What Kind of Interventions Were Perceived as Effective Against Coronavirus-19 in Nursing Homes in Italy? A Descriptive Qualitative Study.

Purpose: To identify interventions implemented during the first, second and third waves of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) among Italian Nursing Homes (NHs). Patients and Methods: A descriptive qualitative design according to COnsolidated criteria for REporting Qualitative (COREQ) guideline. A purposeful sample of five public NHs, located in the north-east of Italy, equipped with from 60 to 151 beds, participated. Six nurse managers, four clinical nurses and one NH director were interviewed in depth at the end of 2021. These interviews were audio-recorded and then transcribed verbatim. A qualitative content analysis was performed to identify effective interventions as perceived by participants to protect facilities and residents from the pandemic. Results: Three main sets of interventions have been applied, at the environmental, nurse staff and at the resident levels. Some have been enacted in all facilities, others in a few but in a homogeneous fashion, while other interventions have been implemented in some NHs also in contrast with available national or local recommendations. Conclusion: Despite their documented frailty and precarious system, NHs implemented several interventions to protect their residents from the COVID-19. All interventions have been designed and implemented during the event, suggesting the need to increase the NHs' preparedness to face future disasters. Regarding those interventions enacted in contrast to the recommendations or not homogeneously across NHs, future investigations are suggested to assess their actual effectiveness and accumulate evidence for the future.

Home dialysis and home assistance: from institutional aids to a sustainable model / [Dialisi domiciliare e assistenza a domicilio: dalle provvidenze istituzionali verso un modello sostenibile].

Home dialysis, and mainly peritoneal dialysis, is indicated as the optimal choice as far as the comfort and lifestyle of uremic patients is concerned. Despite this, home treatments show a lack of growth. The reasons are mainly linked to the patients' cognitive, psychosocial, familiar and physical barriers due to aging and morbidity. To overcome these barriers, we analyzed all the available institutional aids: civil disability, not-self-sufficiency funds, home, social and nursing assistance, expenses refunds. The assessment of the patients' needs is performed through validated instruments such as multidimensional evaluation (VMD) and equivalent economic index (ISEE). Overall, economic relief is limited to low income patients, and those in serious distress. Some Italian regions have issued specific measures dedicated to home dialysis. Our review shows a great heterogeneity of measures, centered in some cases on economic aids and on home assistance in others. Moreover, some Italian dialysis centers directly provide caregivers for home dialysis. The international literature describes many experiences relating to home dialysis assistance. Their common message is that, in developed countries, economic help is generally sustainable despite the heterogeneity of health care systems. Home support and economic aids for dialysis, in fact, are made possible by the overall savings enabled by home treatments and by the careful redistributions of the funds.

Italian public school: a pilot study about disorders related to nutrition and their management.

OBJECTIVE: To know how Italian nursery and primary schools survey and manage children with food-related problems. DESIGN: A pilot study during the period March-May 2005, filling out a questionnaire. SETTING: All nursery and primary schools in a Northern Italian region (Friuli Venezia Giulia). SUBJECTS: There were 479 eligible schools RESULTS: Global response rate was of 29.6%. In 77.5% (110/142) of the schools there were children with food-related pathologies. Programs about nutrition were carried out by 44.4% (63/142) of the schools in the previous two years; 9.5% (6/63) dealt with food-related pathologies and 57.1% (36/63) required the intervention of outside experts to have these projects realized. In the same period training courses about nutrition for teachers were conducted in 9.2% (13/142) of the schools. CONCLUSIONS: Data provide a first overview of the situation in Italy on food-related topics in children attending nursery and primary schools. Therefore many programs could not rely on funds to be developed, but had to use internal resources of the school.

Factors influencing student nurses' perception of their clinical guides: a questionnaire survey.

Supporting student nurses whilst undertaking clinical training is an important activity for both educators and students, yet there is little consensus in the literature as to what constitutes support. Also, it is difficult to find a robust instrument that provides a valid measure of the quality of the clinical learning environment in different contexts. The aim of this study was to identify factors that influence student nurses' perception of their clinical tutors. A two-part questionnaire was administered to students of a Nursing School in a large city in northern Italy; 143 students participated in the study. In replying to the questions, student nurses were asked to refer to their last one-month training period of the year 2004. Analysis of study results showed that students' perceived satisfaction with their clinical guide was greater in cases where tutors used the critical thinking method. A one-to-one relation between tutor and student was not found to be essential in assuring a satisfactory clinical experience for nursing students.

[The nurse's role in the management of patients with type 2, non-insulin-treated diabetes: the current state in Friuli Venezia Giulia]. / Il ruolo dell'infermiere nell'organizzazione dell'assistenza al paziente diabetico di tipo 2 non insulino-trattato: la situazione in Friuli Venezia Giulia.

Patient education is well known to be an essential aspect in the management of diabetes mellitus. This report aims to provide a general review of nursing care management for patients with diabetes mellitus, in particular non-insulin dependent type 2 diabetes, at either the inpatient or outpatient levels, in Friuli Venezia Giulia. Furthermore, it aims to identify the factors that may be preventing the implementation of adequate diabetes nursing care. We have identified 48 professional nurses formally involved in centres for diabetic care with a response rate of 87.5%.