Risk assessment and management among frontline nurses in the context of the COVID-19 virus in the northern region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the post-contact risk of nurses who provide care for patients diagnosed with COVID-19. METHODS: This investigation employed a quantitative-descriptive design. The study sample was comprised of the frontline nurses in the COVID-19 center hospitals in the northern part of Saudi Arabia. Snowball sampling was used, resulting in 80 frontline nurses. A survey using a self-administered questionnaire in a Google form was employed to collect the data, which was collected from May 20 through June 25, 2020. RESULTS: Some of the study participants were reported to have a history of both staying in the same household with each other (35%) and of traveling with a confirmed COVID-19 patient (20%). These participants were considered as community exposed to COVID-19. There were 8.8% who were classified as high risk due to failure in removing and replacing personal protective equipment (PPE); 6.3% were at high risk for not performing hand hygiene before and after touching COVID-19 patients, and 5% did not follow the recommended guidelines in performing hand hygiene after touching the patients' surroundings. In addition, 3.8% of the participants had an accident related to biological material, such as with splashes of biological fluid (in the eyes). These nurses were classified as high risk for COVID-19 virus infection, CONCLUSION: This study identifies practices that need improvement in combatting this virus. Since policies and guidelines may not always be optimal in all settings, a tailor-fitted guideline is appropriate. Nurse leaders, for example, need to establish an infection control system that provides real-time monitoring and facilitates immediate correction for nurses. Doing so will provide the nurses with a continuous awareness of predisposing themselves to acquiring the virus.

Holistic nursing care among operating room nurses: Strengthening the standard of practice in Saudi Arabia.

Background: Holistic practices have been found beneficial for patients as well as nurses. They increase both the nurses and the patients' health-promoting behaviors, spirituality, and interpersonal relationships. Objective: This study aimed to determine holistic nursing care and compare its differences based on individual characteristics. Methods: This study employed a quantitative-cross sectional approach. It was conducted at the hospitals of Hail region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, from February 2020 to March 2020. Selected through convenience sampling, 154 operating room nurses participated in the study. Frequency and percentages were used to analyze the demographic information, and t-tests and analysis of variance were used to test for differences. Results: Holistic nursing dimensions such as physiological (4.72 ± 0.40), socio-cultural (4.53 ± 0.45), psychological (4.66 ± 0.32), and spiritual aspects (4.22 ± 0.73) were consistently carried out in the operating room. On the physiological dimension, no significant differences were found in years of experience [(t) -0.073; p > 0.942], gender [(t) -1.113; p > 0.27], or age [(F) 0.558; p > 0.57), but there was a significant difference with nationality [(t) -3.328; p < 0.001]. On the socio-cultural dimension, the length of experience [(t) 0.599; p > 0.550], gender, [(t) -1.420; p > 0.158], and age [(F) 0.148; p > 0.862] were not significant, but a significant difference was found with nationality [(t) -7.516; p < 0.001]. Regarding the psychological dimension, the length of experience [(t) -1.101; p > 0.276], gender [(t) -1.545; p > 0.129], and age [(F) 1.259; p > 0.287] were not significant, but there was a significant difference with nationality [(t) -5.492; p < 0.001]. Finally, with the spiritual dimension, no significant difference was found on length of experience [(t) -1.101; p > 0.276] or age [(F) 0.584; p > 0.559], but there were significant differences on gender [(t) -3.890; p < 0.001] and nationality [(t) -3.653; p < 0.001]. Conclusion: Nationality is a causal factor to physiological, socio-cultural, psychological, and spiritual dimensions, while gender is significant to spiritual aspect. Regardless of nationality or gender, nurses must be knowledgeable regarding the significance of adopting holistic care to improve the quality of their care to their patients.

Nursing Students' Perceptions, Knowledge, and Preventive Behaviors Toward COVID-19: A Multi-University Study.

Background: Knowledge, perception, and preventive behavior should be considered in the planning of effective educational interventions for the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and in increasing awareness about the health risks brought about by this disease. This research aimed to assess knowledge, perceptions, and preventive behavior toward the COVID-19 infection among student nurses. Methods: The study has quantitative, descriptive, and cross-sectional design. A convenience sample of 1,226 student nurses from seven universities in Saudi Arabia was surveyed from March 22 to April 4, 2020. A four-part online survey on demographic characteristics, perceptions, knowledge, and preventive behavior of Saudi student nurses was carried out. Results: Nearly all students were aware of the outbreak (99.2%), and most of them received information on COVID-19 primarily from social media (71.0%). Over three-fourths of the students were confident that the government (89.1%) and Ministry of Health (MOH) (86.5%) were doing a good job responding to the COVID-19 outbreak in the country. The overall average score in the knowledge questionnaire was 9.85 (SD = 1.62, range = 0-12), which is equivalent to 82.1%. The majority of the students always performed most of the preventive behavior identified in the survey, except "washing hands with soap and water for at least 20 s after blowing my nose, coughing, or sneezing" (39.2%) and "daily cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched surfaces" (41.6%). Being female, being in the fourth year, and gaining good perceived knowledge were associated with high actual COVID-19 knowledge. University, gender, age, academic level, and perceived COVID-19 knowledge were the associated factors. Conclusions: The findings of this study have provided baseline information on the current state of Saudi nursing students' perceptions, knowledge, and preventive behavior toward COVID-19 as the crisis is happening. The findings revealed some areas that should be focused on by nursing education, as well as health agencies, to ensure that the students have adequate knowledge and correct preventive behavior.

Psychometric assessment of the Spiritual Climate Scale Arabic version for nurses in Saudi Arabia.

AIM: To assess the psychometric properties of the Spiritual Climate Scale Arabic version for Saudi nurses. BACKGROUND: Evidence showed that a high level of spiritual climate in the workplace is associated with increased productivity and performance, enhanced emotional intelligence, organisational commitment and job satisfaction among nurses. METHOD: A convenient sample of 165 Saudi nurses was surveyed in this descriptive, cross-sectional study. Cronbach's α and intraclass correlation coefficient of the 2 week test-retest scores were computed to establish reliability. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to support the validity of the Spiritual Climate Scale Arabic version. RESULTS: The Spiritual Climate Scale Arabic version manifested excellent content validity. Exploratory factor analysis supported a single factor with an explained variance of 73.2%. The Cronbach's α values of the scale ranged from .79 to .88, while the intraclass correlation coefficient value was .90. The perceived spiritual climate was associated with the respondents' hospital, gender, age and years of experience. CONCLUSIONS: Findings of this study support the sound psychometric properties of the Spiritual Climate Scale Arabic version. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: The Spiritual Climate Scale Arabic version can be used by nurse managers to assess the nurses' perception of the spiritual climate in any clinical area. This process can lead to spiritually centred interventions, thereby ensuring a clinical climate that accepts and respects different spiritual beliefs and practices.