Work-related stress, stress reactions and coping strategies in ambulance nurses: A qualitative interview study.

AIM: To describe experiences of work-related stress, stress reactions and coping strategies among registered nurses (RNs) in the ambulance service (AS). DESIGN: A descriptive and qualitative design. METHODS: Participants were recruited from eight different ambulance stations from different geographical locations in central Sweden. Data were collected from 14 RNs during the period from January 2022 to May 2022 using a semi-structured interview guide. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse data using an abductive approach. RESULTS: Three categories describe the RNs' experiences; (1) Situations that cause work-related stress, (2) Reactions and feelings that occur and (3) Management of work-related stress. These three main categories included a total of 12 subcategories. Work-related stress was experienced when participants were a part of traumatic events or experienced insufficient cooperation or a disturbing event in the work environment. The different causes lead to different kinds of reactions with feelings of frustration, fear and loneliness being prominent. To manage the work-related stress, RNs used different kinds of strategies and support from colleagues or lack thereof seemed to have a major impact. CONCLUSIONS: Findings revealed the importance of having competent colleagues in the AS. Working with a competent colleague can reduce experiences of stress and prevent feelings of loneliness. It is important for the AS to provide stress-reduction support, to promote cooperation and to maintain and develop RNs' professional competence to ensure quality care and patient safety in the AS.

Creating Subsets of International Classification for Nursing Practice Precoordinated Concepts: Diagnoses/Outcomes and Interventions Categorized Into Areas of Nursing Practice.

The International Classification for Nursing Practice is a comprehensive terminology representing the domain of nursing practice. A categorization of the diagnoses/outcomes and interventions may further increase the usefulness of the terminology in clinical practice. The aim of this study was to categorize the precoordinated concepts of the International Classification for Nursing Practice into subsets for nursing diagnoses/outcomes and interventions using the structure of an established documentation model. The aim was also to investigate the distribution of the precoordinated concepts of the International Classification for Nursing Practice across the different areas of nursing practice. The method was a descriptive content analysis using a deductive approach. The VIPS model was used as a theoretical framework for categorization. The results showed that all the precoordinated concepts of the International Classification for Nursing Practice could be categorized according to the keywords in the VIPS model. It also revealed the parts of nursing practice covered by the concepts of the International Classification for Nursing Practice as well as the parts that needed to be added to the International Classification for Nursing Practice. This has not been identified in earlier subsets as they covered only one specific area of nursing.

Missed nursing care in emergency departments: A scoping review.

BACKGROUND: Patient safety is a global health priority. Errors of omission, such as missed nursing care in hospitals, are frequent and may lead to adverse events. Emergency departments (ED) are especially vulnerable to patient safety errors, and the significance missed nursing care has in this context is not as well known as in other contexts. AIM: The aim of this scoping review was to summarize and disseminate research about missed nursing care in the context of EDs. METHOD: A scoping review following the framework suggested by Arksey and O'Malley was used to (1) identify the research question; (2) identify relevant studies; (3) select studies; (4) chart the data; (5) collate, summarize, and report the results; and (6) consultation. RESULTS: In total, 20 themes were derived from the 55 included studies. Missed or delayed assessments or other fundamental care were examples of missed nursing care characteristics. EDs not staffed or dimensioned in relation to the patient load were identified as a cause of missed nursing care in most included studies. Clinical deteriorations and medication errors were described in the included studies in relation to patient safety and quality of care deficiencies. Registered nurses also expressed that missed nursing care was undignified and unsafe. CONCLUSION: The findings from this scoping review indicate that patients' fundamental needs are not met in the ED, mainly because of the patient load and how the ED is designed. According to registered nurses, missed nursing care is perceived as undignified and unsafe.

Transfer and Decontamination of S. aureus in Transmission Routes Regarding Hands and Contact Surfaces.

