Professional Values and Self-Reported Clinical Competence of Acute Care Nurses in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND: Professional values are the foundation of nursing practice. Current research evidence on the influence of professional values on clinical competence among acute care nurses in the clinical area is lacking. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the professional values and self-reported clinical competence among acute care nurses. METHODS: This quantitative study used a cross-sectional, correlational design. A convenience sample of 403 nurses was recruited to answer the survey utilizing the Nurses Professional Values Scale-3 and the Nurse Competence Scale. The Pearson correlation coefficient was computed to test the relationship between study variables, and a stepwise multiple regression analysis was then performed to investigate the predictors of nurses' professional values and clinical competence. RESULTS: The professional value of "caring" received the highest mean score, followed by "professionalism", while the factor "activism" was rated the lowest. Education was a significant predictor of all three factors of professional values. For clinical competence, "managing situations" was rated as the highest dimension, while "ensuring quality" was rated as the lowest. Moderate positive correlations were revealed between the three factors of professional values and all dimensions of nurses' clinical competence. Area of practice and "activism" were the only significant predictors of the nurses' clinical competence. CONCLUSIONS: Nurses perceived all three factors of professional values with high importance in influencing their clinical competence. These findings can contribute to the development of educational interventions to improve and sustain professional values and clinical competence among acute care nurses.

Telehealth Readiness of Healthcare Providers during COVID-19 Pandemic in Saudi Arabia.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess and explore the telehealth readiness of healthcare providers in Saudi Arabia. METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted in a government healthcare facility in Saudi Arabia between August and October 2020. The Telehealth Readiness Assessment (TRA) tool was used. RESULTS: A total of 372 healthcare providers participated in this study. Their mean age was 35.5 years (SD = 10.46). The majority of respondents were female (65.6%), nurses (68.0%), married (60.2%), and non-Saudi nationals (64.2%). The analysis shows that healthcare providers generally had moderate-to-high telehealth readiness. Of the five domains, financial contributions had the lowest rating among nurses and physicians, 63.4% and 66.1%, respectively. Gender (ß = 7.64, p = 0.001), years of experience in the organization (ß = 11.75, p = 0.001), and years of experience in the profession (ß = 10.04, p = 0.023) predicted the telehealth readiness of healthcare providers. CONCLUSION: The telehealth readiness of healthcare providers in Saudi Arabia showed moderate to high levels. The COVID-19 pandemic poses a catastrophic threat to both patients and healthcare providers. Assessing telehealth readiness should include both patients and healthcare provider factors. A better understanding of the factors of organizational readiness, particularly healthcare providers, could help avoid costly implementation errors.

Barriers to Implementing Evidence-Based Practice among Primary Healthcare Nurses in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Several studies have been conducted to investigate the barriers to implementing evidence-based practice (EBP) worldwide. In Saudi Arabia, a few studies were conducted in hospital and mental health settings, and no study has explored the topic in primary healthcare settings. This study aimed to examine the barriers perceived by primary healthcare nurses in implementing EBP. This study employed a correlational and cross-sectional design. A total of 284 nurses were surveyed using the BARRIERS scale. Regression analysis was performed to identify the effects of predictor variables on the four subscales. The overall raw score on the BARRIERS scale was 86.21 (standard deviation = 16.15). The highest mean score was reported in the organizational subscale, followed by the innovation and communication subscales, whereas the lowest mean score was reported in the adopter subscale. The findings showed that the three top-ranked barriers were: (1) results of the studies are not generalizable to nurses' setting, (2) facilities are inadequate, and (3) physicians do not cooperate with the implementation. Findings showed that nurses encounter organizational-related barriers to a moderate extent and EBP implementation varies depending on gender, level of education, and job position. There is a need to create and implement educational interventions and programs to overcome the barriers to effective EBP implementation among primary healthcare nurses.

Immediate knowledge retention among nursing students in live lecture and video-recorded lecture: A quasi-experimental study.

