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The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of maternal age and body mass index (BMI) on induction of labor with oral misoprostol for premature rupture of membrane (PROM) at term. We have conducted retrospective cross-sectional study, including only term (37 weeks or more of gestation) PROM in healthy nulliparous women with a negative vaginal-rectal swab for group B streptococcus, a single cephalic fetus with normal birthweight, and uneventful pregnancy that were induced after 24 h from PROM. Ninety-one patients were included. According to the multivariate logistic regression, age and BMI odds ratio (OR) for induction success were 0.795 and 0.857, respectively. The study population was divided into two groups based on age (

Nurse staffing, increased workload and unstable nursing unit environments are linked to negative patient outcomes including falls and medication errors on medical/surgical units. Considering this evidence, the aim of our study was to overview midwives’ workload and work setting. We created a questionnaire and performed an online survey. We obtained information about the type and level of hospital, workload, the use of standardised procedures, reporting of sentinel and ‘near-miss’ events. We reported a severe understaffing in midwives’ work settings and important underuse of standard protocols according to the international guidelines, especially in the South of Italy. Based on our results, we strongly suggest a change of direction of healthcare policy, oriented to increase the number of employed midwives, in order to let them fulfil their duties according to the international guidelines (especially one-to-one care). On the other hand, we encourage the adoption of standardised protocols in each work setting. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]