Assessment of communicative competence in adult patients with minimum response in intensive care units: A scoping review.

Background: Few formal instruments exist to assess the communicative competence of patients hospitalized in intensive care units (ICUs). This can limit interventions by health professionals.

Aims: To map the categories and instruments for assessing the communicative competence of adult patients with minimal response in ICUs.

Impact of Wound Dressing Changes on Nursing Workload in an Intensive Care Unit.

The objective of this study is to understand how the type of wound dressing changes (routine or frequent) in patients admitted to intensive care units influences nurses' workload. This study used a database of retrospective and analytical observational study from one Portuguese intensive care unit. The sample included 728 adult patients admitted between 2015 and 2019.

Effect of an Educational Nursing Intervention on the Mental Adjustment of Patients with Chronic Arterial Hypertension: An Interventional Study.

The objective of this analytical and interventional prospective quantitative study was to assess the effect of an educational intervention performed by nurses for mental adjustment to chronic disease in patients with hypertension. A convenience sample was studied, composed of 329 participants with chronic hypertension, followed in a primary healthcare unit in the Central Region of Portugal. Data collection was carried out by applying the Mental Adjustment to Disease Scale (MADS) before and 1 month after the educational nursing intervention between September 2017 and February 2018.

Factors Predicting Pressure Injury Incidence in Older Adults Following Elective Total Hip Arthroplasty: A Longitudinal Study.

Objective: To identify the factors associated with pressure injury (PI) development in older adult patients who underwent elective total hip arthroplasty (THA).

Methods: A nonexperimental longitudinal prospective study was conducted with a sample of 40 patients undergoing elective THA. Patients were evaluated for PI at hospital admission, 24 hours postsurgery, at discharge, and 1 month after surgery.

Health professionals perception and beliefs about drug- related problems on polymedicated older adults- a focus group study.

Background: Polymedicated older patients are at greater risk of suffering from adverse events. For this reason, the detection of both inappropriate polypharmacy and polypharmacy-associated Drug-Related Problems (DRPs) are essential to improve the health and wellbeing of older adults and to reduce healthcare costs. This work aims to explore health professionals' perceptions and opinions about polypharmacy and the handling of medicines by polymedicated older adults.

Nursing workload assessment in an intensive care unit: A 5-year retrospective analysis.

Aims: To study the correlation between the workload of intensive care nursing teams and the sociodemographic, anthropometric and clinical characteristics of patients in critical condition in a Portuguese Intensive Care Unit (ICU) during a 5-year period.

Background: Currently, indices of nursing workload quantification are one of the resources used for planning and evaluating ICUs. Evidence shows that there are several factors related to critical patients and their hospitalisation which potentially influence the nursing workload.

Voices of Polymedicated Older Patients: A Focus Group Approach.

Polypharmacy in older adults is frequently associated with incorrect management of medicines, which causes drug-related problems and, subsequently, poor health outcomes. Understanding why older adults incorrectly manage their medicines is fundamental to health outcomes, however, it is an issue that remains poorly explored. The aim of this study is to examine older people's perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, and concerns in the central region of Portugal.

Simulation of Image-Guided Intervention in Medical Imaging Education.

Introduction/background: Medical imaging education programs across Europe, despite their variability, include clinical practice as a guarantee of quality because learning in a clinical context is more effective and allows for constructive qualification of students. Learning in a clinical simulation context is a strategy to promote simulated clinical experience and assure patient safety. In this work, a learning experience, consisting of simulating a pacemaker implantation, implemented over 3 years with students pursuing the Medical Imaging and Radiotherapy degree at the University of Aveiro was evaluated.

Daily Medication Management and Adherence in the Polymedicated Elderly: A Cross-Sectional Study in Portugal.

The presence of age-related comorbidities prone elderly patients to the phenomenon of polypharmacy and consequently to a higher risk of nonadherence. Thus, this paper aims to characterize the medication consumption profile and explore the relationship of beliefs and daily medication management on medication adherence by home-dwelling polymedicated elderly people. A questionnaire on adherence, managing, and beliefs of medicines was applied to polymedicated patients with ≥65 years old, in primary care centers of the central region of Portugal.