Compassionate Nursing Care for COVID-19 Patients in the ICU in the Western Region of Saudi Arabia: A Lived Experience Study.

INTRODUCTION: The rapid spread and the severity of symptoms of COVID-19 led to an increasing number of critical cases that need to be admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) worldwide. Compassion is a principle of nursing practice and indicates the meaning of providing high-quality care in all units, especially in the ICU. It means that nurses know what is important to patients and when they should be there for them when it is needed. There is a paucity of literature from Saudi Arabia that explores how critical care nurses perceive compassionate care during COVID-19. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate the lived experiences of critical care nurses providing compassionate care to COVID-19 patients at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. METHODS: A prospective, cross-sectional, descriptive phenomenological approach was utilized in this study. Data were collected from 13 ICU nurses through interviews. Collected data were transcribed and analyzed using Colaizzi's data analysis method. RESULTS:  Eleven out of the 13 ICU nurses hold a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and have more than five years of experience. Despite all the challenges surrounding the care for critically ill COVID-19 patients, nurses provide compassion in different ways to show personal interest to the patients. Data analysis revealed five themes: (1) contemporary meaning and competencies for compassionate nursing care, including communication and the inability to freely use touch; (2) physical symptoms, including discomfort, body aches and headaches, and sleep disturbances; (3) emotional turmoil, where three sub-themes emerged, including fear and anxiety, uncertainty, and isolation and loneliness; (4) role changing, including frequent guidelines change, additional roles and responsibilities, and altruism; (5) professionalism, including cultural facets of care, teamwork, and support. DISCUSSION: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major changes in nurses' working environment and so their experience. The results of this study indicated that nurses working in the ICU experienced remarkable and massive physical, psychological, and emotional symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. The nurses extended the relationships to the patients' families as they are at high risk of stress, anxiety, and depression. In addition, they were able to support them in dealing with the fear associated with the uncertainty of COVID-19. Also, results revealed that remote therapeutic relationships and psychotherapy can be credible and trustworthy alternatives to in-person care. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicated that ICU nurses provide compassionate care despite experiencing unprecedented and immense physical, psychological, and emotional symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. RECOMMENDATIONS: Further study is recommended using other research methodologies. It is also recommended to conduct the same study in different cities for better generalization.

Breast Cancer Patients' Perceptions of Their Experience With Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting and Its Impact on Quality of Life in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Background Breast cancer accounts for 11.6% of all neoplasms worldwide and is the commonest cancer among Saudi females (29.7%). Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) is a very common side effect of chemotherapy that has a great impact on the quality of life (QoL) of patients. Literature is still scarce about this effect on the Saudi population. This study aims to explore breast cancer patients' perception of their experience with CINV and its impact on QoL. Methods This is a cross-sectional retrospective study conducted on Saudi adult female breast cancer patients who underwent chemotherapy at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Data collected through patients' records review, face-to-face and telephone structured interviews using a questionnaire composed of four parts: sociodemographic characteristics, nature of acute CINV (within 24 hours) and delayed CINV (after 24 hours), impact on QoL, and general information on their experience. Results Out of a total population of 173, 98 (56.65%) patients participated in the study. The main findings show that 78.6% experienced nausea, whereas 35.7% experienced vomiting. Most participants had a moderate-to-extreme impact on their QoL due to nausea (74.0%) and vomiting (62.9%). Overall, 57.5% rated anti-emetics as excellent for controlling CINV, whereas 22.9% rated them as moderate to good; 83.5% were completely compliant on anti-emetics and 71.1% reported that they received completely comprehensive education about CINV. Religious practices (74.4%), diet (57.7%), and relaxation techniques (44.9%) were found to be the most common non-pharmacological methods used to control CINV. No significant correlation was found between the effect of CINV on QoL and sociodemographic characteristics (p > 0.05). Conclusions CINV is very common among Saudi adult female breast cancer patients; despite being completely compliant and receiving comprehensive education and effective anti-emetics; CINV still had a high impact on different aspects of QoL. Health care professionals should consider CINV as an issue and should find effective strategies for alleviating patients' suffering.

Perception of nursing students to two models of preceptorship in clinical training.

PURPOSE: This descriptive survey aimed at exploring nursing students' perception of two models of preceptorship: Model A requires intensive mentorship while Model B requires increasing students' independence and self directed learning. METHODS: Convenience sample of 110 nursing students were recruited for this study. Fifty seven who were in courses of adult I and adult II were engaged in Preceptorship Model A, while 53 who were in courses of maternity and pediatric nursing were engaged in Preceptorship model B. Moore's (2009) reliable "Preceptorship Evaluation Survey" was used for data collection. It consists of three dimensions: preceptor's performance, preceptorship support at the practice site, and preceptee satisfaction with the clinical training experience. t-test, independent samples, was used for data analysis. RESULTS: The findings showed that participants' mean scores on each dimension: preceptee satisfaction, program support, as well as preceptor's performance domains (teacher, facilitator, role model, provider of feedback, adept with adult learning, advocate, and socializer) were significantly (p < .05) in favor of Model A. CONCLUSIONS: Participants perceived the preceptorship model which incorporates intensive mentoring as more satisfactory than the preceptorship model where increasing students' independence and self directed learning is required.