The Validation of the COmprehensive Score for Financial Toxicity (COST) Scale in Greek Language.

The aim of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Greek version of FACIT-COST, as well as to assess the levels of financial distress of patients suffering from lung cancer in relation to their quality of life and lung cancer symptom burden. This was a cross-sectional quantitative study. A self-assessment instrument was used to gather the data. The study involved 120 lung cancer patients who were treated using chemotherapy in a day clinic of a General Hospital in Athens. Data were collected with the COST-FACIT-v2 (used to assess the patients' financial toxicity), The 12-item Health Survey (SF-12), and functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Lung Symptom Index Questionnaire-7 items-version 4 (FACIT-FACT-LCS). Descriptive statistics as well as exploratory factor analysis performed all the statistical analyses, which were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics 25 and had p-values with a significance level of 0.05. The majority of the participants were male (68.3%), married or cohabitated (81.3%), and had been diagnosed with microcell cancer (90%). The factor analysis resulted in one factor that interpreted 35% of the total variance. FACT-L (r = 0.365, p < 0.001), physical component SF-12 (r = 0.184, p = 0.045), and mental health component SF-12 (r = 0.268, p = 0.003) were positively correlated to FACIT-OST, as expected. The Greek validated COST-FACIT-v2 is a reliable tool in providing rapid assessment of cancer patients' level of financial distress.

Investigation of the Level of Burnout in Health Care Professionals in COVID-19 Pandemic Conditions.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to high levels of stress and anxiety for health care professionals. The purpose of this study was to investigate the burnout of health care professionals in COVID-19 pandemic conditions. Quantitative research was performed, and the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory was used to study burnout. The research sample consisted of 360 health care professionals. Health professionals have been found to have fairly high levels of personal burnout, work burnout, and burnout associated with patient interactions. It has also been found that women and health professionals working in department for patients with COVID-19 have significantly greater burnout. However, it was found that age, marital status, years of service, specialty, non-basic degree, and whether they or a first-degree relative had COVID-19 were not correlated to burnout. Given the very high level of burnout among health professionals, it is necessary to develop appropriate strategies to reduce burnout.

The Effect of Spirituality in Quality of Life of Hemodialysis Patients.

This study aimed to assess the effect of spirituality on quality of life of end-stage renal disease patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD). A cross-sectional study was carried out in six HD Units. The sample consisted of 367 patients averaging 61.8 years of age. For the measuring of spirituality and the quality of life, the FACIT-Sp-12 and the Missoula Vitas Quality of Life Index-15, respectively, were completed. Social and demographic data were, also, collected. Spirituality and its dimensions such as Meaning in Life and Peace had a positive effect on Global QoL, Symptoms, Interpersonal and in Well-being. Spirituality can have a positive effect on the QoL of HD patients. Therefore, in the context of the holistic approach of the individual, health systems can include spiritual evaluation and care of HD patients.

THE INVESTIGATION OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL BURDEN OF PATIENTS AFTER HOSPITALIZATION FOR COVID 19.

OBJECTIVE: The aim: The current Cross-Sectional study investigated the psychosocial effects on recovered Covid 19 patients in a General Hospital in Greece. It was investigated the impact of Covid 19 on levels of social support, loneliness, resilience & PTSD. Furthermore, the correlation between all the above factors was studied. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and methods: 107 adult patients participated. The questionnaire was fulfilled after signature of consensus form. This happened after their discharge from the hospital, without exclusion of infected on previous time. The questionnaire included 5 particular sections: a) Socio-demographic characteristics, b) social support scale, c) IES Covid 19 scale, d) UCLA scale e) CD-Risc scale. In terms of statistical analysis, the comparison between two groups of quantitative variables was conducted through Student's t-test. Related to examination of relationship between two quantitative variables was used Pearson's correlation coefficient (r). The Statistical analysis package used was SPSS 22. RESULTS: Results: The 55,1% of sample were women, married (57,9 %) and (39,3%) university graduates. Moreover, the rate of overweight was significant (39,3%). Related to psychosocial factors, observed high level of resilience (70,6), moderate level of loneliness (39,1) and 57,9% of participants showed moderate social support. At last, PTSD level as a result of Covid 19 was moderate (33,5). A strong correlation was observed between higher mental resilience and lower feelings of loneliness. CONCLUSION: Conclusions: The levels of determining factors of negative psychological effects, reveal the need for a preparation of political improvement policies in relation to mental health of rehabilitated persons, as well as the promotion of actions that would contribute to the development of a more effective supportive framework.

