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To examine informal carers' experiences during their child's hospitalization and evaluate the associations with care received and care context. What is described in this article is only a part of the larger study, RN4CAST@IT-Ped, a multicenter cross-sectional study, with multi-level data collection through convenience sampling, the Child Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey was used to collect data from informal carers of pediatric patients, applying the "top box" approach. Nine hospitals, 1472 nurses, and 635 children's parents were involved. A correlation was found between patient safety and satisfaction outcomes and nursing staff characteristics. Adequate workloads for nurses improved carers' assessment of their experience in the hospital. Adequate staffing management could significantly improve informal carers' satisfaction with the care provided to their children during hospitalization. Children's informal carers greatly value the care they receive in pediatric hospitals. Adequate workloads for nurses improve carers' overall evaluation of the care their children receive during hospitalization. Nursing management should consider improving these aspects to ensure high-quality care in children's hospitals. • Child and Family Centered Care is an important outcome to take in consideration. • Child H-CAHPS is a validated tool to measure user satisfaction with healthcare received. • Hospital environment and healthcare staff have an impact on family satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This protocol proposes a systematic review to identify and disclose learning strategies and evaluation tools to improve Emotion Intelligence (EI) in undergraduate nursing students. EI improves the ability to manage emotions and their consequences. Management of emotions is fundamental in nursing both at inter- and intra-professional levels, and with the patients and their family carers. Systematic review protocol of effectiveness based on the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) guidelines. All articles based on educational programmes and/or activities to develop EI in nursing curricula will be included in the review. It will analyse the principle EI attributes and outcomes such as burnout, intention to leave and problem-solving skills. Based on the review question, seven databases will be searched: MEDLINE, The Cochrane Library, SCOPUS, CINAHL, EMBASE, PsycINFO and ERIC. Also, grey literature (Google Scholar and Open Gray) will be searched. Since no similar systematic reviews are present in the literature, no time limits will be set. To establish the quality of studies JBI tools will be used. When appropriate, we will meta-analyse prevalence and incidence estimates or we will meta-synthesize themes and findings. This systematic review is expected to provide an overview of educational and training methods, pedagogical strategies and evaluation tools to address EI in nursing and provide high-quality care to patients and their families. Results of the review will support nursing educators and leaders in implementing teaching and learning strategies to improve the Emotional Intelligence of undergraduate nursing students. Mastering emotions is fundamental for nurses. Implementing education courses based on EI according to the best training methods and pedagogical strategies could become key for nursing curricula. Moreover, after the review, it will be possible to identify the best training methods and pedagogical strategies for implementing continuing professional development (CPD) courses in EI in the courses of following graduation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Web-based learning, on its own or in combination with traditional teaching methods, has become a consolidated practice in many countries, and has been described as a valid and effective method that supports practical learning in undergraduate nursing students. The aim of this study was to explore the perception and effectiveness of web-based learning in facilitating the development of clinical skills in undergraduate nursing students. A qualitative descriptive study was conducted including online videos in three nursing schools of a university in Northern Italy. The participants were 26 undergraduate nursing students. A dedicated website was built including four videos and the respective checklists of four nursing techniques: insertion of a urinary catheter; insertion of a nasogastric tube; taking a blood sample; and the insertion of a peripheral intravenous line. Three Focus Groups were conducted, one for each nursing school. Thanks to its ease of use and unlimited access, web-based learning effectively supported students' clinical learning process by offering additional virtual visual support. Web-based learning could be effectively used to reduce the gap between theory and practice, and even as an upgrade for already qualified nurses. • Web-based learning in nursing is growing, but its use is still limited. • Few studies have explored how web-based learning can improve clinical skills. • Web-based learning impacts on patient safety and the quality of nursing practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives To describe the experience and sources of comfort and discomfort in tracheostomy patients, when they communicate with nurses in the Intensive Care Unit. Research methodology/design Benner’s interpretive phenomenology. Data were collected through: a) semi-structured interviews conducted with the patients after leaving the intensive care unit; b) participant observation; c) situated interviews with intensive care nurses. Setting The intensive care unit of a hospital in Northern Italy. Findings Eight patients and seven nurses were included in this study. Two main themes were identified 1) feeling powerless and frustrated due to the impossibility to use voice to communicate; 2) facing continual misunderstanding, resignation, and anger during moments of difficulty and/or communication misunderstandings. The main communication discomfort factors were: struggling with not knowing what was happening, feeling like others had given up on me, living in isolation and feeling invisible. The main comfort factors were: being with family members, feeling reassured by having a call bell nearby and nurses' presence. Conclusions This study highlights