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Objective To describe rates and types of critical incidents in Intensive Care Units. Research methodology A retrospective study in four intensive care units of an Academic Hospital located in the North-East of Italy. All critical incidents recorded in an incident reporting system database from 2013 to 2017 were collected. Results 160 critical incidents emerged. The rate was 1.7/100 intensive care-patient admissions, and 2.86/1000 in intensive care-patient days. Nurses reported most of the critical incidents (n = 113, 70.6%). In 2013 there were 19 (11.9%) critical incidents which significantly increased by 2017 (n = 38, 23.7%; p = 0.034). The most frequent critical incidents were medication/intravenous fluids issues (n = 35, 21.9%) and resources and organisational management (n = 35, 21.9%). Less frequently occurring incidents concerned medical devices/equipment (n = 29, 18.1%), clinical processes/procedures (n = 18, 11.3%), documentation (n = 14, 8.8%) and patient accidents (n = 13, 8.1%). Rare incidents included behaviour, clinical administration, nutrition, blood products and healthcare associated infection. Conclusion Over a five-year period, documented incidents were steadily increasing in four Italian intensive care units. A voluntary incident reporting system might provide precious information on safety issues occurring in units. at both policy and professional levels.

The study analysed two key questions: (i) the prevalence of informal caregiving in medical and surgical wards of a high specialization hospital; (ii) the reasonable cost for the structure that would have to pay to replace informal caregiving? The study was conducted in June 2006 as a prevalence survey, using a questionnaire administered to informal caregivers and nurses working in medical and surgical wards of a high specialization hospital by ad hoc trained personnel. Questionnaire consisted in three sections: the first focused on patient's characteristics, the second on caregivers and the third on nurses' perception on caregiving phenomenon. One hundred and twenty-four eligible caregivers were identified. During the study patients admitted to hospital medical and surgery wards were 520. Among these 16.5% (86/520) was assisted by one or more caregivers. Caregivers' response rate was 69.4% (86/124), corresponding to 66 patients. This study yielded an average of 455.9 minutes per day (SD = 370.2; range = 120-1440) or 52.9 hours per week. Caregiver's presence was recognized in 88.9% (56/63) of patients. Despite the societal perspective, the costs and effects of informal caregiving to the informal caregiver are often ignored in economic evaluation. The costs of informal care are an important extent related to time inputs by relatives and friends of the care recipients. Our approach has been to monetize the informal activity care contribution of family members and/or caregivers.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of a 2-year vaccination program on the compliance of healthcare workers (HCWs) employed in an acute care university hospital to influenza vaccination. The study was carried out in October/November from 2004 to 2006 in a 286-bed acute care university hospital located in northern Italy employing 523 HCWs. The study cohort consisted of 473 HCWs continuously present in the hospital from 2004 to 2006. In 2005 and 2006, a vaccination campaign was made available in the wards that supplemented a pre-existing (2004) employee health service program. A personalized informative letter was sent to all HCWs explaining the risks and benefits of influenza vaccination for both patients and HCWs and indicating the scheduling of the additional vaccination service. The additional 2005 and 2006 campaigns produced significantly higher vaccination rates among HCWs than those achieved in previous years, from 10.4% in 2004 to 36.6% in 2005 and 23.2% in 2006. The year 2005 was characterized by an avian flu threat, which likely accounted for the highest vaccination rate of the 3-year study period. Physicians had the highest vaccination rates in the 3-year period (20.8%), while nurses in 2005 had the highest single vaccination rate (42.5%). Providing easy access to vaccination in the wards is a useful approach for improving vaccination rates among HCWs, but further tailored interventions are needed because overall vaccination rates remain too low. Subgroups, such as nurses and ancillary staff, should be considered as specific targets of such vaccination programs.

This study examines the socio-demographic characteristics of first-year students on first degree healthcare courses at Udine University (Italy). The survey tried to elicit useful information in a field where literature is scarce. Every student starting healthcare courses in the 2007/08 academic year was contacted and asked to fill in a questionnaire. Two hundred and sixty students were identified, belonging to six different courses: Nursing Sciences, Obstetric Sciences, Physiotherapy, Radiography, Neurophysiopathology Techniques, Biomedical Laboratory Techniques. Each questionnaire included 26 items (25 closed and one open) and had four sections: personal data, family data, training background, criteria affecting the decision to attend a healthcare course. The overall response rate was 87% (226 out of 260). Major findings were: women prevail on men (77% vs. 23%), many students chose these courses because some family member worked in the healthcare field (22.1%), 19.9% of students are older than 26 and 7.1% of them are postgraduates, 12% come from foreign countries, and job opportunities and former work experience influenced the choice of course. This database provides an important benchmark for comparing future trends among students in the healthcare profession in terms of socio-demographic characteristics and personal attitudes.

A voluntary professional quality improvement project involving preventive departments and vaccination centres of an Italian region was carried out through two surveys (in 2001 and in 2006) performed using a quality assessment manual including 12 standards and 157 criteria. After the first survey, a feedback was sent to all participating centres. All six local health authorities participated, as well as all regional vaccination centres, 48 in 2001 and 41 in 2006. The overall adherence rate to the criteria was 56.0% (3258/5820) in 2001 and 74.4% (3784/5085) in 2006. The improvement was obtained without mandatory interventions from regional authorities.

