A rapid review of time management strategies among nurse managers.

Background: Time management practice is the act of influencing one's behavioural dimensions to complete as many tasks as possible within a specified amount of time. These behavioural dimensions include work organization and the continued application of time management techniques. Good time management, such as setting goals and priorities, as well as planning and delegating tasks, can facilitate productivity and success, contributing to work effectiveness, maintaining balance and job satisfaction. Conversely, poor time management has been associated with poor quality of work, low productivity, negative influence on the career path, and high levels of stress. Aim: The study aims to identify the strategies used by middle nurse managers in time management. Methods: A rapid review of biomedical databases was undertaken during the month of June 2021. The included studies were published in English and in Italian. Results: Findings reveal that the most used and effective time management strategies for nurse managers are setting goals, and priorities and delegating tasks. Other useful strategies also found to be fundamental are discussed in detail. Conclusion: A manager should prioritize the concept of planning, which can be counted as an efficient time management technique and educate himself on delegating. Time management has an impact not only on productivity and organizational success, but also on the balance between private and working life of managers.

Assessing validity and reliability of a new tool: the ECSQ (Endoscopy Customer Satisfaction Question-naire) in Italian for customer satisfaction in digestive endoscopy.

BACKGROUND: The European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and the American Society for Gastroin-testinal Endoscopy recommend the identification of quality indicators for endoscopy services, including patient satisfaction. Patients happy with the treatment received will be more willing to participate in screening programs and more adherent to the indications received from the doctor. The aim of this study is to validate the Endoscopy Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire in Italian, in order to have a valid and reliable tool that can allow each patient to fully describe their experience in digestive endoscopy services. METHODS: The validation of the questionnaire was carried out through a a monocentric cross-sectional study, in the endoscopy service of the Campus Bio-Medico University Hospital in Rome between August and September 2020. RESULTS: A total of 155 patients underwent an endoscopy. The mean age of the sample was 56.21 years (SD ± 14.136) with 46.5% male and 53.5% female. The analysis of the validity and reliability of the question-naire was ensured through the finding of an average value of 0.944 for Cronbach's α. CONCLUSION: From the analysis of the results, we can therefore believe that the Italian version of the En-doscopy Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire is to be considered valid and reliable for measuring patient satisfaction, allowing them to express their point of view.

Impact of nursing students on the quality of care perceived by patients: a systematic review of the literature.

OBJECTIVE: The quality assessment process, based on customer satisfaction, is fundamental in the delivery of the best care services. This is most evident in care settings where trainee students are allowed to assist the patients. The purpose of this review is to clarify whether nursing students have an impact on patients' assessment of the quality of their nursing care. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A systematic literature search was carried out using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines in six databases: PubMed, CINAHL, Cochrane, Web of Science, Scopus, and PsycInfo. Two co-authors independently screened titles, abstracts, and full-text articles, following explicit exclusion and inclusion criteria. Analyses included non-randomized and non-homogeneous samples, involving both selected patients and methods for assessing their satisfaction. RESULTS: After full-text screening, 30 articles were identified, but only 11 were considered pertinent to the topic of the review. The trainee-patient relationship is based on mutual help and can improve the patient experience and trainee learning. The instruments used to measure perceived quality were found to be valid and reliable. CONCLUSIONS: The studies under review show high levels of satisfaction among patients when nursing care is delivered through training, particularly when the patients who agree to be treated by nursing trainees have previous experience of hospitalization and relationships with trainees. Educational background and the empathy and communication skills of both professional nurses and trainees influence patients' perception of the quality of care and their satisfaction with it.

Can nurses' shift work jeopardize the patient safety? A systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: Medication administration accounts for 40% of the nursing clinical activity in hospitals and nurses play a central role in granting the patient safety, as they are directly responsible for the patient care. This review aims at analyzing the correlation between the clinical risk management and the occurrence of medication errors and the effects of the shift work (such as excessive fatigue and sleep deprivation after a shift in hospital) on inpatient nurses. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This paper adheres to the relevant EQUATOR guidelines. A systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA statement and pertinent articles were selected based on inclusion criteria and quality assessment factors. Two reviewers searched the bibliographic databases PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane, CINAHL to collect all the available articles in English and Italian issued between 1992 and August 2017. RESULTS: The reviewers analyzed 19 of the 723 initially extracted references, as they focused on the impact of workload, shifts and sleep deprivation on the probability of making medication errors. CONCLUSIONS: The main reasons behind medication errors are stress, fatigue, increased workload, night shifts, nurse staffing ratio and workflow interruptions. These factors can have a significant negative impact on the health and the performance of the employees. It is desirable to extend and deepen the research to identify appropriate measures to minimize medication errors.

Validation of a questionnaire for ICU nurses to assess knowledge, attitudes and behaviours towards medication errors.

