Assessment of the Safety Climate at University Hospitals in the Slovak Republic from the Nurses’ Perspective

Introduction: Safety climate consists of individual dimensions that might be assessed using specific instruments, e.g., the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPS). Establishing the safety climate in healthcare facilities leads to improvements in patient safety

Quality of Life in Patients with Diabetic Foot Ulcer in the Visegrad Countries

AIM AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to identify the quality of life of patients with diabetic foot ulcers in the Visegrad countries. BACKGROUND: The diabetics with foot ulcers are principally evaluated on the basis of physical parameters, but this does not always reveal much about the patient's experience of life with ulceration. DESIGN: The cross-sectional study. METHODS: The standardized generic questionnaire World Health Organisation Quality of Life Bref was used. The sample was made up of 525 participants and the calculations were performed using the IBM SPSS statistical program. RESULTS: The significant negative correlations between demographic data such as age, duration of diabetes mellitus, duration of diabetes ulceration treatment and a lower level of quality of life were found across the sample. The statistically significant differences according to clinical characteristics such as Wagner classification, frequency of foot ulcers, present peripheral vascular diseas and pain in terms of quality of life were also revealed. Significant differences of quality of life among Visegrad countries were revealed: Hungary's participants had a worse quality of life than others, while Slovak participants expressed lower satisfaction with their health than Czech. CONCLUSIONS: Socio-demographic factors and clinical characteristics influence the quality of life of patients with diabetic foot ulcer. Significant differences between patients of Visegrad countries were found in all domains of quality of life: physical, psychological, social and environmental. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The quality of life of patients with diabetic foot ulcer reflects the conditions and health care system in each of the Visegrad countries. We have to respect socio-demographic factors and clinical characteristics in nursing care. This could have an impact on managing patient care not only with regard to their diabetic foot ulcer but also with regard to the patient as a personality with their own problems in relation to physical, psychosocial and environmental conditions. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Exploring the meaning of night shift placement in nursing education: A European multicentre qualitative study

Background: An appropriate clinical learning environment has been identified as pivotal in nursing undergraduate education and should be planned responsibly. Specifically, night shifts placements have been documented as an important opportunity for developing a full understanding of the nursing profession and the whole process of nursing care. However, night shifts during placement have been reported to be stressful and anxiety-provoking, so their usefulness for nursing students is still debated. Objectives: To elicit nursing students\u2019 perceptions of night shift placement through metaphors, with the aim of discussing the pedagogical and ethical implications. Design: A descriptive qualitative study was performed based on metaphors collected in an international cross-sectional study in 2016. Settings: A network comprising five Bachelor of Nursing Science degrees located in the Czech Republic, Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Slovakia was established. Methods: A total of 907 out of 1347 eligible nursing students from the five European countries described their learning experience on night shifts using a metaphor. Results: Overall, 288/907 (31.7%) metaphors emerged as being negative-oriented and 137/907 (15.1%) as positive, while the remaining students (482; 53.2%) did not report any metaphors. In all five countries, negative metaphors prevailed: \u2018Wasting time\u2019 (37/288), \u2018Useless\u2019 (32/288) and \u2018Handyman\u2019 (22/288) were the most negative reported metaphors on working a night shift. However, doing a night shift is also perceived as a \u2018Learning opportunity\u2019 (22/137), a \u2018New experience\u2019 (20/137) and an \u2018Opportunity to socialize with the profession\u2019 (14/137) as underlined by the positive metaphors. Conclusions: Students perceive night shift placements mainly as a negative experience, which has little to do with education. While planning night shift placements, nursing educators should responsibly consider the whole process of education, analysing not only the learning outcomes that should be achieved but also the position of students and their experience as a person. Clinical mentoring can be a key resource in supporting students in transforming their night shift placements\u2019 experiences into a more meaningful or worthwhile experience. Moreover, night shifts should be offered to more experienced students, independent in their self-learning processes and capable of managing the limited possibility of interacting with other team members and patients