Nurses' competence levels in disaster nursing management in Turkey: A comparative cross-sectional study.

AIM: This study aimed to determine nurses' views of their competence in disaster nursing management. BACKGROUND: It is an important responsibility of nurses to have the necessary knowledge and skills for the management of disasters and to be prepared for disasters. For this responsibility to be effectively demonstrated, it is important to determine the disaster management competencies of the nurses. METHODS: A descriptive, cross-sectional, and comparative research design was used in this study. The study population consisted of all nurses in Turkey (N = 227 292). According to the power analysis, the goal was to recruit 599 nurses working between March and April 2021 using a simple random sampling method. However, 530 nurses answered the questionnaire. The response rate is 88.5%. Data were collected online using a sociodemographic characteristics questionnaire and the Competencies for Disaster Nursing Management Questionnaire. The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences at a significance level of 0.05. RESULTS: There was a positive correlation between nurses' duties and responsibilities in disaster management, barriers to developing basic competencies, and nurses' basic competencies in disaster management (p < 0.001). Nurses have inadequate competencies in disaster management for various reasons. The study was reported with the STROBE checklist. CONCLUSION: Although nurses think they have core competencies, they are not prepared for disasters for various reasons. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING AND NURSING POLICY: Hospitals should provide nurses with more duties and responsibilities regarding disaster management. Administrators should involve nurses in plans, decisions, and practices regarding disaster management. Decision-makers should develop policies and training programs to remove the barriers preventing nurses from acquiring competencies.

A bibliometric analysis of COVID-19 publications in nursing by visual mapping method.

AIM: This study conducted a bibliometric analysis of nursing publications on the COVID-19 between 1 January 2020, and 24 October 2021. BACKGROUND: COVID-19 has been a hot research topic that has attracted many researchers from various disciplines. One of the ways to combat the COVID-19 pandemic is to produce knowledge and present it with a holistic approach. Therefore, it is crucial to make bibliometric and content analyses of scientific publications. Scientific data should be evaluated to keep up with the developments in the nursing profession and practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Data were collected from the Web of Science database. The sample consisted of 1280 publications that met the inclusion criteria. The data were analysed using descriptive content and bibliometric analysis. The VOSviewer, a mapping and visualization software program, was used for bibliometric analysis. RESULTS: The United States is one of the countries with the highest number of publications, citations and international cooperation during the pandemic. Of all these publications, 1183 (92.42%) are original articles. The Journal of Nursing Management has the highest number of publications and citations. The publications focus primarily on the topics of COVID-19, pandemic, nursing, coronavirus and nurses. The current topics that the publications address are online education, online learning, practice, nursing student, perceived stress, stress, fear, quality of life and experience to determine the impacts of the pandemic on mental health nursing education. CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic has an impact on nursing, and the number of publications is increasing worldwide. In the early days of the pandemic, researchers focused on the topics of coronavirus infections, infection control, global health, health policy and nursing policy. Afterward, they addressed current topics, such as education and the psychological effects of the pandemic. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Our results will help nurse managers identify issues related to COVID-19 that have not been researched yet and have not been adequately explained in their own institutions. They will also help them choose appropriate journals to get their studies published, appropriate countries to cooperate with and access information about the studies on the subject matter. Our results will also help them make evidence-based decisions about mental health and nursing education.

The relationship between nurses' personality traits and their perceptions of management by values, organizational justice, and turnover intention.

PURPOSE: To determine the relationship between nurses' personality traits and their perceptions of management by values, organizational justice, and turnover intention. DESIGN AND METHODS: It was a descriptive study. A demographic questionnaire, the big five personality scale, the organizational justice scale, the management by values scale, and the turnover intention scale were used to collect data. FINDINGS: Data analysis did not demonstrate any relationship between nurses' personality traits and their perceptions of management by values, organizational justice, and turnover intention. However, results of regression analysis concluded that perceptions of management by values affected the nurses' perceptions of organizational justice positively. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Nurses' perceptions of organizational justice can be raised and turnover intention may be reduced by improving their perceptions of management by values.

Effect of Professionalism Level on Tendency to Make Medical Errors in Nurses.

