Initial Psychometric Evaluation of the Physical Health Attitude Scale and a Survey of Mental Health Nurses

INTRODUCTION: Nurses play an important role in improving the physical health of individuals with serious mental illnesses. The literature on the attitudes of mental health nurses towards physical healthcare provides a small amount of data. Assessing trends in nurses' attitudes through suitable surveys is important to ensure holistic care. AIM/QUESTION: This study sought to examine the Turkish version of the Physical Health Attitude Scale's (PHASe) validity and reliability and to survey Turkish mental health nurses' attitudes towards physical healthcare. METHOD: The sample consisted of 174 nurses working in acute psychiatric wards. Firstly, the psychometric properties of the scale were analyzed using factor analysis and measures of internal consistency and reliability. Then, the survey results of the attitudes of mental health nurses towards the physical health of patients with serious mental illnesses were determined using the Physical Health Attitude Scale (PHASe). RESULTS: The translated PHASe scale functioned best as a 24-item version and 4-factor solution that explains 51.3% of the variance. The internal consistency value was .83. The respondents' attitudes were generally positive about their role. There was less agreement for the involvement of nurses in practices of health promotion, such as sexual health, eye and/or dental examinations. The nurses surveyed also tended to use smoking for therapeutic purposes. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Mental health nurses' knowledge and attitudes should be enhanced by additional training in the ways of meeting patients' biopsychosocial needs. Obstacles to physical healthcare can be removed by implementing standard protocols nationwide. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Side-chain supramolecular polymers employing conformer independent triple hydrogen bonding arrays

Derivatives of thymine have been extensively used to promote supramolecular materials assembly. Such derivatives can be synthetically challenging to access and may be susceptible to degradation. The current article uses a conformer-independent acceptor-donor-acceptor array (ureidopyrimidine) which forms moderate affinity interactions with diamidopyridine derivatives to effect supramolecular blend formation between polystyrene and poly(methyl methacrylate) polymers obtained by RAFT which have been functionalized with the hydrogen bonding motifs

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Correction to: Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake

Primary school teachers' perception of school, colleague proficiency and self proficiency [Sinif ögretmenleri·ni·n okul, meslektaşlarEi ve ken?i mesleki·yeterli·kleri·ni·algilamalari]

This research focuses on primary school teachers' level of perceiving school, colleagues occupational proficiency as well as self occupati6nal proficiency The sample of the research was composed of 219 primary school teachers who were randomly chosen among the ones working in the schools of the Ministry of education. The data was obtained through the scale of primary school teaching and teachers' evaluation of the process of programming their teaching. The Cronbach Alpa internal consistency coefficient for the scale was calculated as 0,82. According to the research findings, According to the findings obtained from the research, teachers' level of benefiting from computer technology and the internet to improve themselves is low, and occupationally they need partial education. Apart from that, they consider themselves to be highly adequate, yet their colleagues to be partly adequate with regard to occupational proficiency and enthusiasm. The teachers in the research don't rely on their colleagues who haven't made progress and who have no good performance within the system as educators; moreover, they maintain that they don't think such colleagues should reamin as teachers. Even though they are for performing normal educational activities at school, they usually spend time outside school doing activities that are not academic. Beside that, they are for the opinion that performance evaluation should be made in establishing the personnel rights for teachers. Primary school teachers perceive schools as institutions having a mission and a vision, and serving to their environment in many ways