Nursing Student Knowledge Related to Sepsis in Croatian, Cypriot, and Greek Universities: A Cross-Sectional European Study.

BACKGROUND: Although the treatment of sepsis has advanced during the past 20 years there is still a high incidence and high mortality, which make sepsis one of the leading public health problems. Adequate knowledge of sepsis and the sepsis guidelines is still the most important pillar for nurses because of the long time they spend with critically ill patients. Given their frontline role in patient care, nurses are pivotal in early sepsis recognition, timely intervention, and ensuring adherence to treatment protocols. AIM: This study aimed to investigate nursing students' knowledge of sepsis and the symptoms of sepsis, and to compare the results of nursing students from several European universities (Croatia, Cyprus, Greece). METHODS: A cross-sectional design was used, with a sample of 626 undergraduate nursing students from Croatian, Cypriot, and Greek universities from 2022 to 2023. Demographic features (gender, age, employment, year of study) and a questionnaire provided by Eitze et al. were utilized as instruments. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant difference among the countries (F(2.625) = 4.254, p = 0.015) in average knowledge about sepsis, with Scheffe's post hoc test indicating that the Cypriot students had a higher average knowledge than the Greek students (p = 0.016), while students from neither country were significantly different from Croatian students (both p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This study showed the still limited knowledge of nursing students and the differences among the educational programs for nursing students. The educational curricula of nursing studies should increase the number of sepsis lectures and use innovative techniques.

Prevalence of Postoperative Atrial Fibrillation and Impact to Nursing Practice-A Cross Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation is the most common clinically significant cardiac arrhythmia, and it might lead to heart failure, which prolongs the duration of hospitalization and consequently increases the cost of treatment. Thus, diagnosing and treating atrial fibrillation should be the first line of defense against further complications. This study aimed to determine the incidence rate of postoperative atrial fibrillation and correlation with cardiac surgery on heart valves. A specific aim was to determine the relationship between the prevalence of atrial fibrillation and socio-demographic features. METHODS: The study has a prospective cross-sectional design. The questionnaire was anonymous, requesting socio-demographic information as inclusion criteria, and the data were analyzed using descriptive statistics methods. RESULTS: The sample was 201 patients. χ2 test and t-test were performed where we found that the frequency of atrial fibrillation was higher in the groups that have had valve surgery compared to other cardiac surgeries (χ2 = 7.695, ss = 2, p = 0.021). Atrial fibrillation increased with the age of the patients, but the prevalence of atrial fibrillation was not correlated with body weight. CONCLUSION: The results of this this study show that atrial fibrillation was higher in the participants who had valve surgery compared to other cardiac surgeries. There was also an increase in atrial fibrillation in the older participants. The results of this study can help to improve nursing practice and the quality of care for cardiac surgery patients with regard to daily activities, or planning nursing care due to the patient's condition.