AIM/OBJECTIVE: To determine if video-recorded lecture provided better immediate knowledge retention than live lecture BACKGROUND: In line with the call to increase nationally graduated nurses as recommended by KSU 2030 Vision, educational institutions in Saudi Arabia are required to increase the enrollment to the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. As a result, there is increased number of sections or groupings which created a need for additional faculty. However, to mitigate the impact of faculty shortage, the Administration embarked on exploring innovative teaching strategies that would ensure that lecture contents across groups of students are uniform and instructions are similar. Hence there is a need to explore innovative teaching strategies that would ensure that contents across groups of students are uniform, and instructions are similar. DESIGN: The study employed a quasi-experimental design to examine if video-recorded lectures provided better immediate knowledge retention than live lectures. METHODS: A total of 160 s -year nursing students were randomly assigned to either of the two teaching strategies (video-recorded lecture or live lecture). Data were collected at a public university in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Both lectures covered the interpretation of arterial blood gases (ABG) and all students had no prior knowledge on the subject. Pretest and posttest using the same 16 questions were administered to both groups. Each item was comprised of a combination of ABG results. Students were to choose the correct answer from four choices of interpretations of the ABG result. ABG is assessed to determine gas exchange, ventilator control and acid-base balance among patients with acute or chronic illnesses. Assessment of immediate knowledge retention was conducted using a questionnaire comprised of 16 multiple-choice items to be used in both the pretest and posttest. Each item was comprised of a combination of ABG results. RESULTS: The live lecture group's posttest mean score did not differ significantly from that of the video-recorded lecture group; t (156.52) = 0.47, p = 0.64, d = -0.08. The odds ratio is 1.27 and the probability is 95%. CI:.64, 2.50. CONCLUSION: This study found no difference between video-recorded lectures and live lectures in terms of providing immediate knowledge retention. Video-recorded lectures are a viable complementary teaching strategy. There is a need to enhance the instructional design so that learning objectives are more clearly defined, contents are aligned with the learning objectives, teaching strategies should include active participation from learners and outcomes should be assessed based on the learning objectives.

Fear of Nurses During COVID-19 Pandemic in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Assessment.

Objective: We aimed to assess the level of fear among nurses in Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 outbreak. Methods: A cross-sectional survey-based study was conducted from June to August 2020. All nurses currently working in public and private hospitals in Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 pandemic were invited to complete an online survey. We used the 7-item unidimensional Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) to assess the level of fear of COVID-19. Multiple regression analysis was used to identify predictors associated with fear of COVID-19. Results: A total of 969 nurses participated in this study. The participants were relatively young with a mean age of 35.5 ± 10.46 years. About two-thirds of the participants were women (65.9%), married (57.2%), and were non-Saudi nationals (67%). The total mean score for the FCV-19S was 19.7 SD 7.03 (range 7-35), which is near the mid-point, indicating a moderate level of fear of COVID-19. Out of the eight variables measured in the analysis, three variables emerged as a significant predictor (i.e., gender, marital status, and age). A higher level of fear (FCV-19S) was associated with being a woman, married, and older age (p ≤ 0.05). Conclusion: This study demonstrated the level of fear of COVID-19 among nurses in Saudi Arabia. Overall, nurses in Saudi reported moderate levels of fear of COVID-19. Assessing the level of fear of nurses who work during the COVID-19 pandemic should be a priority to health care administrators to prevent mental health difficulties or psychological injury.

Association of Fear of COVID-19 and Health Literacy Among the General Public in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Assessment.

Objective: This study aims to determine the level of fear of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) among the general public in Saudi Arabia and the association of its scores with their level of health literacy. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among the general population in Saudi Arabia from April 2020 to May 2020. A three-part online self-reported survey was used to assess the participants' demographic characteristics, fear of COVID-19 of the participants, and levels of health literacy. Results: Of the 848 participants, 56.8% were in the age group of 25-34, 45.6% were females, and 57.1% had a bachelor's degree. The total mean score of the fear of COVID-19 scale of the participants was FCoV-19: mean ± SD = 19.60 ± 7.33 and the health literacy was HL index: mean ± SD = 27.57 ± 11.05. There was a significant difference in the scores of fear of COVID-19 scale in terms of age (F = 2.442, p = 0.050), representing that those aged 45 and above had higher mean fear scores than the younger participants. The analysis revealed that an increased level of fear of COVID-19 was associated with older age (B = 1.87; p = 0.020), being unemployed (B = 0.76; p = 0.023), with no formal education (B = 0.89; p = 0.001), and low level of health literacy (B = 0.02; p = 0.021). Conclusion: The study shows an above-average level of fear of COVID-19 of the general public in Saudi Arabia and its association with a low level of functional health literacy. Timely and comprehensive health interventions should be promoted to enhance the level of health literacy and further reduce the level of fear of COVID-19 in the community.

