanesthesia Care Unit: A Cross-Sectional Study.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence, activities, and reasons for missed nursing care in the postanesthesia care unit (PACU) and the effect of intensive care unit (ICU) overflow patients. DESIGN: This is a single-center, cross-sectional survey. METHODS: Nineteen PACU-registered nurses of a tertiary care hospital participated. Over a 7-month period, participants were asked to complete a validated questionnaire, which included 19 items related to missed nursing care activities and 10 items related to reasons for missed nursing care. χ2 test and 1-way analysis of variance were used for data analysis. FINDINGS: Questionnaires (N = 397) were completed. Prevalence of missed nursing care activities was 78.1% and was significantly higher in cases of ICU overflow patients (P < .001). The three most reported missed nursing care activities were "drug preparation, administration, and assessment of effectiveness," "patient surveillance and assessment," and "care associated with pain"; prevalence was significantly higher in cases of ICU overflow patients (P = .036, P = .003, and P = .004, respectively). The three most reported reasons for missed nursing care were "inadequate number of nursing personnel," "unexpected rise in patient volume or acuity," and "heavy admission or discharge activity". CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicated missed nursing care was common in the PACU and increased in case of ICU overflow patients. Therefore, missed nursing care needs to be identified and minimized, while the number and length of stay of critically ill patients admitted to the PACU should be limited.

Reasons for academic dishonesty during examinations among nursing students: Cross-sectional survey.

BACKGROUND: Understanding why nursing students engage in academic dishonesty is crucial, since cheating is becoming more common and can be followed by unethical professional practice. OBJECTIVES: To develop and validate a questionnaire for investigating nursing students' perceptions about the reasons for academic dishonesty during examinations, along with identifying the most important of these reasons. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey with the use of a convenience sample. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: 660 undergraduate students of a nursing department in Greece. METHODS: Questionnaire items were developed based on literature review and student interviews, evaluation of their content validity and intra-rater reliability. The participants completed the questionnaire electronically, which included items referring to behaviors of and reasons for academic dishonesty during examinations. Based on their responses, factor analysis was used to determine structural validity of the items that referred to the reasons for academic dishonesty. RESULTS: High prevalence of academic dishonesty behaviors during examinations was confirmed. Reasons for academic dishonesty were grouped into three factors, which included 17 items in total. Highly-rated items mainly referred to non-realistic demands of and unfair student treatment by academic personnel, absence of severe consequences for cheating, the way examinations are performed, and the importance of achieving high grades. Female, junior and high degree grade students had significantly higher percentages of highly-rated responses in some items. CONCLUSIONS: These findings offered knowledge about the reasons that students perceive to mostly favor cheating, whose identification can guide preventive strategies.