Care Unit Nurses Research Articles

Serum vitamin D metabolite and acute-phase protein concentrations are frequently abnormal in a cohort of hospitalized dogs and cats.

To determine whether serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25[OH]2D) concentrations are associated with survival and negatively correlate with acute-phase protein (APP) concentrations in ill dogs and cats admitted to nursing care units. Client-owned dogs (n = 79) and cats (16) admitted to 2 academic veterinary hospital nursing care units. A prospective cohort study was conducted between August 12, 2019, and October 26, 2021. A diagnostic laboratory measured 25(OH)D, 1,25(OH)2D, and haptoglobin (HPT) in dogs and cats; C-reactive protein (CRP) in dogs; and serum amyloid A (SAA) in cats. Serum was collected within 12 hours of admission. Illness severity (acute patient physiologic and laboratory evaluation [APPLEfast]) scores and survival data were recorded. Serum 25(OH)D concentrations were in the deficient range for 22 of 79 dogs and 2 of 16 cats. There were no associations between serum analyte concentrations (25[OH]D, 1,25[OH]2D, and APP) or APPLEfast score and survival in dogs or cats. In dogs, HPT was negatively correlated with 25(OH)D (P = .002; r = -0.34) and 1,25(OH)2D (P = .012; r = -0.28), while CRP was positively correlated with HPT (P = .001; r = 0.32) and APPLEfast score (P = .014; r = 0.16). In cats, 1,25(OH)2D was negatively correlated with APPLEfast scores (P = .055; r = -0.49) and SAA was positively correlated with HPT (P = .002; r = 0.73). Serum 25(OH)D or 1,25(OH)2D was not associated with survival in our hospitalized patient population. Relationships between APP and serum vitamin D metabolites with APPLEfast scores in cats warrant further investigation as illness severity biomarkers.

Relationship networks among nurses in acute nursing care units

Relationship networks among nurses in acute nursing care units

Evaluation of nurse‐reported missed care in a post‐anesthesia care unit: A mixed‐methods study

AbstractBackgroundNurse‐reported missed care (NRMC) is considered as any significant delay or omission in provision of nursing care.Aim(i) Evaluate the frequency, types, and reasons for NRMC in the Post‐anesthesia Care Unit (PACU). (ii) Evaluate associations between nurse demographic and workload factors with NRMC. (iii) Explore nurses' perception of NRMC in the PACU.MethodsA cross‐sectional study was conducted in the PACU in a tertiary acute care hospital over 3 months. Full‐time PACU nurses were conveniently sampled to complete an anonymous survey after their daily shift over different shifts. It contained three sections: (i) nurse demographics; (ii) elements of NRMC; and (iii) reasons for NRMC. Qualitative interviews employed a semi‐structured guide to explore perceptions and experiences of NRMC. Descriptive, inferential statistics, and thematic analyses were applied.ResultsSixty‐six survey responses were collected. 48.5% of respondents indicated at least one NRMC activity. Activities more clinically sensitive were less missed. Eight nurses were interviewed. Four main themes were identified: (i) communication with patients; (ii) communication and teamwork with colleagues; (iii) dual role of documentation; and (iv) staffing inadequacy. Language barriers made communication challenging. Staff shortage exacerbates workload but effective teamwork and documentation facilitates nursing care.ConclusionCommunication and staffing concerns aggravate NRMC. Teamwork and personal contentment were satisfactory. Nurses' turnover intention may worsen staffing.Clinical RelevanceTimeliness and quality of nursing care is impacted by elements such as manpower, allocation of resources, work processes, and workplace environmental or interpersonal factors such as culture and language fit. Re‐evaluation of nursing resources and work processes may assist post‐anesthesia care unit nurses in fulfilling their role, decreasing the prevalence of nurse‐reported missed care.

