Testing an explanatory model of nurses' intention to report adverse drug reactions in hospital settings.

AIM: To test an explanatory model of nurses' intention to report adverse drug reactions in hospital settings, based on the theory of planned behaviour. BACKGROUND: Under-reporting of adverse drug reactions is an important problem among nurses. METHODS: A cross-sectional design was used. Data were collected with the adverse drug reporting nurses' questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to test the factor validity of the adverse drug reporting nurses' questionnaire, and structural equation modelling was used to test the explanatory model. RESULTS: The convenience sample comprised 500 Italian hospital nurses (mean age = 43.52). Confirmatory factor analysis supported the factor validity of the adverse drug reporting nurses' questionnaire. The structural equation modelling showed a good fit with the data. Nurses' intention to report adverse drug reactions was significantly predicted by attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control (R² = 0.16). CONCLUSIONS: The theory of planned behaviour effectively explained the mechanisms behind nurses' intention to report adverse drug reactions, showing how several factors come into play. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: In a scenario of organisational empowerment towards adverse drug reaction reporting, the major predictors of the intention to report are support for the decision to report adverse drug reactions from other health care practitioners, perceptions about the value of adverse drug reaction reporting and nurses' favourable self-assessment of their adverse drug reaction reporting skills.

Small interventions in outpatient surgery: Project of Advanced Nursing Skills.

The research analyzes data on the impact of the introduction of the figure nursing with advanced skills, "Advanced Skills" , in diagnostic and therapeutic surgical clinics within the Hospital of Piacenza. This is the application of the testing on the Project of Nursing "Skills"on advanced minor surgery "Minor Surgery", an outpatient procedure. They were given the satisfaction questionnaires to users and to the medical and nursing staff of the USL in Piacenza. The aim of the study was to verify the contention of the literature about the usefulness of an increased use of nursing skills within an ambulatory surgery to improve the quality of care and consequently to a higher user satisfaction. In light of the findings of the research, the ' impact of the implementation of the Project Advanced Nursing Skills has been positive, both among users is that health care providers. For a functional and effective management of the surgery may be useful to train a new nursing characterized by the possession of "Advanced Skills" whose "mission" is to develop more knowledge, share knowledge, as well as to foster innovation organizational and management to meet the demands of public health.

Patient safety culture: an Italian experience.

AIMS: To understand what level of awareness health professionals working in a hospital of Northern Italy had of the patient safety culture by using the Italian version of the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture questionnaire and also validate its use in this setting. BACKGROUND: The Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture questionnaire was developed by the Agency for Health Research and Quality in 2008 and validated by several studies. Therefore, we decided to test the Italian version of this tool to see if it could be used effectively to measure and appraise patient safety culture also in Italy. DESIGN: Survey. METHODS: To check the validity of the questionnaire, we applied the continued comparison and the global data treatment methods. RESULTS: Of the 1008 questionnaires we administered, 724 (71%) were returned. The majority of the questions were answered (mean 98, SD 3·4%). From a Chi-square test on the consistency of the answers, we found that six of the 12 perspectives we explored had a high level of significance, whereas in the other six, the differences in the answers were just casual. CONCLUSIONS: The Italian version of the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture questionnaire allowed us to assess health professionals' awareness of patient safety culture and thus validate the effectiveness of this tool. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The findings of our survey could be useful to design an objective tool that would allow the five health professional groups involved in the study (directors/coordinators, physicians, nurses/midwives, physiotherapists and technicians) gain a better knowledge of the patient safety culture and thus improve the quality of clinical practice.

Ultrasound-guided central venous catheterization in cancer patients improves the success rate of cannulation and reduces mechanical complications: a prospective observational study of 1,978 consecutive catheterizations.

BACKGROUND: A central venous catheter (CVC) currently represents the most frequently adopted intravenous line for patients undergoing infusional chemotherapy and/or high-dose chemotherapy with hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation and parenteral nutrition. CVC insertion represents a risk for pneumothorax, nerve or arterial punctures. The aim of this prospective observational study was to explore the safety and efficacy of CVC insertion under ultrasound (US) guidance and to confirm its utility in clinical practice in cancer patients. METHODS: Consecutive adult patients attending the oncology-hematology department were eligible if they had solid or hematologic malignancies and required CVC insertion. Four types of possible complication were defined a priore: mechanical, thrombotic, infection and malfunctioning. The patient was placed in Trendelenburg's position, a 7.5 MHZ puncturing US probe was placed in the supraclavicular site and a 16-gauge needle was advanced under real-time US guidance into the last portion of internal jugular vein. The Seldinger technique was used to place the catheter, which was advanced into the superior vena cava until insertion into right atrium. Within two hours after each procedure, an upright chest X-ray and ultrasound scanning were carried out to confirm the CVC position and to rule out a pneumotorax. CVC-related infections, symptomatic vein thrombosis and malfunctioning were recorded. RESULTS: From December 2000 to January 2009, 1,978 CVC insertional procedures were applied to 1,660 consecutive patients. The procedure was performed 580 times in patients with hematologic malignancies and 1,398 times those with solid tumors. A single-needle puncture of the vein was performed on 1,948 of 1,978 procedures (98.48%); only eighteen attempts among 1,978 failed (0.9%). No pneumotorax, no major bleeding, and no nerve puncture were reported; four cases (0.2%) showed self-limiting hematomas. The mean lifespan of CVC was 189.7 +/- 18.6 days (range 7-701). Symptomatic deep-vein thrombosis of the upper limbs developed in 48 patients (2.42%). Catheter-related infections occurred in 197 (9.96%) of the catheters inserted. They were successfully treated with antibiotics and only in 48 (2.9%) patients definitive CVC removal was required for infection and/or thrombosis or malfunctioning. CONCLUSIONS: This study represents the largest published series of consecutive patients with cancer undergoing CVC insertion under US guidance; this procedure allowed the completion of the therapeutic program for 1,930/1,978 (97.6%) of the catheters inserted. The absence of pneumotorax and other major complications indicates that US guidance should be mandatory for CVC insertion in patients with cancer.