Pediatric nurses' experiences of implementing the 'ten right principles' in safe medication management: A descriptive phenomenological study.

PURPOSE: In medication management, the ten right principles framework is an accepted global nursing standard and an important component of medication safety. Especially pediatric patients have a higher risk of harm in medication administration compared to adults. This study aimed to examine the experiences of pediatric nurses in implementing the ten right principles in safe medication management. DESIGN AND METHODS: A descriptive phenomenological approach was used in this study. The study was conducted with 16 pediatric nurses in a public hospital's Pediatric Service and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Pediatric nurses' medication practices were observed, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with the nurses after the observation. Observations were conducted using an observation tool, and interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview form. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: In this study, it was observed that although pediatric nurses generally adhered to the ten right principles, they had the most difficulties with the right dose and time principles. As a result of the interviews conducted after the observation, two themes (factors facilitating the implementation of the ten right principles and difficulties in implementing the ten right principles) were formed. CONCLUSIONS: The findings revealed that pediatric nurses achieved safe and effective medication administration and generally adhered to the ten right principles. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: This study highlights the positive contribution of pediatric nurses to patient safety by using multiple sources of information and clinical reasoning strategies despite the difficulties they experience in drug administration.

"I want to have stories too". Nursing students' views on nursing identity and reasons for choosing nursing as a career: A qualitative study.

AIM: To understand and interpret nursing students' views on nursing identity and their reasons for choosing nursing as a career after participating in a face-to-face storytelling panel by academics. BACKGROUND: Knowing nursing students' view of the profession and their thoughts about the profession, their roles and their future will guide nursing academics to develop evidence-based strategies that will enable participants to realize their own professional identities. Storytelling has an important role in creating and strengthening a strong professional identity among participants. DESIGN: This study is a sample case study. METHODS: This research was carried out in the fall semester of the 2023-2024 academic year with participants registered in nursing program at the Faculty of Health Sciences of a state university in the Central Anatolia Region of Türkiye. The study was completed with one hundred ten participants. Five academics were invited to the panel at the Faculty of Health Sciences to share their experiences, stories and reasons for choosing nursing as a career through storytelling. The data were collected using the surveys, which includes five structured open ended questions and analyzed using descriptive analysis. RESULTS: Five main themes emerged: 1. Participants' views on nursing profession; 2. Awareness of positive/negative emotions related to the profession as a part of nursing stories and feeling that these emotions are experienced in the stories; 3. Changes in the perspective of the profession and sense of belonging to the profession as part of nursing stories; 4. Facilitators in choosing nursing as a career; and 5. Barriers to choosing nursing as a career. CONCLUSION: Providing participants with the chance to both listen to the real stories of academic nurses and to reflect on themselves through writing was a dynamic experience that motivated participants to understand their perceptions of nurses and nursing profession.

Palliative care needs of the cancer patients receiving active therapy.

PURPOSE: To identify cancer patients' palliative care needs with problem burden, problem intensity, and felt needs related to these problems while receiving cancer treatment. METHODS: This is a descriptive survey study conducted at a tertiary hospital with no palliative care services in Istanbul, Turkey, from September 2019 to February 2020. Data were collected using the Patient Information Form and the Three Levels of Needs Questionnaire (3LNQ). Descriptive statistics (frequency and percentage) were used to present data. RESULTS: The mean age of patients was 60.2 ± 13.0, and the mean duration since the diagnosis was 11.6 ± 21.4 months. Of the patients, 40.4% were diagnosed with gastrointestinal (GI) cancer, and 34.4% had stage 4 cancer. Patients mostly received help for their pain (85.7%), lack of appetite (64.8%), and nausea (73/7%). The most frequent unmet needs were problems with concentration (70%), worrying (68%), difficulties with sex life (63.6%), problems with being limited in work and daily activities (61.4%), and being depressed (58.5%) among patients who reported to have these symptoms. CONCLUSION: This study shows that patients with cancer require supportive and palliative care along with medical treatment for cancer and its treatment-induced physical and psychological symptoms. The study results have the potential to guide the development of palliative care services, especially for outpatient oncology settings in countries where palliative care services mostly focus on the end-of-life care. Further studies are also needed to focus on interventions to meet cancer patients' palliative care needs during the medical cancer treatment process with tailored palliative care delivery models.

