In their own words: The experience of professional nurses in a Northern Vietnamese women’s hospital

Comparison of Perceptions About Patient Safety Culture Between Physicians and Nurses in Public Hospitals in Vietnam

Introduction

Patient safety culture (PSC) is a vital component in ensuring high-quality and safe patient care. Assessment of physicians' and nurses' perceptions of existing hospital PSC is the first step to promoting PSC. This paper is aimed to assess physicians' and nurses' perceptions of PSC in 5 public general hospitals in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Methods

This cross-sectional study surveyed 410 physicians and 824 nurses utilizing the validated Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture in an online format.

Results

The composite positive physician's perception of PSC varied from 47.8 to 89.6% with the lowest composite score of patient safety for "staffing" (47.8%) and the highest composite score for "teamwork within units" (89.6%). The composite positive responses for perception among nurses varied from 51.3 to 94.2% with the lowest composite score of patient safety for "staffing" (51.3%) and the highest composite score for "teamwork within units" (94.2%).

Conclusion

The mean scores for "supervisor/manager expectations"; "staffing", "management support for patient safety", "teamwork across units", "handoffs and transitions" among nurses were significantly higher than that among physicians (p<0.05). About two-thirds of physicians and nurses reported no event in the past 12 months (62.8 and 71.7%, respectively). The nurses reported significantly higher patient grades (every good and excellent) than physicians (75% vs 67.1%, p <0.001). Hospitals could develop and implement intervention programs to improve patient safety, including providing interventions on teamwork and communication, encouraging staff to notify incidents, and avoiding punitive responses.

The development and professionalization of nursing in Vietnam

This article provides a snapshot of the development of nursing education and practice in Vietnam and the impact of historical and socioeconomic factors of the last few decades. The Vietnamese government has played an instrumental role in shaping the professionalization of nursing while also presenting challenges to the evolving profession with its sometimes-conflicting policies/strategies. To tackle these challenges, the increased involvement of nursing experts who have in-depth understanding of contemporary nursing practice is warranted.

Assessing the Readiness of Nursing Sectors in Low- and Middle-Income Countries to Adopt Holistic Practice: Rwanda as Exemplar

Over the past several years, holistic nursing education has become more readily available to nurses working in high-income nations, and holistic practice has become better defined and promoted through countless organizational and governmental initiatives. However, global nursing community members, particularly those serving in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) within resource-constrained health care systems, may not find holistic nursing easily accessible or applicable to practice. The purpose of this article is to assess the readiness of nursing sectors within these resource-constrained settings to access, understand, and apply holistic nursing principles and practices within the context of cultural norms, diverse definitions of the nursing role, and the current status of health care in these countries. The history, current status, and projected national goals of professional nursing in Rwanda is used as an exemplar to forward the discussion regarding the readiness of nurses to adopt holistic education into practice in LMICs. A background of holistic nursing practice in the United States is provided to illustrate the multifaceted aspects of support necessary in order that such a specialty continues to evolve and thrive within health care arenas and the communities it cares for.

Medical workers' cognition of using 50% nitrous oxide in children with burns: a qualitative study

Pain caused by dressing among children with burns is an issue worth discussing. Medical workers' understanding of pain during dressing in children with burns is correlated with the quality of pain management. Effective pain management is significant to improve anxiety and reduce pain and psychological distress during dressing for children with burns. We aimed to investigate medical workers' understanding of current pain management during dressing among children with burns and their attitudes toward the application of 50% nitrous oxide in pain management. Interviews were conducted with seven doctors and nurses from a burn center in East China. Data were collected by in-depth interviews and qualitative description after full transcription of each interview. Three themes were identified: (1) Medical workers felt sympathy for children with burns and believed that a gap existed between the current and expected situation in pain management. In addition, the prescription of analgesics during dressing for children with burns was not favored. (2) Given the fact that 50% nitrous oxide is effective in pain management for adult patients with burns, medical workers tended to apply it to children with burns during dressing after being provided the literature on the use of 50% nitrous oxide in children. (3) Guidelines for the application of 50% nitrous oxide during dressing for children with burns require further modification. Medical workers deemed the pain management for children with burns unsatisfactory, and they supported the application of 50% nitrous oxide during dressing for children with burns. Meanwhile, they hoped that administrators would also support it.