Greek Nurses' Perception of Hospital Ethical Climate: A Cross-Sectional Study.

This study aimed to examine Greek nurses' perceptions about hospital ethical climate and to investigate the possible difference of those perceptions regarding their demographic and work-related characteristics. The cross-sectional study design was employed in this study in which 286 nurses and nurse assistants participated. Data were collected by a sheet containing demographic and work-related characteristics and the Greek version of the Oslons' Hospital Ethical Climate Scale. IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences 25 was used in data analysis. Frequencies, means, percentages, and standard deviations summarized the data. For the statistical differences, parametric tests were performed. Independent Samples t and Pearson correlation analysis were used to determine the relationship between the ethical climate of the hospital and the nurses' characteristics. The p-values 0.05 were considered statistically significant. The mean age of the nurses was 44 years (SD: 8.5 years; range 24-66 years). The majority of them were women (77.3%). A percent of 57.7% of the sample was married. Most positive perceptions were concerning managers (4.01) following by peers (3.82), patients (3.69), hospitals (3.29) while the least positive perceptions of the ethical climate were concerning the physicians (3.16). The factors associated with hospital ethical perception were: working experience and responsible position. The highest score of ethical climate reported to managers subscale, while the minimum score was related to physicians. In general, Greek nurses reported positive perceptions regarding hospital ethical climate. The positive ethical climate is associated with a better working environment, fewer nurses' experience of moral distress, fewer chances for nursing turnover, high quality of nursing care, and fewer errors in nursing practice.

The Effect of Spirituality on Illness Perceptions in Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis : Spirituality and Health.

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of spirituality on illness perceptions of Greek patients on hemodialysis. The cross-sectional study design was employed for this purpose. The sample comprised of 367 patients on hemodialysis. Data were collected via a three-part questionnaire consisting of a sheet containing demographic and clinical information, the Illness Perceptions Questionnaire, and the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-Being Scale (FACIT-Sp-12). Data were processed with SPSS V.21, descriptive as well as inferential statistics were applied. The significant level was set at 0.05; 62.1% of the patients in the sample were men and 37.9% women. Their ages ranged from 18 to 92 years old, with an average of 61.80 years old. The findings of the research showed that the spirituality score both total and the subscales leads to a decrease illness perceptions score, meaning that patients perceive the disease as less threatening. The overall score of the Illness Perceptions Questionnaire was above the median, which means that patients perceive their condition as quite threatening. Overall, individual spirituality has a positive impact on the way patients perceive their condition.

The Effect of Emotional Intelligence on Caring Behaviors Among Psychiatric Nurses in Greece : Emotional Intelligence and Caring Behaviors in Mental Healthcare.

The effect of emotional intelligence in the field of mental health is of particular interest, as it is an intensely emotional field. The nursing staff has as an object the healthcare of people with mental problems, where emotions and their management are key factors. The purpose of this study was to investigate the levels of emotional intelligence and caring behaviors among mental health nurses as well as the correlation between these variables. In this cross-sectional study, 191 nurses completed the tools Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form (TEIQue-SF) and the Caring Behaviors Inventory-24 scale (CBI-24) for assessing the degree of emotional intelligence and caring behaviors, respectively. Demographic and job characteristics were recorded. Results: The results showed that the majority of participants were female and the average age was 44.69 years. According to the total but also the individual scoring of the TEIQue-SF, emotional intelligence was found to be at a relatively high level (total mean: 4.92) and was associated directly (r = 0.448, p < 0.001) with the frequency of caring behaviors of the CBI-24 which was found to be at a fairly high level (total mean 5.08). The study findings showed that as the overall emotional intelligence increased, the frequency of occurrence and the importance of behavioral behaviors increased.

Effects of mobile text messaging on breast cancer and breast self-examination (BSE) knowledge, BSE self-efficacy, and BSE frequency: a randomised controlled trial.

