[Knowledge and adherence to bio-safety measures and biological accidents by nursing students during their clinical practice]. / Conocimiento y cumplimiento de las medidas de bioseguridad y accidentes biológicos de los estudiantes de enfermería en las prácticas clínicas.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the degree of knowledge and performance of bio-safety measures by nursing students and knowing the type of biological accidents suffered during their clinical practice. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted on the students of three Nursing courses held in May of 2008. Data was collected by an anonymous self-administered questionnaire, with a return of 54%. RESULTS: A total of 97% of students seemed to know the standard biosafety measures, and all of them (100%) stated that those measures must be applied to every patient. However, the reality of clinical practice shows that biosafety measures are only partially applied. An average of 60.2% implement the personal hygiene measures, 66.1% use physical barriers, and 44% use sharp materials safely. Around 32.25% of the students have suffered some biological accident, with a greater incidence in the second year: administering injections (24%), drawing blood samples with Venojet needles (18%) and recapping used needles (17%). CONCLUSIONS: The high level of knowledge shown by the students on standard precautions is not always shown in clinical practice. There are significant deficiencies in student safety practices: recapping of used needles continues to be one of the most common risk practices carried out.

[Real life simulations to train nurses]. / Simuladores de escala real en el entrenamiento de enfermería.

Nurses must confront critical potential life threatening situations daily. These are very tense situations which must be solved in a rapid, adequate manner in coordination with the rest of the professional health team. How to deal with these crises, which usually follow an established protocol, must be learned and practiced in a safe environment which provides the greatest possible guarantee of success. The best way to acquire this knowledge and skill is through a real life simulation. Nurses from various disciplines carry out their work in the Training Center for Critical Crises at the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital in Santander, the only center in Spain which runs this type of simulation. In 2003, this center initiated a specific training simulation for nurses whose purpose is to increase scientific-technical knowledge to the maximum and accelerate the learning of non-technical social and cognitive fundamentals within the working environment of a professional health team. The following article describes a simulation meeting these characteristics, its teaching methods, advantages, importance for professional health teams, and its repercussions on patients.