To Get Vaccinated or Not? The Vaccination Decision-Making by Healthcare Professionals Working in Haematology: A Qualitative Study.

Haematological patients are more susceptible to infections. Vaccination has always been the most effective primary prevention strategy, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the efficacy of vaccines for some haematological patients is low. Although vaccination of Healthcare Workers (HCWs) could protect patients from vaccine-preventable diseases, there is evidence of a high level of hesitation among healthcare workers in Italy. The aim of this study was to explore the attitudes towards vaccination of HCWs caring for haematology patients. Qualitative descriptive design was conducted. Twenty-one HCWs were interviewed. Content analysis was applied to the qualitative data. The following themes were generated from the analysis: "Trust", "Decision-making process focusing on individual health", "Decision-making process focusing on community health", "Changing opinion", and "Two sides of vaccination commitment". The most hesitant HCWs were oriented towards individual health. They perceived a lack of benefit from vaccines, feared side effects, or were influenced by negative experiences of others. In contrast, community-health-oriented HCWs showed more positive attitudes towards vaccination. Some hesitant HCWs changed their opinion on vaccination because they began to reflect on the importance of vaccination for the community. The change in opinion of some HCWs interviewed provided insight into the importance of focusing organisational efforts on collective responsibility.

Women's experience of continuity of midwifery care in North-Eastern Italy: A qualitative study.

INTRODUCTION: The establishment of a maternity path is often hampered by the fragmentation of care processes resulting in discontinuity of care. The interruption of continuity of care negatively affects the experience of maternity. The purpose of this research is to analyze the experience of women who get midwifery continuity of care from pregnancy till after childbirth. METHODS: A qualitative study using a phenomenological-grounded approach was undertaken. Audio-recorded semi-structured interviews were taken from 11 pregnant women who received midwifery care during maternity. This research was carried out between March 2020 and February 2021. RESULTS: Continuous and quality care is what allows women to develop new skills, increasing awareness and confidence in themselves and in their abilities both during pregnancy and after delivery. Assistance provided by competent professionals allows women to be taken in charge globally with greater personalization of care.Since the research was carried out during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, some of the repercussions that the situation had on women during maternity were also experienced negatively, such as the interruption of continuity of care or the inability to choose whom to have next to. CONCLUSIONS: From the perspective of prevention and protection of maternal and child health, in the short- and long-term, it becomes essential to focus on developing maternal competencies. This may be possible by implementing midwifery continuity of care pathways with an appropriate and flexible organizational system capable of responding to women's needs throughout the maternity journey, even during periods of a health emergency.

Occurrence and reasons for unfinished nursing care between COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients.

AIM: To compare the occurrence and the reasons for unfinished care among coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and non-COVID-19 patients as perceived by nurses. BACKGROUND: The recent pandemic has imposed tremendous changes in hospitals in all countries. INTRODUCTION: Investigating the occurrence of and the reasons for unfinished care as perceived by nurses working in COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 units might help to gain insights and to address future pandemics. METHODS: A comparative cross-sectional study based on the STROBE guideline has been conducted during November 2020-January 2021. The Unfinished Nursing Care Survey, comprising part A (elements) and part B (reasons), was administered online to all 479 nurses working in medical and surgical units converted progressively into COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 units. A total of 90 and 200 nurses participated, respectively. RESULTS: No differences in the unfinished care occurrence have emerged at the overall level between nurses caring for COVID (2.10 out of 5; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.94-2.27) and non-COVID-19 patients (2.16; 95% CI, 2.06-2.26). Reasons for unfinished care reported significant higher averages among nurses caring for COVID (2.21; 95% CI, 2.10-2.31) as compared with those caring for non-COVID-19 patients (2.07; 95% CI, 2.01-2.14; p = 0.030). DISCUSSION: The overall occurrence of unfinished care was slightly higher compared with pre-pandemic data in all patients. CONCLUSIONS: Reasons triggering unfinished care were slightly different and were due to priority setting and human resources issues, which were perceived at higher significance among nurses working in COVID-19 compared with non-COVID-19 units. IMPLICATION FOR NURSING AND HEALTH POLICIES: A clear map of action has emerged that might be valid in the post-COVID-19 era as well as in the case of future pandemics.