AIMS: Educating women regarding breast cancer and increasing breast self-examination uptake continues to remain a major challenge despite the intensive campaigns. An innovative, cost-effective and easily customised intervention is needed especially in under-resourced and hard to reach communities. This paper is a report examining the effects of mobile text messaging on women's knowledge of breast cancer and BSE, BSE self-efficacy and frequency of BSE. METHODS: A randomised controlled trial design was used. The study sample consisted of 128 women of reproductive age (WRA) (64 in the experimental group and 64 in the control group) from two communities in the Philippines during the months of August to October 2018. Three to five short messages were sent to the participants in the experimental group daily for one month while the control group did not receive the messages. RESULTS: Women who received mobile text messages had higher knowledge of breast cancer (F = 21.756, p = 0.001) and breast self-examination (F = 6.776, p = 0.010) than the control group. However, no significant improvements were seen in the BSE self-efficacy (F = 1.446, p = 0.232) and frequency of BSE (F = 3.374, p = 0.69). CONCLUSION: Mobile text messaging significantly improved the knowledge on breast cancer and breast self-examination among women; however, it did not affect their breast self-examination self-efficacy and frequency. Mobile text messaging can be a viable tool that can be used by healthcare workers in order to educate women regarding breast cancer and breast self-examination.

Relationship between nurse practice environment and work outcomes: A survey study in the Philippines.

AIMS: Challenges in the nurse practice environment greatly affect nurse work outcomes. This study investigated the relationship between nurse practice environment and work outcomes in the Philippines. METHODS: This cross-sectional survey involved 549 hospital nurses in the Philippines in 2018. The nurse practice environment was measured using the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI). Four self-report scales were used to measure work outcomes: job satisfaction, job burnout, job stress and nurse-assessed quality of care. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to analyse the data. RESULTS: Significant relationships were found between nurse and organizational characteristics and nurse practice environment. Further, multivariate regression analysis revealed that the nurse practice environment had a significant and positive relationship with perceived quality of care and a significant and negative relationship with job burnout and job stress. CONCLUSION: A favourable work environment significantly reduced job burnout and job stress and improved the quality of patient care. With considerable migration abroad, a favourable nurse practice environment may engage a better nurse workforce in the country and subsequently reduce migration. Managers must focus on developing good nurse practice environments that will improve professional work outcomes and quality patient care.

Influence of toxic and transformational leadership practices on nurses' job satisfaction, job stress, absenteeism and turnover intention: A cross-sectional study.

AIM: This study examined the influence of toxic and transformational leadership practices on nurses' job satisfaction, psychological distress, absenteeism and intent to leave the organisation or the nursing profession. BACKGROUND: Transformational leadership is attributed to favourable nurse consequences; however, the nursing literature is silent regarding the causal association between toxic leadership and nurses' job outcomes. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study involving 770 registered nurses from 15 hospitals in Central Philippines. Data were collected using seven self-report scales during the months of December 2019 to February 2020. RESULTS: The composite scores for the transformational leadership scale and toxic leadership scale were 4.22 and 1.59, respectively. Toxic leadership predicted job satisfaction, absenteeism, psychological distress and intention to leave the profession. Transformational leadership predicted job satisfaction and intent to leave the profession. CONCLUSION: Results suggest that nurses working with a transformational leader report higher job contentment and lower intent to leave the nursing profession. Nurses who work for a manager exhibiting toxic leadership behaviours demonstrated lower job contentment, higher stress levels, frequent absenteeism and higher intent to leave the nursing profession. IMPLICATION FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Nurse retention strategies should include measures to foster transformational leadership and derail toxic leadership practices in nurse managers through evidence-based education, training and professional development.

The association of nurse caring behaviours on missed nursing care, adverse patient events and perceived quality of care: A cross-sectional study.

AIM: This study evaluated the role of nurse caring in predicting missed nursing care, adverse patient events and the quality of nursing care. BACKGROUND: Missed nursing care is an issue essential in health care, as it is associated with adverse patient events. While studies have previously examined factors that result in missed nursing care activities and adverse events, the role of nurse caring itself in this context has not yet been explored. METHODS: A cross-sectional research design was adopted, employing a convenience sample of 549 registered nurses from six hospitals in the Philippines identified between October 2018 and January 2019. Four self-report scales were used in this study as follows: the caring behaviour inventory, the missed nursing care scale, the adverse patient events scale and a single-item scale to measure the quality of nursing care. RESULTS: Comforting or talking with patients and changing patients' positioning in bed were the most frequently missed care tasks, while patient/family complaints and patient/family verbal abuse were the most frequently reported adverse events. Nurse caring strongly predicted the quality of care, missed nursing care and patient adverse events. CONCLUSION: Fostering caring behaviours among nurses has a profound effect on nurses' decision to omit or provide nursing care as well as on reducing adverse events and promoting quality nursing care. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: The adoption of strategies to improve caring behaviours among nurses is critically important to prevent or reduce the occurrence of errors and adverse events.

