Attitudes of Nursing Students Towards Learning Communication Skills

Introduction: Attitudes of nursing students towards learning nurse-patient communication skills have for long been a concern of lecturers, planners and policy-makers. The objectives of our study were to explore the attitudes of nursing students towards learning communication skills

Comparing Students’ Self-Assessment with Teachers’ Assessment of Clinical Skills Using an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE)

Evaluation of clinical skills is a demanding and complex process and is dependent on many complex factors, such as teaching and learning approaches, simulated learning, and psychometrically validated assessment tools. Therefore, it is imperative that adequate strategies and methods are employed to evaluate the success of a nursing care activity. One such strategy in the field of nursing care is the application of objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) of a nursing activity. The purpose of this article is to highlight the importance of evaluating nursing activities in a simulated clinical environment with OSCE to determine synchronicity of the teacher and student assessment. A cross-sectional study was carried out, in which we compared the evaluation of nursing activity by the teacher and the 51 students. Summative content analysis was used to analyze open-ended questions about possible improvement of performed nursing activity. The data showed a large discrepancy (81.9%) in evaluating nursing activity between the teacher and the student. The synchronicity between the teacher and student assessment modality occurred only in 18%. Students were mostly less successful in their assessment of competence with knowledge about carrying out interventions (36.5%), preparing for interventions (24.3%), and infection control (14.4%). Clinical skills acquisition remains an essential element of a student nurse’s development, as competence in nursing skills is essential to patient safety. Simulation is viewed as an increasingly popular approach to the teaching and assessing of clinical skills. The process of evaluating nursing activity demands the usage of objective instruments that require objectivity, fairness, impartiality, and comprehension. The use of OSCE is one such method of promoting reliable and valid assessments in nursing skills

Impact of Education, Working Conditions, and Interpersonal Relationships on Caregivers’ Job Satisfaction

Aim: To explore relationships between caregivers’ education, healthcare working conditions, interpersonal relationships, and caregivers’ general job satisfaction

Quality of life, social integration and alcohol addiction

Alcohol addiction is the most common type of addiction in Slovenia, and worldwide. It develops gradually as interplay of various factors (individual and social) and has numerous consequences for individuals at psychophysical, economic and social level. Experts agree that alcohol addiction is an important bio-psycho-socio problem, which needs to be addressed holistically and extensively. The theoretical part of the present doctoral thesis discusses the development of addiction, the models of psychosocial rehabilitation, the concept of the quality of life, the importance of psychophysical, relational and social rehabilitation as well as the concept of an individual’s integration in their social settings. Alcohol addiction gradually leads to social exclusion of both, the addicts and their families. As a consequence, the addicts’ psychophysical balance is broken, they lose social contacts, social security and family support, they start suffering from other mental disorders and so on. This all leads to the unavoidable reduction of their quality of life. Abstinence and a complete change of their lifestyle give recovered alcoholics best results with regard to the improvement of their social integration, thus leading to a better quality of life of the recovered individuals as well as their families. The empirical part of this thesis uses the triangulation of quantitative and qualitative approaches to discuss individuals’ evaluations of their quality of life, family support, social integration and the evaluation of mood states, i.e. the occurrence of depressive disorders. The studied quantitative research group consisted of three subgroups: the first one were individuals who had not yet started the treatment of their alcohol addiction, the second one were individuals who were being treated for their alcohol addiction during data collection, while the third one comprised individuals who had completed an institutionalised treatment of their alcohol addiction and were members of various groups for recovered alcohol addicts. To make the results comparable we also set up a control group of individuals not suffering from alcohol addiction. All groups were made statistically equal with regard to their gender, age and education. At the same time we put individuals from aforementioned groups in four focus groups to conduct a qualitative analysis of their subjective evaluations about their quality of life, social integrations and family support. The results of the quantitative and qualitative studies have shown that non-addicts are statistically significantly more satisfied with their own well-being and are also more active in their free time. Moreover, these individuals were found to be better integrated in their family dynamics and spoke of greater family support and closer ties between family members. Alcohol addicts, on the other hand, are statistically significantly more likely to suffer from severe cases of depressive disorder. When examining the occurrence of depressive disorder the results also show a statistically significant difference between the genders, whereby female alcohol addicts were not only more frequently found to have suffered from depressive disorder but they were also found to have suffered from more severe cases of this illness. The qualitative part of the study confirms some quantitative approach findings, e.g. that relaxation activities are extremely important for most research groups, but most of all for the healthy individuals group. The biggest support from family members was found among recovered alcohol addicts, who had completed the treatment, and healthy individuals. The group of individuals not suffering from alcohol addiction, however, was found to be most satisfied with their own social integration. In conclusion, alcohol addiction is a problem which affects individuals and their environment on all functional levels, whilst at the same time influencing the following areas: satisfaction with one’s life – alcohol addicts speak of a lower satisfaction with life given that on account of their addiction they are confronted with numerous problems on all levels of activity; interpersonal relationships – alcohol addicts have fewer social contacts as the result of the family breaking up, losing, amongst other things, their friends or their job. Frequently, alcohol addicts only stay in touch with their so-called drinking buddies, who, albeit on a temporary basis can still offer sufficient support; health – alcohol addicts suffer from numerous physical and mental health problems; economic status – unemployment, which is often connected to alcoholism, can lead to a greater financial crisis, poverty and loss of the social status. To help solve the alcohol addiction problematic we all need to pull our strengths together. In the light of this, the main contribution of the present doctoral thesis is to provide new insights, particularly in the area of evaluation and experiencing of the quality of life, social support and social integration. The findings could be used to significantly improve therapeutic and rehabilitation programmes in the area of social, pedagogical and health-care activities

