Perceptions of Patients and Nurses about Bedside Nursing Handover: A Qualitative Systematic Review and Meta-Synthesis.

Background: Bedside nursing handover is a recognized nursing practice that involves conducting shift change communication at the patient's bedside to enhance communication safety. Understanding the perceptions of both patients and nurses regarding bedside handover is crucial in identifying the key principles for developing and implementing effective bedside handover protocols. However, there is currently a lack of comprehensive evidence that summarizes and evaluates studies focused on qualitative approaches for gaining insights into the perceptions of both nurses and patients. Purpose: This meta-synthesis review aims to identify, synthesize, and evaluate the quality of primary qualitative studies on the perceptions of patients and nurses about bedside nursing handover. Methods: A meta-synthesis review was conducted to identify qualitative studies that reported patients and nurses' perceptions about bedside handover using seven electronic databases, including CINAHL, PsycINFO, Embase, Education Database (ProQuest), Web of Science, The Cochrane Library, and PubMed, from January 2013 to November 2023. The authors independently selected reviews, extracted data, and evaluated the quality of included studies using the 10-item JBI Qualitative Assessment and Review Instrument tool. Results: A total of 871 articles were retrieved, of which 13 met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. These studies identified three main themes: (1) facilitators of bedside nursing handover, (2) barriers to bedside nursing handover, and (3) strategies to maintain confidentiality during bedside handover. Conclusion: This study systematically reviewed and integrated the perceptions of patients and nurses about bedside handover. Based on nurses' perceptions, the combined findings highlight the facilitators of bedside handover, including developing partnership interaction between nurses and patients, promoting professionalism, and enhancing emotional communication among nurses. From the patients' viewpoint, the synthesized findings emphasize the facilitators of bedside handover, including acknowledging the expertise, professionalism, and humanity of the nursing profession, ensuring a sense of safety, satisfaction, and confidence in the care received, as well as promoting individualized nursing care. In the context of barriers to bedside handover, both nurses and patients perceive breaches of confidentiality and privacy violations as significant barriers. When it comes to maintaining confidentiality during bedside handovers, it is important to consider patients' preferences. Patients often prefer handovers to take place in a private setting. From the nurses' perspective, it is important to inquire with patients about their preference for the presence of caregivers, and to conduct private handovers for sensitive issues away from the bedside. Relevance to Clinical Practice. Clinicians should carefully evaluate the barriers and facilitators in this meta-synthesis prior to implementing bedside handover. Study Registration. This study is registered in PROSPERO with Protocol registration ID: CRD42024514615.

The efficacy of mindfulness-based programs in reducing anxiety among nurses in hospital settings: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: The increasing pressure of their professional duties has led to a notable concern regarding the mounting anxiety levels among nurses. The ongoing discussion revolves around the efficacy of mindfulness as a means to alleviate anxiety in nurses. AIM: This systematic review evaluated the effectiveness of mindfulness in reducing anxiety among nurses. METHODS: The evaluation followed the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. An extensive and comprehensive search was conducted across eight databases to identify studies that utilized randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and were published in English between 2011 and 2022. Independently, two reviewers assessed the validity of the randomized controlled trials using the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials criteria. Additionally, two authors independently employed the Risk of Bias in Non-Randomized Studies of Interventions (ROBINS-2) method to evaluate the potential bias in the RCTs. RESULTS: Eight randomized controlled trial studies that were deemed eligible were included in the current analysis. Based on the literature review, it was determined that mindfulness-based training can assist nurses in reducing their anxiety levels. Furthermore, the effectiveness of mindfulness-based programs in enhancing nurses' mindfulness and self-compassion has been firmly established. CONCLUSIONS: Based on existing literature, mindfulness-based interventions have proven to be effective in reducing anxiety levels among nurses. However, in order to enhance the overall quality of research, it is necessary to implement more rigorous controlled designs that include randomization. Additionally, larger sample sizes with a diverse range of participants are needed to establish and validate the effectiveness of mindfulness-based programs in alleviating anxiety among nurses. LINKING EVIDENCE TO ACTION: Implementing mindfulness-based training in healthcare organizations can offer numerous benefits. One such advantage is that it can help nurses in reducing anxiety and enhancing their ability to handle the pressures associated with their profession. STUDY REGISTRATION: PROSPERO Protocol registration ID: CRD42023475157.

