Деградация человеческого потенциала как фактор латентной составляющей деятельности высшей школы Украины

Рассмотрены проблемы тенизации и коррупционности функционирования украин-ской высшей школы на фоне вектора развития показателей потенциала населения страны.Розглянуті проблеми тінізації і коррупційності функціонування української вищої школи на тлі вектору розвитку показників потенціалу населення країни

National disaster preparedness and emergency response of nurses in Germany: An exploratory qualitative study

Aim: This study aimed to explore the German nurses’ perceptions of their knowledge, roles and experience in the field of national preparedness and emergency response. Methods: An exploratory qualitative design was used with open-ended questions during semi-structured interviews with qualified nurses currently working in hospitals. The setting of the study consisted of wards of different hospitals in three northern federal states of Germany. The data analysis was done by summarizing analysis of the contents. From a convenient sample of n=31 hospitals, n=13 nurses were included in the study. Results: The median age of the participants was 45 years and 38% were female. Within the three professional socialization fields, knowledge, roles and experience, 17 themes were clustered. Conclusion: Within the themes of knowledge, role and experience in national disaster prepared-ness and emergency response, similarities and differences were explored in comparison to inter-national literature. Source of funding: This study did not receive any form of financial or other support. Acknowledgements: We would like to thank the nurses who participated in this study. We would also like to thank the nursing managers of the hospitals, the head of the departments and the head nurses for approaching their employees and colleagues. Conflict of interest: None declare

National disaster preparedness and emergency response of nurses in Germany: An exploratory qualitative study

Aim: This study aimed to explore the German nurses’ perceptions of their knowledge, roles and experience in the field of national preparedness and emergency response. Methods: An exploratory qualitative design was used with open-ended questions during semi-structured interviews with qualified nurses currently working in hospitals. The setting of the study consisted of wards of different hospitals in three northern federal states of Germany. The data analysis was done by summarizing analysis of the contents. From a convenient sample of n=31 hospitals, n=13 nurses were included in the study. Results: The median age of the participants was 45 years and 38% were female. Within the three professional socialization fields, knowledge, roles and experience, 17 themes were clustered. Conclusion: Within the themes of knowledge, role and experience in national disaster prepared-ness and emergency response, similarities and differences were explored in comparison to inter-national literature

Nurses’ roles, knowledge and experience in national disaster pre-paredness and emergency response: A literature review

Aim: Nurses play a central role in disaster preparedness and management, as well as in emergency response, in many countries over the world. Care in a disaster environment is different from day-to-day nursing care and nurses have special needs during a disaster. However, disaster nursing education is seldom provided and a lack of curricula exists in many countries around the world. The aim of this literature review is to provide an overview of nurses’ roles, knowledge and experience in national disaster preparedness and emergency response. Methods: An electronic search was conducted using multiple literature databases. All items were included, regardless of the publication year. All abstracts were screened for relevance and a synthesis of evidence of relevant articles was undertaken. Relevant information was extracted, summarized and categorized. Out of 432 reviewed references, information of 68 articles was included in this review. Results: The sub-themes of the first main theme (a) roles of nurses during emergency response include the expectations of the hospital and the public, general and special roles of nurses, assignments of medical tasks, special role during a pandemic influenza, role conflicts during a disaster, willingness to respond to a disaster. For (b) disaster preparedness knowledge of nurses, the corresponding sub-themes include the definition of a disaster, core competencies and curriculum, undergraduate nursing education and continuing education programs, disaster drills, training and exercises, preparedness. The sub-themes for the last theme (c) disaster experiences of nurses include the work environment, nursing care, feelings, stressors, willingness to respond as well as lessons learned and impacts. Conclusion: There is consensus in the literature that nurses are key players in emergency response. However, no clear mandate for nurses exists concerning their tasks during a disaster. For a nurse, to be able to respond to a disaster, personal and professional preparedness, in terms of education and training, are central. The Framework of Disaster Nursing Competencies of the WHO and ICN, broken down into national core competencies, will serve as a sufficient complement to the knowledge and skills of nurses already acquired through basic nursing curricula. During and after a disaster, attention should be applied to the work environment, feelings and stressors of nurses, not only to raise the willingness to respond to a disaster. Where non-existent, national directives and concepts for disaster nursing should be developed and nurses should be aware of their duties. Nursing educators should prepare nurses for disasters, by adjusting the curricula and by meeting the increased need for education and training in disaster nursing for all groups of nurses. The appropriateness of theoretical and practical preparation of disaster nursing competencies in undergraduate nursing courses and continuing education programmes should be evaluated

Effectiveness of customary use of phytosterol/-stanol enriched margarines on blood cholesterol lowering.

