Prestige of disciplines within the field of nursing: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Considering the global shortage of nurses, leaders in the field must understand the strengths and weaknesses of various nursing specialties in order to retain professionals within the field. Occupational prestige reflects the perceived contribution of an occupation 'to society', and measures its desirability, benefit and values. Understanding how experienced nurses view the prestige of nursing specialties may help to explain why some specialties are more desirable than others. We conducted a cross-sectional study to examine the prestige of nursing specialties among nurses taking post-graduate in-training courses. METHODS: The study questionnaire examined nurses' perceived prestige of nine nursing specialties, the perceived extent of autonomy and authority, the unique knowledge and clinical skills required for each specialty, and participants' demographic and professional characteristics. RESULTS: A total of 101 nurses (90% females, mean age 35.4 ± 9.39 years) completed the questionnaire. Intensive care (4.67 ± 0.59) and neonatal intensive care (4.57 ± 0.74) were perceived as having the highest prestige, whereas physical activity consultation (2.67 ± 0.98) and sleep consultation (2.71 ± 0.92) were perceived as having the lowest prestige. These specialties were also perceived as requiring the most and least unique knowledge and clinical skills, respectively. In contrast, authority and autonomy were ranked highest in breastfeeding consultation (4.50 ± 0.81), followed by intensive care (4.10 ± 0.87), while congestive heart failure received the lowest score (3.48 ± 0.84). Principal component analysis showed that higher prestige is attributed to acute care specialties, while chronic care specialties or ones involving consultation have lower prestige. CONCLUSIONS: Nursing specialties with lower scores should be rebranded to encourage nurses to enter these fields.

[Surgical site infections: what about the children?].

Surgical site infections (SSIs) are uniformly defined for adults and children as infections that develop within 30 days after an operation and are classified as being either incisional or organ/space in the operated area. SSI rates among children are similar to adults, but are higher among neonates. SSIs represent a significant burden in terms of patient morbidity and mortality, length of hospitalization and cost to the health services. The difficulty in treatment and prevention of SSIs usually results from the variety of pathogens causing the infection. There are a multitude of risk factors influencing the development of SSIs that may be related to patient characteristics, such as younger age, and/or the surgical procedure, such as duration of surgery, wound class, and surgical technique. The prognostic scores which, to the best of our knowledge, have been developed and validated for adults, are yet to be adopted for children. Prevention of SSIs requires addressing the causes at each phase of patient treatment, uniformly for both adults and children. Guidelines for the prevention of SSIs have been developed; however, they are not specifically related to the pediatric patients and are not fully supported by evidence. For instance, management of prophylactic antibiotics is a standard for adults, but there is no clear agreement for children, and use of antibiotic prophylactics varies between medical centers. In summary, a systematic registry of SSIs among children in Israel is required along side of rigorous investigation of the risk factors and prevention program development.

Post-Bariatric Surgery Care in Israeli Adolescents: A Qualitative Study.

Undergoing bariatric surgery is a life-changing experience for adolescents. However, little is known about post-bariatric surgery management among Israeli adolescents. We aimed to identify the post-operative needs and support from a qualitative aspect. Seventeen adolescents who underwent bariatric surgery were interviewed by semi-structure telephone interview. The interview guide was validated by 10 content experts from different hospitals across the country. Data were collected in 2018. Analysis of the interviews revealed three major themes: "multi-disciplinary team management," "patient satisfaction," and "follow-up." The "multi-disciplinary team management" theme was further divided into three major categories: "pain management," "physiotherapy," and "nutrition." "Patient satisfaction" was further divided into "guidance" and "team handling" categories. The "follow-up" theme included recommendations for improvement. The analysis provides novel information about adolescents' needs after bariatric surgery. Healthcare professionals' awareness of the adolescents' perspective could contribute to providing optimal post-operative care to this population.