Exploring nurses' experiences of providing spiritual care to cancer patients: a qualitative study.

PURPOSE: This study aims to explore nurses' experiences of delivering spiritual care in an oncology setting. METHODS: An exploratory- descriptive qualitative design. Focus groups were conducted to gather data. The discussions were recorded and transcribed verbatim to ensure accuracy, credibility, and reliability. Inductive thematic analysis was performed to analyze the narratives, and the study's reporting followed the Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative studies. RESULTS: The study revealed four major themes: the spirituality from the perspective of oncology nurses, recognition of patients' spiritual needs, delivery of spiritual care to patients with cancer, and barriers in implementing spiritual care. The participants identified insufficient staff, lack of time, and insufficient knowledge and skills as obstacles to delivering spiritual care. CONCLUSION: This study offers a thorough understanding of how nurses provide spiritual care in an oncology setting. It is recommended that organizational interventions, such as increasing staff numbers, be implemented to enable nurses to provide more compassionate care. Furthermore, nursing curriculums should incorporate purposeful engagement and focused debriefing related to spiritual care to better equip nurses in identifying and meeting the spiritual needs of their patients.

The effectiveness of progressive muscle relaxation technique in reducing cancer-related pain among palliative care patients: A randomized controlled trial.

Purpose: Cancer-related pain (CRP) is a common and distressing symptom experienced by many patients receiving palliative care. The purpose of this trial was to evaluate the effectiveness of the progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) technique in reducing CRP in patients receiving palliative care. Methods: A total of 148 patients diagnosed with cancer and receiving palliative care were randomly allocated to either an intervention or control group. The intervention group received a 4-week daily course of PMR technique, while the control group received only usual care. Data was collected using a demographic and clinical characteristics form, as well as the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI). Blind evaluations were conducted prior to the start of the intervention (T0), at the end of the 4-week PMR intervention (T1), and at 1-month follow-up (T2). Results: The results of this trial demonstrated a significant decrease in pain intensity scores for the PMR group compared to the control group at both T1 and T2 (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the PMR group also exhibited significant improvements in pain interference with general activity, mood, relations with others, sleep, and enjoyment of life scores compared to the control group at both T1 and T2 (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The results of this trial suggest that the PMR technique may be an effective intervention for reducing pain intensity and improving pain interference with life activities in cancer patients receiving palliative care. However, further research is needed to provide more robust evidence for the effectiveness of this intervention.Clinical trial registration number: NCT04436705. Registered at ClinicalTrials.gov.

Place of death for patients treated at a tertiary cancer center in Jordan.

BACKGROUND: Home death is considered to be a marker of good death. Little is known about the place of death and its determinants in patients with cancer in Jordan. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of regularly collected data of cancer patients who had a palliative care consultation at King Hussein Cancer Center and died between 2011 and 2012. Variables analyzed were related to the patient, disease, and palliative care services. Patient-related factors included age at death, gender, place of residence, and code status; disease-related variables were cancer type (solid vs hematological), major primary site, and time from cancer diagnosis to death; palliative care service-related variables included time of consultation for palliative care services to death, location of first palliative encounter (outpatient clinic vs hospital floor), multidisciplinary palliative home care teams involvement, and the number of home care visits before death. We examined the association between each variable and place of death using Pearson's chi-square and the Mann-Whitney tests. Factors with statistical significance of P value < 0.1 were entered into multivariate logistic regression model. RESULTS: Among 630 patients, 80 (12.7%) died at home. Univariate analysis showed the following to be significantly associated with dying at home: male gender, age more than 65 years old, earlier palliative care involvement, and involvement of home care services (P value < 0.05). Independent predictors for dying at home were male gender, age more than 65 years old, and involvement of home care services. CONCLUSIONS: Hospital death is more prevalent than home death in cancer patients in Jordan. Involvement of home care services can help achieve the goal of dying at home.