Stress among employees in psychiatric nursing

Introduction: Evidence suggests that stressful situations are frequent in the field of psychiatry and that professionals working in this speciality are more prone to stress. Stressful situations may be compounded by ignoring the principles and strategies of therapeutic communication in all interactions with patients. The purpose of the research was to determine the presence of stress among the nursing team members. Methods: The research is based on a quantitative methodology; the data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. The sample consisted of 73 nurses working in a special social welfare institution (n = 37) and in a psychiatric hospital (n = 36). The survey was conducted in the first half of the year 2016. Descriptive statistics and chi-square test were used. Results: The list of stress factors most frequently reported by the participants include low pay (n = 40, 55 %), poor interpersonal relationships in the workplace (n = 23, 32 %), and the sense of insecurity due to unpredictable behaviour of patients (n = 32, 44 %). One fifth of the respondents are regularly subjected to patient physical violence and psychological abuse in the workplace (n = 14, 19 %) and a large majority (n = 53, 72.5 %) are frequently exposed to dangerous situations. The respondents are not fully aware of the crucial importance of therapeutic communication with the patients (n = 38, 52 %). Discussion and conclusion: It is impossible to completely avoid stressful situations in psychiatric settings. Psychiatric nurses should possess good communication skills and the ability to develop good interpersonal relationships

Uživanje alkohola med študenti zdravstvene nege

Uvod: Pitje alkoholnih pijač je med mladostniki v Sloveniji in tudi drugod po svetu zelo velik problem. Največ mladih pije alkoholne pijače predvsem v obdobju adolescence. Namen raziskave je bil predstaviti uživanje alkohola med študenti zdravstvene nege, ki je tudi sicer vse pogostejši problem v sodobnem načinu življenja. Metode: Anketiranje je potekalo v prvi polovici leta 2015 med študenti rednega študija zdravstvene nege 1. stopnje. V raziskavi je sodelovalo 217 študentov. Uporabljeno je bilo priložnostno vzorčenje. Uporabili smo osnovno deskriptivno statistiko in kvantitativno raziskovalno metodologijo s pomočjo strukturiranega vprašalnika. Rezultati: Med anketiranimi se je v izbiri najpogostejših alkoholnih pijač pokazala statistično pomembna razlika (p = 0,000) glede na spol, saj moški posegajo bolj po pivu, ženske bolj po žganih pijačah. Prav tako je razlika po spolu prisotna v opitosti, saj so bili moški v zadnjih 30 dneh pred anketiranjem statistično značilno bolj pogosto opiti kot ženske (p = 0,000). Diskusija in zaključek: Iz rezultatov raziskave je razvidno, da več kot polovica anketiranih študentov zdravstvene nege tvegano pije alkoholne pijače. Raziskava nakazuje, da bolj tvegano pijejo študenti moškega spola. Pridobljeni podatki nakazujejo potrebo po obsežnejši raziskavi o uživanju alkohola med slovenskimi študenti

What motivates students to enter nursing? Findings from a cross-sectional study

The nursing profession is specific due to many hours of clinical placement and work with healthy, ill or dying people of all ages. • Although, nurses make up a large group of healthcare professionals, there is a big shortage of nurses in practice among the whole world. • As the biggest disadvantages of studying nursing, students listed crowded schedule and faculty organisation, and as the biggest advantage the ease of finding a job after graduation. Abstract Introduction It is expected that future nurses have high levels of emotional intelligence and empathy, because of their everyday interaction with people in a clinical environment. Thus, nursing students must show interest in nursing studies and in work with people. Moreover, it is desired that they have good communication skills. On the other hand, students who choose nursing as their future career may have high expectations from nursing education. The aim of this study was to explore nursing students' reasons for pursuing nursing studies. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among undergraduate nursing students in Slovenia and Croatia. Results A total of 314 students participated in the study. General satisfaction with their studies is higher among those students who are satisfied with their chosen study programme. The most important reasons to enter nursing studies were interest in the subject and good employment possibilities. As the biggest disadvantage of studying nursing, Slovenian students listed crowded schedules, while Croatian students mentioned faculty organization. Students from both countries agreed that the biggest advantage is the ease of finding a job after graduation. Discussion As there is a lack of workforce in the healthcare sector, particularly a lack of nurses, universities must adjust their demands and improve study conditions to gain students' attention. Therefore, it is important to notice that nursing students perceive more advantages of studying nursing than disadvantages. Conclusion There are many different reasons to enter nursing studies. Students perceive many advantages in studying nursing, such as ease of employment, getting many hours of clinical practice and the possibility for promotion. On the other hand, there are some challenges in studying nursing, such as the schedule and organization of lectures, seminars and clinical placement. There is a need for further research in the field of nursing student's motivation, especially due to their decreasing motivation during the studies