Knowledge and practice of mother kangaroo care among nurses in public hospitals in Somalia

IntroductionLow birth weight and preterm birth are the most prevalent infant health issues globally. One million newborns die every year within the first 28 days, and the world's highest neonatal mortality rate is found in Sub-Saharan Africa. This study aimed to evaluate nurses' knowledge and practices regarding mother kangaroo care in public hospitals in Mogadishu, Somalia. MethodologyFrom November 15, 2022, to April 15, 2023, a descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among pediatric ward and newborn nurses in public hospitals in Mogadishu, Somalia. ResultThe surveyed pediatric ward and neonatal nurses had a majority of 154 (85.6%) females and mostly 119 (66.1%) singles. The majority had a bachelor's degree of 164 (91.1%), mostly 153 (85%) of participants had never received specific training, and 54.4% of the nurses had knowledge about its components. CalculationsThe study highlights a lack of specialized training for 153 participants, with 85% not receiving it. It recommends hospitals improve nursing staff's knowledge and establish positive practices for pediatric nursing and neonatal intensive care units.

Fanny pack transmission of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii

Background: Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) is a gram-negative coccobacillus that has garnered notoriety as a formidable cause of nosocomial infection with significant mortality. This organism poses a significant threat due to its multitude of resistance mechanisms and ability to endure within the environment. In the summer of 2022, a 350-bed acute-care hospital identified an outbreak of CRAB among critically ill patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) and intensive nursing care unit (INCU). Here, we report actions taken to contain the outbreak and to identify a common environmental source. Methods: In total, 7 nosocomial CRAB infection cases were identified by the infection prevention team between July and September 2022. A multidisciplinary team reviewed the cases using relevant medical history and available microbial susceptibilities. Clinical culture sites include 1 PICC tip, 1 urine sample, 1 peritoneal fluid samples, 5 wounds, and 1 sputum sample. Of 7 infections, 6 met the criteria for hospital onset, with an average time to infection from admission of 61 days. We quickly initiated universal contact precautions in the ICU and INCU for 6 weeks, enhanced daily cleaning of high-touch surfaces, provided staff and visitor education, conducted adenosine triphosphate (ATP) testing, collected observations, and performed selective environmental culturing based on observations. Results: In total, 71 environmental specimens were collected for culture. All were negative with the exception of 1 isolate obtained from the fanny pack of a wound-care nurse that was positive for CRAB. Also, 4 available patient isolates and the environmental isolate were sent to New York State Department of Health Wadsworth Center (NYSDOH Wadsworth) for genome sequencing, and relation to the same cluster was confirmed. Of 7 isolates, 6 were confirmed to express the blaOXA-23 resistance mechanism (1 was not available for testing). Subsequently, chart review identified that a wound-care nurse had had contact with all 7 patients within 30 days of their infections. Conclusions: After initiation of the described action plan, no further transmission was identified in the ICU or INCU. Real-time observation and environmental culturing was critical in identifying the epidemiological link, and this finding speaks to the ability of this organism to persist on a surface for a substantial length of time. Fanny pack use for transport of patient-care supplies was identified as a high-risk practice due to the inability to be properly disinfected between rooms and limited laundering. Fanny packs are no longer permitted in clinical spaces at this facility.Disclosures: None

Improving Communication From Hospital to Skilled Nursing Facility Through Standardized Hand-Off: A Quality Improvement Project