AIM: The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between the occupational professionalism level of hospital nurses and their tendency to make medical errors. This was a descriptive, correlational, and cross-sectional study. METHOD: The study was conducted between June 2013 and January 2015 in four hospitals providing general diagnosis, treatment, and care services. Four hundred fifty-nine nurses were included in the study. A questionnaire including a Personal Information Form, Professional Manner in Occupation Inventory, and Tendency to Medical Error in Nursing Scale was used to collect data. The study was approved by the hospitals' ethics committees and institutions. Data were analyzed using Cronbach's alpha analysis, frequency and percentage distributions, descriptive statistics, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient, Dunnett T3 Post Hoc test, simple linear regression analysis, and t-test. RESULTS: Nurses' occupational professionalism levels were high (M=137.06±15.23), and tendency to medical error levels were low (M=223.24±25.28). The majority of the nurses considered themselves quite professional and had not made any medical errors previously. There was a strong and highly significant negative relationship (p<0.001) between their occupational professionalism and their tendency to medical error. There was a difference between the occupational professionalism levels of nurses who made and did not make an occupational error (p<0.05), as well as significant differences between their tendency to medical error according to their perception of themselves as professionals (p<0.05). The occupational professionalism manner of the nurses was determined to be 30% effective in their tendency to medical error. CONCLUSION: The occupational professionalism manner of the nurses was found to negatively affect their tendency to medical error.

Career Obstacles Faced by Female Nurse Academicians in Turkey.

BACKGROUND: Most academicians in the nursing field are women, and they face many difficulties throughout the course of their careers for various reasons. PURPOSE: This study aims to determine the career difficulties faced by female academicians in the nursing field. METHODS: This study is descriptive, sectional, and comparative. The study was conducted in cooperation with female academicians in the nursing field (n = 132) from 11 different nursing schools in Turkey's Eastern Anatolia Region providing undergraduate education in nursing. Data were collected using the Female Academicians' Career Obstacles Scale. Ethics committee and required official permissions were obtained from the relevant institutions. Data analysis was conducted in an electronic environment using SPSS for Windows 22.0 package software for statistics. RESULTS: In terms of research outcomes, it was determined that the most significant obstacles reported by female academicians were "organizational culture and politics" (M = 43.92 ± 12.64) and "playing multiple roles" (M = 31.35 ± 10.15); the most insignificant obstacles were reported to be "organizational conditions" (M = 21.43 ± 7.06) and "stereotypical prejudices" (M = 20.44 ± 6.31). Other obstacles mentioned by the academicians were working as a research assistant with a bachelor's degree, being married with children, studying with young and inexperienced academicians, and serving as department head. CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Organizational culture and politics in particular should be reviewed at educational institutions from the perspective of career obstacles, and these principles should be rearranged so that they constitute a supportive work environment.

Do personality traits of nurses have an effect on conflict management strategies?

AIM: This research was conducted in a descriptive, correlational and cross-sectional design to determine whether personality traits of nurses have an effect on conflict management strategies. BACKGROUND: It is known that integration, avoidance and compromise conflict management strategies are the most frequent strategies used among nurses and obligation and domination are the least frequent. However, the reasons behind their strategy choice are not known. It is predicted that one of the reasons is the personality characteristics of the nurses. METHOD: The study was conducted with the participation of 237 nurses working in three different hospitals. Research data were collected by using the 'Personal Information Form', 'Rahim Organisational Conflict Inventory-II' and 'Five Factor Personality Inventory' between December 2013 and February 2014. Ethical approval and the organisations' approvals were obtained before data collection. The collected data were analysed using frequency and percentage distributions, descriptive statistics, Pearson product-moment correlation analysis, t-test, Cronbach's alpha coefficient and simple linear regression analysis tests. RESULTS: The majority of nurses had conflict especially with patients' relatives several times a month. It was found that the personality traits of nurses were mostly 'conscientiousness' and 'openness' and when they had a conflict, they tended to use 'integration' strategy. It was also found that the personality traits of nurses had an effect on some of the conflict management strategies adopted by them. CONCLUSIONS: It was found that the personality traits of nurses had an effect on some conflict management strategies adopted by them. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Nurse managers should support nurses who adopt appropriate conflict management strategies and there should be conflict management programmes that can teach appropriate skills to other nurses.

