Health coaching for undergraduate nursing students: a pilot study for an action research.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The Nursing undergraduate degree educational program represents an intensive and complex course, and includes a number of professionalizing practical internships, and for these reasons it requires an action to support and improve. Coaching is based on the premise that people have personal strengths and abilities which, through a interview, can be directed to solving their problems. Several studies demonstrate the efficacy of Health Coaching in different University, but never have been measured benefits regard skills improving. The objective of the study is to assess the impact of a health coaching program on the nursing students. METHOD: A pre-post quasi-experimental study was conducted, involving the activation of a Health Coaching Program for 25 nursing students selected through convenience sampling, based on their fulfillment of the inclusion criteria. The Health Coaching Program was administered by the Health Coaching Academy. RESULT: This study also evaluated parameters such as: level of concentration in study, motivation, problem solving and reorganization skills, study organization skills, psycho-physical-emotional state comprehension, decision-making skills and self-esteem, noting a statistically significant increase post-HC program. A statistically significant improvement was also found in the students' perception of their own stress management skills after the course. CONCLUSION: This study strengthens the hypothesis that HC programs contribute to improving performance of nursing students. Those conclusions need to be corroborated by future studies on the topic to further support the hypothesis that programs of HC within the learning nursing contexts can lead to a tangible benefit for students of the health professions.

A third mission at the Nursing Study course University of Parma. Intervention report.

BACKGROUND: The term Third Mission refers to the activities with which universities interact directly with the communities and the territory of reference, combining the objectives of the third mission with the two traditional missions: teaching and research.  These were the premises that guided the Nursing Studies Course of the University of Parma, with the goal of implementing a structured path of "Intercultural Nursing" on a demo-ethno-anthropological basis. METHODS: The path taken was divided into several phases: arrangement of moments of interaction with students; teaching activity aimed at students based on the relationship between ethno-anthropological knowledge, aspects of migration medicine and social legislation; direct meetings with representatives of some communities present in the Parma area. RESULTS: The interaction with students was achieved through meetings called "Cultural Coffee". The first meetings, in the measure of 4-5, took place in the period October-December 2013, subsequently, the same number of meetings was repeated in the following years. In 2019, two important results were achieved: the creation of an ADE (teaching chosen by the student) dedicated to multiculturality. Another activity of the "Intercultural Nursing" course involve the students with some communities in the Parma area. CONCLUSION: The results of this experience and the underlying idea that these aspects, if addressed in the basic training, can be for the professionals most expendable in the workplace, provide reasons to continue the path started. The international comparison on the intercultural skills of nurses, indicates collaboration and partnership with communities, as fundamental elements for a complete and effective assistance.

Membrane frizzled-related protein gene-related ophthalmological syndrome: 30-month follow-up of a sporadic case and review of genotype-phenotype correlation in the literature.

PURPOSE: To report a new sporadic case of membrane frizzled-related protein gene (MFRP)-related syndrome with a 30-month follow-up, and to review the literature for genotype-phenotype correlation in MFRP mutations. METHODS: A complete ophthalmological evaluation was performed at presentation and 30 months later, including best-corrected visual acuity test, slit lamp examination, fundoscopy, kinetic perimetry, electroretinography, fundus imaging (color, red-free, and autofluorescence), and morphologic-biometric analysis of the eye structures with an optical biometer, anterior-segment optical coherence tomography, retinal optical coherence tomography, and a confocal scanning laser for optic nerve head study. Polymerase chain reaction amplification of DNA obtained from peripheral blood lymphocytes and nucleotide sequencing of the complete MFRP gene were performed. The literature on cases of posterior microphthalmos and retinitis pigmentosa associated with MFRP mutations was reviewed. RESULTS: A 33-year-old female patient presented with posterior microphthalmos, retinitis pigmentosa with patches of retinal pigmented epithelium atrophy and scarce pigment mobilization, foveoschisis, and optic nerve drusen. After 30 months, progression of rod-cone retinal degeneration was detected. One obligate carrier showed a normal eye phenotype. A homozygote mutation in the MFRP gene (c.492delC), predicting a truncated protein (P166fsX190), was identified with genetic analysis. To our knowledge, 17 cases of MFRP-related syndrome have been reported in the literature, including the patient described herein. The phenotype of the syndrome, expressivity, and age of onset varied among and within the affected families. However, all patients sharing homozygous mutation c.492delC (alternatively named c.498delC) showed a complete phenotype (including foveoschisis and optic nerve head drusen), and similar fundus characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: A new sporadic case of MFRP-related syndrome is reported. Review of the literature showed variability in the phenotype, but initial elements of genotype-phenotype correlation have been identified in patients sharing the mutation of the present case.

Retinal thickness analysis with time and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography. Cross-platform interchangeability of manual measurements.

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE WORK: retinal thickness values obtained by automated analysis with new spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) devices exceed those measured by old time-domain OCTs. Aim of the present work is to assess reproducibility and comparability of manual measurements performed on both time-domain and spectral-domain OCT scans. METHODS: 6 eyes were scanned using Stratus OCT3 and Cirrus hd-OCT. Raw exported images were analyzed by ordinary computer software; multiple manual measurements of retinal thickness were taken at different eccentricities. Stratus Retinal Thickness (SRT) was measured from Internal Limiting Membrane (ILM) to the photoreceptors Internal-Outer Segment interface (IS/OS), while two series of measurements were performed in Cirrus images: CRT = Cirrus-RT (from ILM to the Retinal Pigment Epitelium, RPE) and cCRT = corrected-CRT (from ILM to IS/OS). Measurements were repeated twice in two eyes and reproducibility was assessed by Intra-Class correlation (ICC) and Coefficient of Variation (CV). Bland-Altman plots, paired t-test and ICC were used for comparative analysis between Stratus and Cirrus measurements. RESULTS: Mean SRT, CRT and cCRT values +/- SD were respectively 244.75 +/- 34.78 microm, 275.78 +/- 34.36 microm and 244.95 +/- 33.78 microm. Paired t-test resulted in p<0.0001 comparing SRT and CRT series, versus p=0.6544 between SRT and cCRT series. ICC was 0.65 between SRT and CRT and 0,94 between SRT-cCRT. Reproducibility of the measurements was excellent (CV=2,13% for Stratus and 1,62% for Cirrus; ICC=0,994 for both devices). DISCUSSION: while a systematic error affects comparison of Stratus and Cirrus macular thickness maps, manual linear measurements result interchangeable, hence allowing comparison of images acquired with either OCT systems. (www.actabiomedica.it).