Hand hygiene, cleaning and disinfection are pre-requirements for hygiene management in hospital settings and the food industry. In order to facilitate risk management, different contamination scenarios and interventions need to be evaluated. In the present study data on transfer rates and reductions of Staphylococcus aureus were provided in an experimental set-up using artificial skin. Using this methodology, test persons were not exposed with pathogenic bacteria. An exposure assessment model was developed and applied to evaluate different contamination routes and hygiene interventions. The transfer rates of S. aureus from inoculated VITRO-SKIN® to fomites were calculated from blotting series. The VITRO-SKIN® was more prone to spread bacteria than fomites. When different surfaces were cleaned, the reduction of S. aureus varied between <1 and 7 log CFU. It could not be concluded that a certain coupon material, cleaning agent, cleaning wipe, soiling or humidity consistently resulted in a high or low reduction of S. aureus. The reduction of S. aureus and E. coli during hand washing was evaluated on artificial skin, VITRO-SKIN®. The reduction of E. coli on VITRO-SKIN® was similar to the log reduction obtained when washing human hands. The S. aureus count on a human hand was both calculated in different scenarios describing different contamination routes starting from a contaminated hand using the exposure assessment model, and measured on an experimental setup using VITRO-SKIN® for validation. A linear relationship was obtained between the analysed level of S. aureus and the calculated level. However, the calculated levels of S. aureus on the VITRO-SKIN® in the scenarios were 1-1.5 log lower than the analysed level. One of the scenarios was used to study the effect of interventions like hand washing and cleaning of surfaces.

Symptoms and impact of symptoms on function and health in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and chronic heart failure in primary health care.

BACKGROUND: Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and chronic heart failure (CHF) seem to have several symptoms in common that impact health. However, methodological differences make this difficult to compare. AIM: Comparisons of symptoms, impact of symptoms on function and health between patients with COPD and CHF in primary health care (PHC). METHOD: The study is cross sectional, including patients with COPD (n=437) and CHF (n=388), registered in the patient administrative systems of PHC. The patients received specific questionnaires--the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale, the Medical Research Council dyspnea scale, and the Fatigue Impact Scale--by mail and additional questions about psychological and physical health. RESULTS: The mean age was 70 ± 10 years and 78 ± 10 years for patients with COPD and CHF respectively (P=0.001). Patients with COPD (n=273) experienced more symptoms (11 ± 7.5) than the CHF patients (n=211) (10 ± 7.6). The most prevalent symptoms for patients with COPD were dyspnea, cough, and lack of energy. For patients with CHF, the most prevalent symptoms were dyspnea, lack of energy, and difficulty sleeping. Experience of dyspnea, cough, dry mouth, feeling irritable, worrying, and problems with sexual interest or activity were more common in patients with COPD while the experience of swelling of arms or legs was more common among patients with CHF. When controlling for background characteristics, there were no differences regarding feeling irritable, worrying, and sexual problems. There were no differences in impact of symptoms or health. CONCLUSION: Patients with COPD and CHF seem to experience similar symptoms. There were no differences in how the patients perceived their functioning according to their cardinal symptoms; dyspnea and fatigue, and health. An intervention for both groups of patients to optimize the management of symptoms and improve function is probably more relevant in PHC than focusing on separate diagnosis groups.

Exploring patient satisfaction predictors in relation to a theoretical model.

PURPOSE: The aim is to describe patients' care quality perceptions and satisfaction and to explore potential patient satisfaction predictors as person-related conditions, external objective care conditions and patients' perception of actual care received ("PR") in relation to a theoretical model. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: A cross-sectional design was used. Data were collected using one questionnaire combining questions from four instruments: Quality from patients' perspective; Sense of coherence; Big five personality trait; and Emotional stress reaction questionnaire (ESRQ), together with questions from previous research. In total, 528 patients (83.7 per cent response rate) from eight medical, three surgical and one medical/surgical ward in five Norwegian hospitals participated. Answers from 373 respondents with complete ESRQ questionnaires were analysed. Sequential multiple regression analysis with ESRQ as dependent variable was run in three steps: person-related conditions, external objective care conditions, and PR (p < 0.05). FINDINGS: Step 1 (person-related conditions) explained 51.7 per cent of the ESRQ variance. Step 2 (external objective care conditions) explained an additional 2.4 per cent. Step 3 (PR) gave no significant additional explanation (0.05 per cent). Steps 1 and 2 contributed statistical significance to the model. Patients rated both quality-of-care and satisfaction highly. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The paper shows that the theoretical model using an emotion-oriented approach to assess patient satisfaction can explain 54 per cent of patient satisfaction in a statistically significant manner.