the important role of communication in tracheostomy patients in intensive care and how closely it is linked to all the aspects of a person’s life, which cannot be underestimated as just not being able to use one’s voice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the issue of substandard care and its effects on healthcare practice. It explores some recent concerns about the problem in nursing, its potential effects on students, how it can be conceptualised and what action needs to be, by both nurses and educators to prevent it. Recent healthcare scandals have tarnished the public image of nursing, and are also likely to influence nursing students' images, expectations and experiences of nursing. While much attention has been paid to the examination of such lapses in care, and potential corrective actions, little attention has been paid to the potential or actual effect on nursing students in practice. While good resources and staffing levels are crucial to ensuring optimal nursing care, developing and encouraging nursing students' awareness of and openness about personal behaviours, reflecting critically on practice reflection and strengthening nurse educators' collaborative links with healthcare practice can all serve to positively influence care deficits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During their clinical practice, nursing students learn to manage patient safety through their experiences, emotions, and interpersonal relationships. To explore contextual and mechanistic factors that facilitate a sense of emotional safety for learning in nursing students, particularly regarding patient safety events experienced during their placements. A descriptive qualitative study using narratives and thematic analysis. A university in Northern Italy. Undergraduate nursing students recruited through purposive sampling. Twenty cases relevant to the present study were selected from the "Sharing LearnIng from Practice for Patient Safety" (SLIPPS) project database containing 100 narratives collected using the patient safety learning Event Recording Tool. The data were analysed using thematic analysis according to Braun & Clarke's methodology. The themes that emerged from the thematic analysis were rearranged in Context-Mechanism-Outcomes. Students identified clinical practice experiences as important occasions for their personal and professional development. Emotional safety and tutoring were the elements that effectively "govern" the students' learning and development process. Emotional safety is key for nursing students because it enables them to constructively overcome any relational and emotional tensions that may develop during their clinical placements. • Patient safety is often part of nursing students' hidden curriculum. • Nursing students learn about patient safety during their clinical practice. • Emotions impact on learning patient safety outcomes in nursing students • Emotional competencies improve nurses' interactions with patients and colleagues [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Combined-modality treatment of head and neck cancer is becoming more common, driven by the idea that organ(s) preservation should maintain patient appearance and the function of organ(s) involved. Even if treatments have improved, they can still be associated with acute and late adverse effects. The aim of this systematic review was to retrieve current data on how swallowing disorders, dysgeusia, oral mucositis, and xerostomia affect nutritional status, oral intake and weight loss in head and neck cancer (HNC) patients.Methods: A systematic literature search covered four relevant electronic databases from January 2005 to May 2015. Retrieved papers were categorised and evaluated considering their methodological quality. Two independent reviewers reviewed manuscripts and abstracted data using a standardised form. Quality assessment of the included studies was performed using the Edwards Method Score.Results: Of the 1459 abstracts reviewed, a total of 25 studies were included. The most studied symptom was dysphagia, even if symptoms were interconnected and affected one other. In most of the selected studies the level of evidence was between 2 and 3, and their quality level was from medium to low.Conclusions: There are limited data about dysgeusia, oral mucositis and xerostomia outcomes available for HNC patients. There is a lack of well-designed clinical trials and multicenter-prospective cohort studies, therefore further research is needed to ascertain which aspects of these symptoms should be measured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to discuss the development of modern nursing in Italy. Specifically, the paper aims to draw attention to the fact that while nursing in Italy has mirrored developments in Europe, in many respects the advancement of the profession is much less accelerated. The paper considers the reasons for this and the contributing factors and explores possible solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Background While development, testing, and innovation of the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) are common in the international literature, studies from the United States of America (USA), Australia, and the United Kingdom (UK) predominate. There is little known about OSCE use in European countries, such as Italy, where other than cost analysis, there is little reporting of OSCE use or validation. Objectives This paper reports on one Italian initiative, which evaluated the equity and objectivity of the OSCE method of assessing communication skills. Design An OSCE method was used to assess the communication skills of first-year students of the Degree Course in Nursing. A method of simulation was implemented through role-playing with standardized patients. An observational method was used to collect data. Participants and settings Four hundred and twenty-one first-year undergraduate nursing students at one university site in Italy took part. Methods Ten examination sessions were carried out. The students' performances were assessed by two examiners who used a structured observation grid and conducted their assessment separately. A situation simulated by four nurses with experience as actors was used as the topic for the students' examination. Results Calculation of the daily rate of students who passed the examination revealed