Background: Inadequate hand-off communication from hospital to skilled nursing facility (SNF) hinders SNF nurses’ ability to prepare for specific patient needs, including prescriptions for critical medications, such as controlled medications and intravenous (IV) antibiotics, resulting in delayed medication administration. This project aims to improve hand-off communication from hospital to SNF by utilizing a standardized hand-off tool. This project was conducted in an inpatient, 50-bed, post-hospital skilled nursing care unit of a local SNF. The participants included all 32 staff nurses employed by the SNF. Methods: Lewin’s change management theory (CMT) guided this quality improvement (QI) project. Baseline assessment included a one-month chart review of 76 patient charts that was conducted to assess the disparities related to ineffective hand-off and medication delays in the SNF before intervention. The wait time for the availability of prescriptions for controlled medications and IV antibiotics, and delays in medication administration were assessed. Intervention: Multiple randomly selected hospital-to-SNF hand-offs were observed. Semistructured interviews with all staff nurses were conducted using open-ended questions about hand-off structure and process matters. Data gathered from observation and interviews were used to create the standardized hand-off tool used in this project. In-service training on hand-off tool utilization for SNF nurses was conducted. Champions for each shift were cultivated to assist with project implementation. Results: After six weeks of implementation, a chart review of 101 patient charts was conducted to evaluate the effects of the hand-off tool on the wait time on the availability of prescriptions for controlled medications and IV antibiotics, and medication administration. The wait time of prescriptions availability during the hospital-to-SNF transition was decreased by 79% for controlled medications, with an associated 52.9% reduction in late administration, and decreased by 94% for IV antibiotics, with a 77.8% reduction in late administration. Conclusion: The use of standardized hand-off resulted in improved communication during the hospital-to-SNF hand-off and significantly decreased the wait time for the availability of prescriptions for controlled medications and IV antibiotics. Integrating standardized hand-off into the SNF policies can help sustain improved communication, medication management, and patient transition from hospital to SNF.

Examining the Needs-Based Time Use of Chinese Nursing Assistants: A Time-Motion Study.

In light of the worldwide shortage of nurses and to maximize the effectiveness of the nursing care available, it is important to investigate the components of the care regularly provided by nursing assistants (NAs) to older adults. Well-organized allocation of NA care activities is directly linked to the quality of care provided to nursing home (NH) residents and their quality of life. However, relevant knowledge about the actual time allocation of NAs in this context is lacking, as previous related studies have focused only on the duration necessary for NAs to complete nursing activities. This study was designed to investigate the time allocation of NAs in completing job tasks necessary to meet the needs of residents in nursing care units at an NH in China. A time-motion method and nonparticipatory observations were used to collect data. Two postgraduate students observed 15 NAs' time expenditure and nursing content simultaneously during day shifts for 3 weeks as the NAs provided care to residents in four different nursing care levels. Data on nursing time and activity frequency were collected using a worklist based on the Zuluaga-Raysmith model. The 119.6 hours of observation included 8,907 discrete observed activities. In terms of the care provided to meet the needs of residents, the most time-consuming activities were physical health care (26.8%) and communication care (18.3%), followed by mental, emotional, social, and spiritual health care (14.1%) and protection and security care (12.6%). The higher the level of care, the higher the proportion of somatic nursing time and nursing activity frequency. However, the time and frequency of psychological and spiritual care showed an opposite trend. Because of their lack of formal nursing training and skills, NAs pay more attention to meeting the physiological needs of residents while ignoring their mental needs. Moreover, their effectiveness in providing spiritual care tends to be quite low. Furthermore, the NA nursing activity classification system based on the Zuluaga-Raysmith model developed in this study is applicable for designing nursing work tasks, organizing NH units, and improving the quality of life of residents, as this model accurately reflects the essence of NA work.

Situación y actividad de las unidades de geriatría de enlace con residencias de mayores en la Comunidad de Madrid

IntroductionIn June 2020, after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hospital-Based Liaison Geriatrics units and Primary Care nursing care units were created in the Community of Madrid to improve health care for residents in a coordinated manner. ObjectiveTo analyze the situation and the activity of the Hospital-Based Liaison Geriatrics units. Material and methodsA cross-sectional study was conducted using an electronic survey prepared and sent to the liaison geriatricians in March 2022, including the following sections: available resources, areas of health care, reasons for consultation, care interventions, research and teaching activity, profiles of residents attended and coordination with other health professionals at that time. A descriptive analysis of the data was performed. Results100% of the existing Liaison Geriatrics units responded, describing essential differences in human resources, hours of care and volume of patients attended. Regarding the care activity of these units, they highlighted the telematic consultation, and the face-to-face assessment during hospitalization and in the emergency department. The main reasons for assessment were decision-making, acute pathology and geriatric syndromes; and the in-hospital drug management or orthoprosthetic aids among the interventions. ConclusionsDespite the heterogeneity in the resources of the different Liaison Geriatric units, there is a similarity in their care activity and the use of telemedicine. It is common to request an assessment for decision-making, acute pathology or geriatric syndromes and interventions for managing in-hospital drugs and tests, orthoprosthetic aids and coordination with other specialists. Liaison Geriatrics units must continue leading quality health care coordinated with nursing homes, as well as continuity of care for residents.