Predictors and outcomes of nurse professional autonomy: A cross-sectional study.

AIMS: This paper is a report examining the level of professional autonomy as well as its predictors and outcomes among practicing nurses in the Philippines. METHODS: This study adopted a descriptive, cross-sectional research design. One hundred sixty-six (n = 166) nurses participated in the study or a response rate of 83% during the months of January 2017 to May 2017. Seven self-reported scales were used for this study: the Nurse Autonomy Scale, Job Stress Scale, Burnout Measure Scale, Job Satisfaction Index, Organizational Commitment Questionnaire, Turnover Intention Inventory Scale, and the Six Dimension Scale of Nursing Performance. Inferential and descriptive statistics were used to analyse the collected data. RESULTS: Nurses demonstrated moderate levels of professional autonomy with education and hospital bed capacity as strong predictors. Regression analysis showed positive effects of professional autonomy on nurses' job outcomes such as organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and work performance. CONCLUSION: Consistent to international studies, nurses in the Philippines demonstrated moderate levels of professional autonomy. Nurses who had higher levels of autonomy tended to be high performing, satisfied, and committed in their jobs. Organizational efforts are critically important to foster autonomy in practicing nurses through adequate support, education, training, and developed policies.

Factors influencing turnover intention among registered nurses in Samar Philippines.

OBJECTIVE: Despite the massive nurse migration and turnover of nurses in the Philippines, there remains a lack of studies describing factors influencing the migration of Filipino nurses. This study explored the effects of nurses' characteristics, work satisfaction, and work stress with the intent to leave an organization among registered nurses in the Philippines. METHODS: This study utilized a descriptive, cross-sectional approach. One hundred sixty six (166) nurses participated in the study during the months of September 2015 to December 2015. Three standardized instruments were used in the study: Job Satisfaction Index (JSI), Job Stress Scale (JSS), and Turnover Intention Inventory Scale (TIIS). Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical tools. RESULTS: Nurses' ages were found to significantly influence their turnover intentions. Job satisfaction (ß=-0.47, p=0.001) and job stress (ß=0.23, p=0.001) strongly predicted turnover intentions in the nurses. The mean values for the job satisfaction scale, job stress scale, and turnover intention inventory scale were 3.13 (SD=0.60), 2.74 (SD=0.71), and 2.43 (SD=0.67) respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Several predictors of turnover intentions were determined in this study through nurses' age, job satisfaction, and job stress as being the most influential factors. Efforts to increase nurses' job satisfaction and reduce job stress should be implemented to halt further loss of these skilled groups of healthcare professionals.

Stress and coping strategies among nursing students: an international study.

BACKGROUND: Mounting literature on stress and coping in nursing students are available; however, most of the findings are confined to a single cultural group. AIMS: This study was conducted to determine the level of stress, its sources and coping strategies among nursing students from three countries: Greece, the Philippines and Nigeria. METHODS: Using a descriptive, comparative research design, 547 nursing students (161 Greek nursing students, 153 Filipino nursing students, 233 Nigerian nursing students) participated in the study from August 2015 to April 2016. Two standardized instruments were used, the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the Coping Behavior Inventory (CBI). RESULTS: Findings revealed that the degree of stress and the type of stressors and coping styles utilized by nursing students differ according to the country of origin. The year of study predicted overall stress (ß = -0.149, p < 0.001) while advanced age predicted overall coping (ß = 0.008, p = 0.037) in the nursing students. CONCLUSIONS: Strengthening nursing students' positive coping skills may be helpful for them to effectively deal with various stressors during their educational experiences while maximizing learning. Implementing empirically tested approaches maybe useful to prevent the recurrence of stress and lessen its impact such as stress management counseling, counseling programs, establishing peer and family support systems, and formulating hospital policies that will support nursing students.

