Definition and validation of the nursing diagnosis label "wish to die": a research protocol.

BACKGROUND: Euthanasia has been incorporated into the health services of seven countries. The legalisation of these practices has important repercussions for the competences of nurses, and it raises questions about their role. When a patient with advanced disease expresses a wish to die, what is expected of nurses? What are the needs of these patients, and what kind of care plan do they require? What level of autonomy might nurses have when caring for these patients? The degree of autonomy that nurses might or should have when it comes to addressing such a wish and caring for these patients has yet to be defined. Recognising the wish to die as a nursing diagnosis would be an important step towards ensuring that these patients receive adequate nursing care. This study-protocol aims to define and validate the nursing diagnosis wish to die in patients with advanced disease, establishing its defining characteristics and related factors; to define nursing-specific interventions for this new diagnosis. METHODS: A prospective three-phase study will be carried out. Phase-A) Foundational knowledge: an umbrella review of systematic reviews will be conducted; Phase-B) Definition and validation of the diagnostic nomenclature, defining characteristics and related factors by means of an expert panel, a Delphi study and application of Fehring's diagnostic content validation model; Phase-C) Definition of nursing-specific interventions for the new diagnosis. At least 200 academic and clinical nurses with expertise in the field of palliative care or primary health care will be recruited as participants across the three phases. DISCUSSION: The definition of the wish to die as a nursing diagnosis would promote greater recognition and autonomy for nurses in the care of patients who express such a wish, providing an opportunity to alleviate underlying suffering through nursing-specific interventions and drawing attention to the needs of patients with advanced disease. The new diagnosis would be an addition to nursing science and would provide a framework for providing care to people with advanced disease who express such a wish. Nurses would gain professional autonomy about identifying, exploring and responding clinically to such a wish.

A teaching role practicum during the COVID-19 for final year nursing students in Spain: A qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, suspension of face-to-face learning and clinical placements for nursing students in Spain led us to expand and adapt clinical training to a teaching role. Final-year nursing students conducted an online clinical training focused on developing their health education competence. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of final-year nursing students who completed their clinical training in a teaching role practicum during the pandemic outbreak (March-June 2020). METHOD: A qualitative content analysis of reflective journals from eighteen final-year nursing students was conducted. FINDINGS: Three themes were revealed: 1) An array of emotions due to not being able to complete their final clinical placement and deciding not to join the nursing workforce; 2) Perceived benefits of a teaching role such as being able to help, contributing to knowledge, acquiring competence, and learning support and companionship; and 3) Recognizing the teaching role as fundamental to the nursing profession and becoming aware of the importance of scientific evidence in clinical practice. DISCUSSION: Nursing students appreciated how teaching and health education are an integral part of the nurse's role. A teaching role allowed final-year students to acquire competence in a key nursing role during the pandemic outbreak providing a good practice for nursing education.

The nurse teacher's pedagogical cooperation with students, the clinical learning environment and supervision in clinical practicum: a European cross-sectional study of graduating nursing students.

BACKGROUND: A supportive clinical practicum experience may enhance the successful transition and socialization to working life of graduating nursing students. Nurse teachers have the main responsibility of supporting and guiding nursing students with their pedagogical expertise during the students' clinical practicum. Thus, the clinical role of nurse teachers is seen as an essential part of a high-quality clinical practicum. Nursing students appreciate the nurse teacher's cooperation with students, but it is often reported to be unattainable. The aim of this study was to explore and compare graduating nursing students' experiences of the nurse teacher's pedagogical cooperation with students, the clinical learning environment and supervision in their final clinical practicum, and to analyze factors associated with these experiences in six European countries. METHODS: A cross-sectional comparative international survey design was used. The modified Clinical Learning Environment, Supervision and Nurse Teacher (CLES+T) Scale, with a new subscale measuring the nurse teacher's pedagogical cooperation with students, was used. A convenience sample of graduating nursing students in Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Lithuania and Spain completed the online survey in 2018-2019. The data were analyzed using a Chi-Square test, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and linear models. RESULTS: A total of 1796 (response rate 49%) nursing students completed the survey. Overall, students had positive experiences of the nurse teacher's pedagogical cooperation, the clinical learning environment and supervision in their final clinical practicum. Students in Spain had the most positive experiences. Educational background factors appeared to be associated with the students' experiences of the nurse teacher's pedagogical cooperation with students, the clinical learning environment and supervision. The relationships between the subscale Nurse teacher's pedagogical cooperation with students and the Clinical Learning Environment and Supervision Scale were perceived as weak to strong depending on the country. CONCLUSIONS: This study reveals that nurse teachers play an essential role in supporting and guiding nursing students' final clinical practicum. In this light, researchers, educators, and leaders should collaborate seamlessly between educational institutions and healthcare organizations to establish the nurse teachers' pedagogical cooperation role within the clinical learning environment.

