Relationship between learning styles and clinical competency in nursing students.

BACKGROUND: The acquisition of clinical competence is considered the ultimate goal of nursing education programs. This study explored the relationship between learning styles and clinical competency in undergraduate nursing students. METHODS: A descriptive-correlational study was conducted in 2023 with 276 nursing students from the second to sixth semesters at Abhar School of Nursing, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Data were collected using demographic questionnaires, Kolb's learning styles, and Meretoja's clinical competence assessments completed online by participants. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 16, employing descriptive statistics and inferential tests (independent T-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation) at a significance level 0.05. RESULTS: The predominant learning styles among nursing students were divergent (31.2%), and the least common was convergent (18.4%). The overall clinical competency score was 77.25 ± 12.65. Also, there was a significant relationship between learning styles and clinical competency, so the clinical competency of students with accommodative and converging learning styles was higher. (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed the association between learning styles and clinical competence in nursing students. It is recommended that educational programs identify talented students and provide workshops tailored to strengthen various learning styles associated with enhanced clinical competence.

Core components of end-of-life care in nursing education programs: a scoping review.

BACKGROUND: So far, there have been many studies on end-of-life nursing care education around the world, and in many cases, according to the cultural, social, and spiritual contexts of each country, the results have been different. The present study intends to gain general insight into the main components of end-of-life care in nursing education programs by reviewing scientific texts and the results of investigations. METHODS: This study was a scoping review conducted with the Arksey and O'Malley methodology updated by Peters et al. First, a search was made in Wos, ProQuest, Scopus, PubMed, Science Direct, Research Gate, and Google Scholar databases to find studies about end-of-life care education programs. Then, the screening of the found studies was done in four stages, and the final articles were selected based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria of the studies. Due to the nature of the research, editorials, letters, and commentaries were excluded. The screening steps are shown in the PRISMA-ScR diagram. RESULTS: 23 articles related to end-of-life care education programs were reviewed. The studies included eleven descriptive and cross-sectional studies, two qualitative studies, eight interventional studies, one concept analysis article, and one longitudinal study. By summarizing the data from the studies, six themes were obtained as the main components of end-of-life care education: principles of end-of-life care, communication skills, physical considerations, psychosocial and spiritual considerations, ethical considerations, and after-death care. CONCLUSION: End-of-life care is one of the most challenging nursing care in the world. Since many nurses are not prepared to provide such care, the information obtained from this review can help nursing education and treatment managers develop more comprehensive training programs to improve the quality of end-of-life care.

"The effect of spaced learning method on the evaluation score and education quality in nursing students".

INTRODUCTION: Spaced learning is a teaching method aiming to stabilize long-term memory. The present study aims to evaluate the effect of the spaced learning method on the evaluation scores and education quality in the practical course of principles and techniques of nursing. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this quasi-experimental study, 51 nursing students in four semesters were selected by convenience sampling and randomly divided into experimental and control groups. We used the demographic characteristics form, student scores, and students' evaluations of the educational quality questionnaire (SEEQ) for data gathering. In the next step, the classes of the experimental groups were held with the spaced learning method, and the traditional methods were used for the control groups. After the end of each semester, the SEEQ questionnaire was given to the students of both groups, and their evaluation scores were extracted. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS version 26 using descriptive and inferential statistics. RESULTS: After ensuring the independence of the data, the results showed that the difference in the mean evaluation score of the students in the two groups is not statistically significant (p > 0.05). However, the mean score of total SSEQ in the experimental group was significantly higher than the control group. Furthermore, except for the dimension of examination assignments and group interaction, the mean score of other SSEQ dimensions in the experimental group was statistically higher than the control group (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Spaced learning is an easy, low-cost, and fun learning method that affects the teaching method compared to evaluation results and effortlessly has the potential to become an appropriate alternative to traditional teaching methods.

Personality Traits and the Clinical Environment`s Stress Resources in Nursing Students.