Cancer-related fatigue: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of mind-body intervention.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the methodological quality of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of mind-body interventions (MBIs) for the management of cancer-related fatigue. METHODS: A comprehensive search on multiple databases was conducted to identify relevant systematic reviews and meta-analyses published from January 2008 to December 2019. Two authors independently selected reviews, extracted data, and evaluated the methodological quality of included reviews using Assessing the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR). RESULTS: Sixteen reviews published between 2010 and 2018 were eligible for inclusion. The methodological quality of the 16 included systematic reviews was moderate (score 4-7) to high (score ≥ 8) on the 11-point AMSTAR scale. The most common methodological weaknesses were the lack of a list of excluded studies (n = 15, 93.8%) and a priori protocol (n = 2,87.5%). Furthermore, most of the systematic reviews did not search the gray literature for eligible studies (n = 13, 81.3%). SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY: This study has revealed the need for high methodological quality systematic reviews on the MBIs for the management of cancer-related fatigue. Thus, further research should focus on methodologically strong systematic reviews by providing a priori design, not limiting the publication type, and providing an excluded primary studies list. Additionally, the researchers should conduct systematic reviews according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guideline.

Nurses' stressors and their quality of life: A study on nurses caring for older patients.

Aim: To determine the sources of occupational stress and the level of quality of life among nurses caring for older people in Lebanon and examine the underlying factors to predict nurses' quality of life. Design: A descriptive correlational design. Methods: Data were collected from 119 nurses using Nursing Stress Scale and WHO-Quality of Life Brief. Results: Nurses reported the highest frequency of stressful events related to their workload (mean = 16.42, SD 1.03), followed by "death and dying" (mean = 14.61, SD 1.02). Nurses reported the highest level of quality of life domains was physical health (mean = 15.74, SD = 2.63), while the lowest level was environmental domain (mean = 11.15, SD = 1.86). After controlling for demographic and work-related variables, occupational stress explained a large variance in the physical (R2 change = .43), psychological (R2 change = .44) and social relationship (R2 change = .35) domains of quality of life.

Stress management training program for stress reduction and coping improvement in public health nurses: A randomized controlled trial.

AIMS: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the stress management interventional program in reducing occupational stress and improving coping strategies among public health nurses. DESIGN: A double-blind, cluster-randomized approach was used as a randomization method for this study to evaluate the stress management interventional program. METHODS: A cluster-randomized controlled trial was carried out in eight comprehensive healthcare centres in Amman city, Jordan; four centres were randomly assigned to each experimental and control group. One hundred and seventy nurses were selected randomly from March 2019 - August 2019 and data were collected by using the Nursing Stress Scale & brief COPE over three data collection times. Both descriptive and inferential statistics (repeated measure ANOVA, Independent t test, and chi-squared) were used to answer the research questions of this study. RESULTS: The results showed that both the levels of occupational stress and coping strategies were significantly different between the two study groups over the three data collection points (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Based on the findings of this study, the stress management program is an effective non-invasive method that can be used to reduce stress levels and improve coping strategies for public health nurses. The implementation of stress management interventions in health care is likely to help nurses manage occupational stress in practice. IMPACT: Nurses suffer from a high level of occupational stress. In particular, approximately74% of nurses experience severe occupational stress, which can lead to many mental and physical disorders. However, nurses were less able to utilize the correct stress preventive strategies due to gaps in knowledge, skills, and awareness. This study contributed to the provision of empirical evidence of the effectiveness of the stress management program in reducing occupational stress and improving coping strategies among public health nurses. A stress management intervention program is a valuable non-invasive method that can be used by healthcare organizations to reduce stress levels and improve coping strategies for nurses in practice. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT03833986.

