Standard precautions compliance and its associated factors among nurses in Kazakhstan: A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 pandemic, with many nurses being infected, understanding compliance with standard precautions (SP) among nurses in Kazakhstan is crucial for improving infection prevention and control and preparedness for future emergencies. The study aimed to assess Kazakh nurses' SP compliance amid the COVID-19 pandemic and examine the factors associated with their compliance. METHODS: Quantitative, cross-sectional design. This research surveyed 241 clinical nurses in Astana, Kazakhstan using a standardized tool from December 2021 to April 2022. RESULTS: This study found 76.0% SP compliance among the nurses. The highest compliance was observed in the dimension "Decontamination of spills and used articles" (86.0% compliance rate), followed by "Use of protective devices" (83.5% compliance rate), "Prevention of cross-infection from person to person" (72.7% compliance rate), "Disposal of sharps" (65.4% compliance rate), and "Disposal of waste" (56.0% compliance rate). Nurses' age and educational qualification influences the nurses' SP compliance. DISCUSSION: While the nurses' compliance rate in this study was moderate, specific areas warrant more attention, such as their compliance with proper waste and sharps disposal. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlighted the experiences of nurses in Kazakhstan on their compliance with SP during the pandemic.

Environmental sustainability in healthcare: A qualitative study of the perspectives of nursing, medical and public health students in Kazakhstan.

THE AIM WAS: This study explored the perspectives of nursing, medical and public health students on environmental sustainability in healthcare. BACKGROUND: The healthcare sector has increasingly recognized the importance of adopting environmental sustainability over the past few years. This growing awareness emphasizes the need to thoroughly assess the connection between health care and environmental responsibility. DESIGN: Qualitative descriptive-exploratory design. METHODS: This study explored the views on environmental sustainability in health care of 29 nursing, medical and public health students at three universities in Kazakhstan through focus group discussions. Thematic analysis was used in the data analysis. Data collection was carried out from June to August 2023. RESULTS: Using semantic thematic analysis, 209 initial codes were extracted, and then similar codes and meanings were grouped, leading to 21 categories until the development of the five significant themes. The five main themes are 'the impact of the environment on health', 'environmental sustainability practices in healthcare care', 'the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in environmental sustainability in healthcare', 'intrinsic motivation to engage in environmental sustainability practices in healthcare' and 'challenges and barriers to practicing environmental sustainability in healthcare'. CONCLUSIONS: The study findings suggest the critical aspect of addressing environmental sustainability through interprofessional collaboration and working on intrinsic motivation among health professionals. Furthermore, our study contributes in several ways to our understanding of environmental sustainability in healthcare. Provides a basis for clinicians, educators and policy makers to consider adding sustainability to their agenda to prepare future health professionals.

Health education competence: An investigation of the health education knowledge, skills and attitudes of nurses in Kazakhstan.

AIMS: This study assessed the nurses' knowledge of, skills on and attitudes toward health education among nurses working at the University Medical Center Corporate Fund (UMC) in Kazakhstan. The personal and professional factors influencing the nurses' knowledge of, skills on and attitudes toward health education were also investigated. BACKGROUND: Health education is one of the nurses' fundamental responsibilities. Nurses' role in health education is critical in empowering patients and their families to live healthier lives, thus ensuring optimum health, well-being and quality of life. However, in Kazakhstan, where the nursing profession is still establishing its professional autonomy, data concerning the competence of Kazakh nurses in health education is unknown. DESIGN: A quantitative study, specifically the cross-sectional, descriptive and correlational designs. METHODS: The survey was performed at UMC in Astana, Kazakhstan. Using a convenience sampling technique, 312 nurses participated in the survey from March to August 2022. The "Nurse Health Education Competence Instrument" was used to collect data. The personal and professional characteristics of the nurses were also collected. Standard multiple regression analysis examined the personal and professional variables influencing the nurses' health education competence. RESULTS: The respondents' average score in the "Cognitive domain," "Psychomotor domain," and "Affective-attitudinal domain" was 3.80 (SD = 0.66), 3.99 (SD = 0.58) and 4.04 (SD = 0.62), respectively. The nurses' category as a nurse, medical center, attendance to health education training/seminars in the last 12 months, provision of health education to a patient in the last week and perception of health education's significance in nursing practice were significant predictors of the nurses' health education competence contributing an approximately 24.4 %, 29.3 % and 27.1 % of the variance of the health education knowledge (R2 = 0.273, Adjusted R2 = 0.244), skills R2 = 0.320, Adjusted R2 = 0.293) and attitudes (R2 = 0.299, Adjusted R2 = 0.271). CONCLUSIONS: The nurses reported high levels of health education competence (knowledge, attitudes and skills). The personal and professional factors influencing the nurses' competence in health education are essential to consider when developing interventions and healthcare policies to ensure nurses' competent provision of health education to patients.

Economic Costs of Pain in the Spanish Working Population.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the epidemiology of pain in the Spanish working population and to investigate the incremental costs of the different levels of pain on medical costs and productivity losses. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study of costs of pain in the Spanish working population from a societal perspective using data from a national representative survey. RESULTS: Data from the 9919 respondents were analyzed. The prevalence of reported pain was 38.5%: 21.9% mild or very mild; 11.5% moderate; 5.1% severe or extreme. Increased self-reported pain was independently associated with significant increases in direct and indirect costs. Those reporting severe or extreme pain showed excess annual costs of €5118.97 per case, being 85% indirect costs. CONCLUSIONS: Spain is paying a heavy price for the high prevalence of pain in its working population.