Predicting Factors of Depression and Anxiety in Mental Health Nurses: A Quantitative Cross-Sectional Study.

INTRODUCTION: The nursing profession is characterized as one of the most stressful and emotional dementing professions. It is widely agreed that many nurses are experiencing anxiety and depression as a results of their profession. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence and associated factors of depression and anxiety among mental health nurses working in public psychiatric hospitals, in order to identify independent predictors of mental health disorders risk. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted in which 110 mental health nurses who were working in public psychiatric hospitals of Greece participated. The Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-2 (GAD-2) questionnaire along with a sheet with basics demographic, social, and work characteristics, including gender, age, marital status, educational level, working experience in nursing, working position and shift, were used as instrument for data collection. RESULTS: The mean age of the nurses was 42.64 years (SD = 5.87 years) and working experience in nursing 15.73 years (SD = 5.64 years). Most participants were women 64.5%, married 59.1% and nursing assistant 53.6%, while 48.2% of them held a higher education degree. A very large percentage found to be classified as depressed (52.7%) and anxious (48.2%) and factors that found to be associated were age, marital status and educational level (for depression and anxiety) and working experience (only for depression). CONCLUSIONS: Mental health nurses are in high risk for developing psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety. Being single, divorced or widowed, older, with many years of experience and a higher education degree can be predicting factors associated with depression and anxiety in mental health nurses.

Assessment of the relation between religiosity, mental health, and psychological resilience in breast cancer patients.

AIM OF THE STUDY: The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between religiosity, mental health, and psychological resilience in breast cancer patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in an oncology department of a hospital in northern Greece during February and March 2017. The sample consisted of 152 breast cancer patients. Data were collected with the following instruments: Patient Health Questionnaire two-item scale, Generalised Anxiety Disorder two-item scale, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale 25, and Centrality of Religiosity Scale. Also, patients' characteristics were included, specifically demographic, social, and clinical information. Statistical analyses were conducted with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences V25. RESULTS: According to our results, approximately 1 out of 3 patients had depression and anxiety. Also, the sample had moderate resilience and were moderately religious. Patients who were classified as end-stage cancer patients and those who underwent mastectomy found to be more religious. Religiosity correlated positively with the resilience, while no correlation was found with depression, anxiety, and symptom burden. Based on regression results, religious beliefs seem to be a predictive factor for resilience and resilience is a predictive factor for depression. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings show that there was no association between religiosity and mental health, while a strong relation was highlighted between religious beliefs and psychological resilience. This study should constitute a starting point for further assessments regarding the fact that religiosity can provide social support that facilitates psychological adaption to illness and helps cancer patients to cope with their illness, which should be recognised by health care professionals.

Anxiety and Depression in Staff of Mental Units: The Role of Burnout.

One of the most investigated areas is the study of job stress and anxiety and its effects on the professionals' mental health status. The purpose of this study was to research the levels of anxiety and depression in staff that works in mental units and if burnout is related with these mental health parameters. The sample consisted of 217 mental health care professionals from mental health care units of all over Greece. The Greek version of the Symptoms Rating Scale for Depression and Anxiety (SRSDA) questionnaire was used to evaluate the levels of anxiety and depression and the Greek version of Maslach's Burnout Inventory (MBI) were used. Descriptive statistics were initially generated for sample characteristics. General linear models with MBI dimensions as independent variables and the anxiety and depression subscales of SRSDA as dependent variables were used to determine the relation between burnout and mental health parameters. Statistics were processed with SPSS v. 19.0. Statistical significance was set at p = 0.05. The average age of the sample was 39.00 ± 8.19 years. Regarding gender the percentage of men was 24.88% (N = 54) and of women 75.11% (N = 163). The means for the subscales of SRSDA were 4.91 ± 4.87 for Anxiety, 6.21 ± 5.92 for Depression Beck-21 and 2.83 ± 3.41 for Depression Beck-13. The results of general linear models are shown that Emotional Exhaustion and Depersonalization are statistically correlated with Anxiety and Depression Subscales of SRSDA. Burnout plays an important role in anxiety and depression levels of the staff that works in mental health units all over Greece.

Clinical, Social and Demographics Factors Associated with Spiritual Wellbeing in End Stage Renal Disease.

