Nurses' professional values and competency in Saudi Arabia: A structural equation modelling approach.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To explore the relationship between Saudi nurses' professional values and competence. BACKGROUND: Professionals are bound by ethical standards specific to their profession. Accordingly, the COVID-19 pandemic is the most significant event that has impacted nurses' professional values and competency. DESIGN: A descriptive cross-sectional design adhering to STROBE guidelines. METHODS: Clinical nurses from four tertiary government hospitals (n = 659) participated and completed two self-report instruments. Study variables were analysed using the structural equation modelling approach. RESULTS: The emerging model displayed acceptable model fit indices. Professionalism and activism were two dimensions of nurse professional values that significantly impacted professional competency. Professionalism significantly impacted the four other aspects of nurse professional values: caring, activism, trust, and justice. Caring had a significant and direct impact on activism. Activism had a weak, direct effect on trust, whereas justice had a moderate, direct effect on trust. Through the mediation of the dimension of activism, both the dimensions of professionalism and caring had a strong, indirect impact on professional competency. CONCLUSIONS: This research presents a structural model of the interrelationship between nurse professional values and competency. Nurse administrators can use the proposed model to develop approaches and policies for assessing, improving and evaluating professional values among nurses. RELEVANCE FOR CLINICAL PRACTICE: Nursing professionals are committed to upholding their ethical and moral standards while performing their caregiver roles. Nurse administrators can implement activities and strategies to develop nurses' professional competence further, as professional values represent the ideal values expected of nurses providing patient care.

Workplace violence towards emergency nurses: A cross-sectional multicenter study.

BACKGROUND: Workplace violence (WPV) against nurses continues to be a challenge within healthcare systems worldwide. Quantifying the burden of WPV in emergency departments will inform the design of appropriate interventions. This study aimed to determine the prevalence, pattern and factors associated with WPV among emergency nurses working in Saudi Arabia. METHODS: A multicenter descriptive online survey was conducted using a standardized self-administered questionnaire. Emergency nurses working in public hospitals in the country were invited to participate. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression. RESULTS: The study recruited 849 emergency nurses, most (73.7%) had experienced WPV in the past two years; 47.4% experienced physical violence and 94.3% experienced non-physical violence. Most exposures to WPV occurred during the afternoon shifts (70.8%), and mainly perpetrated by family members or relatives of the patients (88.3%). CONCLUSION: WPV encountered by emergency nurses in Saudi Arabia is alarmingly high, and underreported by the affected nurses. Increased workload, inadequate staffing levels, poorly enforced visitor policy, unmet expectations, and a lack of clarity in reporting were the most frequent causes of WPV. There is a need to reassess the current occupational safety measures in the emergency departments in the country.

The correlates of social determinants to ethico-moral values on professional development of Saudi nursing students.

OBJECTIVES: This study determined the perceived professional values of nursing students, which are potentially correlated to their individual profiles. METHODS: This study utilized a cross-sectional design using the Nurse Professional Values Scale-Revised (NPVS-R) to determine nursing students' innate professional values. This study recruited 201 nursing students using a total enumeration sampling from Ha'il region, KSA. RESULTS: In the 26-item NPVS-R scale, item 1 was correlated to academic status at 0.01; item 3 was significantly correlated to gender at 0.01 and fluency in English at 0.01; item 4 was positively correlated to year level and fluency in English language at 0.00 and 0.0, respectively. Additionally, item 5 was found to be correlated to gender at 0.01; item 12 was correlated to gender at 0.01, year level (0.00), and fluency in English (0.01) and item 21 was correlated to gender and year level at 0.00 and 0.01, respectively. Finally, items 7, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26 were significantly correlated with year level. The items with the highest correlations to the social determinants of the participants belonged to the values, justice and caring. Since nursing is a caring profession, these findings acknowledge that the values embodied by nursing students are critical. This reaffirms that nurses provide care with responsibility and accountability for its outcomes. CONCLUSION: In this study, the participants recognized the protection and safety of public health as the most significant professional value. Similarly, patient confidentiality and the active involvement of nurses in professional organizations was highly valued.

Critical care nurses' perception of care coordination competency for management of mechanically ventilated patients.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To evaluate nurses' care coordination competency for mechanically ventilated patients in intensive care units (ICUs) of Saudi Arabia (SA). BACKGROUND: ICUs are increasingly using multidisciplinary approach to provide critical care. Functionality gaps remain within these teams preventing optimum performance, including a lack of adequate care coordination in the management of mechanically ventilated (MV) patients. DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey of ICU nurses working across 20 hospitals in SA. METHODS: The Nurses' Care Coordination Competency Scale (NCCCS) survey for MV patients was administered to all the nurses to assess their care coordination competence. The data were analysed using Student's t test, ANOVA and linear regression. Reporting of this research follows STROBE guidelines. RESULTS: A total of 254 nurses participated in the survey. The overall NCCCS mean score was 3.94 (±0.69) out of a 5-point scale. Also, the "promoting team cohesion factor (Factor 1)" had a mean score of 3.90 (±0.77), the "understanding care coordination needs factor (Factor II)" had a mean score of 4.00 (±0.77), the "aggregating and disseminating information factor (Factor III)" had a mean score of 4.05 (±0.76), and the "devising and clearly articulating the care vision factor (Factor IV)" had a mean score of 3.78 (±0.87). The mean overall NCCCS score was 4.10 among Indians, 3.98 among Filipinos and 3.81 among Saudi nationals. CONCLUSION: There were a high overall score and subscale scores of nurses' care coordination competence for mechanically ventilated patients, but few gaps were identified in some of the items. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The results provide information on the status and gaps in ICU nurses' care coordination competencies to address the needs of mechanically ventilated critically ill patients. The NCCCS can be utilised as an educational tool for nurses who are new to the ICU work environment.