Nursing students' perception of the professional nurse's role in four European countries.

BACKGROUND: Understanding how nursing students in European countries perceive their future professional role is an important step in creating awareness of the diversity and similarities between countries. Investigating nursing students' perceptions of their future profession could help in the design of education and the retention of nurses. AIM: To compare nursing students' perceptions of the professional nurse's role between Belarus, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden. METHOD: A cross-sectional design was implemented. The study used two scales of the Professional Nursing Image Survey, which has questions about 10 skills and abilities and 14 functions and duties of a nurse. RESULTS: A total of 392 final-year nursing students in four countries participated in the study. Statistically significant differences were found between countries in terms of all 10 skills and abilities and in the distribution of responses concerning functions and duties of a nurse. CONCLUSIONS: Nursing students in Belarus, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden perceive differently the role of a nurse in terms of some functions and responsibilities. This may influence the adaptation of nurses who enjoy freedom of movement among the countries. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING POLICY: The knowledge gained in this study could be beneficial in improving nursing education, as it could illuminate the discrepancy between educational goals and students' perceptions of their future professional role.

Exploring the ways experienced nurses in Poland view their profession: a focus group study.

AIMS: To conduct an in-depth analysis to understand how Polish nurses perceive their profession from the perspective of the jobs they perform and their experiences connected with the work. BACKGROUND: Although there are general educational standards in the nursing profession, nurses worldwide perform their jobs under different systems and cultural conditions. Exploring and describing how experienced nurses view their profession can contribute to recommendations on how to promote the image of the profession and can assist in recruiting new nurses. METHODS: A descriptive, explorative qualitative study was conducted. Focus groups (n = 6) were organized involving nurses (n = 60) who had between 8 and 33 years of work experience. FINDINGS: Data analysis revealed four main themes and ten sub-themes: (i) the role of the nurse (idealistic view of a nurse's work before starting the job, realistic perception of the profession while doing the job); (ii) respect for a nurse (nurses' attitudes towards one another, doctors' attitudes towards nurses, patients' and their families' attitudes towards nurses); (iii) gender issues (stereotypes, favouritism towards male nurses); (iv) prestige of the profession (prestige of the nursing profession in society, remuneration, nurses' choice of a future profession for their children). DISCUSSION: The study demonstrates that there is a huge discrepancy between the commonly held image of the nursing profession and the reality of the nurse's job. The idealistic view that it is a "clean" job in which the nurse only gives injections is not reflected in the actual duties. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING AND HEALTH POLICY: The findings revealed factors which influence the perception of the nursing profession in Poland, that is the system of education, professional experience and the current situation in which nurses perform their roles. Nurses' current perception of the job may have negative consequences both for nurses themselves (e.g. burnout) and for the whole profession (e.g. negative selection). Nurses should aim to fulfil leadership roles and participate in the management of health policy so as to have greater influence on healthcare planning.

Management of sore throat in Polish primary care facilities: an example from the country with rare use of microbiological testing.

OBJECTIVE: To describe sore throat management by primary care physicians in Poland. METHODS: We sent questionnaires to all primary care doctors in Podlaskie voievodship (north-eastern Poland) with clinical vignettes depicting patients with symptoms of sore throat. The probability of bacterial (streptococcal) infection was estimated using Centor's scale (assessment of four items--presence of tonsillar exudates, fever, lymphadenopathy and absence of cough--scores 0 and 1 indicate low probability of streptococcal infection). The respondents were asked for the suspected diagnosis (viral or bacterial pharyngitis), choose additional tests (if required to decide on management), and finally to decide on whether an antibiotic should be prescribed. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Two-hundred and twenty-five of 610 doctors surveyed provided usefull answers. In cases with a very low probability of bacterial infection and a score of '0', antibiotics were prescribed by 1.8-43.7% of physicians. Only 1.8% would prescribe an antibiotic to an adult with a 1-day history of sore throat and a '0' score but as many as 43.7% when the patient consulted with the same symptoms and signs again (P < 0.05). Younger age of the patient was also significantly associated with higher rate of the antibiotic prescribing--7.6% would prescribe an antibiotic to a 5-year-old child with a '0' score while only 1.8% would prescribe an antibiotic for an adult with a similar score, P < 0.05. CONCLUSIONS: Primary care physicians in Poland tend to prescribe antibiotics for sore throats even for patients with a low risk of bacterial infection when influenced by factors like repeat visits of the patient or young age. Avoiding antibiotics in such low risk of bacterial infection patients is an important and achievable goal.

Improvement in the accessibility and organization of services of family physicians in a small town in Poland: a comparison of patient opinions between 1998 and 2002.

PURPOSE: The institution of a family physician was introduced in Poland to improve organization and quality of primary health care. Thus, it seems important to find out how the time factor (4 years) and the organizational changes that took place during that time have affected patients' views on primary health service accessibility. The aim of the study was to compare patients' opinions on selected aspects of the access and organization of health care provided by family physicians between the years 1998 and 2002. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Two independent surveys conducted in 1998 and 2002 using face-to-face interviews with structured questionnaires. The study was carried out in a small town in Poland. The study group consisted of two samples of patients randomly selected. Altogether 1000 interviews were obtained in survey I (1998) and 1000 from another sample in survey II (2002). RESULTS: The surveys carried out at a 4-year interval showed that the accessibility of family physician services improved between 1998 and 2002. This was reflected by: more common use of registration by phone and better overall evaluation of the registration system, shorter time spent in the waiting room to see a family physician, making an appointment for a definite hour, better opinion of the visit duration and more frequent use of phone consultations. CONCLUSIONS: The results our study show that primary health care reform in Poland has a positive impact on the patients' opinions about access and organization of services of family physicians.