AIM: Medication errors are dangerous for the patients in an intensive care unit (ICU). Little is known about knowledge, attitudes and professional behaviour of nurses towards prevention of errors and clinical risk management can reduce errors during the preparation and administration phases of intravenous drugs. In this study we have evaluated the reliability and validity of the questionnaire to examine knowledge, attitudes and professional behaviour of ICU nurses. METHODS: Reliability analysis was tested and content validity evaluated using Cronbach's alpha to check internal consistency with the intention to obtain no misunderstanding with the results. The questionnaire composed of seven sections for a total of 36 items, was administrated among ICU nurses working in a university hospital in Rome, Italy. Data were collected in October 2015. Statistical analysis was performed with the statistical software for Windows SPSS, version 22.0. RESULTS: The questionnaire was administered to 30 ICU nurses' in anonymous, voluntary and self-administered form with close-ended type of questions, except for the socio-demographic characteristics. The highest value of Cronbach's alpha resulted on 19 items (alpha= 0,776) meaning that the questionnaire has a satisfactory internal validity. The study highlights that nurses (80%) are aware that appropriate knowledge on the calculation of medication's dose is essential to reduce medication errors during the phase of drugs'preparation. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that a short version of the questionnaire has very good reliability properties in the study and this needs to be taken into account for future studies.

[Family caregiver education: an Italian experience]. / L'educazione dei family caregiver: un'esperienza italiana.

The role of family caregivers is essential for optimal treatment of patients with chronic diseases since it ensures the compliance to treatment, continuity of care, emotional and social support. Despite the significant value of informal caregiving, the relatives report not to have the necessary knowledge and skills to provide ongoing support to the family member with chronic disease and, therefore, show the need to be educated in their role as caregivers. The reliance on family caregivers unprepared for the daily management of the illness patients may threaten the patients' quality of life and, moreover, contributes to increase the burden of care of the caregiver by exposing it to the risk of psychosocial distress. The Nursing Department of Campus Bio-Medico of Rome have addressed such a need promoting training courses on family caregivers since 2011 with the goal of supporting families in the acquisition of specific skills related to health care of patients with chronic conditions. The UCBM educational program has been developed in order to convey knowledge tools especially for: the role and challenges of the caregiver, the supply of health services to support patients and the family member. The UCBM educational program has been structured in lessons to analyze the deepening of chronic diseases related to different areas of medical interventions and in practical sessions guided by a nurse specialist in order to support the family in the acquisition of skills and competencies for the care management of patients at home. The positive feedback, received from users who have attended the two past editions of the UCBM educational program, demonstrates the importance of acquiring technical knowledge and practical tools that are essential to independently manage all aspects of patient care. It's important to notice, moreover, that learning these skills will support the family in the patient management, both in short and long term, and that is very relevant considering the temporal characteristics of the chronic disease.

The education of family caregivers as an ethical issue.

Family caregiving represents the first and predominant source of care for 75% to 80% of people with chronic illness in industrialized countries. They have a fundamental role in assisting, providing care, and support to their relatives throughout all the history of the illness. Despite the significant value of informal caregiving, studies consistently report unmet needs among informal caregivers, particularly with regard to obtaining the information and education necessary to care for an older adult experiencing a chronic health condition. Health care professionals talk to patients and their relatives about their disease and about how to manage them daily, forgetting to consider the healthy component that still accompanies their disease though to differing degrees. In the twentieth century some philosophers highlighted that health is still very frequently a hidden asset, an asset that human beings forget not only to possess, but mostly to guard. This paper argues that the family can be an entity responsible not only for the treatment and care of a sick person, but also to building the health of this and the other members Family caregivers can build families capable of "building health" even when caring for a chronically ill. Therefore the education of family caregivers is an important ethical issue. Health care providers should be supportive of family caregivers and help them acquire knowledge and skills in order to maximize quality care. In addition, it is very important that family caregivers: 1. acquire the ability to direct the family's attitude to the enhancement of the health of a sick person, 2. lead the family and not just the sick person to have an adequate and proper life style in order to manage both his/her pathology and his/her health; 3. contribute to improve the quality of life both of the patient and of the family considered as a "unit of care"

[A specialization course for clinical tutors: experience of the specialty course no. III at the University Campus of Biomedicine, Rome, Italy]. / La formazione del tutore clinico: l'esperienza del III Corso di Perfezionamento presso L'Università Campus bio Medico.

Clinical tutoring meant as guidance and support for the achievement of professional competency (which includes attitudes, knowledge, and skills) has proved itself as a critical opportunity for nursing students' clinical learning. The tutor's skill develops itself especially through the acquisition of clinical and psychopedagogical expertise unquestionably necessary to meet students' educational needs. For the third year the Università "Campus Bio-Medico" di Roma, has started a Specialisation course for Clinical Tutors. The course objective is to achieve psychopedagogical, clinical, ethical and managerial competency. Although the course always maintains the same cultural, methodological, and managerial setting, each year it develops different key aspect linked to the participants' interests and educational needs. In fact, the students as active participants of their learning and well aware of the tutors' role, determine themselves such objectives. This paper is based on the principal themes of this year's course as they have been discussed and developed in final papers by the students.