Knowledge about Enteral Feeding Among Cardiac Nurses at CCH

Background: Patients need enough food to recover from any disease. Patients with serious illnesses have high nutritional requirements and can become malnourished very quickly. Research findings suggest that early nutrition is important for patient outcomes. The nutritional needs of all patients are reviewed daily and nutrition is initiated as soon as possible, usually on the first day of admission. In critical care areas, enteral feeding is used to overcome malnutrition conditions and to keep patient in the safety side. Therefore, enteral nutrition is considered an easier method and cheaper when compared to parenteral nutrition which has more complications and costlier, additionally, having enough knowledge about enteral nutrition by the nurses is considered very crucial to administer the enteral feeding to patients in the proper way at the critical care units. Method: Non-experimental, cross-sectional research design which will identify nurses’ knowledge regarding enteral feeding among cardiac nurses at CCH. The study will describe knowledge by using a quantitative method. The research will be conducted in Cardiac Center Hail, Ha’il Region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and will focus on all cardiac nursing care units. Results: The data obtained from this study were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) 25.0 program. A descriptive statistical analysis using means, frequencies, percentages, and standard deviations was used to describe the demographic variables and answer question 1. Kruskal-Wallis was used to determine if there are significant differences among the means of the groups (more two groups) and Mann-Whitney (independent-samples) for questions 2, because the data doesn’t follow normality distribution, where of the Table 2, we find that the significance level of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was less than 0.05. This leads us to reject the null hypothesis that the data follow the normal distribution, so we used nonparametric tests. Conclusion: The nurses’ knowledge regarding enteral nutrition at the cardiac nursing units were enough under safe practices. The in-short activities of Continuing Nursing Education had a positive effect in improving the nurses’ knowledge and practices regarding enteral nutrition in the in-patients’ departments at Cardiac Center Hail.

“Why do nurses do not report”: A qualitative study of underreported workplace violence (WPV) in emergency department (ED)

Violence is a serious problem against emergency nurses which negatively affects the quality of nursing care unit. Most emergency nurses have accepted violence as part of their work. So many violences were not reported for some reasons related of their experiences. The objective was to explore WPV based on the internal circumstances of the ED nurses. A descriptive phenomenological approach was conducted in this study by utilising in-depth interviews. There were eight ED nurses whom selected by purposive sampling. The collected data were thematic analysed by using Miles and Huberman technique. The study identified three themes, (1) Dilemma of nurses in reporting, (2) “ready or not you have to deal with it”, and (3) the iceberg phenomena. The finding illustrates the internal factors that influenced the nurses in reporting WPV. The study emphasised that hospitals should eliminate the “normalization” of violence to reduce the incidents, and moving from “blame culture” to “learning culture” in order to build “reporting culture”. Moreover, education and training program should be reinforced regarding all forms of unacceptable violence. Furthermore, top managers must protect and provide adequate support to the staff who experienced the violence.

