Burnout Levels in Nurses and Associated Factors during the COVID-19 Pandemic-A Cross-Sectional Study.

Previous studies have shown that sudden changes in the nature of nursing work and their work environment related to the COVID-19 pandemic have affected the professional experience of nurses, and consequently led to an increase in professional burnout in this professional group. Thus, the aim of the study was to measure occupational burnout among nurses working during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland. A cross-sectional study was conducted with pediatric and surgery female nurses (N = 110, mean age 51 ± 6.92) from the Provincial Specialist Hospital in Wloclawek, Poland. The participants completed the Link Burnout Questionnaire (LBQ) and the Socio-Demographic Questionnaire (SDQ). The data were analyzed using Spearman's rank correlation and Mann-Whitney U test. The study showed that high burnout affected 6.4% of nurses. The level of professional burnout for the subscales of psychophysical exhaustion, relationship deterioration, professional inefficacy and disappointment was 28.2%, 26.4%, 11.8% and 13%, respectively (mean score: 19.85 ± 6.51, 18.03 ± 5.15, 13.74 ± 4.07 and 17.61 ± 5.85, respectively). The results show that surgical nurses were statistically more likely to experience professional burnout. In sum, burnout among nurses has become a serious problem, especially considering the COVID-19 pandemic, which is why it is so important to continue research in this area. Hospital management needs to take urgent action to address the systemic and professional issues that contribute to the suboptimal mental health of nurses.

Properties and oxidative stabilities of enzymatically interesterified chicken fat and sunflower oil blend.

Chicken fat and sunflower oil 2:3 m/m blend was enzymatically interesterified at 60°C with and without microwaves assistance. As the catalyst a commercial preparation of the immobilized lipase from Rhizomucor miehei (Lipozyme RM IM) containing 2% of water was used, and the catalyst load was 8% in each case. The starting mixture and the interesterified products were separated by column chromatography into pure triacylglycerols fraction (TAG) and a non-triacylglycerol fraction, which contained free fatty acids (FFA), mono- and diacylglycerols (MAG and DAG). The oxidative stabilities (OS) of fats studied and TAG derived from them were assessed by Rancimat at 100°C and by Pressure Differential Scanning Calorimetry (PDSC) under oxygen at 110-140°C. Interesterification reduced the OS of chicken fat and sunflower oil blend. The main factors influenced on the OS of fats studied were concentrations of tocopherols and presence of FFA, MAG- and DAG. The structures of TAGs were of minor importance. From the resulting PDSC exotherms their times to reach the onset (τon) and peak maximum (τmax) were measured and used for calculations of parameters of the Arrhenius type kinetics for thermaloxidative decomposition of fats studied.