Persistence to rivaroxaban therapy for stroke prevention in clinical practice in Italy: Rationale and design of the RITMUS-AF prospective observational cohort study.

Background: Non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) is a cardiac rhythm disturbance that increases the risk of stroke and is highly prevalent in Europe and Italy, increasingly with advancing age. Oral anticoagulation is a key component of stroke prevention in patients with NVAF, yet withdrawal or interruption of anticoagulation may transiently increase the risk of embolic events. Treatment persistence to anticoagulation is an important metric but one that is not well studied in patients with NVAF in Italy.

Nurses' moral distress in end-of-life care: A qualitative study.

Background: Moral distress is a neglected issue in most palliative education programmes, and research has largely focused on this phenomenon as an occupational problem for nursing staff.

Research Question: The primary outcome of this study was to explore the causes of morally distressing events, feelings experienced by nurses and coping strategies utilised by a nursing population at an Italian teaching hospital. A secondary outcome of this qualitative study was to analyse whether palliative care or end-of-life care education may reduce morally distressing events.