Postlaunch monitoring of functional foods can encompass monitoring of effectiveness under conditions of customary use. To this end, the effectiveness of phytosterol/-stanol enriched margarine consumption in free-living conditions was investigated with data from the Dutch "Doetinchem cohort study". In total, 4,505 subjects (aged 26-70 years) were examined in 1994-1998 and re-examined during 1999-2003. A general and a food frequency questionnaire and non-fasting blood samples for total and HDL cholesterol determination were obtained. Subjects were stratified into phytosterol/-stanol enriched margarine users (n = 84) and non-users (n = 4,421) based on the re-examination data, as these margarines were available on the Dutch market from 1999 onwards. Mean spontaneous daily use (g +/- SD) of phytosterol-containing margarine (n = 71) was 15 +/- 8 and of phytostanol-containing margarine (n = 13) 9+/-6. After five years, total blood cholesterol had increased with 0.26 mmol/l in non-users while it had not significantly changed in users. The difference in total blood cholesterol change in users versus non-users was -0.30 mmol/l (p < 0.001). The beneficial effect of the phytosterol/-stanol enriched margarine, used under customary conditions can be characterized as a stabilization of cholesterol levels. This is the first report finding a modest beneficial effect on blood cholesterol level under customary conditions thereby partly confirming findings from clinical trials

High Protein Intake Associates with Cardiovascular Events but not with Loss of Renal Function

The long-term effects of higher dietary protein intake on cardiovascular and renal outcomes in the general population are not clear. We analyzed data from 8461 individuals who did not have renal disease and participated in two or three subsequent screenings (6.4-yr follow-up) in a prospective, community-based cohort study (Prevention of Renal and Vascular ENd-stage Disease [PREVEND]). We calculated daily protein intake from 24-h urinary urea excretion (Maroni formula) and used Cox proportional hazard models to analyze the associations between protein intake, cardiovascular events, and mortality. We used mixed-effects models to investigate the association between protein intake and change in renal function over time. The mean ± SD daily protein intake was 1.20 ± 0.27 g/kg. Protein intake was significantly associated with cardiovascular events during follow-up. The associations seemed U-shaped; compared with intermediate protein intake, individuals with either higher or lower protein intake had higher event rates. All-cause mortality and noncardiovascular mortality also were significantly associated with protein intake; individuals with low protein intake had the highest event rates. We found no association between baseline protein intake and rate of renal function decline during follow-up. In summary, in the general population, high protein intake does not promote accelerated decline of renal function but does associate with an increased risk for cardiovascular events

Empathy and Its Relationship With Social Functioning in Individuals at Ultra-High Risk for Psychosis

Introduction: Social functioning is often impaired in the ultra-high-risk (UHR) phase of psychosis. There is some evidence that empathy is also impaired in this phase and that these impairments may underlie difficulties in social functioning. The main aim of this study was to investigate whether cognitive and affective empathy are lower in people in the UHR phase of psychosis in comparison to healthy controls, and whether possible impairments have the same magnitude as in people with schizophrenia. A second aim was to examine whether there is a relationship between empathy and social functioning in individuals in the UHR phase. Method: Forty-three individuals at UHR for psychosis, 92 people with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder, and 49 persons without a psychiatric disorder completed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE), and Faux Pas as instruments to measure empathy. The Time Use survey was used to measure social functioning. MAN(C)OVA was used to analyse differences between groups on empathy and social functioning, and correlations were calculated between empathy measures and social functioning for each group. Results: The UHR group presented significantly lower levels of self-reported cognitive empathy than the healthy controls, but not compared to patients with SSD, while performance-based cognitive empathy was unimpaired in the UHR group. On the affective measures, we found that people with UHR and patients with SSD had significantly higher levels of self-reported distress in interpersonal settings compared to healthy controls. In the UHR group, perspective-taking was negatively associated with time spent on structured social activities. In the SSD group, we found that structured social activities were positively associated with perspective-taking and negatively associated with personal distress in interactions with others. Lastly, in people without mental illness, social activities were positively associated with performance-based perspective-taking. Conclusion: Impairments in subjective cognitive empathy appear to be present in the UHR phase, suggesting that difficulties in interpreting the thoughts and feelings of others precede the onset of psychotic disorders. This can inform future interventions in the UHR phase