Organizational Silence Among Nurses: The Impact on Organizational Cynicism and Intention to Leave Work.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, organizational silence and organizational cynicism, factors that have been shown to inhibit the improvement of organizations, have been highlighted in the health sector. Nearly every aspect of these two issues has been studied. PURPOSE: This research was conducted to identify the relationship between the organizational silence, organizational cynicism, and intention to leave work of nurses. METHODS: This descriptive and correlational study was carried out in August and September 2013 with 323 nurses at a university hospital in Ankara. A questionnaire that includes a personal information form, the Organizational Silence Scale, the Organizational Cynicism Scale, and a question about intention to leave work was used. Ethics committee approval and institutional permissions were obtained. A statistician analyzed the data. RESULTS: The present research found administrative and organizational reasons to be the most important reason why participants remain silent (M = 35.4 ± 13.1), with the tendency not to speak up about ethics and responsibility issues the second most important reason (M = 17.3 ± 6.5). The organizational cynicism of participants is at an intermediate level (M = 36.4 ± 9.6) and may be characterized as cognitive (M = 14.6 ± 4.3). Approximately half of the participants had never considered leaving work. For the participants in this study, organizational silence particularly influences organizational cynicism. The reasons for organizational silence in conjunction with organizational cynicism increase intent to leave work (R = .395, R = .156, p < .001). CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: This study found that the reasons for organizational silence and organizational cynicism influence the intention of nurses to leave work. The reasons that lead nurses to become silent, to experience cynicism, and to leave work in healthcare environments should be identified. Programs and activities to replace negative ideas with positive ideas should be implemented.

Isolation and culture of adult mouse vestibular nucleus neurons

Background/aim: Isolated cell cultures are widely used to study neuronal properties due to their advantages. Although embryonic animals are preferred for culturing, their morphological or electrophysiological properties may not reflect adult neurons, which may be important in neurodegenerative diseases. This paper aims to develop a method for preparing isolated cell cultures of medial vestibular nucleus (MVN) from adult mice and describe its morphological and electrophysiological properties.Materials and methods: Vestibular nucleus neurons were mechanically and enzymatically isolated and cultured using a defined medium with known growth factors. Cell survival was measured with propidium iodide, and electrophysiological properties were investigated with current-clamp recording.Results: Vestibular neurons grew neurites in cultures, gaining adult-like morphological properties, and stayed viable for 3 days in culture. Adding bovine calf serum, nerve growth factor, or insulin-like growth factor into the culture medium enhanced neuronal viability. Current-clamp recording of the cultured neurons revealed tonic and phasic-type neurons with similar input resistance, resting membrane potential, action potential amplitude, and duration. Conclusion: Vestibular neurons from adult mice can be cultured, and regenerate axons in a medium containing appropriate growth factors. Culturing adult vestibular neurons provides a new method to study age-related pathologies of the vestibular system.

An analysis of alumni performance: A study of the quality of nursing education.

BACKGROUND: The professional performance level of their alumni is one of the quality indicators of educational institutions. Nursing education institutions can use their alumni's performance analysis results to enhance their curricula, eliminate deficiencies, improve the quality of education and graduate more highly qualified nurses. OBJECTIVE AND DESIGN: This is a descriptive, cross-sectional and comparative study, which aimed to determine the professional performances of nurses who graduated from the same nursing faculty. METHODS: The study sample included alumni of Turkey's first nursing faculty, part of the nation's first public university in Istanbul, and their administrative supervisors. The study data were collected using the self-assessment forms of 314 alumni who worked as bedside nurses in 36 Istanbul hospitals, and 314 evaluations by the 195 nurse managers who supervised them. The study's response rate was 82.6%. To collect the study data, the researchers created a performance evaluation form based on the relevant literature. The same form was administered both to the nurse managers and the alumni. The researchers obtained ethical board approval and official permissions from the relevant hospitals to conduct the study. The study data were analyzed by a statistics expert. RESULTS: According to the study results, the alumni's perceptions of themselves as well as the nurse managers' perceptions of the alumni were different from those of the other nurses with undergraduate degrees in terms of professional knowledge, expectations and ideals. The performance evaluation results showed that the alumni evaluated themselves more positively than their managers did. It was determined that there were highly significant differences (p=0.000) between the values provided by the five sub-dimensions of the scale and the total scale. In addition, the performance level was low in the sub-dimension focusing on research, and there was a significant difference in this sub-dimension (p=0.040). CONCLUSIONS: The study found that the alumni mainly had better evaluations of their own performances than their nurse managers, and that the research skills of the alumni should be enhanced.

