Workplace Bullying among Healthcare Professionals: A Quanti-Qualitative Survey in a Sample of Women Working in an Italian Healthcare Setting.

The main objective of this study was to analyze, in a sample of female healthcare workers in Italy, the training needs to improve positive relationships in the healthcare organization. To better understand these needs, perceived workplace bullying and its consequences in terms of professional commitment and well-being were analyzed from a descriptive and quantitative perspective (or mixed-methods analysis). A questionnaire was completed online in a healthcare facility in northwestern Italy. The participants were 231 female employees. The quantitative data showed that, on average, the sampled population perceived a low burden of WPB. The majority of the sample expressed moderate engagement at work and moderate perception of psychological well-being. It is interesting to note that one element seemed to be overarching in the responses to the open-ended questions: communication, which emerged as a problematic element that affects the entire organization. The research data provide useful evidence for intervention in favor of an environment that helps to recognize the phenomenon and intervene in time, offering the possibility of accepting the discomfort and fatigue of healthcare workers and offering useful interventions to the individual and the team.

Work-family conflict during the Covid-19 pandemic: teleworking of administrative and technical staff in healthcare. An Italian study.

BACKGROUND: Remote working (more appropriately, mandatory work from home) during the Covid-19 healthcare emergency has increased significantly. Amidst many critical issues, work-family conflict (WFC) remains a central topic, due to the hardships in separating different life domains, the pervasiveness of technology, and decreased opportunities for recovery, all considering new, emerging job demands. Although many studies have involved healthcare workers, less attention has been paid to technical-administrative staff (TA); moreover, previous studies about the impact of remote working on WFC have provided mixed results. OBJECTIVES: The study aims at examining the relationships between WFC and cognitive demands, off-work hours technology assisted job demands (off-TAJD) and recovery, in the TA of a hospital in northwest Italy. METHODS: A sample of 211 individuals (response rate of 58%), in line with the population, filled in an online self-report questionnaire in the second half of April 2020. RESULTS: Multiple regression analysis showed a positive relationship between WFC and perceived ICT stress, off-TAJD and cognitive demands, and a negative relationship with recovery. CONCLUSIONS: The results confirm the role of cognitive demands, technology overload and invasiveness, as potential predictors of WFC. The results also indicate the mitigating role of recovery, even in the face of a prolonged and forced experience of remote work. The study emphasises the need for transparent policies, based on trust, autonomy and right to disconnect, and the centrality of training, especially for supervisors, on topics such as evaluation of results, proper recovery management and correct use of technology.

[From the health plan to teaching and learning plan: pathways for the planning of CME in the Provincia Autonoma of Bolzano (Italy)]. / Dal Piano sanitario al Piano formativo: percorsi basati sulle evidenze della formazione continua nella Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano.

Evidence based medicine (EBM) proposes a step by step pathway, that represents today an useful methodological reference to make clinical decisions. The authors propose that this methodological approach (define the problem; searche the best evidence; evaluation of the results in conjunction with the skills and experience that the health worker has already acquired; evaluation of the whole process), can be used to guide the questions in the use of CME. CME experience in the Provincia Autonoma of Bolzano (Italy) is shortly reported, emphasizing the involvement of the different stakeholders in planning and verification of teaching and learning.