Is blended learning and problem-based learning course design suited to develop future public health leaders? An explorative European study

Background: Public health leaders are confronted with complex problems, and developing effective leadership competencies is essential. The teaching of leadership is still not common in public health training programs around the world. A reconceptualization of professional training is needed and can benefit from innovative educational approaches. Our aim was to explore learners’ perceptions of the effectiveness and appeal of a public health leadership course using problem based, blended learning methods that used virtual learning environment technologies. Case presentation: In this cross-sectional evaluative study, the Self-Assessment Instrument of Competencies for Public Health Leaders was administered before and after an online, blended-learning, problem-based (PBL) leadership course. An evaluation questionnaire was also used to measure perceptions of blended learning, problem-based learning, and tutor functioning among 19 public health professionals from The Netherlands (n = 8), Lithuania (n = 5), and Austria (n = 6). Participants showed overall satisfaction and knowledge gains related to public health leadership competencies in six of eight measured areas, especially Political Leadership and Systems Thinking. Some perceptions of blended learning and PBL varied between the institutions. This might have been caused by lack of experience of the educational approaches, differing professional backgrounds, inexperience of communicating in the online setting, and different expectations towards the course. Conclusions: Blended, problem-based learning might be an effective way to develop leadership competencies among public health professionals in international and interdisciplinary context

Nurses’ roles, knowledge and experience in national disaster pre-paredness and emergency response: A literature review

Aim: Nurses play a central role in disaster preparedness and management, as well as in emergency response, in many countries over the world. Care in a disaster environment is different from day-to-day nursing care and nurses have special needs during a disaster. However, disaster nursing education is seldom provided and a lack of curricula exists in many countries around the world. The aim of this literature review is to provide an overview of nurses’ roles, knowledge and experience in national disaster preparedness and emergency response.Methods: An electronic search was conducted using multiple literature databases. All items were included, regardless of the publication year. All abstracts were screened for relevance and a synthesis of evidence of relevant articles was undertaken. Relevant information was extracted, summarized and categorized. Out of 432 reviewed references, information of 68 articles was included in this review.Results: The sub-themes of the first main theme (a) roles of nurses during emergency response include the expectations of the hospital and the public, general and special roles of nurses, assignments of medical tasks, special role during a pandemic influenza, role conflicts during a disaster, willingness to respond to a disaster. For (b) disaster preparedness knowledge of nurses, the corresponding sub-themes include the definition of a disaster, core competencies and curriculum, undergraduate nursing education and continuing education programs, disaster drills, training and exercises, preparedness. The sub-themes for the last theme (c) disaster experiences of nurses include the work environment, nursing care, feelings, stressors, willingness to respond as well as lessons learned and impacts.Conclusion: There is consensus in the literature that nurses are key players in emergency response. However, no clear mandate for nurses exists concerning their tasks during a disaster. For a nurse, to be able to respond to a disaster, personal and professional preparedness, in terms of education and training, are central. The Framework of Disaster Nursing Competencies of the WHO and ICN, broken down into national core competencies, will serve as a sufficient complement to the knowledge and skills of nurses already acquired through basic nursing curricula. During and after a disaster, attention should be applied to the work environment, feelings and stressors of nurses, not only to raise the willingness to respond to a disaster. Where non-existent, national directives and concepts for disaster nursing should be developed and nurses should be aware of their duties. Nursing educators should prepare nurses for disasters, by adjusting the curricula and by meeting the increased need for education and training in disaster nursing for all groups of nurses. The appropriateness of theoretical and practical preparation of disaster nursing competencies in undergraduate nursing courses and continuing education programmes should be evaluated.