Spontaneous and ART-induced large offspring syndrome: similarities and differences in DNA methylome.

Large/abnormal offspring syndrome (LOS/AOS) is a congenital overgrowth syndrome reported in ruminants produced by assisted reproduction (ART-LOS) which exhibit global disruption of the epigenome and transcriptome. LOS/AOS shares phenotypes and epigenotypes with the human congenital overgrowth condition Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome. We have reported that LOS occurs spontaneously (SLOS); however, to date, no study has been conducted to determine if SLOS has the same methylome epimutations as ART-LOS. In this study, we performed whole-genome bisulphite sequencing to examine global DNA methylation in bovine SLOS and ART-LOS tissues. We observed unique patterns of global distribution of differentially methylated regions (DMRs) over different genomic contexts, such as promoters, CpG Islands, shores and shelves, as well as at repetitive sequences. In addition, we included data from two previous LOS studies to identify shared vulnerable genomic loci in LOS. Overall, we identified 320 genomic loci in LOS that have alterations in DNA methylation when compared to controls. Specifically, there are 25 highly vulnerable loci that could potentially serve as molecular markers for the diagnosis of LOS, including at the promoters of DMRT2 and TBX18, at the imprinted gene bodies of IGF2R, PRDM8, and BLCAP/NNAT, and at multiple CpG Islands. We also observed tissue-specific DNA methylation patterns between muscle and blood, and conservation of ART-induced DNA methylation changes between muscle and blood. We conclude that as ART-LOS, SLOS is an epigenetic condition. In addition, SLOS and ART-LOS share similarities in methylome epimutations.

A European evaluation of the patients' role in clinical education: A six-country cross sectional study.

AIM: The aim of this study was to analyse the patients' role in clinical education in terms of facilitative student-patient relationship in Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Lithuania and Spain and factors promoting a more facilitative relationship in clinical education. BACKGROUND: Nursing students' bedside learning is reliant on patients and the establishment of a person-centred approach develops from the relationships with patients. DESIGN: A multi-country, cross-sectional design was implemented. METHODS: Survey data were collected from graduating nursing students and patients between May 2018 and March 2019. The survey consisted of a 13-item facilitative sub-scale of the Student-Patient Relationship Scale as the main outcome measure, which was identical for both populations. In addition, background factors were surveyed with single questions and other scales. Associations between facilitative relationship and background factors were studied with linear models. RESULTS: Altogether, 1796 students and 1327 patients answered the survey. Overall, both students and patients regarded their relationship as facilitative, but students' (median 4.23, 95% confidence interval 4.15-4.23) evaluations were higher than patients' (median 3.75, 95% confidence interval 3.69-3.77). The students' and patients' evaluations differed from each other significantly in all other countries except in Ireland and Lithuania. Corresponding associations for both populations were found in terms of the country and students' cultural confidence. CONCLUSIONS: Results signal favourable grounds for students' bedside learning and patient participation in clinical education with the potential to foster a person-centred approach.

Graduating nurse students' interest in older people nursing-A cross-sectional survey in six European countries.