The effects of web based education and Kahoot usage in evaluation of the knowledge and skills regarding intramuscular injection among nursing students.

BACKGROUND: Nursing is a discipline based on practice, which requires the integration of theory and implementation. Nurse educators should continuously review their curriculum and include "information technology" to help students obtain the required knowledge and skills. OBJECTIVES: The present study aims to review the effects of Kahoot usage within the framework of web-based education evaluation regarding the intramuscular injection knowledge and skills of nursing students. DESIGN: In this semi-experimental study, 110 first-year nursing students who registered in a university in Çankiri in the academic year of 2019-2020 and selected with simple random sampling participated. METHOD: While the experimental group (n = 51) was experiencing Kahoot concerning web-based education and test evaluation, the control group (n = 59) experienced face-to-face education. To evaluate the knowledge of the students, the "Intramuscular Injection Knowledge test" and the "Checklist of Intramuscular Injection" were used in this study. RESULTS: The findings showed that the experimental group had significantly higher mean scores in knowledge scores and skill performance for intramuscular injection. CONCLUSION: Web-based education and Kahoot usages in the evaluation showed positive effects on nursing students' intramuscular injection knowledge and skills. Therefore, Kahoot has shown itself as a promising, effective and beneficial tool as a formative evaluator in terms of motivating and supporting learning activities/processes. In light of the findings obtained in this study, we propose that Kahoot should be integrated into the curriculum in the web-based education of nursing as an alternative tool for formative evaluation.

Use of a flipped classroom "Leadership in Nursing" course on nursing students' achievement and experiences: A quasi-experimental study.

BACKGROUND: Providing the undergraduate "Leadership in Nursing" course using an innovative approach is regarded to be very important in terms of enhancing leadership skills. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of using the "flipped classroom" strategy on nursing students' learning achievements and to describe their experiences of this technique. METHOD: The course of "Leadership in Nursing" was delivered in flipped classroom format for 20 students while another 19 were exposed to traditional teaching methods. Therefore, the study was completed with 39 students. Data was collected using "Student Introductory Information Form", "Exams (a midterm exam, a final exam and 4 assignments)", "In-Class Observation Form" and "Student Feedback Form". FINDINGS: Students in the flipped classroom group had obtained significantly higher scores than the students in the traditional teaching group regarding the assignments, the final exam, and overall grade. Concerning the flipped classroom, students reported flexibility as the most positive aspect and problems related to the system infrastructure as the most negative aspect. CONCLUSION: The usage of a flipped classroom for nursing students in the leadership course provided valuable results in terms of the students' exam scores and achieving course objectives. The flipped classroom strategy for the "Leadership in Nursing" course was shown to be effective in improving abilities such as distinguishing leadership skills, visioning, developing a new perspective, willingness to share experiences regarding leadership, also enabling students to work in harmony in group activities and to participate in classroom discussions, which are all essential elements of leadership.

Experiences of breast cancer survivors during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to explore the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the quality of life of breast cancer survivors. METHODS: This qualitative descriptive study included 18 breast cancer survivors who completed cancer treatment within the last five years in Istanbul, Turkey. A directed content analysis was performed using the quality-of-life domains as guiding themes. RESULTS: The mean age was 51 ± 5.9, and the average months since active treatment were 26.5 ± 9.8 (9-48). Six themes and associated categories are as follows: Physical functioning; Changes in physical activity and weight, new physical symptoms, Role functioning; Work-life, changes in household chores, Emotional functioning; Emotional changes, fear of having the COVID-19 infection, Cognitive Functioning; Risk Perception about the COVID-19 infection, reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic' measures, Social Functioning; Familial relationship changes, social interactions, General Health/Utilization of Healthcare services; Changes in routine follow-ups, changes in diet. CONCLUSION: Breast cancer survivors had different challenges causing new physical and psychological symptoms such as lymphedema, pain, burnout, and anxiety that may have long-term effects on their quality of life.