Virtual Reality Technology for Pain and Anxiety Management among Patients with Cancer: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: Pain and anxiety have negative effects on the treatment of patients with cancer. Virtual reality technology is a form of distraction which is still unclear in its methodological quality in reducing pain and anxiety. AIMS: To summarize and evaluate the methodological quality of primary studies on the virtual reality (VR) technology for the management of pain and anxiety among patients with cancer, and to analyze the effectiveness of VR in the reviewed studies. DESIGN: This review was reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. SETTING: Multiple databases from their inception through November 2018. METHODS: A comprehensive search was performed to identify studies that evaluated the effectiveness of VR in managing pain and anxiety among patients with cancer. The methodological quality of included studies was appraised using the modified Downs and Black checklist. RESULTS: Thirteen studies published between 1999 and 2018 were eligible for inclusion. These included studies were classified as being of good or fair quality. The consensus across the included studies was that compared with standard care, VR plus standard care were more effective in reducing pain and anxiety especially in children and adolescent patients who were undergoing painful procedures, and in adult and elderly patients who were undergoing anti-cancer treatments and during their hospitalization. CONCLUSION: Although more high- methodological quality studies are needed to determine whether VR technology is effective in controlling symptoms in patients with cancer, the results of this review suggested that VR intervention may be beneficial for the management of pain and anxiety in patients with cancer. Therefore, clinicians may consider VR technology as an adjunctive intervention for pain and anxiety management.

Stress management interventions for intensive and critical care nurses: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: The level of occupational stress of nurses working in intensive and critical care units is high. Although many studies have assessed the effectiveness of stress management interventions among intensive and critical care nurses, the methodological quality of these studies remains unclear. PURPOSE: The purpose of this review was to summarize and appraise the methodological quality of primary studies on interventions for management of occupational stress among intensive and critical care nurses. METHODS: This review was reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. A comprehensive literature search was conducted to identify primary studies that assessed the effectiveness of interventions in managing occupational stress among intensive and critical care nurses using multiple databases from January 2009 to June 2019. RESULTS: Twelve studies published between 2011 and 2019 were eligible for inclusion. These included studies were classified as being of good or fair quality. The consensus across the included studies was that, compared with control condition, cognitive-behavioural skills training and mindfulness-based intervention were more effective in reducing occupational stress among intensive and critical care unit nurses. CONCLUSION: Further research should focus on methodologically strong studies by blinding the outcome assessors, using Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) design with an active control group, using standardized assessment tools, and reporting enough details about the stress management intervention-related adverse events. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: This review demonstrates the need for high methodological quality studies to rigorously evaluate the effectiveness of stress management interventions before it can be recommended for use in clinical practice to reduce stress in intensive and critical care unit nurses. In addition, attention should be given to developing research protocols that place more emphasis on interventions aimed at the organization level to address the growing problem of occupational stress among intensive and critical care nurses.

Senior nursing student's perceptions of an interprofessional simulation-based education (IPSE): A qualitative study.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions and attitudes toward interprofessional simulation-based education among Lebanese senior nursing students. METHODS: The study used an exploratory descriptive qualitative approach and collected data through focus groups. All focus group discussions were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, and narratives were compared with the recordings to establish accuracy, credibility and reliability of data. Qualitative narratives were translated to English and analyzed through an inductive thematic content analysis. This study was reported according to the Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research (SRQR). RESULTS: Four major themes were identified: understanding roles and responsibilities, enhancing collaboration, improve personal and interpersonal skills, and patient outcomes. CONCLUSION: The senior nursing students showed a positive perception and attitude toward interprofessional simulation-based education. They found that interprofessional simulation-based education increased their knowledge and understanding of the importance of the roles of other professions, as well as their own role in providing patient care. Furthermore, they perceived that interprofessional simulation-based education improved their personal and interpersonal skills. These positive findings may contribute to their future success in an interprofessional team, which could lead to improved patient outcomes. Therefore, future research is needed to see how the reported benefits of interprofessional simulation-based education training are reflected in clinical practice and related to patient outcomes.