BACKGROUND: Countries vary in the number of qualified nurses employed in older adult services. Moreover, students' views of older people nursing as a career differ internationally. Studying future nurses and their career intentions for the field is warranted to meet the increased nurse workforce expectations in terms of quantity and competence. AIM: To analyse graduating nurse students' interest in older people nursing and the factors associated with it. METHODS: A cross-sectional multicountry survey design was applied. Data were collected between May 2018 and March 2019 from several educational institutions in Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Lithuania and Spain. Non-probability convenience sampling was used to recruit graduating nurse students (n = 1796). The data were collected with a structured questionnaire comprising background factors and the Willingness sub-scale (six items) of the Students' Interest in Nursing Older People Scale. Data were analysed using a linear mixed model including relevant background variables. RESULTS: Overall, students' interest in older people nursing was low (score 20.5, on a 0-100 scale). Among the studied countries, Spanish students scored the highest (38.8) and German students the lowest (3.6). Students' interest in older people nursing was associated with country (p < .001), the length of work experience (p = .006), plans for further study (p = .007), competence (p < .001) and the extent that nursing is valued by society (p < .001). The students who were most interested in older people nursing had higher self-reported competence level (p < .001). CONCLUSION: In the studied sample of future nurse professionals, interest in older people nursing is low at a time when the field suffers from workforce shortage. As for quality workforce, it was promising that the students who considered working in the field also evaluated themselves as competent. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Multidimensional actions are required to promote interest in the field, including continued development of competence in both undergraduate education and workplaces, and investing in various career pathways to envisage potential opportunities.

Medication calculation skills of graduating nursing students within European context.

AIM: The aim of this study is to evaluate the medication calculation skills of graduating nursing students in six European countries and analyse the associated factors. BACKGROUND: Medication calculation skills are fundamental to medication safety, which is a substantial part of patient safety. Previous studies have raised concerns about the medication calculation skills of nurses and nursing students. DESIGN: As part of a broader research project, this study applies a multinational cross-sectional survey design with three populations: graduating nursing students, nurse managers and patients. METHODS: The students performed two calculations (tablet and fluid) testing medication calculation skills requiring different levels of conceptual understanding and arithmetic. The managers and patients answered one question about the students' medication kills. In total, 1,796 students, 538 managers and 1,327 patients participated the study. The data were analysed statistically. The STROBE guideline for cross-sectional studies was applied. RESULTS: Almost all (99%) of the students performed the tablet calculation correctly, and the majority (71%) answered the fluid calculation correctly. Older age, a previous degree in health care and satisfaction with their current degree programme was positively associated with correct fluid calculations. The patients evaluated the students' medication skills higher than the nurse managers did and the evaluations were not systematically aligned with the calculation skills tested. CONCLUSIONS: Nursing students have the skills to perform simple medication calculations, but a significant number of students have difficulties with calculations involving multiple operations and a higher level of conceptual understanding. Due to the variation in students' medication calculation skills and the unalignment between the managers' and patients' evaluations and the calculation tests, further research is needed. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Graduating nursing students enter clinical field as qualified professionals, but there is still room for improvement in their medication calculation skills. This calls for attention in the fields of clinical nursing, education and research.

Nursing students on the frontline: Impact and personal and professional gains of joining the health care workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain.

BACKGROUND: Final-year nursing students in Spain augmented the health care workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic. PURPOSE: To understand the lived experience of nursing students who joined the health care workforce during the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak (March-May 2020). METHOD: Qualitative content analysis of the reflective journals of 40 nursing students in Spain. FINDINGS: The analysis identified four main themes: 1) Willingness to help; 2) Safety and protective measures: Impact and challenges; 3) Overwhelming experience: Becoming aware of the magnitude of the epidemic; and 4) Learning and growth. DISCUSSION: The wish to help, the sense of moral duty, and the opportunity to learn buffered the impact of the students' lived experience. Despite the challenges they faced, they saw their experiences as a source of personal and professional growth, and they felt reaffirmed in their choice of career. Promoting opportunities for reflection and implementing adequate support and training strategies is crucial for building a nursing workforce that is capable of responding to future health crises.