Background: The clinical environment always has been the most stressful course of nursing education. Personality traits can be influential factors in stress resources and responding to stress. The present study investigates the correlation between personality traits and nursing students' stress resources in the clinical environment. Material and Methods: This descriptive correlational study was planned and performed on Zanjan University of Medical Sciences nursing students. The research population was 215 students selected by stratified random sampling method from all nursing students in the third to eighth semesters. We used an electronic questionnaire for data gathering, including three sections: demographic characteristics, NEO personality traits, and stress resources in the clinical environment. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The most and least stressful resources were related to the score of unpleasant emotions and interpersonal relationships. We found a significant positive correlation between neuroticism personality traits and all four stress resources (p < 0.05). The results also showed a significant correlation between all scores of personality traits and perceived stress from unpleasant emotions except the openness to experience trait (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the relationship between age, gender, semester, interest, and stress resources in the clinical environment was statistically significant (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Paying attention to the nursing student's clinical performance to maintain the patient's health is vital and unavoidable. Therefore, more than ever in the preclinical course of nursing education, improving the psychological readiness and simulation training method can reduce the harmful effects of the clinical environment's stress resources on their clinical performance.

Health Anxiety among Nurses Caring for Patients with Covid-19.

Background: Medical personnel, especially nurses, are at the forefront of the global COVID-19 epidemic. This study was conducted with the aim to evaluate the level of health anxiety in nurses caring for patients with COVID-19. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional, descriptive study was performed on the 340 nurses working in 3 selected educational and medical centers affiliated with Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Iran. The participants were selected through census method in April and May 2020. The instrument used was the Health Anxiety Inventory. It includes 18 items in 3 subdomains. Descriptive statistics and the nonparametric Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to analyze the data. Results: The mean (SD) total health anxiety score of nurses was 24.68 (4.30), and 91.76% of participants had moderate health anxiety. Moreover, there was a statistically significant relationship between health anxiety level and the demographic variables of gender (Z = -4.54, p < 0.001), marital status (χ 2 3 = 32.54, p < 0.001), parenting (Z = -4.16, p < 0.001), family relationships (Z = -2.30, p = 0.020), work experience (χ 2 4 = 19.32, p < 0.001), and the workplace (χ 2 2 = 41.24, p < 0.001). Conclusions: The results showed that the level of health anxiety of nurses who cared for COVID-19 patients was moderate. Therefore, it is recommended that the necessary measures be taken to manage health anxiety in this group.

Ethical work climate and the intention to leave the service in emergency medical technicians during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Emergency medical technicians (EMTs) are very likely to leave the profession due to their obligation to work in critical situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the ethical work climate and the intention to leave the service among EMTs. In this descriptive correlational study, 315 EMTs working in Zanjan province were surveyed using the census method in 2021. The research tools included the Ethical Work Climate and the Intention to Leave the Service questionnaires. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 21. We found the mean (SD) score of the organization's ethical work climate to be 73.93 (±12.53), and the intention to leave the service 12.54 (±4.52), which are at a moderate level. A statistically significant positive correlation existed between these variables (r = 0.148, P = 0.017). Also, there was a statistically significant relationship between age and employment status among the demographic variables, and the ethical work climate and the intention to leave (P < 0.05). Our findings indicate that ethical work climate is one of the influential but less noticed factors that affect the performance of EMTs. Therefore, it is suggested that managers implement measures to develop a positive ethical work climate to reduce the tendency to leave the service among EMTs.

Observance of patients' rights by physicians and nurses from the COVID-19 patients' perspective.

Observance of patients' rights is a significant indicator in evaluating the quality of healthcare services. The COVID-19 pandemic has become a global crisis and affected the interactions between healthcare providers and patients. This study examined the COVID-19 patients' viewpoint about the observance of their rights by physicians and nurses. This study is a descriptive cross-sectional work of research conducted on the COVID-19 patients in Zanjan Province, Iran, in September 2020. The subjects were selected through convenience sampling, and data was collected using a two-section questionnaire consisting of a demographic characteristics survey and a Likert-type scale for evaluating patients' rights observance. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were found to be acceptable, and the collected data was analyzed in SPSS v.26 using descriptive statistics, independent t-test, and ANOVA test. The mean score of observance of patients' rights was 69.60±7.36, representing a moderate level. The highest and lowest scores for the observance of patients' rights were related to the dimensions of courteous communication and responsibility, respectively. A significant relationship was found between the observance of patients' rights and their marital status, health insurance, and education level (P<0.05). This study showed that the observance of the COVID-19 patients' rights has not been affected by the social agitation caused by this disease.