Factors influencing job satisfaction and professional competencies in clinical practice among internationally educated nurses during the migration journey: A mixed-methods systematic review.

BACKGROUND: The increasing migration of internationally educated nurses (IENs) from developing to developed countries highlights the importance of implementing integration strategies that facilitate their workplace transition, leading to improved job satisfaction and professional competence. AIM: The mixed-methods systematic review aimed to synthesise the current literature on factors influencing job satisfaction and professional competencies among IENs throughout their transition process, including the pre-migration, migration, and post-migration periods. METHODS: This study conducted a mixed-methods systematic review from 2013 to 2023, using the CINAHL, Scopus, and PubMed databases and employing a Population, Interventions, Comparisons, Outcomes (PICO) framework. Quality assessment employed the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT), and data analysis followed a convergent parallel design. Data synthesis was presented narratively, and the literature review adhered to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. RESULTS: Out of 565 articles, eleven studies (eight qualitative, two quantitative, and one mixed-method) met the inclusion criteria. Three key themes that influenced job satisfaction and professional competencies among IENs were identified: pre-migration and pre-deployment demands, challenges in workplace integration, and post-migration career challenges and retention strategies. LIMITATIONS: The study primarily focused on IENs recruited from developing countries, potentially limiting the generalisability of the findings to IENs from other regions or countries. Furthermore, the inclusion of nurses from developed countries who also migrated was limited in the available studies, which further restricts the applicability of the research findings. CONCLUSIONS: It is essential to reconsider the pre-migration language requirements and evaluate the feasibility of completing them during the integration period to enhance the job satisfaction and professional competencies of IENs. Additionally, key factors for improving job satisfaction among IENs include providing personalised support, addressing managerial barriers, facilitating career advancement, efficiently managing workloads, and promoting effective communication within the healthcare team.

Core competencies of healthcare professionals in Oman: Research and evidence-based practice needs attention.

AIM: The aim of the study was to examine (1) the perceptions on core competencies of healthcare professionals working at clinical settings in Oman and (2) which demographic characteristics explain the overall core competency. DESIGN: A cross-sectional design. METHODS: Healthcare Professional Core Competency Instrument, consisting of 11 sub-scales with 81 items, was distributed to healthcare professionals (n = 1,543; 826 nurses and 717 physicians) who worked at primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare institutions. Descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA and linear regression were used for data analysis. RESULTS: Altogether 1,078 healthcare professionals (628 nurses and 450 physicians) responded representing 70% overall response rate. Healthcare professionals perceived their overall core competence as excellent, safety being the highest, and research and evidence-based practice was the lowest. The multiple linear regression analysis revealed that ethnicity, gender and years of working experience were the characters that explained the overall core competence, where expatriate senior professionals reported higher competency levels compared with counterparts.

Patients' Perceptions of Healthcare Quality at Hospitals Measured by the Revised Humane Caring Scale.

The patients' perceptions are central to quality improvement of the healthcare system worldwide. This study aimed to examine patients' perceptions of quality care and investigate the demographic factors related to the overall patients' perceptions. The Revised Humane Caring Scale was distributed to 367 adult patients who were admitted at medical, surgical, and obstetrics and gynecology departments in 2 tertiary hospitals in Oman. Overall patients' perceptions of quality of care were high, with professionalism being rated the highest, and cognition of physical needs and human resources rated the lowest. Significant differences in patients' perceptions between hospitals as well as in the subscales of interdisciplinary collaboration and outcome variables, between planned- and emergency-admitted patients were found. The linear regression analysis indicated a relationship between gender and overall quality care where male patients reported higher satisfaction compared to counterparts. This study suggested the need to improve the cognition of physical needs (food quality and environmental sanitation) and human resources (staff to patient ratio) as well as pay attention to the individual patients' needs especially for emergency-admitted patients.

Quality of care and patient safety at healthcare institutions in Oman: quantitative study of the perspectives of patients and healthcare professionals.

