Clinical Nursing

Aims and Objectives To investigate the professional quality of life and caring behaviours among clinical nurses in Saudi Arabia during the COVID‐19 pandemic. We also examined the influence of the nurses’ socio‐demographic and professional characteristics on the professional quality of life. Moreover, the study examined the influence of professional quality of life on caring behaviour among the nurses amid the COVID‐19 pandemic. Background Caring is the core of the nursing profession and considered the heart of the humanistic clinical nursing practice. However, the work nature of the clinical nurses, especially during the COVID‐19 pandemic, continues to challenge their professional quality of life and caring behaviours. The factors influencing the professional quality of life and caring behaviours of clinical nurses have not been extensively explored. Design Cross‐sectional, descriptive study. Methods A purposive sample of 375 clinical nurses in three academic medical centres in Saudi Arabia were surveyed using the professional quality of life version 5 and the short‐form 24‐item Caring Behavior Inventory from May–August 2020. A standard multiple regression analysis was performed to investigate the predictors of the professional quality of life and caring behaviour. This study adhered to the recommendations of the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology guidelines. Results The majority of the respondents reported average level of compassion satisfaction (57.9%), burnout (54.4%) and secondary traumatic stress (66.9%) in the professional quality of life domains. The result also showed highest degree of caring in terms of ‘assurance of human presence’ while lowest in the ‘knowledge and skills’ in four subscales of caring behaviour. The following variables significantly predicted compassion satisfaction: education, area of assignment and position. Age, education and religion were identified as significant predictors of burnout while religion, nationality and position were significant predictors of secondary traumatic stress. Positive and negative domains of professional quality of life influenced the caring behaviours among clinical nurses. Conclusions Based on the results of the study, clinical nurses exhibited moderate level of professional quality of life and correlates to their caring behaviours. Moreover, clinical nurses’ demographic characteristics predicted their professional quality of life and caring behaviours. Relevance to clinical practice The importance of ensuring good professional quality of life and caring behaviour among clinical nurses during the COVID‐19 pandemic is underscored. Nursing leaders can utilise this baseline evidence and apply programmes for clinical nurses to tackle professional quality of life issues and enhance caring behaviours.

Precondition to prevention and control of morbidity and mortality of myocardial ischemia--coronary disease, is its good diagnostic. Goal of this study is to asses diagnostic significance of positive trademill stress test in diagnosis of coronary disease. we analyzed 120 patients with markedly positive classic trademill stress test using Bruce protocol in the year 2003. In all cases, positive stress test was followed by selective angiography, using standard technique with multiple sections. Blood vessel narrowing of more than 50% was chosen as the criteria for positive angiographie finding. With the help of coronary angiography, it was found that 62 (51.7%) of patients has stenosis of less than 50% or normal angiographic finding. 58 (48.3%) of patients had stenosis of more than 50%. Of that number, 24 (41.4%) had one-vessel coronary disease, 12 (20.7%) two-vessel coronary disease, and 10 (34.5%) three-vessel coronary disease. 2 patients (3.4%) had stenosis of the trunk of left corona...

This study presents a discussion of the physiological and psychological efficacy of a self-regulation protocol in lowering acute exacerbation symptoms in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are often troubled by acute exacerbation and must learn how to prevent this. A two-group, pretest-post-test experimental design was used in this study. Data were collected between January-July 2008. Sixty-four participants were randomly assigned either to an intervention (n = 33) or to a comparison (n = 31) group. Both groups were assessed on four separate occasions, namely pretest, post-test 1 (5th week), post-test 2 (9th week) and post-test 3 (13th week). The intervention group received a four-week self-regulation protocol. The comparison group received the self-regulation guidebook only. The Borg Dyspnea Scale, the Symptom Distress Scale, the Pulmonary Functional Status Scale, the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Self-Efficacy Scale and the peak expiratory flow were used to measure differences between pretest and post-test values. On the 5th, 9th and 13th weeks after the self-regulation protocol intervention, we found significantly better scores in the four scales in the intervention group compared to those in the comparison group. On the 9th and 13th weeks, there was a significantly greater peak expiratory flow in the intervention group. The intervention group also showed a lower rate of unscheduled physician visits because of acute exacerbation than the comparison group. The findings indicate that the self-regulation protocol developed in this study could significantly assist participants to control their individual symptoms and avoid acute exacerbation. Healthcare professionals could apply the protocol developed in this study to assist patients to learn the strategies of self-regulation to prevent their acute exacerbation symptoms.