An experience of field work learning for healthcare providers: new perspectives between disadvantages and critical issues.

INTRODUCTION: The learning models used in traditional education are not very effective for the continuing education of healthcare providers. Fieldwork learning is an active learning method that is feasible in the workplace and is also suitable for professionals who possess a style of experiential learning. Guardian Angel 2.0® is a fieldwork learning project designed to promote educational skills in nurses to improve the self-care and quality of life in women affected by osteoporosis. The purpose of this article is to present the Guardian Angel 2.0® project and its results. METHODS: The Guardian Angel 2.0® effort lasted nine months and involved 212 nurses in the north, centre and south of Italy. A socio-demographic questionnaire, an evaluation scale of the learning process and a participants' satisfaction questionnaire were used to evaluate and monitor the fieldwork learning project. RESULTS: Out of the 212 nurses who participated in the project, 119 (70%) completed it. The mean age of these participants was 48 years (± 7.98), and 83.5% were female. About half of the participants (52.0%, 55.4% and 45.0%, respectively) were good (a) at respecting deadlines, (b) at using the methodological instruments and (c) the information tools properly. Almost all nurses considered the project to be very relevant (96.4%). In regards to the project's quality, the nurses perceived it as excellent (51.0%) and very good (48.5%). Finally, the project was considered very useful or useful by 100% of nurses. CONCLUSIONS: The general satisfaction of nurses was high. The fieldwork learning was relevant and useful for developing educational skills in nurses. It would therefore be appropriate to use fieldwork learning in clinical settings to improve the existing experience of healthcare providers and thereby reduce the difficulties of transforming the knowledge from a theoretical to a practical level and to promote the development of new behaviours when the existing ones become obsolete or inefficient.

Workplace bullying and psychotropic drug use: the mediating role of physical and mental health status.

OBJECTIVES: The association between workplace bullying and psychotropic drug use is not well established. This study was aimed at exploring the association between workplace bullying, and its characteristics, and psychotropic drug use and studying the mediating role of physical and mental health. METHODS: The study population consisted of a random sample of 3132 men and 4562 women of the working population in the south-east of France. Workplace bullying, evaluated using the validated instrument elaborated by Leymann, and psychotropic drug use, as well as covariates, were measured using a self-administered questionnaire. Covariates included age, marital status, presence of children, education, occupation, working hours, night work, physico-chemical exposures at work, self-reported health, and depressive symptoms. Statistical analysis was performed using logistic regression analysis and was carried out separately for men and women. RESULTS: Workplace bullying was strongly associated with psychotropic drug use. Past exposure to bullying increased the risk for this use. The more frequent and the longer the exposure to bullying, the stronger the association with psychotropic drug use. Observing bullying on someone else at the workplace was associated with psychotropic drug use. Adjustment for covariates did not modify the results. Additional adjustment for self-reported health and depressive symptoms reduced the magnitude of the associations, especially for men. CONCLUSIONS: The association between bullying and psychotropic drug use was found to be significant and strong and was partially mediated by physical and mental health.

Workplace bullying and sleep disturbances: findings from a large scale cross-sectional survey in the French working population.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to explore the associations between workplace bullying, the characteristics of workplace bullying, and sleep disturbances in a large sample of employees of the French working population. DESIGN: Workplace bullying, evaluated using the validated instrument developed by Leymann, and sleep disturbances, as well as covariates, were measured using a self-administered questionnaire. Covariates included age, marital status, presence of children, education, occupation, working hours, night work, physical and chemical exposures at work, self-reported health, and depressive symptoms. Statistical analysis was performed using logistic regression analysis and was carried out separately for men and women. SETTING: General working population. PARTICIPANTS: The study population consisted of a random sample of 3132 men and 4562 women of the working population in the southeast of France. RESULTS: Workplace bullying was strongly associated with sleep disturbances. Past exposure to bullying also increased the risk for this outcome. The more frequent the exposure to bullying, the higher the risk of experiencing sleep disturbances. Observing someone else being bullied in the workplace was also associated with the outcome. Adjustment for covariates did not modify the results. Additional adjustment for self-reported health and depressive symptoms diminished the magnitude of the associations that remained significant. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of workplace bullying (around 10%) was found to be high in this study as well was the impact of this major job-related stressor on sleep disturbances. Although no conclusion about causality could be drawn from this cross-sectional study, the findings suggest that the contribution of workplace bullying to the burden of sleep disturbances may be substantial.