Effect of specific training course for competency in professional oral hygiene care in the intensive care unit: a quasi-experimental study for developing a standardized learning curve

BackgroundThe development of evidence-based training standards can help improve the quality of educational programs for novice intensive care unit (ICU) nurses. This study was conducted to assess the application of a training course on competency development of nurses in relation to oral hygiene care in ICU patients and to develop a checklist for evaluating the competence performance. In addition, to achieve a certain level of oral hygiene competence, as well as to assess the relative importance of predicting factors and learning competency patterns in oral hygiene care, we used standard learning curve.MethodsThis quasi-experimental study with time series design was conducted on newly registered ICU nurses of a teaching hospital affiliated with Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran, between 2016 and 2018. In the first phase of this study, we designed a checklist to assess nurses' professional competence in oral hygiene care in three stages: before, during, and after care. Then, in the second phase, the level of competence of nurses in repeated times of oral hygiene care was determined based on checklist items and recorded in the learning curve.ResultsThe greatest increase of oral hygiene care competency due to repetition was observed in the first and fourth times of repetition in comparison to the subsequent and previous steps. In the linear regression model, demographic variables predicted 12–19% of changes related to skill scores in repetitions.ConclusionAccording to the learning curve, newly registered ICU nurses can reach an acceptable competency after 6 repetitions of oral hygiene care.

Effect of moral distress on professional quality work among nurses in intensive care units

Background: Moral distress, as one of the most important issues in the nursing profession, can negatively affect the healthcare system. Purpose: To examine the effect of moral distress on professional quality work life. Method: A descriptive cross-sectional study a non-probability sampling method used and total sample collected was (126) of ICU nurses. Results: Moral distress, BO, STS, and, CS among ICUs nurses were moderate. Conclusion: Nurses in ICUs suffered from moderate MD which that effected their BO and STS, and the result can be negative effects on quality of care. Although MD did not affect nurses' CS, it is still an important issue that nurses may face in ICUs

Intensive care unit nurses' conflict of conscience: Walking the Razor's edge.

The study aimed to explore the conditions that accompany conflict of conscience experienced by nurses in intensive care units. A qualitative approach guided the study, which was undertaken between April 2020 and April 2021. A total of 15 registered nurses working in intensive care units were recruited through purposive sampling. Individual semistructured interviews were conducted. The data were analyzed using a qualitative content analysis. The analysis revealed two themes: "conflict of conscience in relation to the structure" and "conflict of conscience based on context." Conflict of conscience in relation to the structure consisted of two categories: conflict of interest and conflict of conscience and law. Conflict of conscience based on context consisted of two categories: care dilemmas and arbitrary behaviors with end-stage patients. A variety of factors were accompanied by a conflict of conscience for nurses in intensive care units. Given that conflict of conscience has negative consequences for the health and quality of nursing care, health care managers need to tailor strategies to reduce the negative consequences considering the findings of the study.

The effect of medical material management system app on nursing workload and stress

AimsTo develop a clinical medical material management App for nurses, in order to reduce their workload and improve the efficacy of medical material management.DesignThe single-group pre- and post-test experimental design was adopted.MethodsThe subjects were nurses in the intensive care units of a regional hospital in Hsinchu City enrolled by purposive sampling. Single-group pre-tests and post-tests were conducted. The research period was from November 2019 to March 2020. The workload, stress, and information acceptance of 57 nurses before and after the intervention of the Medical Equipment App were collected. The research tools included a structured questionnaire, which includes open questions that cover the aspects of workload, stress, and information acceptance intention of nurses, as well as a demographic questionnaire, which collects the basic personal data, including gender, age, years of service, educational level, nursing ability level, use ability of IT products, and unit type. The results were analyzed and compared using SPSS, APP Inventor, and data mining modeling to determine the effects of the App.ResultsAfter employing the Shift Check App, the average workload of nurses was effectively reduced, in particular, the workload reduction of the N1 level nursing ability was greater than that of N2. In addition to satisfaction, the scores of information acceptance intention in all aspects, including behavioral intention, technology use intention, and contributing factors, all increased.ConclusionThe use of information technology products to assist medical material management in clinical practice has a significant effect on the load reduction of nurses and improvement of satisfaction.Clinical relevanceThe App developed in this study can improve nurses’ work satisfaction, quality of care and workload reduction.