Spiritual health is one of the important aspects of health status that is often neglected. AIM: the present study aims to evaluate spiritual wellbeing in end stage renal disease patients undergoing hemodialysis and its relation to sociodemographic and clinical variables. METHODS: A convenience sample of 183 individuals undergoing hemodialysis was recruited. Measurements were conducted with the following instruments: (a) a sheet containing demographic data and clinical information such as duration of dialysis e.t.c (b) Facit Spiritual Wellbeing Scale (Facit-Sp12). Statistical analysis was contacted with SPSS v.22. Descriptive statistics were initially generated for sample characteristics. Parametric and no-parametric statistics were used for searching the relations between the variables. P values <0.05 were defined as reflecting the acceptable level of statistical significance. RESULTS: From the total of the 183 participants of the study the 69.9% were male and 30.1% female. The age range was from 26 to 88 years old, with mean 61.39 ± 14.11. The subscale "peace" is associated to gender (t = 2.150, p = 0.033), educational level (F = 2.698, p = 0.047) and duration of dialysis (F = 2.969, p = 0.033) and religious beliefs (t = -2.059, p = 0.041). The subscale "faith" is associated to gender (t = -3.428, p = 0.001), age (p = 0.006), number of children (F = 4.347, p = 0.014). Moreover, the subscale "meaning" is associated to age (p = 0.001). Finally its worth to be mentioned that comorbidity is associated to subscales "meaning" (t = -2.071, p = 0.040), "peace" (t = -2.377, p = 0.018) and the overall spiritual wellbeing (t = -1.988, p = 0.048). CONCLUSIONS: Social, demographic factors as well as clinical variables such duration of dialysis and comorbidities are affecting spiritual wellbeing in end stage renal disease.

A literature review on stress and coping strategies in nursing students.

BACKGROUND: While stress is gaining attention as an important subject of research in nursing literature, coping strategies, as an important construct, has never been comprehensively reviewed. AIM: The aims of this review were: (1) to identify the level of stress, its sources, and (2) to explore coping methods used by student nurses during nursing education. METHODS: This is a systematic review of studies conducted from 2000 to 2015 on stress and coping strategies in nursing students. CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and PubMed were the primary databases for the search of literature. Keywords including "stress", "coping strategy", "nursing students" and "clinical practice" in 13 studies met the criteria. FINDINGS: Stress levels in nursing students range from moderate to high. Main stressors identified included stress through the caring of patients, assignments and workloads, and negative interactions with staff and faculty. Common coping strategies utilized by nursing students included problem-solving strategies such as developing objectives to resolve problems, adopting various strategies to solve problems, and finding the meaning of stressful events. CONCLUSION: Nurse educators may consider the use of formulation and implementation of empirically tested interventions to reduce stress while enhancing coping skills.

Pressure Ulcers: Developing Clinical Indicators in Evidence-based Practice. A Prospective Study.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: It is widely recognized that Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients have a greater likelihood of developing pressure ulcers in comparison to hospital or home care patients. Accordingly, this study aimed to evaluate whether specific clinical characteristics could be used as clinical indicators towards pressure ulcers prevention. METHOD: We monitored 210 hospitalized ICU patients during a 12-month period. Pressure ulcers were assessed following the current guidelines. Clinical characteristics such as gender, age, hospitalized days, hemodialysis treatment, hematocrit, and serum albumin levels were considered as the most common predictors for pressure ulcers development. The significance of associations was controlled using multiple logistic regression after adjusting for clinical characteristics and was presented as adjusted odds ratio (AOR). RESULTS: The prevalence of pressure ulcers was 24.3%. Logistic regression revealed that patients with increased age AOR=1.04; (CI: 1.01-1.07) and last-long hospitalization AOR=1.17; (CI: 1.11-1.23) were significantly more likely to present pressure ulcers compared to the younger ones and patients with less length of stay, respectively. We also found that patients under hemodialysis treatment were more likely to present pressure ulcers AOR=4.09; (CI: 1.12-14.98) compared to patients that did not underwent hemodialysis and the risk of pressure ulcers development was decreased by 9% for every single unit of hematocrit value increase AOR=0.91; (CI: 0.82-0.99). CONCLUSION: Our data analysis confirms that the clinical characteristics that were studied are independently associated with pressure ulcers development, and therefore, it is a crucial incentive to consider that these specific clinical characteristics are important indicators in the evidence-based practice.