The competence of nurse educators and graduating nurse students.

BACKGROUND: A nurse educator has an important role in promoting students' learning and professional development as well as in offering high quality nursing education. OBJECTIVES: To describe the competence of nurse educators and explore its connection with the self-evaluated competence of graduating nurse students. DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey design was used. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 1796 graduating nurse students in Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Lithuania and Spain participated in this study. METHODS: The data were collected with structured electronic or paper-and-pencil questionnaires. Graduating nurse students evaluated the nurse educators' competence using six items derived from the Tool for Evaluation of Requirements of Nurse Teacher (ERNT) and in addition, the students evaluated their own generic professional competence using the Nursing Competence Scale (NCS). The data were analysed statistically. RESULTS: On average, graduating nurse students evaluated the competence of nurse educators to be rather high. Icelandic and Irish students evaluated nurse educators' competence the highest. German and Finnish students were the most critical. The students also evaluated the level of their own professional competence as good. The higher graduating nurse students evaluated their own competence, the higher they also evaluated their nurse educators' competence. CONCLUSIONS: Students' evaluations of their educators' competence and their own competence seem to be aligned. However, educators' competence and its connection with students' competence warrants further studies.

Analysis of graduating nursing students' moral courage in six European countries.

BACKGROUND: Moral courage is defined as courage to act according to one's own ethical values and principles even at the risk of negative consequences for the individual. In a complex nursing practice, ethical considerations are integral. Moral courage is needed throughout nurses' career. AIM: To analyse graduating nursing students' moral courage and the factors associated with it in six European countries. RESEARCH DESIGN: A cross-sectional design, using a structured questionnaire, as part of a larger international ProCompNurse study. In the questionnaire, moral courage was assessed with a single question (visual analogue scale 0-100), the questionnaire also covered several background variables. PARTICIPANTS AND RESEARCH CONTEXT: The sample comprised graduating nursing students (n = 1796) from all participating countries. To get a comprehensive view about graduating nursing students' moral courage, the views of nurse managers (n = 538) and patients (n = 1327) from the same units in which the graduating nursing students practised were also explored, with parallel questionnaires. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS: Ethical approvals and research permissions were obtained according to national standards in every country and all participants gave their informed consent. RESULTS: The mean of graduating nursing students' self-assessed moral courage was 77.8 (standard deviation 17.0; on a 0-100 scale), with statistically significant differences between countries. Higher moral courage was associated with many factors, especially the level of professional competence. The managers assessed the graduating nursing students' moral courage lower (66.5; standard deviation 18.4) and the patients slightly higher (80.6; standard deviation 19.4) than the graduating nursing students themselves. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: In all countries, the graduating nursing students' moral courage was assessed as rather high, with differences between countries and populations. These differences and associations between moral courage and ethics education require further research.

Regulation and current status of patient safety content in pre-registration nurse education in 27 countries: Findings from the Rationing - Missed nursing care (RANCARE) COST Action project.

Patient safety, as a contemporary health care concern, must remain a priority for nurse educators. This on-line consultation, carried out within the RANCARE COST Action project, determined to establish how patient safety teaching is incorporated into pre-registration education of nurses across 27 countries. How nursing is regulated within countries was examined, along with national guidelines related to nurse education. HEIs were asked to provide details of pre-registration nurse training and how patient safety is taught within programmes. The results confirm that the topic of patient safety is generally not explicitly taught, rather it remains a hidden element within the curriculum, taught across many subjects. Variation in how nursing is regulated exists across the countries also, with the professionalization of nursing remaining a challenge in some states. No guidelines exist at EU level which address how patient safety should be taught to nursing students, and as yet regulatory bodies have not put forward criteria on the subject. As a result individual HEIs determine how patient safety should be taught. The WHO guidelines for teaching patient safety are currently underutilized in nurse education, but could offer a structure and standard which would address the deficits identified in this work.

