Investigation of related factors of operating room nurses' attitudes and awareness towards surgery-related pressure injury prevention in Turkey, Croatia, and Italy.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to examine related factors of operating room nurses' attitudes and awareness towards surgery-related pressure injury prevention in Turkey, Croatia, and Italy. METHODS: A descriptive and cross-sectional design was used. The study was conducted between March and September 2023. Data were collected with an online questionnaire created on Google Forms, consisting of a Nurse Information Form, a Surgery-related Pressure Injury Awareness Form, and the Attitude towards Pressure Ulcer Prevention Instrument. RESULTS: The sample of the study consisted of 258 operating room nurses working in Turkey, Croatia, and Italy. It was found that the majority of the participants (70.90 %) did not use a risk scale, had not received education on pressure injury prevention and treatment (58.10 %) but wanted to receive it (86 %). Mean attitude scores of operating room nurses by country were at an adequate level in Turkey (42.48 ± 4.30) but not at the desired level in Croatia (37.48 ± 3.44) and Italy (36.20 ± 4.02). While there was a significant positive relationship between the awareness and attitudes of operating room nurses in Turkey (p = 0.002) and Croatia (p < 0.001), no relationship was found between these variables of nurses in Italy (p = 0.109). A statistically significant difference was found between nurses' consideration of themselves sufficient and their attitudes and awareness in all three countries (p < 0.05). It was also determined that reading articles affected nurses' awareness in all countries. CONCLUSIONS: While operating room nurses' attitudes towards preventing pressure injuries were adequate in Turkey, it was determined that those of the nurses in Croatia and Italy were not at the desired level. Nurses should receive regular training on surgical pressure injuries to increase their awareness and to support them in implementing the recommendations of pressure injury guidelines in accordance with institutional policy.

Factors Affecting COVID-19-Related Fear and Burnout in Surgical Nurses.

BACKGROUND: Surgical nurses face the risk of psychological problems while trying to cope with the challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. AIM: This study aimed to determine levels of COVID-19-related fear and burnout and affecting factors in surgical nurses. DESIGN: The study has a descriptive, cross-sectional design. METHODS: The study sample included 321 nurses working in surgical units and operation rooms in Turkey. Data were gathered with a sociodemographic and occupational characteristics form, the Fear of COVID-19 Scale and the COVID-19 Burnout Scale through a Google form between 1 August and 15 October in 2021. Obtained data were analyzed with independent groups t-test, One-Way ANOVA and simple and multiple linear regression analyses. RESULTS: The nurses had moderate levels of fear (20.00 ± 6.77; Min-Max: 7-35) and burnout (29.52 ± 10.03; Min-Max:10-50) due to COVID-19. The female gender and belief in health staff shortage were predictive of fear and burnout related to COVID-19. Age was not predictive of COVID-19 fear and receiving education about COVID-19, exposure to violence, having adequate supplies of goggles/face shields and having a limited number of aprons/work wear were not predictive of COVID-19-related burnout. Fear of COVID-19 was predictive of COVID-19 burnout. CONCLUSIONS: Female nurses and nurses believing in health staff shortage had higher levels of fear and burnout due to COVID-19. As COVID-19 fear increased, so did COVID-19 burnout. Nurses working in surgical units should be provided with education about coping strategies taking account of the factors affecting COVID-19-related fear and burnout.

Caring for Patients With Electrical Burns Using the Holistic Neuman Systems Model: A Case Study.

Patients with burns should be provided with holistic nursing care that considers all systems of the body. The Neuman Systems Model (NSM) is especially suited to holistic care as it proposes an open system approach and addresses five major interacting variables. This study aimed to investigate the applicability of the NSM when caring for a patient with electrical burns. In this case study, we planned and applied nursing care for a 20-year-old man with electrical burns based on the NSM. The study was conducted between November 25, 2018, and January 10, 2019. We used the six-item Neuman Diagnostic Tool (NDT) developed by Neuman in our interviews with the patient. We found that the electrical burns had caused multiple physiological, psychological, and sociocultural problems for our patient, most of which were physical problems, including the burn injury and subsequent limb amputation. The NDT guided our data collection and aided in our ability to determine stressors and formulate appropriate nursing diagnoses. The NSM strengthened the patient's flexible line of defense for coping individually and facilitated the identification of deficiencies in the normal and resistance lines of defense. The NSM provides a theoretical framework for nurses caring for patients with burns where entire systems are affected.

Investigation of the relationship between social appearance anxiety and perceived social support in patients with burns.

INTRODUCTION: Since burns affect body image, they cause appearance anxiety. Interventions designed to reduce appearance anxiety that can cause psychological problems such as depression are important. This study aimed to determine the social appearance anxiety of individuals following burns and the factors affecting it and to examine the relationship between social appearance anxiety and perceived social support. METHODS: This descriptive study was conducted between November 2018 and November 2019 with 106 adult patients with burns. Data were collected using a Personal Information Form, the Social Appearance Anxiety Scale, and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Shapiro-Wilk test, Independent Two Samples T-Test, One Way Analysis of Variance, Duncan's test, Pearson's correlation analysis, multiple linear regression analysis, the Q-Q plot, and the Durbin-Watson statistics were used in data analysis. RESULTS: The social appearance anxiety scores were moderate (39.38 ± 17.71). Being single; having a high level of education; burns on the face, head, or neck; burn-related amputation; and passing the one-week after injury period were found to significantly increase social appearance anxiety (p < 0.05). Although the perceived social support scores of the individuals with burns were high (68.34 ± 18.08), they were found to have no correlation with social appearance anxiety (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study show that social support does not affect social appearance anxiety. In this respect, we recommend that interventions such as reconstruction and professional psychological support initiatives be prioritized for individuals with burn trauma who are evaluated to have high social appearance anxiety by the appearance anxiety scales.