Gender awareness is also nurses' business: Measuring sensitivity and role ideology towards patients

Gender differences in unplanned hospital admission: A population-based approach

Gender inequities are present not only in the health status of individuals but also in access to health services. Unplanned hospitalizations can indicate dysfunction in health systems by detecting unmet health problems prior to the health care needs of a person, while planned hospitalizations indicate effective management by the system. Thus, we aim to analyze the association between sex and the probability of unplanned or planned hospitalization for different diseases. A cross-sectional retrospective study was performed with data regarding the 700 447 hospitalizations at all registered centers in the Basque Country from 2016 to 2018. Adjusted odds ratios were carried out to determine the association between sex and admission circumstances for each diagnostic category. Results showed that women had higher odds ratio for unplanned hospitalization for various diseases of the circulatory system and inguinal hernia among others, while men had a higher odds ratio for diseases such as neoplasms, metabolic diseases, and multiple sclerosis. The differences by sex indicate that the odds applied to the circumstance of hospitalization is a sensitive indicator and potentially applicable for detecting diseases likely to generate gender-based inequalities.

Evaluating gender awareness, gender-related health knowledge and patient pain legitimation among nursing students: A quasi-experimental study

The aim of the study was to measure the associations between and the evolution of gender awareness, gender-related health knowledge and patient pain legitimation among nursing students.

BACKGROUND

Evidence indicates that gender equity skills are still lacking among nurses. Indeed, several studies report gender-biased patient assessment and care, arguing that greater attention should be paid to the gender perspective at university, in order to train nurses who are sensitive to this issue. Recently, certain gender perspective measurement scales have been adapted to the nursing population, offering new opportunities for the educational field.

DESIGN

A quasi-experimental study was used for this study.

METHODS

This study was conducted in the second semester of the first year of the Nursing Degree run by the University of the Basque Country. A sample of 103 students enrolled in the Anthropology, Ethics and Legislation module completed the Nijmegen Gender Awareness in Medicine Scale, the Pain Legitimation Scale and the Gender Perspective Health Knowledge Scale before and after the second semester, during which part of the syllabus focused on developing gender equity skills. Data were collected between January - April 2022.

RESULTS

We found positive correlations between gender-related health knowledge and pain legitimation at post-test, and between said knowledge and gender sensitivity at both pre- and post-test (p < 0.05). The repeated measures indicated that traditional expositive teaching did not increase overall scores for gender awareness, gender-related health knowledge or pain legitimation.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggest that gender-related health knowledge may be a key modifiable factor that leads to enhanced gender awareness in dealings with patients. However, traditional expositive lectures were not enough to produce a robust increase in gender awareness, pain legitimation or gender-related health knowledge levels. The effectiveness of active teaching methodologies should be tested, in order to help nursing students strengthen their resistance to clinical gender stereotypes and become active assets in the move from inequality to equity.