Smoking among hospitalized patients: A multi-hospital cross-sectional study of a widely neglected problem.

INTRODUCTION: A comprehensive smoking ban was recently enacted for acute-care hospital campuses in Spain. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and patterns of smoking among inpatients before and during hospitalization. METHODS: Multi-center cross-sectional study was conducted in 13 hospitals in the province of Barcelona, Spain from May 2014 to May 2015. Participants were adults who provided informed consent. The sample size was calculated to be representative of each hospital (prevalence 29.4%, precision ± 5%, error 5%). We approached 1228 subjects, 888 accepted to participate and 170 were replaced (were not available or declined to participate). Final sample comprised 1047 subjects. We used a computer-assisted personal interview system to collect data, including sociodemographic variables and use of tobacco before and during hospitalization. Smoking status was validated with exhaled carbon monoxide. We calculated overall tobacco prevalence and investigated associations with participant and center characteristics. We performed multiple polytomous and multilevel logistic regression analyses to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), with adjustments for potential confounders. RESULTS: In all, 20.5% (95% CI: 18.1-23.0) of hospitalized patients were smokers. Smoking was most common among men (aOR=7.47; 95% CI: 4.88-11.43), young age groups (18-64 years), and individuals with primary or less than primary education (aOR=2.76; 95% CI: 1.44-5.28). Of the smokers, 97.2% were daily consumers of whom 44.9% had medium nicotine dependence. Of all smokers, three-quarters expressed a wish to quit, and one-quarter admitted to consuming tobacco during hospitalization. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate the need to offer smoking cessation interventions among hospitalized patients in all units and service areas, to avoid infringements and increase patient safety, hospital efficiency, and improve clinical outcomes. Hospitalization represents a promising window for initiating smoking interventions addressed to all patients admitted to smoke-free hospitals, specially after applying a smoke-free campus ban.

Using blogs for facilitating and connecting nurse educator candidates.

BACKGROUND: Social media includes blog applications, which can be used as online journals or diaries that encourages interaction and collaboration within an online community. The aim of this study was to explore and describe the use of blog writing as learning journals during a short course for nurse educator candidates about social media. METHOD: A qualitative descriptive design was used. The participants were nurses, Bachelor, Master's and Doctoral students who intended to follow a career in education (N=24, female n=21, male n=3, Mean age 37) from four different countries of the European Union. The blogs written during the course were used as a data collection method and the data was analyzed with qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: A total of 260 blogger posts and 372 peer comments were analyzed. Four main categories emerged from the analysis: 1) Course content, new knowledge, and changed views, 2) Reflection and critical thinking, 3) Encouraging and peer support and 4) Expressing feelings, experiences, and expectations. CONCLUSION: Blogs are potential learning spaces in short courses in nurse educator education, especially in sharing feelings and experiences, enhancing an encouraging atmosphere, critical thinking, and reflection.

Nurse teacher candidates learned to use social media during the international teacher training course.

The purpose of this study was to describe the nurse teacher candidates' learning outcomes and experiences in social media during the international nurse teacher training course, Empowering learning environments in nursing education, Intensive Program (EleneIP). The pre-post research design was used. The data was collected before and after the course, with the questionnaire consisting of structured and open questions. Altogether, 24 nurse teacher candidates from four different European countries participated in the course and this study. The results showed that the knowledge of using social media applications increased during the course from 5.2 (range 1-9) to 8.1 (range 4-10), and their skills increased from 4.5 (range 1-8) to 7.6 (range 4-10).The main topics learnt during the course were divided in two categories: subjects of the course and teaching and learning methods. The students' experiences concerning the EleneIP course were positive in both categories. The international group created during EleneIP course also allowed the students to achieve another important aim, learning from a collaborative group the importance and possibilities of different learning environments, considering the cultural and social characteristics of each country participating in it.