Objective: To know how Italian nursery and primary schools survey and manage children with food-related problems.Design: A pilot study during the period March-May 2005, filling out a questionnaire.Setting: All nursery and primary schools in a Northern Italian region (Friuli Venezia Giulia).Subjects: There were 479 eligible schoolsResults: Global response rate was of 29.6%. In 77.5% (110/142) of the schools there were children with food-related pathologies. Programs about nutrition were carried out by 44.4% (63/142) of the schools in the previous two years; 9.5% (6/63) dealt with food-related pathologies and 57.1% (36/63) required the intervention of outside experts to have these projects realized. In the same period training courses about nutrition for teachers were conducted in 9.2% (13/142) of the schools.Conclusions: Data provide a first overview of the situation in Italy on food-related topics in children attending nursery and primary schools. Therefore many programs could not rely on funds to be deve...

In Italy NHS Prevention Departments (PDs) are central in Public Health (PH) management. Objective was to describe profile of Medical Doctors (MDs) working at Italian PDs. The study, part of another survey, was conducted in 2003, using a phone questionnaire to administer to a sample of Italian MDs in PH. Response rate was 72.3% (603/833). Physicians of PDs were 255, 42.3% of whole sample. Job satisfaction mean (scale: 0-100) was 66.6 (SD = 19.3). 81.6% (208/225) of MDs said that Regions must monitor health status to identify collective risks and problems, while 77.3% (197/255) of them answered that function of State is to develop politics and planes to pursue individual and collective health. The study gives a positive frame of MDs at PDs. They were satisfied and persuaded of importance of State and Regions in PH management.

PurposeThis paper seeks to analyse social report guidelines and practices within Italian local governments (ILGs). First, it compares the contents of the two Italian governmental guidelines for developing social reports in public sector organisations with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guideline, to determine similarities and differences in disclosures. Second, it examines a group of social reports issued by ILGs, to explore the incidence, frequency, and quality of disclosure, as against the GRI guideline.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses content analysis to test the nature/content of the governmental guidelines, and to determine what was disclosed in a group of ILGs' social reports. The paper analyses the social reports by applying the Guthrie and Farneti coding instrument, extended by including the Italian governmental guidelines.FindingsSeveral observations emerge from the present study. First, from the comparison of the GRI and the Italian governmental guidelines, it emerges that only a few categories of the latter are similar to the GRI and these concern mainly general aspects. Second, the disclosure of categories and elements in the social reports, as against the coding instrument, was found to be fragmentary. The paper concludes that the Italian governmental guidelines are of a managerial nature, and they have little to do with sustainability, except for aspects related to labour.Originality/valueLittle research has been published on social reporting practices within the public sector, unlike the private sector. In Italy social reports are an emerging practice, with a growing interest paid by the government and academia. Nevertheless, published research is mainly of a normative nature, and there is a gap on what actually is in social reports.

Internationally, social and sustainability reporting has been widely debated (Adams and McNicholas 2007), both within the academic literature and at a political and practical level. Within this debate, the accounting and reporting techniques used are also central to discussions about sustainability (Unerman, Guthrie, and Striukova 2007). The various Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines (GRI 2006) are of particular interest because of their attempts to provide an international framework of reporting for all types of organisations. In Italy, a recent study demonstrated that there is a trend for Italian local governments to produce social reports, with 14 percent of municipalities and 38 percent of provinces producing social reports in 2005 (Siboni 2007). The current study aims to explore the social reporting in a selection of “better practice” Italian local government organisations and, in particular, to observe what has and has not been reported in comparison to the GRI guidelines. It uses an analytical framework developed in a prior study, in which the voluntary sustainability practices of a sample of Australian public sector organisations were examined (Guthrie and Farneti 2008). The specifi c research questions considered are: 1. What has been reported in Italian local government social reports? 2. What has or has not been reported in terms of the GRI guidelines? This examination of Italian local government organisations establishes that their stand-alone social reports are actually “social reports” in name only. There were relatively few environmental, social, labour, product, or wider societal disclosures when compared to the GRI guidelines.

This study contributes to an understanding of the practice of social reporting in Italian bank foundations. Specifically, the study examines the views of the preparers of social reports. In Italy, the development of social reports for non-government organizations (NGOs) is voluntary. The research question is informed by a review of the relevant literature, which highlights key issues in relation to social reports. On the basis of this literature review the research question developed is: What is the perspective of those who prepare social reports and how did the issues identified influence in developing social reports? The research was conducted using a survey submitted to the preparers of social reports of all Italian bank foundations (BFs). The study found that social reports are mainly developed internally and there is little external assurance. Also, the study found that BFs used different media to communicate social information (e.g. internet and hard copy reports mailed to the main stakeholders). Finally, several benefits and constraints have been perceived in the preparation of social reports.

PurposeNew public management changes in both the Australian and Italian government sectors have affected their modus operandi. This research aims to illustrate how the balanced scorecard (BSC) has been used in both Italian and Australian local government organisations (LGO), focusing on implementation and practice.Design/methodology/approachA case study method is applied which was chosen to illustrate the use of the BSC model in both an Australian and an Italian LGO. These specific organisations were chosen as the authors are familiar with their experiments with the BSC.FindingsThe main finding was that the BSC was used internally in both the Italian and Australian cases and little material was used for an external accountability reporting technology.Research limitations/implicationsThe analysis is limited to two LGOs locations, thus no generalisation can be implied.Originality/valueFew studies have reviewed, in the public sector, BSC practices, particularly for local governments.