Specialist Ambulance Nurses' Perceptions of Nursing: A Phenomenographic Study

Psychometric validation and cultural adaptation of the Italian version of the ambulance nurse competence scale

INTRODUCTION

This study aimed to examine the validity and reliability of the Italian translation of the Ambulance Nurse Competence Scale (I-ANC) through a rigorous psychometric validation process. Ambulance nurses play a critical role in delivering emergency care, making a reliable, culturally adapted tool to assess their competencies essential. In Italy, where nursing practice in pre-hospital settings is expanding, there was a need for a validated tool reflecting the specific competencies of ambulance nurses.

METHODS

The validation process used a three-phase approach. First, linguistic and cultural adaptation involved forward and backward translation to align with the Italian healthcare context. Second, a panel of experts assessed content and face validity. Finally, construct validity was tested through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with a sample of 212 nurses, and reliability was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha.

RESULTS

The I-ANC demonstrated strong performance in linguistic translation and cultural adaptation. Content and face validity assessments showed high levels of agreement among experts, confirming the tool's relevance. CFA supported the original four-component structure: (1) professional value-based nursing care, (2) professional development and research, (3) management of community events, and (4) management of serious events. These components explained a significant portion of the variance in the data, and Cronbach's alpha values for each factor exceeded 0.70, confirming internal consistency.

CONCLUSIONS

The I-ANC is a valid and reliable tool for assessing the competencies of Italian ambulance nurses. Its use can enhance self-assessment, professional development, and the quality of pre-hospital emergency care.

Nurses' use of an advisory decision support system in ambulance services: A qualitative study

AIM

To illuminate from the perspective of nurses in ambulance services the experiences of using a web-based advisory decision support system to assess care needs and refer patients.

DESIGN

Inductive and descriptive approaches.

METHOD

Thirteen semi-structured interviews were conducted in the spring of 2020. The data were analysed through the reflexive thematic analysis.

RESULTS

The Swedish web-based advisory decision support system (ADSS) was found to strengthen nurses' feelings of security when they assess patients' care needs, promote their competence and professional pride, and help them manage stress. However, the system also generated difficulties for nurses to adjust to the dynamic ambulance team and revealed a discrepancy between their professional roles and responsibilities to refer patients and provide self-care advice. The nurses thought that the support system facilitated their increased participation and helped them understand patients and significant others by offering transparency in assessment and decision making. Thus, the support system provides nurses with an opportunity to strengthen patients' independence through information and education. However, in the care relationship, nurses worked to overcome patients' expectations.

CONCLUSION

Nurses using the ADSS increased their security while performing assessments and referrals and found new opportunities to provide information and promote understanding of their decisions. However, nursing care values can be threatened when new support systems are introduced, especially as ambulance services become increasingly protocol-driven.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PROFESSION AND/OR PATIENT CARE

These findings have implications for nurses' work environments and help them maintain consistency in making medical assessments and in providing equivalent self-care advice when referring patients to the different levels of care. The findings will also impact researchers and policymakers who formulate decision support systems.

REPORTING METHOD

Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ).

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

None.

Construction and application of the core competence course training system for infectious disease specialist nurses

OBJECTIVES

This study aims to construct and apply a training course system which was scientific and comprehensive to foster the core competence of infectious disease specialist nurses.

DESIGN

A two-round Delphi consultation survey was carried out to collect feedback from experts on constructing the training course system of core competence for infectious disease specialist nurses. Besides, a non-randomized controlled experimental study was adopted to check the application effect of the courses.

METHODS

This study adopted a series of methods including group discussion, theoretical analysis and Delphi consultation to draft the training course content of core competence of infectious disease specialist nurses. Twenty-one Chinese experts were invited to participate in the Delphi consultation from November 2021 to December 2021. From October 2022 to January 2023, a total of 105 infectious disease specialist nurses from two training bases were selected by the convenience sampling method, of which the nurses in one training base were the control group and the nurses in the other training base were the observation group. The observation group was trained by the constructed core competence training course. Questionnaire evaluation was used to compare the core competence of infectious disease specialist nurses and the training effect.

