Background: In the context of Infections Prevention and Control activities, the training of healthcare-associated infection control figures is crucial; the COVID-19 pandemic further emphasized the necessity of ensuring a widespread and stable level of skills over time for such professionals. The present work aims to identify the number and training needs of the personnel working in the Emilia-Romagna Region's healthcare facilities as "healthcare-associated infection control figures".
Methods: Data were collected through a survey created by experts from the Regional Group "Training in the prevention and control of antibiotic resistance". The questionnaire explored the number, professional and educational background, and training requirements of Healthcare-associated infections control figures in Emilia-Romagna.
Results: With 73 figures dedicated to Healthcare-associated infections control, the Emilia-Romagna Region appears to be in line with the European standard ratio (1 professional every 125 beds). Professionals with a nursing background, over 50 years old and of female sex prevail in the group, while the training needs expressed include both theoretical and practical aspects.
Conclusions: Healthcare assistants and nursing staff represent a fundamental resource for the implementation of infection prevention and control programs in our healthcare facilities; continuous, multidisciplinary and targeted training of these professionals is confirmed as necessary.
Background: Worldwide population is ageing rapidly. Lifestyle factors are essential targets for leading to behaviour change interventions that promote healthy aging.
Study design: We performed a scoping review aimed to underline the current knowledge and experience on preventive interventions for healthy and active ageing in Italy. Secondly, it intended to study the manner in which this country will pursue the topic in this research area.
Methods: The search was conducted on different databases: PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, and Scopus on July 25th, 2023, and search results were filtered to include only articles published from 2003.
Results: A total of 951 potentially relevant records were retrieved. After duplicates removal, 810 unique records were screened. Finally, four studies fulfilling established criteria were included. All the studies were conducted in the northern and central regions of Italy. The investigated populations were older adults, and all four studies were focused mainly on primary prevention and health promotion strategies based on self-efficacy and motivation of the participants, including physical activity, diet and cognitive training. In addition, two studies used mobile health technologies to deliver the preventive intervention for healthy ageing.
Conclusion: Our scoping review underlines the limited knowledge and experience of preventive healthy aging interventions in the national setting. The new preventive pathway that promotes healthy ageing healthily should be based on tailored lifestyle interventions, managed by multidisciplinary teams with the use of digital tools, in order to improve older people's safety. The characteristics of the settings are still not clear.
Background: The term 'Missed Nursing Care' (MNC) refers to any aspect of nursing care that is not delivered, partially delivered, or delayed. MNC has significant negative consequences, including adverse patient outcomes, safety risks, and decreased job satisfaction. While extensively studied in hospitals, MNC in community healthcare settings, remains under-researched, especially in Italy. This study aims to explore the phenomenon of MNC in Italian home care settings by documenting and analyzing the lived experiences of freelance nurses, focusing on the characteristics, influencing factors, and consequences of MNC as perceived by these healthcare professionals.
Study design: This is a descriptive phenomenological study.
Methods: Using snowball sampling, 12 Italian freelance nurses were recruited and interviewed from November 2022 to February 2023. Data collection was based on in-depth interviews, that have been transcribed and analyzed using Giorgi's phenomenological framework. The study report adhered to the COREQ-32 checklist for qualitative research.
Results: Thematic analysis revealed four main themes: dimensions of MNC, organizational challenges, consequences of MNC, and family-nurse collaboration. Freelance nurses frequently addressed unmet fundamental and complex nursing needs, highlighting significant clinical, psychological, and economic impacts on patients and families. Organizational issues, such as rigid public service schedules and inadequate staffing, were identified as primary contributors to MNC. Families played a crucial role in managing care and collaborating with freelance nurses to ensure continuity.
Conclusions: This study provides novel insights into MNC in Italian home care settings, emphasizing the critical role of freelance nurses in filling care gaps. The findings suggest the need for systemic changes to improve flexibility, staffing, and integration of public and private nursing services. Further research, particularly quantitative studies, is essential to validate these findings and explore broader implications for patient care and health outcomes.
Abstract: Schools continue to represent one of the main settings that guarantee health promotion interventions, as it has been widely demonstrated in numerous fields that diet and eating habits are shaped in the early stages of life and maintained into adulthood. Through the food education promotion project, "Healthy Snack", implemented by the Prevention Department of the Local Health Authority ULSS 1 Dolomiti, the interventions carried out by healthcare workers have been evaluated over time to measure their effectiveness in terms of changes in eating habits considered incorrect, with a particular focus on snacks eaten at school.
Background: Funding sources play a critical role in shaping the landscape of scientific research, including the one in public health, as they often determine not only the feasibility of specific projects but also its broader directions.
Study design: We aimed at assessing current funding sources for public health research in Italy and related implications.
Methods: We conducted a systematic PubMed search from January 2023 to June 2024, focusing on publications by 208 Italian tenured professors in hygiene and public health. We included only original articles they authored as first or last authors, excluding editorials, comments, and letters. We categorized funding sources into public internal, public external, private external, and unmentioned.
