Aim: To explore the meaning of adaptation after visceral transplantation in terms of patient experiences, symptoms, self-efficacy, transplant-specific and mental well-being.
Design: A convergent parallel mixed-methods study, consisting of interviews and generic as well as transplant-specific questionnaires. Results were integrated using meta-inference.
Methods: The study comprises a population of 17 visceral transplant recipients in Scandinavia, 12 women and 5 men with a mean age of 40.6 years (range 19-63 years) and an average follow-up of 9.4 years (range 0-25 years). Data were collected between May 2023 and January 2024 through open-ended in-depth interviews with 12 participants and analysed in accordance with phenomenological hermeneutics. Questionnaires from all 17 participants were analysed to measure transplant-specific well-being, symptoms, self-efficacy as well as anxiety and depressive symptoms.
Results: Being a visceral transplant recipient is a dynamic and life-long adaptation process that comprises two distinct yet interconnected trajectories: coherence and endurance. Coherence involves the person's ability to make sense of their situation and find meaning despite the challenges and adversity of the chronic condition. In contrast, endurance involves a person's capacity to withstand hardship and endure unpleasant or difficult experiences. Both trajectories interact dynamically, influencing and reinforcing each other. Resilience based on coherence enabled acceptance and adjustment. Conversely, uncertainty, resignation and feeling unsupported resulted in a lack of acceptance, manifested as resistance. The challenge involved in adaptation was demonstrated by 47% showing borderline elevated or elevated levels of anxiety and 18% reporting symptoms of depression. Self-efficacy varied considerably.
Conclusion: The meaning of adaptation after visceral transplantation in terms of experiences, symptoms, transplant-specific and mental well-being is balancing between coherence and endurance facilitated by acceptance and hampered by resistance. The uncertainty inherent in being a visceral transplant recipient may lead to heightened self-rated anxiety symptoms and diminished self-efficacy.
Implications for the profession and/or patient care: What problem did the study adress? This study adresses the challenges involved in being a visceral transplant recipient and adapting to life after a visceral transplantation. What were the main findings?
Reporting method: COREQ checklist (consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research).
Patient or public contribution: No Patient or Public Contribution was organised.
Background: Despite the high acuity of coronary care unit (CCU) patients and their risk of deterioration, little is known about how nurses assess them.
Aim: Increase understanding of the scope of nurses' assessments of deteriorating CCU patients.
Design: Online mixed methods survey.
Methods: The mRAPIDS (modified Rescuing a Patient in Deteriorating Situations) tool was used to measure assessment scope in responses to a patient vignette with a higher mRAPID score signalling broader scope (maximum score 24). Reflections on day-to-day practice were collected concurrently and thematically analysed. Themes were integrated with scores using a joint display table and organised into domains. Comparing 'fit' between data showed expansion (overlap with broader nonoverlapping findings) and disconcordance (contradictory findings).
Results: Thirty-four nurses responded, and scope of assessment was found to be narrow (median mRAPIDS 5). Two domains were identified that helped explain this finding 'the act of assessment' and 'education and experience'. Participants emphasised the importance of education and experience, neither increased assessment scope.
Conclusion: This study showed that participant assessments were generally narrower than widely accepted best practice (ABCDE assessment).
Implications: Participant assessments did not reflect gold standard A-E assessment, which may partly reflect a need for assessment frameworks that are more compatible with real-world practice. Further research is required to understand the role of healthcare assistants in the care of deteriorating CCU patients. Clinical judgement is important, but not yet well understood in rapid response systems.
Impact: This study offers preliminary understanding of nurses' assessments of deteriorating patients in CCUs.
Reporting method: American Psychological Association, Mixed Methods Standards.
Patient or public contribution: Reviewed protocol, aided result interpretation and shared ideas for future research.
Background: Patient self-care is established as improving outcomes, yet acute care in hospitals is provided such that patients tend to be passive recipients of care. Little is known about the extent and type of patient participation in treatment care tasks in acute hospital settings.
Aims: To map and synthesise available literature on self-performance of care tasks in acute hospital settings.
Design: A scoping review was conducted guided by JBI methodology.
Methods: A literature search was conducted in July 2021 and updated in March 2024 across five databases: Scopus, PubMed, CINAHL, Embase and Web of Science. Studies were screened using predefined eligibility criteria. Full-text screening and data extraction were performed independently by two researchers. Data were collected using a template specifically designed for this review. Reporting followed the PRISMA-ScR guideline.
Results: Of the 31,361 articles identified, 35 were included. Most of the articles were experimental (n = 20) and conducted in Europe (n = 13), North America (n = 10) and Australia (n = 3). Studies were classified according to investigation of the performance of care tasks (n = 6) or of the outcomes of the performance of the self-care task (n = 29). Most tasks performed involved self-administration of medication (n = 31), only 4 articles referred to other care tasks. Most articles focused on acute tasks (n = 18), while 15 articles referred to chronic care tasks. Ostomy self-care (n = 2) was a separate category, being an acute task that continued into chronic self-care.
Conclusion: Performance of care tasks by patients in acute care settings are predominantly related to chronic and pain medication administration.
Implications for care: Patient preferences and competency to self-perform care tasks during hospitalisation should be assessed and monitored and supported accordingly. Utilising hospitalisation time to observe and assess self-care practices could provide additional teaching opportunities to patient self-care and improve overall care continuity.