The nurses' form of organizational communication: What is the role of gossip?

UNLABELLED: Abstract Background: Gossip is important for managers to control it and to use it to create positive effects that help organizations to attain their goals. OBJECTIVES/AIM: The study utilized a descriptive model to determine how nurses use gossip as an informal communication channel in organizational communication. METHOD: Nurses working in four hospitals within a city in the eastern part of Turkey form the population of the study whereas nurses who agreed to participate in the study form the sample. Among these hospitals, two of them serve under the Ministry of Health while two serve under a university; diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation services in any field are provided in each of these hospitals. The researchers developed a questionnaire for data collection after examining the literature. The approval of the ethical committees and written official permissions were obtained for the study. Data were acquired from 264 out of 420 nurses in total. Data were collected between June and September 2011. The response rate to the data collection tool was 62.8%. Subsequently, data were analyzed by frequency and percentage distribution tests with SPSS for Windows 17.0. RESULTS: This study determined that nurses uses gossip most frequently about working conditions to share information face-to-face when they feel angry. CONCLUSION: The study concluded that nurses use gossip as an informal communication style in their institutions.

THE NURSES' FORM OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION: WHAT IS THE ROLE OF GOSSIP?

Abstract Background: Gossip is important for managers to control it and to use it to create positive effects that help organizations to attain their goals. Objectives/Aim: The study utilised a descriptive model to determine how nurses use gossip as an informal communication channel in organizational communication. Method: Nurses working in 4 hospitals within a city in the eastern part of Turkey form the population of the study whereas nurses who agreed to participate in the study form the sample. Among these hospitals, two of them serve under the Ministry of Health while two serve under a university; diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation services in any field are provided in each of these hospitals. The researchers developed a questionnaire for data collection after examining the literature. The approval of the ethical committees and written official permissions were obtained for the study. Data were acquired from 264 out of 420 nurses in total. Data were collected between June and September 2011. The response rate to the data collection tool was 62.8%. Subsequently, data were analyzed by frequency and percentage distribution tests with SPSS for Windows 17.0. Results: This study determined that nurses uses gossip most frequently about working conditions to share information face-to-face when they feel angry. Conclusion: The study concluded that nurses use gossip as an informal communication style in their institutions.

Factors affecting the job satisfaction levels and quit intentions of academic nurses.

The descriptively designed study was conducted in order to determine academic nurses' job satisfaction levels, intention of leaving job and effective reasons. The study was implemented in 10 nursing schools offering postgraduate and doctoral education in Turkey, and data was collected from academics working in these schools who agreed to participate in the study. After obtaining the required approval from the ethics committees and institutional permissions, data was collected from 248 academic nurses using a personal information form and a "Job Satisfaction Scale" between June 2009 and January 2010. The data was analyzed by frequency and percentage distribution, using Cronbach's Alpha coefficient, ANOVA, Qui-Square and Tukey's HSD test for advanced analysis methods with SPSS 11.5 statistics packet software. This study concludes that academic nurses are moderately satisfied with their jobs. In addition, job satisfaction was found to be lower among research assistants, assistant professors, nurses with less than 10 years of academic experience, nurses who have completed their doctorate dissertations, or who are working on appointment or contract basis.

Nurses' perceptions of and factors promoting patient safety culture in Turkey.

This descriptive and cross-sectional study included 561 nurses in hospitals located in Istanbul, Turkey. The Patient Safety Questionnaire was used for data collection. The type of hospital and the amount of education nurses obtained about patient safety and quality improvement were positively associated with patient safety culture. Conversely, the type of work unit negatively affected workers' behaviors and adverse event reporting in terms of patient safety culture.