The Transformational Leader in Nursing Practice – an approach to retain nursing staff

Transformational leaders have been shown to influence positive work environments and support the retention of nursing staff. While exemplars have been found in upper-level management, the implementation of these characteristics in unit-based leaders is less explained. The elements of the transformational leader on followers and the organization—individual consideration, individual stimulation, inspirational motivation, and idealized influence—can engage nursing staff to remain in an organization which will promote positive patient outcomes. This article will review the elements of the transformational leader and share two exemplars of the transformational metanarrative as demonstrated in nursing care units. Both exemplars demonstrate how the transformational leader can influence the retention of nursing staff and support unit level change to support positive patient outcomes.

Perceived effects of COVID-19 pandemic on stress levels and its related factors of NICU nurses

COVID-19 pandemic has affected numerous conditions in nurses’ jobs, which led to stress. Stress in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurses is different from other units due to neonates’ fragility. This study aims to identify the perceived effect of the COVID-19 pandemic in NICU nurses’ stress levels and its related factors. This cross-sectional study took place in Hasan Sadikin General Hospital Bandung, Indonesia, in October – December 2020, involving 23 NICU nurses. Subjects filled in the online questionnaires for three different time frames: before the pandemic, at the onset of the pandemic, and in the new normal era. Data were analyzed using Friedman test, post hoc Wilcoxon test, and Bonferroni correction. There was significant difference in nurses’ stress before the pandemic, at the onset of the pandemic, and in the new normal era. The stress increased at the onset of the pandemic and then decreased in the new normal era. The COVID-19 pandemic increased stress level and affected workloads, work-safety, interpersonal relationships, family problems, and economic problems. With these findings, we recommend the hospital management do a regular stress screening on NICU nurses and refer to the psychiatric department if nurses experience stress.

Smart Medical Nursing Care Unit based on Internet of Things for Emergency Healthcare

Recently, the development and integration of various sensor control with smart intelligent unit is used in medical field through IoT. However, there is still a lot of space for growth in the medical and health industry's use of new technology. The traditional nurse care unit is managed through medical staffs, and the expanding medical demands creates the hospital’s patients records to be updated inefficiently. Since this is now an urgent need, developing a realistic, smart medical nursing care unit at low cost with a system capable of facilitating the effective and convenient administration of medical staff has taken a new significance. The proposed framework, conducted in the analysis to monitor medical records and activities of the emergency care unit patients, functions as a nurse and gives patients the nurse care satisfaction. The patients' actual location may be obtained for the first time by cloud computing based smart system. The precise location of the patient is critical to rescue the patient in emergency situation. This research work illustrates that the intelligent nurse care unit is the main phase called Smart Medical Nursing Care (SMNC). It contains several sensor units and by the combination of many sensors in the sensor module, it takes very less reaction time to connect or communicate both sides i.e., between patients and medical staffs.

Design of a Clinical Practice Guideline in Nurse-Led Ventilator-Weaning for Nursing Training.

Cardiothoracic intensive care unit (CICU) nurses have shared the role and responsibility for ventilator-weaning to expedite decision-making in patient care. However, the actions taken are based on individual's unstructured training experience as there is no clinical practice guideline (CPG) for nurses in Malaysia. Hence, this study aims to design a CPG for the process of weaning from mechanical ventilation (MV) for a structured nursing training in a CICU at the National Heart Institute (Institut Jantung Negara, IJN) Malaysia. The Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM) was employed to seek consensus among a panel of 30 experts in cardiac clinical practice on the guidelines. First, five experts were interviewed and their responses were transcribed and analyzed to develop the items for a FDM questionnaire. The questionnaire, comprising of 73 items, was distributed to the panel and their responses were analyzed for consensus on the design of the CPG. The findings suggested that the requirements expected for the nurses include: (a) the ability to interpret arterial blood gases, (b) knowledge and skills on the basics of mechanical ventilation, and (c) having a minimum 1-year working experience in the ICU. On the other hand, the CPG should mainly focus on developing an ability to identify criteria of patient eligible for weaning from MV. The learning content should focus on: (a) developing the understanding and reasoning for weaning and extubating and (b) technique/algorithm for extubating and weaning. Also, the experts agreed that the log book/competency book should be used for evaluation of the program. The CPG for structured nursing training at IJN in the context of the study is important for developing the professionalism of CICU nurses in IJN and could be used for training nurses in other CICUs, so that decision for ventilator-weaning from postcardiac surgery could be expedited.