Reporting method: The PRISMA-ScR guideline was followed.
Patient or public contribution: No Patient or Public Contribution.
Trial and protocol registration: This review was registered on Open Science Framework before running the final search: (https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/D8KS2).
Aim(s): To examine nurses' knowledge, attitude and practice regarding nutrition management in hospitalised adults and explore their views on it.
Design: A mixed-method approach combining cross-sectional and descriptive qualitative methods.
Methods: 379 enrolled/registered nurses working in acute or intensive units of a tertiary hospital were recruited between 24th August 2023 and 3rd December 2023. Participants completed a questionnaire on their sociodemographic profile, knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) regarding nutrition management. Data analysis was conducted using R software, reporting levels of KAP and its associations with sociodemographic factors. Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used for non-normally distributed knowledge and practice scores (reported as median and interquartile range). Two-sample t-tests and ANOVA were used for normally distributed attitude scores (reported as mean and standard deviation). 21 of the participants from the quantitative study were either purposively sampled or snowballed from the quantitative study to undergo semi-structured interviews (physically or virtually face-to-face), which were transcribed verbatim and analysed using content analysis.
Results: The mean scores on KAP were 61.6, 19.4 and 22.8, respectively. Knowledge varied significantly by educational level (p < 0.001), while attitudes also differed based on education (p = 0.001) and years of employment (p = 0.019). Practice scores showed differences based on subspeciality (p = 0.032), nursing rank (p < 0.001) and years of employment (p = 0.004). Findings identified barriers to effective nutrition management, including prioritisation issues, varying professional roles, limited autonomy and resource shortages. It also emphasises nurses' roles in nutrition management and strategies such as nurses' autonomy and family members involvement to improve nutrition management.
Conclusion: Sociodemographic factors significantly influence nurses' KAP in nutrition management, revealing knowledge deficits, low prioritisation and time constraints. Tailored education and training, increased autonomy, resource expansion and greater family involvement can enhance nurses' KAP in nutrition management.
Aim: To develop and psychometrically test two newly developed Cancer Nurse Self-Assessment Tools for early and metastatic breast cancer (CaN-SAT-eBC and CAN-SAT-mBC).
Design: Instrument development and psychometric testing of content validity, reliability and construct validity.
Methods: A three-phase procedure was conducted. Phase 1: An expert working group was formed to design and develop each tool using Benner's Model of Clinical Competence. Phase 2: The Content Validation Index (CVI) was used to assess the relevance and clarity of each item on the tools with breast cancer nurse experts and nursing educators. A CVI ≥ 0.78 was required for an item to be included in each tool. Phase 3: The tools were tested for internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha and construct validity using principal component analysis (PCA). The Guidelines for Reporting Reliability and Agreement Studies were followed in reporting this study.
Results: Each tool underwent two rounds of content validation. Ten experts were involved in the content validation for the CaN-SAT-eBC and 12 experts involved for CaN-SAT-mBC. The final versions comprised 18 (CAN-SAT-eBC) and 22 elements (CaN-SAT-mBC). All items obtained a satisfactory CVI of 0.83-1.0. Data from 159 and 126 nurses were analysed to evaluate reliability for CaN-SAT-eBC and CaN-SAT-mBC, respectively. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients for all elements were between 0.83 and 0.98. The PCA supported that each element was unidimensional and composed of internally correlated items, with the exception of the 'Diagnostics' element of practice which has a two-component structure measuring basic and advanced diagnostic tasks.
Conclusions: The two CaN-SATs are comprehensive, valid and reliable. They can be used for self-assessment by nurses in relation to breast cancer care and for identifying learning needs for long-term professional development. The self-assessment tools can also be used to develop education initiatives for specialised breast cancer nurses.
Patient or public contribution: No patient or public contribution.
Aim: To develop and test a Family and Community Nursing-Advanced Practice Scale.
Design: A cross-sectional and methodological scale validation design, following classical test theory.
Methods: Three phases, the first of which involved scale development, including item generation. Phase two assessed the content validity index. The third phase involved a cross-sectional survey to establish construct validity, content validity, internal consistency reliability, and exploratory factor analysis.
Results: The Family and Community Nursing Advanced Practice Scale has good construct validity, with the final scale consisting of 5 domains and 27 items. This was confirmed by both the exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The Cronbach's Alpha is very good, suggesting that the scale is reliable. When comparing family practice advanced practice nurses with those working in the community, the results show that scores are similar except for clinical reasoning and health promotion, which consistently showed statistically significant higher scores among the family practice nurses. While community nurses scored higher on items in the leading practice domain reflecting their role in a wider team of nurses.
Conclusion: This study developed and psychometrically tested the Family and Community Nursing-Advanced Practice Scale. The scale has good reliability, and analysis of the construct validity reveals five domains of advanced practice among this practitioner group.
Implications for the profession: The study suggests that advanced practice nurses working in community roles perform similar activities to those working in family practice in the United Kingdom. However, activity related to research was less evident.
Impact: The study examined the scope of the advanced practice nurse role in family and community nursing. The study illustrated practice across five domains: clinical care, leading practice, clinical reasoning, health promotion, and ethics. The family practice and wider community roles were largely homogenous, with only two items showing a statistically significant difference in scores.
Reporting method: STROBE guidelines for cross-sectional studies.
Patient or public contribution: No patient or public contribution.