Development and psychometric testing of Perceived Preoperative Nursing Care Competence Scale for Nursing Students (PPreCC-NS).

BACKGROUND: For nurses to carry out their responsibilities related to preoperative care in the best possible way, it is very important for them to receive competency-based training and for their competences to be measured with reliable and valid tools in the training process. OBJECTIVE: To develop a measurement tool that evaluates nursing students' perceived competence for preoperative nursing care. DESIGN: A cross-sectional, methodological study. SETTING: Two universities in the Eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 661 second, third and fourth grade nursing students participated in the study. METHODS: Items were created in line with the nursing competencies published by the International Council of Nurses, the competencies in the perioperative period nursing practices published by the European Operating Room Nurses Association, and a review of the literature. Then, to test the content validity, the items were submitted for expert opinion and a pilot implementation was made with 50 nursing students. Furthermore, the construct validity of the scale was tested with exploratory factor analysis (n = 253) and confirmatory factor analysis (n = 350). Test-retest stability was also investigated for the PPreCC-NS (n = 58), in the study. RESULTS: According to the results of the exploratory factor analysis, the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin value was 0.948, and the Bartlett test χ2 was 7765.23; p < 0.001. Three items with a factor loading value below 0.50 were removed from the scale, and the obtained factor structure explained 62.25 % of the variance. The fit indices of the scale model tested in the confirmatory factor analysis were determined as χ2/df = 2.74, RMSEA = 0.07, CFI = 0.92, GFI = 0.88, AGFI = 0.85, IFI = 0.92. The structure of the draft scale was confirmed with 5 factors and 22 items. The Cronbach alpha values were found to be 0.79-0.96 for the sub-dimensions of the scale and 0.94 for the total scale. Data also showed a good test-retest stability (ICC = 0.72). CONCLUSIONS: This scale is a reliable and valid measurement tool for nursing students to determine their level of perceived competence for preoperative nursing care. It is recommended that the psychometric structure of the scale be evaluated with further studies on larger and more diverse samples.

The effect of topically administered lavender aromatherapy on the pain of insulin injection in diabetic patients: a double-blind randomized controlled clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Needle phobia occurs in more than half of diabetic patients due to the pain caused by frequent insulin injections. Therefore, this study evaluated the effect of topically administered lavender aromatherapy on the pain of insulin injections in diabetic patients. METHODS: In this double-blind randomized controlled and experimental study, patients who met the study criteria were divided into three groups; topical lavender oil (n = 60), placebo (n = 60), and control (n = 60) groups. The data were collected using the "Patient Information Form", the "Follow-up Form", the "Verbal Category Scale (VCS)", and the "Visual Analogue Scale (VAS)". RESULTS: The results revealed no significant difference between the patients in the topical lavender oil group before and during the insulin injection in terms of VAS and VCS pain scores (p > 0.05). In the placebo and control groups, the mean VAS and VCS pain scores during insulin injection were found to be significantly higher than before insulin injection (p < 0.05). Besides, the mean VAS and VCS scores during insulin injection were significantly higher in the placebo and control groups than the topical lavender oil group (p < 0.05). DISCUSSION: : The study showed that patients who were administered topical lavender oil felt less pain after insulin injection than those in the placebo and control groups. Therefore, topically applied lavender aromatherapy can be easily used for pain control in insulindependent diabetic patients (clinical trial number NCT04767737).

Experiences of nurses diagnosed with COVID-19 in Turkey: A qualitative study.

AIMS: This study examined the experiences of nurses diagnosed with COVID-19 under the guidance of Meleis' Transitions Theory. BACKGROUND: Nurses, who make up the majority of healthcare professionals, are struggling with COVID-19, a silent war, on the front lines at the cost of their lives. The pandemic has deeply affected nurses' lives, and hundreds of nurses around the world have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and died. METHODS: A descriptive qualitative approach was used in this study. Data were collected from 18 nurses who experienced COVID-19 symptoms, with a semistructured interview form prepared based on Meleis' Transitions Theory concepts. Interview transcripts were analyzed using a thematic analysis technique. The Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research checklist was used in the study. RESULTS: The six themes that emerged in the data analysis were emotions experienced when nurses tested positive for COVID-19, emotions experienced during the quarantine process, posttraumatic growth, methods of coping with COVID-19, nursing care after COVID-19 treatment, and metaphors about COVID-19. CONCLUSION: This study showed that being diagnosed with COVID-19 caused nurses to have both positive (posttraumatic growth, empathic and psychosocial nursing care) and negative experiences (fear of death, stigma, etc.). They tried to cope with adverse situations due to COVID-19 by obtaining social support, thinking positively, and engaging in domestic activities. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING AND HEALTH POLICY: To reduce COVID-19-related physical and psychological symptoms, appropriate policies should be developed for effective and rapid nursing workforce planning, extending the time allocated for postdiagnosis treatment, updating infection control and prevention guides, training nurses, and providing ongoing psychosocial counseling services that nurses can access.