Mentorship relations among academician nurses in Turkey: an assessment from the viewpoints of mentors and mentees.

The research was conducted with a descriptive and comparative design to determine how academic nurses (instructors-research assistants) perceive the mentorship relations among themselves. The research was carried out in 10 schools of nursing that offer graduate level education in Turkey, and the data were collected from those academics who are employed in these institutions and who agreed to participate in the research. The data are composed of personal information forms and mentorship scales filled out by 238 academic nurses. The collected data were assessed using SPSS 11.5 software to run percentage and frequency distribution, Cronbach's Alpha analysis, ANOVA, t-test, Kruskal Wallis, Mann Whitney U and--for advanced analysis--Tukey HSD tests. This research determined that mentors and mentees consider the relationship between themselves as mostly a teacher-student relationship, they experience lack of interaction due to shortness of time, mentors tend to evaluate themselves more positively and mentees at the master's level evaluate mentors more positively. In addition, while mentees evaluated assistant professor mentors more positively, assistant professor mentors constituted the group that evaluated itself in the most negative manner. Moreover, mentors with higher academic experiences evaluated themselves more positively.

Exemplar: factors influencing Turkish hospital nurses' attitudes towards their profession: a descriptive survey.

This research was conducted as a descriptive study for the purpose of determining nurses' attitudes towards their profession and the factors influencing their attitudes. A purposeful sampling technique was used to make selection from 15 hospitals in total. A quota sampling method was used to determine the number of nurses, and initially, it was planned to include 1000 nurses from private and public hospitals in the study; however, valid data was obtained from 834 nurses. A 17-item questionnaire was used to determine the respondents' opinions about the profession. In addition, a 55-item scale was used to collect data regarding the nurses' attitudes towards their profession, as well. Frequency distribution, percentage calculation, One way ANOVA, t-test, Kruskal-Wallis and Tukey HSD were used in the analysis of the data. As a result of the study, nurses had 164 point on average in the 55-item scale, and accordingly, certain personal and professional factors like education level, position at work, professional experience and the employer institute were found to affect nurses' attitudes towards their profession.

Relationship between nurses' organizational trust levels and their organizational citizenship behaviors.

PURPOSE: This research used a descriptive and explorative design to determine the levels of nurses' organizational trust and organizational citizenship and to investigate relationships between the levels of organizational trust and organizational citizenship behaviors. DESIGN AND METHODS: Nurses who had completed their orientation from a total of 11 hospitals with bed capacities of 100 and located in the European district of Istanbul were included in the sample for this study. Formal, written applications and approval of the ethical committee were obtained from concerned institutions before proceeding with the data collection step. The Organizational Trust Inventory and the Organizational Citizenship Level Scale, a questionnaire form including five questions regarding nurses' personal characteristics, were used in data collection. Data collection tools were distributed to 900 nurses in total, and usable data were obtained from 482 nurses. Number and percentage calculations and Pearson correlation analysis were used to assess research data. FINDINGS: The results of the present research showed that nurses had a higher than average level of trust in their managers and coworkers and they trusted more in their managers and coworkers than their institutions. The Organizational Citizenship Level Scale indicated that the behavior most frequently demonstrated by the nurses was conscientiousness, followed by courtesy and civic virtue, whereas sportsmanship was displayed to an average extent. An analysis of relationships between nurses' level of organizational trust and their organizational citizenship behaviors revealed that nurses who trust in their managers, institutions, and coworkers demonstrated the organizational citizenship behaviors of conscientiousness, civic virtue, courtesy, and altruism more frequently. CONCLUSIONS: The findings attained in this study indicated that the organizational trust the staff had in their institutions, managers, and coworkers influenced the organizational citizenship behaviors of conscientiousness, civic virtue, altruism, and courtesy, whereas it had no effect on sportsmanship behavior. Nurse managers should introduce studies to improve their subordinates' organizational trust to ensure that they develop organizational citizenship behaviors, and they should support them in this process. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: These topics for nursing services will provide guidance to managers, particularly to managers of nursing services, in establishing processes to predict nurses' organizational commitment, job satisfaction, performance, intention to leave, and other relevant issues.