a random distribution over time. The nonparametric correlation indexes referring to the assessments and to the scores assigned by the two examiners proved statistically significant ( P ≤ 0.001). Conclusions The study confirmed the validity of the OSCE method in ensuring equity and objectivity of communication skills assessment in a large population of nursing students for the purpose of certification throughout the duration of the examination. This has important implications for nurse education and practice as the extent to which OSCE approaches, while deemed objective, are culturally sensitive or valid and reliable across cultures is not clear. This is something that requires further research and examination in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the literature we found many studies that confirmed our concerns about nursing students' poor maths skills that directly impact on their ability to correctly calculate drug dosages with very serious consequences for patient safety. The aim of our study was to explore where students had most difficulty and identify appropriate educational interventions to bridge their mathematical knowledge gaps. This was a quali-quantitative descriptive study that included a sample of 726 undergraduate nursing students. We identified exactly where students had most difficulty and identified appropriate educational interventions to bridge their mathematical knowledge gaps. We found that the undergraduate nursing students mainly had difficulty with basic maths principles. Specific learning interventions are needed to improve their basic maths skills and their dosage calculation skills. For this purpose, we identified safeMedicate and eDose™ (Authentic World Ltd.), only that they are only available in English. In the near future we hope to set up a partnership to work together on the Italian version of these tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To study the psychometric properties of an Italian version of the Edinburgh Feeding Evaluation in Dementia (EdFED-I) Scale. Background: The EdFED Scale is the only validated instrument that measures difficulty with feeding in older people with dementia. The original English version of the EdFED had three factors measuring: behavioral aspects of feeding difficulty (obstinacy/passivity); indicators of feeding difficulty; and nursing interventions. Methods: Participants affected by dementia and living in nursing homes (n = 210) were selected. Data collectors were trained to observe the residents' eating problems and their food intake. The data were analyzed using Mokken scaling and Pearson's correlation. Results: The Italian version of the EdFED Scale formed a Mokken scale which correlated in the expected direction with measures of residents' weight. Body Mass Index, time taken to eat, Mini Mental State Examination score and Barthel Index according to the unmet needs model of Cohen-Mansfield. Conclusions: The EdFED-I shows reasonable psychometric properties and can be used for the assessment of feeding difficulty in Italian samples of older people with dementia. However, further work with larger samples is required to test the utility of the whole range of items and the necessity of their inclusion in the EdFED-I. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Background: Mathematical and calculation skills are widely acknowledged as being key nursing competences if patients are to receive care that is both effective and safe. Indeed, weaknesses in mathematical competence may lead to the administration of miscalculated drug doses, which in turn may harm or endanger patients' lives. However, little attention has been given to identifying appropriate teaching and learning strategies that will effectively facilitate the development of these skills in nurses. One such approach may be simulation. Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of a Clinical Skills Workshop on drug administration that focused on improving the drug-dosage calculation skills of second-year nursing students, with a view to promoting safety in drugs administration. Design: A descriptive pre-post test design. Settings: Educational. Simulation center. Participants: The sample population included 77 nursing students from a Northern Italian University who attended a 30-hour Clinical Skills Workshop over a period of two weeks. Methods: The workshop covered integrated teaching strategies and innovative drug-calculation methodologies which have been described to improve psychomotor skills and build cognitive abilities through a greater understanding of mathematics linked to clinical practice. Results: Study results showed a significant improvement between the pre- and the post-test phases, after the intervention. Pre-test scores ranged between 0 and 25 out of a maximum of 30 points, with a mean score of 15.96 (SD 4.85), and a median score of 17. Post-test scores ranged between 15 and 30 out of 30, with a mean score of 25.2 (SD 3.63) and a median score of 26 (p<0.001). Conclusions: Our study shows that Clinical Skills Workshops may be tailored to include teaching techniques that encourage the development of drug-dosage calculation skills, and that training strategies implemented during a Clinical skills Workshop can enhance students' comprehension of mathematical calculations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

To identify the core competencies of family and community nurses. The European Union is facing common health challenges in the field of primary care, according to European health policies and the World Health Organization, which need to be addressed through better and innovative ways of working that require joint actions. There is evidence that 'Family and Community Nurses' play a key role in the field of primary care, but there is no agreement on which core competencies they are required to have. An e-Delphi study A 4-round e-Delphi study was conducted from March to July 2018 as part of the Erasmus+ Project "EuropeaN curriculum for fAmily aNd Community nursE" (ENhANCE). A panel of 23 experts from 10 European countries were asked to approve, modify, or add items and then prioritize each skill. This e-Delphi, as part of the ENhANCE project, produced core 28 competencies, which were used by the "ENhANCE" partners to develop the European Core Curriculum for Family and Community Nurses. The ENhANCE partners ensured