The Impact of the Second Wave of COVID-19 on Outcomes in Hip Fracture Patients: An Observational Study

The aim of this work was to measure the healthcare outcomes for patients undergoing surgery for femur fractures during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic within a context of orthopaedic surgery units and living with the pandemic and compare them with pre-pandemic outcomes. A retrospective observational study was conducted. The incidence of pressure ulcers and deambulation recovery time were the main outcome. The pre-pandemic group consisted of 108 patients and the second wave pandemic group included 194 patients. The incidence of pressure ulcers increased from 10% in the pre-pandemic period to 21% in the second wave (p = 0.016) and the crude relative risk (RR) was 2.06 (p = 0.023). The recovery of deambulation showed no significant difference in the recovery time in terms of days needed to walk the first time (3 days vs. 2 days;p = 0.44). During the second wave of COVID-19, the risk of pressure ulcers for patients undergoing femur fracture surgery increased significantly. This variation could be explained by the absence of a caregiver for these patients and the increased average complexity of the patients managed in the orthopaedic setting. The hospital management should take into account these aspects when restoring the hospital’s normal surgical activities.

[The covid-19 emergency in the words of the nurses]. / L'emergenza covid-19 nelle parole degli infermieri 1. Cosa è cambiato nel modo di lavorare 2. Essere preparati all'emergenza 3. Lavorare in team 4. La solitudine e l'isolamento dei pazienti 5. La solitudine degli infermieri 6. Le scelte difficili 7. L'organizzazione del lavoro e dei reparti 8. Cosa cambierà dopo il covid-19.

. The covid-19 emergency in the words of the nurses . This special issue of AIR is dedicated to the direct professional experiences and personal testimonies of a sample of the nursing personnel during the most dramatic phase of the covid-19 pandemia in the most severely affected regions of Northern Italy (Lombardy, Piedmont, Veneto, Friuli, Trentino, Emilia Romagna Regions). The decision to adopt a research strategy aimed to give visibility and voice to colleagues representing some of the key hospitals of the regions obliged to a radical reorganisation of their structures and organisation of care, was adopted to catch from inside the crisis scenarios the expected mix of intense emotions (from anxiety, to fatigue, to personal and professional uncertainty, to the burden of impotence), and of needed technical creativity and efficiency which were requested to face a totally unexpected situation where guidelines could hardly be of help. The interview/diaries/focus groups were carefully planned not so much in terms of the contents, but with attention to the acceptance of the interviewed to enter in a free dialogue, with no Q&A, to be recorded, and to last for the time felt to be by both sides appropriate. The texts which are reported in this dossier are fragments of the recordings (overall more then 30 hours), without adjustments. It has been agreed that while all the names of the participants are provided as 'authors', the individual contributions are anonymous (not out of privacy consideration!) as they are part of a collective narrative, which reflects the great variability of the languages and of the perceived-expressed experiences and memories. The material has been organised in sections which are conceived as 'verbal snapshots' taken from the networks of care settings, but at the same time of the places and houses where the colleagues were literally full-time living, to assure unaccountable overtime working hours, and the requested 'safety distances' and lockdowns. The titles of the 8 sections coincide somehow with the principal components of the chain of activities and challenges which had to be faced: The changes in everyday's care, How to be prepared to the emergency, The teamwork, The loneliness and the isolation of the patients, The loneliness of the nurses, The difficult choices, The organization of the work and of the wards, change after covid-19. The core of the dossier is framed by boxes which provide also a minimum background of the administrative and epidemiological data on the pandemia in the regions of interest (it is interesting to remind that the central-southern areas of Italy have been far less affected), and a brief concluding reflection on reflection on the post-pandemia from the nursing point of view.