BACKGROUND: Oman's healthcare system has rapidly transformed in recent years. A recent Report of Quality and Patient Safety has nevertheless highlighted decreasing levels of patient safety and quality culture among healthcare professionals. This indicates the need to assess the quality of care and patient safety from the perspectives of both patients and healthcare professionals. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to examine (1) patients' and healthcare professionals' perspectives on overall quality of care and patient safety standards at two tertiary hospitals in Oman and (2) which demographic characteristics are related to the overall quality of care and patient safety. METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was employed. Data were collected by two items: overall quality of care and patient safety, incorporated in the Revised Humane Caring Scale, and Healthcare Professional Core Competency Instrument. Questionnaires were distributed to (1) patients (n = 600) and (2) healthcare professionals (nurses and physicians) (n = 246) in three departments (medical, surgical and obstetrics and gynaecology) at two tertiary hospitals in Oman towards the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were used for data analysis. RESULTS: A total of 367 patients and 140 healthcare professionals completed the questionnaires, representing response rates of 61.2% and 56.9%, respectively. Overall, quality of care and patient safety were perceived as high, with the healthcare professionals rating quality of care (M = 4.36; SD = 0.720) and patient safety (M = 4.39; SD = 0.675) slightly higher than the patients did (M = 4.23; SD = 0.706), (M = 4.22; SD = 0.709). The findings indicated an association between hospital variables and overall quality of care (OR = 0.095; 95% CI = 0.016-0.551; p = 0.009) and patient safety (OR = 0.153; 95% CI = 0.027-0.854; p = 0.032) among healthcare professionals. Additionally, an association between the admission/work area and participants' perspectives on the quality of care (patients, OR = 0.257; 95% CI = 0.072-0.916; p = 0.036; professionals, OR = 0.093; 95% CI = 0.009-0.959; p = 0.046) was found. CONCLUSIONS: The perspectives of both patients and healthcare professionals showed that they viewed both quality of care and patient safety as excellent, with slight differences, indicating a high level of patient satisfaction and competent healthcare delivery professionals. Such perspectives can provide meaningful and complementary insights on improving the overall standards of healthcare delivery systems.

A systematic review of healthcare professionals' core competency instruments.

While technical and profession-specific competencies are paramount in the delivery of healthcare services, the cross-cutting core competencies of healthcare professionals play an important role in healthcare transformation, innovation, and the integration of roles. This systematic review describes the characteristics and psychometric properties of existing instruments for assessing healthcare professionals' core competencies in clinical settings. It was guided by the JBI methodology and used the COSMIN checklist (Mokkink et al., User manual, 2018, 78, 1) to evaluate the methodological quality of the included studies. A database search (CINAHL, Scopus, and PubMed) and additional manual search were undertaken for peer-reviewed papers with abstracts, published in English between 2008 and 2019. The search identified nine studies that were included in the synthesis demonstrating core competencies in professionalism, ethical and legal issues, research and evidence-based practice, personal and professional development, teamwork and collaboration, leadership and management, and patient-centered care. Few instruments addressed competencies in quality improvement, safety, communication, or health information technology. The findings demonstrate the reviewed tools' validity and reliability and pave the way for a comprehensive evaluation and assessment of core competencies into clinical practice.

Influence of Electrospinning Parameters on Fiber Diameter and Mechanical Properties of Poly(3-Hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) and Polyanilines (PANI) Blends.

Random and oriented fibers of poly (3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) and their blends were manufactured using electrospinning using a co-solvent. The kind and the concentration of the co-solvent affected the diameter of electrospun fibers. The morphology, thermal analysis, and crystalline structure of electrospun fibers was studied using polarized optical microscop (POM), Differential scanning colametry (DSC), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), and FT-IR analysis. The diameter of the electrospun fibers decreases with increasing collector speed for the blends compared to pure PHB, which are about 6 µm in diameter. The fibers obtained from blends reduce to 2 µm. The aligned electrospun fiber mats obtained from pure PHB showed no signs of necking at different take-up speeds, but the blends show multiple necking. It was found by FT-IR that the peak intensity at 1379 cm-1 was lower by take up speed than in casting films; this peak is sensitive to crystallinity of PHB. The addition of polyanilines (PANIs) to (PHB) with a plasticizer decreases the diameter of the electrospun fiber.