that the core competencies were consistent with World Health Organization recommendations, the European Skills/Competencies, Qualifications and Occupations (ESCO) and with the European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET). The results of this study will provide the basis for universities across Europe to develop their own post-graduate teaching programs with common educational goals for Family and Community Nurses and a cadre of nurse practitioners with transferrable skills across the continent. This e-Delphi, as part of the ENhANCE project, produced 28 competencies for the European Core Curriculum for Family and Community Nurses. • First European study on core competencies for Family and Community Nurses. • Family and Community Nurses core competencies used to develop European curricula. • European common curricula will facilitate recognition and mobility of these nurses. • Family and Community Nurses will improve the primary care of the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objective: The aim of this study was to identify effective corrective measures to ensure patient safety in the Paediatric Emergency Department (ED). Methods: In order to outline a clear picture of these risks, we conducted a Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and a Failure Mode, Effects, and Criticality Analysis (FMECA), at a Emergency Department of a Children’s Teaching Hospital in Northern Italy. The Error Modes were categorised according to Vincent’s Taxonomy of Causal Factors and correlated with the Risk Priority Number (RPN) to determine the priority criteria for the implementation of corrective actions. Results: The analysis of the process and outlining the risks allowed to identify 22 possible failures of the process. We came up with a mean RPN of 182, and values >100 were considered to have a high impact and therefore entailed a corrective action. Conclusions: Mapping the process allowed to identify risks linked to health professionals’ non-technical skills. In particular, we found that the most dangerous Failure Modes for their frequency and harmfulness were those related to communication among health professionals. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Unmet needs for advanced-disease cancer patients are fatigue, pain, and emotional support. Little information is available about the feasibility of interventions focused on patient-reported outcome measurement developed according to the Medical Research Council (MRC) Framework in advanced-disease cancer patients. We aimed to pilot a nurse-led complex intervention focused on QoL assessment in advanced-disease cancer patients. The INFO-QoL study was based on an exploratory, nonequivalent comparison group, pre-test-post-test design. Study sites received either the INFO-QoL intervention or usual care. Adult advanced-disease cancer patients admitted to hospice inpatient units that gave their informed consent were included in the study. Subjects were 187 patients and their families and 19 healthcare professionals. We evaluated feasibility, acceptability, and patients' outcomes using the Integrated Palliative Care Outcome Scale. Nineteen healthcare professionals were included. The mean competence score increased significantly over time (p < 0.001) and the mean usefulness score was high 8.63 (± 1.36). In the post-test phase, 54 patients were allocated to the experimental unit and 36 in the comparison unit. Compared to the comparison unit, in the experimental unit anxiety (R2 = 0.07; 95% CI = −0.06; 0.19), family anxiety (R2 = 0.22; 95% CI = −0.03; 0.41), depression (R2 = 0.31; 95% CI = −0.05; 0.56) and sharing feelings (R2 = 0.09; 95% CI = −0.05; 0.23), were improved between pre-test and post-test phase. The INFO-QoL was feasible and potentially improved psychological outcomes. Despite the high attrition rate, the INFO-QoL improved the quality and safety culture for patients in palliative care settings. • The INFO-QoL intervention was feasible, acceptable, and improved family anxiety, depression, and sharing feelings. • The INFO-QoL intervention is innovative because it is based on addressing patients' outcomes by a nurse-led intervention. • The improved psychosocial needs were significantly associated with an increased number of actions delivered by the team. • QoL assessment interventions are complex and under this perspective they may ensure better evidence-based practice. • Nurse-led interventions have a holistic view of patients' outcomes, and a patient/family-centered care-oriented culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International mobility for nursing students is still a relatively new phenomenon. While educators and students are both excited by the opportunity that mobility presents, there are often many challenges inherent within third level organisations and practice organisations. These obstacles not only serve to make international mobility arrangements complex to manage but also mean that these opportunities are only available to very small numbers of students. Furthermore the benefits of undergraduate international exchanges remain largely anecdotal and the elements that facilitate success are not entirely clear. To address these issues, a qualitative study was conducted to identify the elements that characterize a nursing student's successful learning during international clinical placement. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with six students who had completed their international clinical placements experiences in Portugal, Spain, and Italy. Three common themes emerged from the data analysis: relationship with institutions and countries, student's thoughts and feelings and learning outcomes and the role of the nursing student's clinical supervisor. These themes contain seven sub-categories, representing the characterizing elements of the student's experience of mobility in the foreign country. These results are useful to nurse educators internationally to inform clinical learning experiences within exchange programmes. • International clinical placement enables the development of transcultural skills. • Nurses' transcultural skills have an impact on patient safety. • Undergraduate clinical supervisor's crucial role favours learning outcomes. • Our results are important for nursing educators to improve clinical environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]