Cross, L. A. (2019). Compassion fatigue in palliative care nursing. Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing, 21(1), 21-28. Web.
In her article, Cross (2019) addresses nurses’ compassion fatigue in relation to palliative care delivery. The significance of this research is determined by the fact that palliative care nursing may be regarded as a highly demanding but essential nursing specialty that requires time, emotional skills, and continual contact with caregivers and patients (Cross, 2019). However, nurses traditionally face challenges with balancing work and everyday stressors. Thus, interaction with patients “at end stages of serious illnesses predisposes palliative care nurses to physical, emotional, spiritual, and psychological distress, possibly limiting their ability to provide compassionate care” (Cross, 2019, p. 21). Nevertheless, health care providers’ emotional stability and mental health are necessary for the delivery of quality end-of-life management for people who suffer. That is why the purpose of this study is to define palliative care-related compassion fatigue as this phenomenon was not properly described before in order to develop efficient methods of its minimization in the future.
The method of this descriptive study on the basis of the literature review is a concept analysis. Dictionaries and peer-reviewed articles searched in EBSCO, CINAHL, Journals@Ovid, PsycINFO, MEDLINE, ScienceDirect, and PubMed databases were examined for specific definitions of compassion fatigue in the context of palliative care (Cross, 2019). Seventy-one articles, six concept analyses, and two dissertations were found. Twenty-eight studies related to palliative, oncology, intensive and critical care, military, pediatric, mental health, and general nursing were identified. According to the research’s results, compassion fatigue has defining attributes, including empathy imbalance, increased complaints, diminished performance, poor judgment, and the inability to share in the case of suffering. The antecedents of compassion fatigue are events that require exposure to suffering. In turn, its consequences refer to the inability to feel empathy and compassion, moral distress, disinterest, emotional burnout, and breakdown. The study contributes to the recognition of compassion fatigue and its differentiation from other similar concepts. Moreover, identified attributes, causes, and consequences will help develop effective strategies to prevent and cope with compassion fatigue in nurses.
Smith, K. M., Baker, K. M., Bardsley, J. K., McCartney, P., & Magee, M. (2020). Redesigning hospital diabetes education: A qualitative evaluation with nursing teams. Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 34(2), 151-157. Web.
The article of Smith et al. (2020) is dedicated to the evaluation of nurse-delivered diabetes survival skills education (DSSE) for patients’ self-management of type 2 diabetes mellitus. The expediency of this research is dedicated to the impact of this complex chronic disease both on human health and the health care system. Since 2015, diabetes has been “the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S.” causing more than 14. million emergency department visits and 7 million hospitalizations (Smith et al., 2020, p. 151). However, diabetes self-management education and support (DSMES) contribute to the reduction of the disease’s burden on the system and patients. In addition, nurse-delivered DSSE as a key component of DSMES has already proved its efficiency in patients’ hemoglobin improvement and healthy lifestyle adoption. Thus, the purpose of this study is to evaluate potential facilitators and barriers to integrating electronic and web-based DSSE into the nursing inpatient unit workflow.
The method of this qualitative research is the conduction of semi-structured interviews with nurse managers, nurses, and PCTs of two behavioral health units and three medical-surgical units in Washington, DC. On the basis of data analysis, four themes emerged, including platform usability, the content of the educational program, tablet feasibility, and workflow considerations. The study’s results demonstrate the willingness of health care providers to deliver DSSE to patients. However, particular aspects, such as language availability, patients’ inappropriate use of tablets, tracking progress, and others identified by nurses require adaptation and should be considered to overcome challenges and ensure better health outcomes.
Halabi, J. O., & de Beer, J. (2018). Exploring the cultural competence of undergraduate nursing students in Saudi Arabia. Nurse Education Today, 62, 9-15. Web.
The study of Halabi and de Beer (2018) aims to evaluate undergraduate nursing students’ cultural competence as it plays a highly essential role in quality health care delivery. Defined as “an ongoing process of seeking cultural awareness, cultural knowledge, cultural skill and cultural encounters,” cultural competence allows health care providers to help patients taking into consideration their culture-based unique needs (Halabi & de Beer, 2018, p. 9). It leads to cost and treatment effectiveness, improves communication, contributes to nurses’ professional and personal growth. For patients, the cultural competence of nurses results in improved life quality, better medication adherence, holistic care, health care satisfaction, and mutual trust and respect.
The purpose of this quantitative research with applied descriptive exploratory design is to investigate the cultural competence of Saudi Arabian undergraduate nursing students. The country’s choice was determined by a growing number of culturally diverse expatriates within a framework of one dominant nation, culture, and religion. Data was collected through questionnaires completed by 205 nursing students from a health science university in Jeddah using the Inventory for Assessing the Process of Cultural Competence-Revised (IAPCC-R) consisting of 25 items (Halabi & de Beer, 2018). According to the results, the majority of nursing students are culturally aware and have already provided health care to culturally diverse patients. At the same time, students prefer to have a specific course or training dedicated to cultural competence as cultural desire substantially prevails students’ cultural knowledge. The practical application of this research implies the development of new programs or the improvement of existing ones to cover all aspects of culture-oriented education.
Almutairi, A. F., Adlan, A. A., & Nasim, M. (2017). Perceptions of the critical cultural competence of registered nurses in Canada. BMC Nursing, 16(47), 1-9. Web.
