Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on stress, resilience and depression in health professionals: a cross-sectional study.

AIM: To describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on stress, resilience and depression in health professionals from a public hospital in Barcelona, Spain after the first peak of pandemic. BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic in Spain has pushed boundaries in health systems and, especially, for health professionals. Analysis of resilience as an individual resource and it is essential to understand the mechanisms that make staff react unfavourably to stressors caused by the pandemic. DESIGN: A descriptive cross-sectional study was designed. PARTICIPANTS: Health professionals supervised by the nursing department, including registered nurses, health care assistants, health technicians, final year nurse student nurses, foreign nurses, and other nurse-related health workers. METHODS: The study complies with the STROBE checklist for cross-sectional studies. An online survey was administered to all health professionals supervised by the nursing department between 6 and 27 May 2020. The survey included the ER-14 Resilience Scale, the widely-used PHQ-9 depression scale, the Spanish version of the Nursing Stress Scale, and an ad-hoc questionnaire to obtain sociodemographic and occupational variables. RESULTS: A total of 686 participants answered the survey. Resilience was high or very high in health professionals, with an inverse correlation with stress and depression scores. Personal on fixed shifts showed better resilience. The most stressed health professionals were full-time registered nurses, followed by health care assistants. Up to 25% of nursing professionals had depression. CONCLUSION: Our study showed a high degree of resilience among nurse professionals despite the overwhelming nature of the COVID-19 pandemic. Relevant signs of depression and stress were detected among participants. Occupational factors heavily influenced nurses' resilience, stress and depression. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING & HEALTH POLICY: Government policy shifts are needed in Spain to improve nurses' workforce conditions, enhance the ratio of nurses to patient numbers, and avoid workforce losses. Maintaining the resilience of health professionals would assist in improving their health and their capacity to possible future emergency situations.

Profile of advanced nursing practice in Spain: A cross-sectional study.

In this study, we described the profile of advanced nursing practice in Spain. A cross-sectional study design was used to explore the extent and patterns of advanced nursing practice activity within the domains of expert care planning, integrated care, interprofessional collaboration, education, research, evidence-based practice, and professional leadership. Data were collected in 2015/2016. Purposive sampling yielded a sample of 165 specialist and expert nurses employed by a dual tertiary and community hospital in an urban setting. The study included specialist and expert nurses who had a higher practice profile than registered general nurses. The performance of activities according to age, current position, years of experience, nursing grade, and education was compared. Practice domains were more strongly influenced by the predictors of nursing position and professional career ladder. Age and experience predictors were found to be weak predictors of advanced practice domains. This study offers essential information of the nursing workforce, and clarifies both the advanced nursing practice profile and nomenclature in the context of study.

[SURGICAL HAND WASHING: HANDSCRUBBING OR HANDRUBBING]. / LAVADO QUIRÚRGICO DE MANOS: FRICCIÓN ALCOHÓLICA O FROTADO JABONOSO.

The importance of protocols for preoperative antisepsis of the hands is given by the risk of transferring bacteria from the hands of the surgical team to the patient during surgery and it is relationship with infection of surgical wound site (SSI). Careful surgical scrub reduces the number of bacteria on the skin, but does not eliminate them completely, remaining transient microorganisms on hands after the surgical scrub. There fore if micropuncture in surgical gloves occurs, the correct preoperative preparation of hands and double gloving will be essential to reduce the risk of bacterial transmission to patients. The protocols for surgical hand antisepsis are two: Surgical scrub with antiseptic soap (hand scrubbing). Surgical scrub by rubbing alcohol (handrubbing). The hand antisepsis by rubbing with an alcohol solution has proved to be significantly more effective compared to soap solutions. We must also see that in surgical hand antisepsis with soap, you must rinse them with water. And often hospitals' taps and keys are contaminated by Pseudomonas spp., including P. aeuinosa.

Lavado quirúrgico de manos. Fricción alcohólica o frotado jabonoso / Surgical hand washing: handscrubbing or handrubbing

La importancia de los protocolos para la antisepsia prequirúrgica de las manos viene dada por el riesgo de transferencia de bacterias presentes en las manos del equipo quirúrgico al paciente durante la intervención y su relación con la infección de la herida quirúrgica (SSI). Un cuidadoso lavado quirúrgico reduce el número de bacterias en la piel, aunque no las elimina completamente, pues algunos microorganismos transitorios permanecen en las manos después del lavado quirúrgico. Por este motivo, en caso de micropunciones en los guantes quirúrgicos, la correcta preparación prequirúrgica de las manos y el doble enguantado será fundamental para reducir el riesgo de transmisión de bacterias a los pacientes. Los protocolos para la antisepsia quirúrgica de las manos son dos: • Lavado quirúrgico con jabón antiséptico. • Lavado quirúrgico por fricción alcohólica. La antisepsia de las manos por fricción con una solución alcohólica ha demostrado ser significativamente más eficaz, frente a las soluciones jabonosas. Esto es debido a que en la antisepsia de las manos con jabón se requiere su enjuague con agua, y a menudo en las llaves y grifos de los hospitales se encuentran colonias de las pseudomonas spp., en particular la P. aeruginosa. Los dos métodos son adecuados para la prevención de las infecciones de la herida quirúrgica (SSI. Sin embargo, los jabones antisépticos se han utilizado y se siguen utilizando por muchos equipos quirúrgicos en todo el mundo para la preparación prequirúrgica de las manos, es importante señalar que la eficacia antibacteriana de los productos que contienen las formulaciones alcohólicas es superior a la que cualquier jabón antiséptico disponible en la actualidad. Por lo tanto, el objetivo principal de este artículo es difundir estos conocimientos, que, pese a toda la literatura escrita [1-7,13], aún requieren más difusión (AU)

The importance of protocols for preoperative antisepsis of the hands is given by the risk of transferring bacteria from the hands of the surgical team to the patient during surgery and it is relationship with infection of surgical wound site (SSI). Careful surgical scrub reduces the number of bacteria on the skin, but does not eliminate them completely, remaining transient microorganisms on hands after the surgical scrub. Therefore if micropuncture in surgical gloves occurs, the correct preoperative preparation of hands and double gloving will be essential to reduce the risk of bacterial transmission to patients. The protocols for surgical hand antisepsis are two: • Surgical scrub with antiseptic soap (handscrubbing). • Surgical scrub by rubbing alcohol (handrubbing). The hand antisepsis by rubbing with an alcohol solution has proved to be significantly more effective compared to soap solutions. We must also see that in surgical hand antisepsis with soap, you must rinse them with water. And often hospitals’ taps and keys are contaminated by Pseudomonas spp., including P. aeruginosa. Both methods are suitable for the prevention of surgical site infections (SSI). However, antiseptic soaps have been and are still used by many surgical teams around the world to the preoperative preparation of hands. Importantly, the antibacterial efficacy of products containing alcoholic formulations is higher than any currently available antibacterial soap. Therefore, the main objective of this article is to spread these knowledges, that, despite all the literature written [1-7,13], still require further spreanding (AU)