간호 · 간병통합서비스 병동 간호사의 비판적 사고성향과 의사소통 명확성이 환자안전역량에 미치는 영향

Objective: The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of critical thinking disposition and communication clarity of nurses in integrated nursing care units on the patient safety competence to strengthen the patient safety competence of nurses in integrated nursing care units.<BR>Background: Since 2016, it has been implemented as an integrated nursing care service in which professional nursing personnel provide holistic specialized nursing including nursing. However, the integrated nursing care service does not adequately reflect realistic nursing needs, so safety accidents such as falls or bedsores may inevitably occur. Therefore, the patient safety competence of nurses in integrated nursing care units is very important, and critical thinking disposition and communication clarity for patient safety are very important.<BR>Method: Data collection was conducted using a structured questionnaire for a total of 14 days from February 24 to March 10, 2021, targeting 230 nurses in integrated nursing care units of four general hospitals with 300 beds or more in B City. The collected data were analyzed by the SPSS 25.0 program.<BR>Results: Factors affecting patient safety competence of subjects were communication clarity (β=.54, p＜.001), critical thinking disposition (β=.18, p=.015), and completion of patient safety education within the last 1 year (β=.13, p=.012), these variables explained 45% of the patient safety competence of nurses in integrated nursing care units.<BR>Conclusion: It was confirmed that the critical thinking disposition, communication clarity, and completion of patient safety education of nurses in the nursing care integrated service ward were influencing factors on patient safety competence. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen patient safety education to meet the educational needs of nurses. In other words, it is thought that it is necessary to develop and apply a video education program that is less than two hours in length with enhanced infection control education, including acute respiratory infectious disease management, and a specific and practical education program to improve critical thinking disposition and communication clarity.<BR>Application: The results might help to utilize them as basic data for nursing intervention plan to improve patient safety competence.

Knowledge, attitudes and practices of intensive care unit nurses towards nutritional care in critically ill patients: A descriptive cross-sectional study

Introduction: In recent years, there has been a growing concern about the lack of adequate nutrition Knowledge among nurses. Nutrition training in the medical curriculum and for healthcare professionals is contradictory, inadequate, and weak. Nurses are one of the most reliable sources of nutritional information for patients; and yet, little research has been done so far on nurses’ information regarding their important role in nutritional care. Our study is designed to assess the current level of Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of nurses in intensive care units (ICUs). Methods: A four-part questionnaire was used in this study. This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from July 2019 to July 2020. The sample size consisted of 110 nurses based on the statistical data obtained from the nursing offices of two hospitals of Tabriz University of medical science including all the nurses working in the ICUs. Thereafter, all questionnaires were re-collected and data were finally analyzed. Results: Results showed that from 110 nurses which were included in this study, 73.6% had high Knowledge, 45.5% had moderate practices, and 58.2% had a positive attitude about nutritional support. Age and level of education had a significant correlation with their knowledge (P=0.005 and P=0.001, respectively). Nursing attitude had a significant correlation with age and the level of education (P=0.03 and P=0.003). And also, nursing practice had a significant relationship with age, work experience in the ICU, and the level of education (P=0.001, P=0.001 and P=0.004, P&lt;0.05). Conclusion: Nurses surveyed in this study had a high knowledge, moderate practice and a positive attitude regarding nutritional care in patients admitted to the ICU.