Results: We retrieved 760 non-duplicate eligible publications. Research topics focused almost equally on communicable (48.2%) and non-communicable (51.8%) diseases. Public external funding were the most common overall (33.7%), followed by private external (14.3%) and public internal (7.5%). Notably, 58.7% of studies did not report any funding sources. Private external, regional and EU sources predominantly funded communicable disease research, while non-communicable disease research received more support from public external sources, especially governmental.
Conclusions: In a European country such as Italy the funding landscape in public health research appears to be complex, due to the wide range of topics and intertwined roles of funding actors. Public funding are more frequent than private funding also independently of research topics, though most research activities did not require specific financial support, implying that public health research frequently has limited financial needs. This likely enables more flexibility and independence to investigators in public health, with major implications in terms of feasibility and absence of conflicts of interest.
Abstract: Among invasive bacterial diseases, meningococcal meningitis is a serious and contagious disease caused by Neisseria meningitidis. The disease has a high lethality grade and could have long-term sequelae. This paper describes a case of meningitis that occurred in the territory under the jurisdiction of Local Health Authority ULSS 1 Dolomiti and the related management methods. The activities described concern rapid alerts, an epidemiological investigation, the administration of chemoprophylaxis and offering vaccinations, implemented according to the current Public Health protocol through different healthcare workers. This case report aims to support the management of possible similar cases, underlining the conditions that favoured the application of the envisaged measures, including an on-call ready availability service; the presence of population vaccination centres located in the area investigated; and a network sensitive to early warnings and collaboration within and between Local Health Authorities.
Background: In medical emergencies adherence to standardized clinical protocols is crucial to ensure a better outcome for patients. Newly qualified physicians may play several roles in serving the National Health Service (substituting general practitioners, on-call duty, working in emergency rooms, etc.) in Italy. In these situations, the physician may have to manage critical patients autonomously. Moreover, newly qualified physicians may show a considerable deficiency in routine medical activities. In fact, many universities do not provide a practical simulation training programme, which is why a substantial number of students only face clinical emergencies when they start working after graduation.
Study design: A cross-sectional study was performed by engaging medical doctors. Both experienced physicians and newly licensed physicians (graduated less than 24 months ago) were included in the study.
Methods: A questionnaire was distributed to each participant during SIMED's Courses from June 2021 to December 2022. The questionnaire consisted of two sections. The first one analyzed participation in standardized practical courses on medical emer-gencies (Basic Life Support, Advanced Cardiac Life Support, International Trauma Life Support and a course on Advanced Airway Management). The second section analyzed the perceived autonomy of health professionals in the management of five different work settings, using a 5-point likert scale.
Results: 2,168 questionnaires were analyzed, of which 68.7% were from newly qualified doctors and 31.3% from more experienced doctors. The highest rate of physicians who undertook training courses was achieved for the basic life support course (77.5%) and the lowest rate for the advanced trauma course (15.9%). Physicians perceive themselves the highest autonomy in Primary Care setting (63.1%), while in the Emergency Department they perceive themselves with less autonomy (24.0%). In the analyzed sample, experienced physicians show a higher percentage of autonomy than newly qualified doctors (31.4% vs 8.1%) in all scenarios.
Background: Modena's Local Health Authority (AUSL) is a public service with more than 5,000 employees. In its facilities, drinking water is available as tap water. However, disposable plastic bottles are also widely used, thus increasing plastic waste.
Study design and methods: In the present study, we aimed to investigate employees' drinking habits through an ad hoc 10-item online questionnaire, which was administered in spring 2023.
Results: Of the 584 participants (10.8% response rate), 75% of workers reported drinking less than 1.5 liters of water per day. In addition, 74% of workers brought water from home, while 62% used disposable plastic containers bought in the workplace or outside. When asked if they would appreciate a water refilling station in the workplace, whether that would induce them to consume less plastic and to drink more water, 91%, 82%, and 72% of workers said "yes", respectively. By installing water coolers, the estimated mean number of plastic bottles spared every day at the AUSL would be about 6,000.
Conclusions: Our data shed light on most employees' perceived need for alternative sources of drinking water, not only in order to drink more for health benefits, but also to reduce plastic usage in favor of reusable, more environmentally friendly materials.
Background: Indoor air pollution negatively affects population health and the national health services in terms of socio-economic costs. The presence of indoor pollutants depends a lot on lifestyles.
Study design: The aim of this work is to evaluate knowledge, daily habits and the preventive behaviors in order to contrast the effects on health caused by indoor pollutants.
Methods: The study was conducted through the administration of questionnaires to the population resident in the metropolitan city of Messina (Italy), asking about sociodemographic characteristics, knowledge, daily habits and preventive behaviors.
Results: The questionnaire was filled by 894 subjects (46.8% M; 53.2% F). Regarding knowledge, 66.8% had heard of indoor air pollution and 94.9% knew what the most common indoor pollutants are; regarding daily habits they often aired out the house (91.9% in the morning and 71.4% after cleaning), 24.8% were smokers and 36.7 of them smoked indoors; regarding preventive behaviors, 41.6% chose the cleaning products based on habit and only 32.9% bought plants able to purify environments.
Conclusions: Although the analyzed population had adequate knowledge of indoor air pollution, this did not strongly impact on the adoption of healthy lifestyles. Therefore, it becomes necessary to intervene on a social level with environmental education activities, starting from school age.
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