The effects of mentorship and educational videos on nursing students' physical examination skills: a clinical audit.

BACKGROUND: Poor competence in clinical examination skills among nurses has been reported in practice, and there is a strong consensus that physical examination (PE) education must be improved. However, deficiencies cannot be resolved by theoretical training alone, and new training approaches are required to enable nursing students to perform PE accurately. This study aimed to determine and compare the effect of two new educational methods (mentorship and educational video methods) on the physical examination skills of Iranian nursing students. METHODS: This study was a clinical audit with three group pretest posttest design. Eligible nursing students were recruited through the census method and assigned to three groups (mentorship, educational videos, and control group) using permuted block randomization. Students were taught PE skills in three vital systems through three approaches (mentors, educational videos, and routine educational methods). Data were collected using a two-part instrument consisting of a demographic information questionnaire and a 32-item checklist for assessing the students' skills in examining the respiratory system (10 items), cardiovascular system (13 items), and 12 cranial nerves (9 items). Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 16 and descriptive and analytical statistical tests. RESULTS: At baseline, students in all groups scored less than half of the possible scores in all three systems, and the mean scores of the three groups were not statistically different (P > 0.05). After the intervention, the mean scores of students in the mentorship group increased significantly in all three systems (P < 0.001), whereas the mean scores of students in the educational video group and the control group did not change significantly (P > 0.05). Furthermore, after the intervention, the mean scores of the educational video group and the control group did not significantly differ in any of the three systems (P > 0.05). The ANCOVA showed that with posttest score as the covariate, PE skills in all three systems improved one week after the intervention in the mentor group compared to the control group and the educational video group. However, PE skills in all three systems did not improve one week after the intervention in the educational video group compared to the control group. CONCLUSIONS: The mentorship method is more effective than the educational video and routine methods for teaching PE skills to nursing students. Nursing schools can use the mentor method in training nursing students, and it is recommended to revise the PE lesson unit in the nursing curriculum and exchange it from a purely theoretical-based unit to a mixture of theoretical and clinical-based training. Educational videos alone cannot improve nursing students' PE skills; thus, if educational videos are used to teach clinical skills, it is necessary to hold hands-on sessions to provide feedback to students and correct their mistakes.

The Impact of Loving-Kindness Meditation on Compassion Fatigue of Nurses Working in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Randomized Clinical Trial Study.

Compassion fatigue is a common complication in nurses, which can lead to burnout, job dissatisfaction, and a decline in the quality of patient care. This study aimed to investigate the impact of loving-kindness meditation on compassion fatigue of nurses working in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). This cluster-blinded randomized clinical trial study was conducted on 66 NICU nurses in 2 educational hospitals selected. The intervention group received a 1-month online program for daily training and practice of loving-kindness meditation. The control group received miscellaneous files on mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic period. The Nursing Compassion Fatigue Inventory (NCFI) was filled out by the 2 groups, before and after the intervention. The results showed that the mean scores of the NCFI in the intervention group decreased significantly compared with before the intervention (P = .002). In comparison with the control group, there was a significant difference between the mean scores of the 2 groups after the intervention (P = .034). Among nurses working in NICU, loving-kindness meditation significantly reduces compassion fatigue after 1 month. These findings support the use of this intervention for nurses.

Primiparous women's experiences of normal vaginal delivery in Iran: a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Childbirth is considered as the most challenging psychological event in a woman's life. It has a major effect on women's lives with long-term positive or negative impacts. Cultural, religious, and socioeconomic differences can affect women's perception about normal vaginal delivery (NVD) experience. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the primiparous women's perception about it. METHODS: This qualitative study, with a descriptive content analysis approach, was conducted in Kashan, a city in the center of Iran. Purposive sampling was used to recruit the participants of the current study. Data was gathered by semi-structured interviews during 24 h after normal vaginal birth among primiparous women. The sampling started from June to October in 2016. Interviews continued until data saturation which was achieved in the 14th interview but for assurance, it continued until the 17th one. RESULTS: The following three main themes were extracted "immersion in stress", "pain, the essence of NVD" and "strategies for situation management". Furthermore, seven subthemes were obtained including 'loss threat', 'stressful context', temporary impairment in physiologic harmony, paradoxical emotions, self-management, emotional support, and spiritual support. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that stress and pain were two highlighted issues in NVD process. Increasing women's awareness about NVD process, familiarizing the primiparous women with the simulated delivery room, accompanying these women for emotional support, and providing spiritual support can be effective in situation management to make the child delivery a pleasant and satisfying experience.

Development and Psychometric Assessment of Risk Factors of Compassion Fatigue Inventory in Nurses.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Identifying the risk factors of compassion fatigue is the basic step in designing effective interventions to prevent and manage compassion fatigue. This study developed an inventory of compassion fatigue risk factors and investigated its psychometric properties. METHODS: This methodological study consisted of two phases: item pool generation through semistructured interviews with 13 nurses and reviewing of 38 related articles and the psychometric validation. RESULTS: The initial item pool contained 62 items. The psychometric properties was examined and exploratory factor analysis revealed a four-factor structure. Risk Factors of Compassion Fatigue Inventory (RFCFI) contained 20 items. The Cronbach's alpha, intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC), and standard error of measurement (SEM) were .86, 0.83, and 5.73 respectively. CONCLUSION: RFCFI is a short, self-reporting, valid, and reliable inventory for determining the risk factors of compassion fatigue in nurses and can be easily used by managers, nurses, and scholars.

Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the Nurses' Compassion Fatigue Inventory.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Many efforts have been made so far to measure compassion fatigue (CF). There is no specific, precise, and comprehensive tool for CF measurement among nurses. This study aimed at developing and evaluating the psychometric properties of the Nurses' Compassion Fatigue Inventory (NCFI). METHODS: This methodological study was made in 3 consecutive phases: the hybrid concept analysis, the item pool generation, the psychometric validation. RESULTS: The initial item pool contained 98 items. The psychometric properties were examined and exploratory factor analysis revealed a 6-factor structure. NCFI contained 35 items. The Cronbach's alpha, intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC), and standard error of measurement (SEM) were 0.940, 0.935, and 7.6, respectively. CONCLUSION: The NCFI has acceptable reliability and validity. It can be easily used by nursing researchers and managers and even hospital nurses.