Almutairi et al. (2017) examine registered nurses’ critical cultural competence (CCC) and factors that influence its perceptions. The significance of this research is dictated by the interconnectedness of cultural competence and appropriate health care delivery. In general, cultural diversity frequently leads to conflicts, misunderstandings, discrimination, stereotyping, and ethnocentrism due to multiple differences in behavioral patterns, traditions, moral perspectives, relation to health, and language barriers. In health care, cultural diversity may lead to highly negative consequences, such as disparities and inequities, putting at risk patients’ physical, mental, social, and spiritual safety. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the cultural competence of nurses in Canada.
The method chosen for this qualitative research is data collection with the use of Almutairi’s Critical Cultural Competence Scale (CCC Scale) to reach four domains of cultural competence, including awareness, knowledge, skills, and empowerment. 170 registered nurses from several hospitals across the province of British Columbia were randomly chosen for a survey. The data analysis reveals that participants’ score of 5.22 out of 7.00 for all items indicates their positive perceptions of cultural competence (Almutairi et al., 2017). At the same time, according to the results, nurses’ country of origin and age affect their CCC. Thus, younger health care providers (aged 30-34) born in Anglo-Saxon countries are more culturally competent and recipient to patients’ differences in comparison with older nurses born in Asian countries (Almutairi et al., 2017). Although this study highlights factors that partially influence cultural competence, additional research with a larger sample is required to provide more reliable results. Moreover, this article may be used as a basis for future work that will target the perceptions of nurses’ cultural competence by patients.
McEwing, E. (2020). Delivering culturally competent care to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) population: Education for nursing students. Nurse Education Today, 94, 1-7. Web.
The research of McEwing (2020) is dedicated to a highly critical issue of disparities related to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community in the health care system of the United States. In the present day, despite the promotion of tolerance and antidiscrimination towards all people regardless of their sexual orientation in all spheres of life, the LGBT community members face inequities in relation to health care. At the same time, they are vulnerable to numerous adverse outcomes, including substance abuse, human immunodeficiency virus, suicide attempts, mental health disorders, and sexually transmitted diseases. The understanding of these disparities and the availability of appropriate nursing education dedicated to LGBT-specific needs could reduce individuals’ negative health outcomes and improve the quality of health care delivery.
At the same time, there is no systematic implementation of optimal education programs for health care providers that target the representatives of the LGBT community. In turn, appropriate training for the improvement of LGBT competency should be consistent and continuous. It should include the domains of knowledge, attitude, and skills to raise nurses’ awareness of social determinants that lead to the LGBT community’s health disparities, incorporate health care techniques in practice, and avoid stereotyping. The purpose of the study is to evaluate how a particular program created by the author may improve nursing students’ LGBT competency. The intervention’s sample is 124 BSN nursing students who were proposed to complete the program’s online modules and a simulation exercise dedicated to LGBT-related health care. 108 of them additionally completed the pretest, posttest, and survey one month after the intervention (McEwing, 2020). According to the results evaluated with the use of descriptive statistics, appropriate nursing education may substantially improve students’ LGBT competency essential for patient-centered health care delivery.
Lake, E. T., de Cordova, P. B., Barton, S., Singh, S., Agosto, P. D., Ely, B., Roberts, K. E., & Aiken, L. H. (2017). Missed nursing care in pediatrics. Hospital Pediatrics, 7(7), 378-384. Web.
The study of Lake et al. (2017) addresses missed nursing care, especially in pediatric settings. The importance of this research is explained by the necessity to examine the factors of missed care in various clinical settings for its efficient prevention. Defined as “required patient care that is omitted or delayed in response to multiple demands or inadequate resources,” it results in poor patient outcomes (Lake et al., 2017, p. 378). At the same time, the predictors of missed health care in pediatrics are studied insufficiently in comparison with adult care. The purpose of this research is to examine missed care in pediatrics and how it differs across various hospitals to identify factors that contribute to its occurrence.
For this cross-sectional study, 2006-2008 survey data from pediatric nurses that represent hospitals in California, New Jersey, Florida, and Pennsylvania is used. In general, more than 200 PICU, NICU, and general pediatric health care providers from 223 hospitals were involved in the research. In the survey, nurses reported about essential activities that had been missed and evaluated their work environment. According to the study’s findings, the majority of nurses left at least one important task, predominantly teaching, care planning, and comforting, undone (Lake et al., 2017). At the same time, high nurse workloads and inappropriate work environments are key factors that lead to missed health care. As the first research dedicated to this issue in pediatric settings, it may be regarded as highly significant for practice. Thus, its results will inform clinical settings for the improvement of health care delivery for children.
References
Almutairi, A. F., Adlan, A. A., & Nasim, M. (2017). Perceptions of the critical cultural competence of registered nurses in Canada. BMC Nursing, 16(47), 1-9. Web.
Cross, L. A. (2019). Compassion fatigue in palliative care nursing. Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing, 21(1), 21-28. Web.
Halabi, J. O., & de Beer, J. (2018). Exploring the cultural competence of undergraduate nursing students in Saudi Arabia. Nurse Education Today, 62, 9-15. Web.
Lake, E. T., de Cordova, P. B., Barton, S., Singh, S., Agosto, P. D., Ely, B., Roberts, K. E., & Aiken, L. H. (2017). Missed nursing care in pediatrics. Hospital Pediatrics, 7(7), 378-384. Web.
McEwing, E. (2020). Delivering culturally competent care to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) population: Education for nursing students. Nurse Education Today, 94, 1-7. Web.
Smith, K. M., Baker, K. M., Bardsley, J. K., McCartney, P., & Magee, M. (2020). Redesigning hospital diabetes education: A qualitative evaluation with nursing teams. Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 34(2), 151-157. Web.