Antibiotic Skin Testing in the Intensive Care Unit: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: Recent research has shown that a large majority of patients with a history of penicillin allergy are acutely tolerant of penicillins and that there is no clinically significant immunologic cross-reactivity between penicillins and cephalosporins or other ß-lactams. The standard test to confirm acute tolerance is challenge with a therapeutic dose. Skin testing is useful only when the culprit antibiotic can haptenate serum proteins and induce an immunoglobulin E-mediated reaction and the clinical history demonstrates such high risk that a direct oral challenge may result in anaphylaxis. OBJECTIVE: To review and evaluate the current practice of skin testing for antibiotics (other than penicillin) in critically ill patients by means of a systematic literature review. METHODS: This systematic review was performed using PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses) guidelines. Several electronic databases were searched using the following terms: antibiotics, skin test (tests, testing), intensive care, intensive care unit, ICU, critical care, critical care unit. RESULTS: Twenty-three articles were identified for inclusion in this review. The results indicate a lack of standardized skin testing for all antibiotics in critical care settings. Oral challenge with nonirritating concentrations of antibiotics can be helpful in determining allergy to these drugs. CONCLUSIONS: Critical care providers should evaluate antibiotic allergy using nonirritating concentrations before administering antibiotics to patients. Introduction of a standardized skin test for all antibiotics in intensive care unit patients to help select the most appropriate antibiotic treatment regimen might help save lives and reduce costs.

Readiness for self-directed learning: How bridging and traditional nursing students differs?

BACKGROUND: The dean of the nursing college has an initiative to reform the BSN program in the college to minimize the use of lecturing and maximize interactive and lifelong learning. Appropriate assessment of how our students are prepared to be self-directed learners is crucial. OBJECTIVE: To compare traditional and bridging students in regard to their SDLR scores in the nursing college in Saudi Arabia. DESIGN: This was a comparative study to compare traditional and bridging students in regard to their self-directed learning readiness scores (SDLR). SETTINGS: The data was collected at the Nursing College, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. PARTICIPANTS: A convenient sample of undergraduate nursing students at the sixth and eighth levels in both regular and bridging programs were recruited in this study to indicate their SDLR scores. METHODS: The study used Fisher et al.'s (2001) Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale to measure the self-directed learning readiness among undergraduate nursing students. RESULTS: The total mean score of SDLR was 144 out of 200, which indicated a low level of readiness for SDL. There were significant variations between the included academic levels among participants. Students in the sixth academic level scored higher in the total SDLR scores compared to eighth-level students. There were no significant variations with gender and program types in the total SDLR scores. CONCLUSIONS: A comprehensive plan is needed to prepare both faculty members and students to improve the SDL skills.

Transgender Individuals and Osteoporosis Prevention.

BACKGROUND: Risk behaviors and hormone use place transgender individuals (TIs) in jeopardy for osteoporosis. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to expand the science about the knowledge, health beliefs, and osteoporosis (OP) preventing behaviors of TIs. METHODS: This was a mixed-methods pilot study of a convenience sample of 31 TIs 30 years and older. Participants completed an online Osteoporosis Bone Health Survey. Fifteen participants were randomly selected for an interview to describe their perceptions of bone health. RESULTS: Transgender individuals performed poorly on the knowledge measure. There were no significant findings for osteoporosis health beliefs. Participants' daily dietary dairy calcium intake was 800 mg and daily walking activity was 17 minutes. Perceptions of bone health revealed two essential elements, knowing and doing. CONCLUSION: Determining TIs' bone health perception is important because of their unique healthcare issues. Healthcare providers need to be aware of TIs' bone health needs to help enhance TIs' OP knowledge, health beliefs, and preventing behaviors.

The Learning Preferences among Nursing Students in the King Saud University in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Survey.

OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to identify the most common learning preferences among the nursing students in Saudi Arabia and to investigate the associations of certain demographic variables with the learning preferences. METHODS: All the undergraduate nursing students in the nursing college were requested to participate in this descriptive cross-sectional study. An Arabic version of the Felder-Silverman learning style model (FSLSM) questionnaire was used to examine the learning preferences among undergraduate nursing students. RESULTS: A total of 56 (43%) completed questionnaires were included in the final analysis. Results of the present study indicate that the most common learning preferences among the nursing students were visual (67.9%), followed by active (50%) and sequential (37.5%) learning preferences. The verbal style was the least common learning preference (3.6%) among the nursing students. There was no association between gender and learning preferences (p > .05). CONCLUSION: The present study concluded that the visual, active, and sequential styles are the commonest learning preferences among the nursing students. The nursing educators should emphasize the use of this information in their teaching methods to improve learning skills among the nursing students.