An assessment of self-care knowledge among patients with diabetes mellitus.

PURPOSES: This study aimed to (1) assess the level of diabetes self-care knowledge among patients with diabetes mellitus and (2) examine the relationship between patients' diabetes self-care knowledge and their demographic and medical characteristics. METHODS: A cross-sectional design was used to implement the study. A convenience sample of 273 diabetic patients were recruited from five primary health-care centers in Amman- Jordan. RESULTS: The overall level of knowledge of diabetes self-care in the total sample was moderate (58.28% (SD = 18.24)). The highest level of knowledge was meal planning (70.2%) followed by monitoring, causes of diabetes, foot care, symptoms and complication, diabetic medication, and the lowest level was exercise (42.5%). Furthermore, knowledge of diabetes self-care was found to be associated with age, educational status, diabetic medications and years with diabetes. CONCLUSION: and Practice implications: The study findings emphasized that diabetic patients had a moderate level of knowledge and there were many of the learning needs for each area of knowledge. The health-care professional has an important role in developing the appropriate diabetes educational programs based on patients' learning needs and patients' characteristics. These programs that enhances knowledge on diabetes could be reduced or prevented diabetes-related complications.

An assessment of methodological quality of systematic reviews of acupuncture and related therapies for cancer-related pain.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: There currently exist many systematic reviews aimed at assessing acupuncture and related therapy effectiveness in cancer-related pain management. However, the methodological quality of existing systematic reviews remains unclear. The purpose of this review was to summarize and evaluate the methodological quality of these systematic reviews and meta-analyses papers. METHODS: A comprehensive search on multiple databases was performed using Assessing the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR). RESULTS: Fourteen systematic reviews published between 2005 and 2017 were eligible for inclusion. The consensus across the included reviews was that acupuncture and related therapies alone did not have superior pain-relieving effects as compared with analgesic administration using various validated pain scales. However, as compared with analgesic administration alone, acupuncture and related therapies plus analgesics resulted in reduced cancer related-pain. CONCLUSION: The study findings emphasized that acupuncture and related therapies alone did not have clinically significant effects at cancer-related pain reduction as compared with analgesic administration alone. Clinicians may consider acupuncture and related therapies as adjunctive therapies for cancer-related pain management, in particular, when pain control is unsatisfactory under analgesics alone. Furthermore, the researchers should conduct the SRs and meta-analyses according to the AMSTAR and PRISMA.

Symptom Prevalence of Patients with Cancer in a Tertiary Cancer Center in Jordan.

BACKGROUND: Prevalence of symptoms experienced by patients with cancer was studied in different parts of the world. In Jordan, to the best of our knowledge, there is no published data on the prevalence of symptoms among patients with cancer. The aim of this study is to estimate the prevalence of symptoms among patients with cancer in Jordan. METHOD: This was a secondary analysis of crosssectional survey that evaluate the psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life 15 items Questionnaire for Palliative Care (EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL) among patients admitted to a tertiary cancer center in Jordan. RESULTS: A total of 175 patients with cancer participated in the study; 51.4% were males, 48.6 % were females, mean age of patients was 50 years. Median number of symptoms per patient was 6, interquartile range was 5-7. The majority of patients (143; 81%) had more than 3 non-pain symptoms each. The most frequently reported symptom was tiredness (82%), whereas the least prevalent symptom was depression (55%). Pain was prevalent in 71% of patients, median severity score was 50%. CONCLUSION: Patients with cancer suffer from a large constellation of symptoms, frequent assessment with a designated tool can help early identification of these symptoms and subsequent management. This highlights the need for integrated palliative services along with other health care provision.