Quality of care from patients' perspective: impact of the combination of person-related and external objective care conditions.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To describe patients' perceptions of quality of care and to explore combinations of person-related and external objective care conditions as potential predictors of these perceptions. BACKGROUND: Several studies have examined various single factors of person-related and external objective care conditions in relation to quality of care. None of these has included the effect of over-occupancy on patients' perception of quality of care. Furthermore, little is known about how combinations of different factors are related to each other and to the perception of quality of care using multivariate analysis. DESIGN: A cross-sectional design. METHOD: A total of 528 patients (83·7%) from 12 medical, surgical or medical-surgical wards in five hospitals in Norway participated. Perceptions of quality of care and person-related conditions were measured with the 'Quality from Patient's Perspective' instrument. Data on external objective care conditions was collected from ward statistics provided by head nurses. Multivariate general linear modelling was used (p < 0·05). RESULTS: The combination of person-related and external objective care conditions revealed five factors that predict patients' perception of quality of care. Three of these are person-related conditions: sex, age and self-reported psychological well-being and two of them are external objective care conditions: RNs (headcount) on the wards and frequency of over-occupancy. These five factors explained 55% of the model. Patients rated the quality of care high. CONCLUSIONS: Sex, age, psychological well-being, frequency of over-occupancy and the number of RNs are important factors that must be emphasised if patients are to perceive the quality of care as high. Relevance to clinical practice. Head nurses and healthcare authorities must continually prepare the wards for over-occupancy and they must consider the number of RNs working on the wards.

Use of the selective agar medium CREAD for monitoring the level of airborne spoilage moulds in cheese production.

It was investigated if a selective medium for common cheese spoiling moulds (CREAD) could give more relevant information than a general mould medium in hygienic air-sampling in cheese factories. A total of 126 air-samples were taken in six Nordic cheese factories using the general mould medium DG18 and CREAD. The level and genera of air-borne mould was determined. Identification to species-level was performed for a selection of samples. In five cheese factories the mycobiota was dominated by Penicillium spp. and in one cheese factory by Cladosporium spp. The concentration of air-borne moulds varied between the cheese factories ranging from 1 to 270 cfu/m3 on DG18 with a median value of 17. The number of mould colonies was in general lower at CREAD. Identification indicated that CREAD supported growth of common spoilage moulds for cheese, such as Penicillium palitans and P. commune. The mycobiota on DG18 also consisted of moulds not commonly associated with spoilage of cheese, such as Cladosporium spp., P. brevicompactum and P. chrysogenum. Contamination of cheese with mould is periodically a problem in production of semi-hard cheese and the level of air-borne mould is therefore routinely monitored in cheese factories. A clear correlation between the total number of moulds in air and mould growth on products is not always found. The conclusion from the investigation is that it is recommended to use a selective medium for cheese spoilage moulds, such as CREAD in hygienic monitoring.

Intraoral maxillary molar distalization.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the maxillary molar distalization and anchorage loss in two groups, one before (MD 1 group) and one after (MD 2 group) eruption of second maxillary molars. MATERIALS AND METHODS: After a sample size calculation, 20 patients were recruited for each group from patients who fulfilled the following criteria: no orthodontic treatment before distal molar movement, Class II molar relationship defined by at least end-to-end molar relationship, space deficiency in the maxilla, and use of an intra-arch NiTi coil appliance with a Nance appliance to provide anchorage. Patients in the MD 1 group were without any erupted second molars during the distalization period, whereas in the MD 2 group both the first and second molars were in occlusion at start of treatment. The main outcome measures to be assessed were: treatment time, ie, time in months to achieve a normal molar relation, distal movement of maxillary first molars, and anterior movement of maxillary incisors (anchorage loss). The mean age in the MD 1 group was 11.4 years; in the MD 2 group, 14.6 years. RESULTS: The amount of distal movement of the first molars was significantly greater (P < .01) and the anchorage loss was significantly lower (P < .01) in the group with no second molars erupted. The molar distalization time was also significantly shorter (P < .001) in this group, and thus the movement rate was two times higher. CONCLUSIONS: It is more effective to distalize the first maxillary molars before the second molars have erupted.

