Transitioning Italian nursing education in the post-pandemic period: priorities in the light of lessons learnt

Transitioning Italian nursing education in the post-pandemic period: priorities in the light of lessons learnt. Introduction. Once back to normalcy, many nursing edu-cation activities have been restored without an in-depth analysis of which transformations enacted in the pandem-ic period should be maintained and valued. Aim. To iden-tify priorities to effectively transitioning nursing education in the post-pandemic period. Method. Descriptive quali-tative design. A network of nine universities involved 37 fac-ulty members, 28 clinical nurse educators and 65 stu-dents/new graduates. Data were collected through semi -structured interviews;the main priorities reported in each university were combined to gain a global view. Results. Nine priorities emerged, including the need to: 1. reflect on dis-tance learning to promote its complementary role to face-to-face teaching;2. rethinking the rotations of clinical prac-tical training by refocusing their aims, duration, and pre-ferred settings;3. understanding how to integrate the vir-tual and the in-presence learning spaces into the educational pathway;4. continuing with inclusive and sustainable strate-gies. Considering that nursing education is essential, it is a priority to develop a pandemic education plan capable of guaranteeing its continuity in all circumstances. Conclusions. Nine priorities have emerged all considering the importance of digitalization;the lessons learnt, however, indicate the need to enact an intermediate phase capable of guiding to-wards the complete transition of the education in the post -pandemic era.

Nurses with workplace violence in pneumology settings during Covid-19

Background: Workplace violence (WPV) has consequences both for healthcare workers and healthcare organizations. Nurses are the most exposed healthcare workers to vertical WPV. Aims and Objectives: Describe the Italian WPV and identify its predictive factors. Method(s): This is a secondary analysis conducted in hospital pneumology settings from a larger study between January and April 2021. Data were collected through the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI;Likert scale 1 to 4) and the Violence in Emergency Nursing and Triage (VENT) Questionnaire. Result(s): The analysis was conducted on 484 pulmonary nurses (72.9% female;mean age 38.9 years, SD 9.8). Thirty-four per cent (n=164) of them have had an experience of WPV in last year and/or their last week and 16.7% (n=81) only in their last week. Comparing main results between nurses with WPV vs no WPV the number of patients was higher for nurses with WPV (MD +4.8;p<.001). The PES-NWI results were significantly worse for nurses with WPV: global mean scores (MD +0.2;p<.001);nurse participation in hospital affairs (MD +0.3;p<.001);nurse manager ability leadership, and support of nurses (MD +0.2;p<.001);physician-nurse relationship (MD +0.2;p<.001). Conclusion(s): Public health companies should reduce WPV by investing in resources for the management and prevention of the phenomenon. Integrated and multimodal programs of prevention and management of WPV are useful to combat it. Improving the work environment and job satisfaction should reduce WPV.

Readiness for practice in undergraduate nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study.

Background: The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic negatively impacted nursing students' opportunity to gain experience through clinical placement, potentially threatening their readiness for practice and their clinical competence. The aim of this study was to explore whether and to what extent the third-year undergraduate nursing students perceived that their readiness for practice was impacted by changes to clinical placement and classroom learning implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Study design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: The study was conducted in a university of North-western Italy that provides nursing education across five sites. All sites stopped in-person classroom learning at the beginning of March 2020, but each site was free to decide whether to continue in-person clinical placement based on the local epidemiological situation. All 228 third-year nursing students who completed their degree by June 2020 were invited to participate. Data were collected via online questionnaire, which included the question "What impact do you think that COVID-19 safety measures employed by your nursing programme had on your readiness for practice?" Answers were given on a 5-point Likert scale (none, minimal, moderate, major, and severe). Explanatory variables were collected at the individual, nursing programme, and university site levels. Results: A total of 126 (response rate 55.3%) nursing students completed the questionnaire. Overall, 84 (66.7%) perceived that COVID-19 safety measures had a moderate to severe impact on their readiness for practice. These students often had lower grade point averages (p=0.037) and received no clinical placement during the pandemic (72.6% vs 90.5% of students who reported no or minimal impact, p=0.022). Average duration of third-year clinical placement was also lower among these students, though it was not statistically significant. No differences emerged at the university site level. Conclusions: Despite important advances in technology-based educational activities, clinical placement remains the best educational strategy to allow nursing students to feel prepared to work effectively during a pandemic.

The novel Mechanical Ventilator Milano for the COVID-19 pandemic.

This paper presents the Mechanical Ventilator Milano (MVM), a novel intensive therapy mechanical ventilator designed for rapid, large-scale, low-cost production for the COVID-19 pandemic. Free of moving mechanical parts and requiring only a source of compressed oxygen and medical air to operate, the MVM is designed to support the long-term invasive ventilation often required for COVID-19 patients and operates in pressure-regulated ventilation modes, which minimize the risk of furthering lung trauma. The MVM was extensively tested against ISO standards in the laboratory using a breathing simulator, with good agreement between input and measured breathing parameters and performing correctly in response to fault conditions and stability tests. The MVM has obtained Emergency Use Authorization by U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in healthcare settings during the COVID-19 pandemic and Health Canada Medical Device Authorization for Importation or Sale, under Interim Order for Use in Relation to COVID-19. Following these certifications, mass production is ongoing and distribution is under way in several countries. The MVM was designed, tested, prepared for certification, and mass produced in the space of a few months by a unique collaboration of respiratory healthcare professionals and experimental physicists, working with industrial partners, and is an excellent ventilator candidate for this pandemic anywhere in the world.