RESULTS

The experts, regarded as the authorities on the subject, were highly motivated in this study. Besides, they reached a consensus on the results. The final training course system of core competence for infectious disease specialist nurses focused on 5 competence modules and was composed of 12 categories of courses with 66 classes and corresponding objectives. The core competence scores of the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group after training (P < 0.05), which proved the training system can effectively enhance the core competence of infectious disease specialist nurses.

CONCLUSIONS

The research methods embodied scientific and precise properties. The course system was comprehensive in content and reliable in results. It could serve as a reference for training infectious disease specialist nurses.

Nurses' models of spiritual care: A cross-sectional survey of American nurses

OBJECTIVES

Despite there being many models for how spiritual care should be provided, the way nurses actually provide spiritual care often differs from these models. Based on the premise that the way a person enacts their work role is related to how they understand that role, this study aims to describe the qualitatively different ways that nurses understand their spiritual care role.

METHODS

A convenience sample of 66 American nurses completed an anonymous, online questionnaire about what spiritual care means for them and what they generally do to provide spiritual care. Their responses were analyzed phenomenographically.

RESULTS

Four qualitatively different ways of understanding emerged: active management of the patient's experience, responsive facilitation of patient's wishes, accompaniment on the patient's dying journey, and empowering co-action with the patient. Each understanding was found to demonstrate a specific combination of 5 attributes that described the spiritual care role: nurse directivity, the cues used for spiritual assessment, and the nurse's perception of intimacy, the patient, and the task.

SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS

The findings of this study may explain why nurses vary in their spiritual care role and can be used to assess and develop competence in spiritual care.

Care relationship and interaction between patients and ambulance clinicians: A qualitative meta-synthesis from a person-centred perspective

BACKGROUND

Ambulance care is characterised by disaster medicine, traumatology and care for acute illnesses and accidents. The focus of ambulance care is clearly on medical care, whereas interpersonal interaction between patients and ambulance clinicians appears less prioritised. A patient within ambulance care needs to be listened to, be taken seriously, be treated with empathy and be seen as a unique person. These are fundamental to delivering Person-centred care.

AIM

The purpose is to describe how the care relationship and interaction between patients and ambulance clinicians in prehospital emergency care are described in the literature and how they can be interpreted from a person-centred perspective.

DATA SOURCES AND REVIEW METHODS

A qualitative meta-synthesis was used. Data collection was carried out with PubMed, CINAHL Plus and Web of Science in September-October 2022 and in August-September 2023. The first article searching applied a timeline 1990-2022 and the second applied a timeline 2022-2023. A total of 13 studies employing a qualitative approach were evaluated and included in the interpretive analysis.

RESULTS

Three themes were identified: A good care relationship, Decision-making and Hindrances to practising person-centred care in ambulance care. Trust, good communication and respect for patients' dignity were the most important parts of the good care relationship between patients and ambulance clinicians. Decision-making regarding the examination of patients, medical treatment and transport to the receiving care unit was one of the tasks that ambulance clinicians do independently but in cooperation with patients and family members. Person-centred care within ambulance care may be hindered due to environmental factors, attitudes and behaviour of ambulance clinicians and patient-related factors.

CONCLUSION

Many ambulance clinicians have already adopted Person-centred care, but several factors can hinder Person-centred care in interactions with patients. Although the results build on a limited number of studies, they indicate that person-centred care needs to be further developed and studied for high-quality ambulance care.

Factors Influencing Occupational Stress Perceived by Emergency Nurses During Prehospital Care: A Systematic Review

Objective

To assess personal and work-related factors influencing the stress levels of nurses during prehospital care. Specifically, to identify associations between the level of perceived stress, the degree of professional experience, and the level of knowledge. Secondly, to examine the relationship between stress levels and violence in the work environment. And third, to investigate the main protective factors against work-related stress during prehospital care.