Extraoral vs intraoral appliance for distal movement of maxillary first molars: a randomized controlled trial.

Using randomized controlled trial methodology, the aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the treatment effects of an extraoral appliance (EOA) and an intraoral appliance (IOA) for distal movement of maxillary first molars. A total of 40 patients (mean 11.5 years, SD 1.29) at the Orthodontic Clinic, National Health Service, Skane County Council, Malmö, Sweden, were randomized to receive treatment with either extraoral traction (cervical headgear) or an IOA using superelastic coils for distal movement of maxillary first molars. The inclusion criteria were a nonextraction treatment plan, a Class II molar relationship and maxillary first molars in occlusion with no erupted maxillary second molars. The outcome measures to be assessed in the trial were treatment time, cephalometric analysis of distal molar movement, anterior movement of maxillary central incisors, ie, anchorage loss and sagittal and vertical skeletal positional changes of the maxilla and mandible. In the IOA group, the molars were distalized during an average time of 5.2 months, whereas in the EOA group the corresponding time was 6.4 months (P < .01). The mean amount of distal molar movement was significantly higher in the IOA than in the EOA group, three mm vs 1.7 mm (P < .001). Moderate anchorage loss was produced with the IOA implying increased overjet (0.9 mm) whereas the EOA created decreased overjet (0.9 mm). It can be concluded that the IOA was more effective than the EOA to create distal movement of the maxillary first molars.

Comparison of genotyping methods by application to Salmonella livingstone strains associated with an outbreak of human salmonellosis.

During 2000 and 2001, an outbreak of human salmonellosis occurred in Sweden and Norway, caused by Salmonella livingstone. In this study, the genotypic differences between three strains obtained from food sources during the outbreak, two human strains and 27 more or less unrelated strains were analysed, using the three methods; automated ribotyping, pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD). Each method was evaluated regarding its discriminatory ability, reproducibility and typeability. Simpson's discriminatory index calculated for each method was 0.556 for automated ribotyping, 0.766 for PFGE and 0.236 for RAPD. The reproducibility, defined as the minimum similarity between individual replicates in a cluster analysis, was 96% for automated ribotyping and PFGE, and 90% for RAPD. All the strains were typeable with each method. When combining results for the three genotyping methods, it was found that RAPD did not increase the discriminatory index and was therefore excluded from further analysis. Using a combination of the results obtained from ribotyping and PFGE (D=0.855), two strains that had been isolated from feed factories during 1998 were shown to be identical to the outbreak strain, indicating a possible route of contamination due to a clone of Salmonella livingstone persisting in feed producing facilities. No connection to poultry was established.

Chest pain after coronary artery bypass: relation to coping capacity and quality of life.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate relations between chest pain after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), quality of life (QoL), and coping capacity. DESIGN: Two groups were included, Group I (n = 111) was evaluated before and 1 year postoperatively, and Group II (n = 102) once, at 3 years. The questionnaire included parts of the Seattle angina questionnaire, one question concerning chest pain, coping capacity (sense of coherence), emotional state, the Psychological general well-being index, and a global QoL question. RESULTS: Chest pain was significantly related to lower coping capacity (at 1 year) and lower QoL scores (at 1 and 3 years). Changes of coping capacity and emotional state from before to 1 year after the CABG did not reach statistical significance in the chest pain group while the no chest pain patients had significantly better emotional state. The relation between chest pain and worse QoL was significantly reduced by high coping capacity. CONCLUSION: Independent of the direction of causality, the patient's coping capacity and experienced chest pain is highly related.