Methods

Systematic review in PubMed, WOS, Enfispo, Cochrane, and LILACS databases following the PRISMA methodology (last search 08/Aug/2023). Following the PECO framework, studies on occupational stress factors in ambulance emergency nurses were investigated. Studies in English or Spanish, from 2013 to 2023, and only research articles were admitted, thus excluding reviews, dissertations, and grey literature. Possible bias and level evidence were assessed using critical appraisal tools and GRADE. This protocol was registered in PROSPERO with code CRD42023446080.

Results

Fourteen articles were selected, and n=855 prehospital nurses were identified. One study was a clinical trial, and the others were observational and qualitative. The level of evidence was very low (n=7), low (n=6), and moderate (n=1); any study was excluded due to methodological bias. Five categories of stressors were extracted: the management of the health service (ie, workload organisation, and resources), patient care (mainly paediatric care), interpersonal stressors (relationship with peers), environmental factors (exposure to injuries), and personal factors (training, experience, and coping strategies). Violence at work is frequent for prehospital nurses, implying both verbal and physical aggressions. Support from peers was associated with positive results against stress.

Conclusion

Managing workload and improving resources in the work environment are essential to reduce fatigue and allow emotional processes to be addressed. Providing workers with coping skills also imposes on them the responsibility to cope with stress. Collective awareness is the main element in reducing the incidence of stress.

Prehospital nursing students' experiences of patient safety culture in emergency medical services-A qualitative study

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To describe prehospital nursing students' experiences of patient safety culture in emergency medical services during their internship.

BACKGROUND

Patient safety culture in the emergency medical services is a complex phenomenon including more than organisational policies and practices and professionals' technical skills.

DESIGN

The descriptive qualitative approach used the Sharing Learning from Practice to improve Patient Safety Learning Event Recording Tool, which includes both open-ended and structured questions.

METHODS

Purposeful sampling was used, and data were collected from graduating prehospital nursing students (n = 17) from three Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences. Open-ended questions were reviewed using thematic analysis, and frequencies and percentages were derived from structured questions. COREQ guidelines were used to guide this study.

RESULTS

Four themes were identified during the thematic analysis: environmental and other unexpected factors in emergency medical services, working practices and professionalism in emergency medical services, teamwork in emergency medical services and feelings related to patient safety events in emergency medical services. Patient safety events described by students were seldom reported in the healthcare system or patient files. According to the students, such events were most likely related to communication, checking/verification and/or teamwork.

CONCLUSIONS

This study shows that prehospital nursing students can produce important information about patient safety events and the reasons that contributed to those events. Therefore, emergency medical services organisations and managers should use students' observations to develop a patient safety culture in emergency medical services.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

Understanding how prehospital nursing students have experienced patient safety culture during their internships on ambulances can support educational institutions, together with emergency medical services organisations and managers, to improve policies for students to express patient safety concerns as well as patient safety successes.

The ways specialist nursing students understand the work in the ambulance service - a national Swedish phenomenographic study

Objective

Design, sample, and measurements

Findings

Conclusions

Inequalities and short-term outcome among patients assessed as non-urgent in a Swedish ambulance service setting

BACKGROUND

Within the ambulance service, assessment and referral of patients, especially those with non-urgent conditions, is a difficult and complicated task. Studies indicate that 12 to 20 percent of all patients are subjected to non-conveyance and discharged at the scene. There is lack of knowledge of what characterizes conveyed and non-conveyed patients. The aim of this study was to explore non-urgent patients who are conveyed or not conveyed to hospital and the short-term outcome of non-conveyance in a Swedish Ambulance Service setting.

METHODS

This study has a descriptive, cross-sectional design. All patients who were prioritized as non-urgent were eligible for the study and 1,048 patients were followed-up in an administrative data system that stores information about the patients' trajectory in both primary and hospital care.

RESULTS

More women than men were subjected to non-conveyance and most of the non-conveyed patients were left at home out-of-hours. 53% sought care again within 72 h. A large proportion of the non-conveyed patients were assessed as having unspecific symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

There are prominent gender differences in the context of non-conveyance where unspecific symptoms seem to be the main reason for being left at home. As many of the non-conveyed patients who did not receive any advice about further investigation or intervention sought care again within 72 h, the assessments may be insufficient or inaccurate.