Background: Recently, there has been interest in the education of nursing personnel to provide veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in Kuwait. There is need to understand the experience of nurses who take on this new role. Aim:We aimed to explore the perspectives of nurses about their role, with a special focus on their competencies and the challenges faced while caring for patients who require extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.Methods: We used a qualitative descriptive approach, using in-depth individual interviews. Nineteen nurses working with veno-venous an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine in an adult intensive care unit of a general hospital in Kuwait were included in the study. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed thematically.Results: The role of nurses was found to be diverse and challenging and involved engaging in multiple responsibilities. Nurses worked with other health care providers in a team, which facilitated their performance. Nurses viewed themselves as competent to perform their role and attributed their competency mainly to the training received and the experience spent providing extracorporeal membrane oxygenation care. In executing their role, nurses reported encountering significant challenges, including heavy workload, inefficient communication among colleagues, and a lack of an organized/supportive system.Conclusions: This study suggests that nurses play an integral role in the management of patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. An understanding of their role and their competence, the challenges they face with in the care setting, and providing a supportive environment is essential for transformation in the practice of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation nursing.

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The aim of this study was to determine the types of urinary incontinence prevalent among Kuwaiti women with Type two Diabetes Mellitus attending the outpatient clinic at the Urology center and suggest appropriate nursing interventions. Urinary incontinence is not a life threatening condition but it can be emotionally devastating and therefore affects the sufferer's quality of life. This cross-sectional descriptive survey consisted of 250 Kuwaiti women with type two diabetes mellitus receiving treatment at the outpatient department at Sabah Al-Ahmad Urology Center, Kuwait. The questionnaire comprised of a total of 33 questions, twelve of which explored participants' socio demographic characteristics, risk factors and symptoms of their urinary incontinence. The remaining 21 items were adapted from King's Health Questionnaire (KHQ) formulated in 1997 at King's college, London, for the assessment of quality of life in women with urinary incontinence. Data collection was from February to May 2014. The result revealed that mixed urinary incontinence was the most prevalent type of urinary incontinence affecting Kuwaiti women with type two diabetes mellitus. Symptoms of both stress incontinence and urge incontinence (Over active bladder) were not mutually exclusive as they were present in 247 (98.8%) and 240 (96%) of the participants respectively. Key risk factors for developing incontinence were over three years duration of diabetes mellitus in 115 (56%) and delivery of one or more children reported by 206 (82%) of the participants. Analysis and result of King Health Questionnaire on quality of life will be reported in separate paper on the psychosocial impact of urinary incontinence on diabetic Kuwaiti women. In conclusion, urinary incontinence had a devastating effect on the lives of sufferers and therefore should be prevented at all cost by nurses providing anticipatory guidance to all pregnant and diabetic women and routinely teaching pelvic floor exercises to all postnatal women. However, in the event that there are symptoms of urinary incontinence then thorough investigation and early treatment is advocated.

The aim of this study was to explore the perception of male nursing students' experiences and challenges in maternity clinical practice. A quantitative cross-sectional survey design was used. The self-administered questionnaire included 18 items 5-point Likert scale to identify the challenges experienced by male nursing students in their maternity clinical practice, and 14 items to assess comfort level in performing procedures in maternity clinical areas. Participants were 93 male nursing students who had completed their maternity clinical posting in different maternity clinical areas as a part of their nursing program, at the College of Nursing, Kuwait. Results showed that male nursing students are not very keen on undergoing maternity clinical training (Chi-square analysis χ 2 = 96.939; P < 0.001). Participants are concerned that they will not be accepted to provide care to maternity clients because of the gender difference and prevailing cultural scenario. Out of the 93 participants, the majority 77 (82.8%) reported that they were treated differently at the maternity unit because of their gender. Chi-square analysis showed that male nursing students were not comfortable performing procedures involving exposure to private parts (χ 2 = 108.638; P < 0.001). 35.5% of participants were refused by the maternity clients to provide them care. Out of 60 (64.5%) participants who were not refused to provide nursing care to obstetric clients, 49 (52.7% of the total) decided not to work in maternity areas. These results indicate that male nursing graduates prefer not to work in maternity areas (McNemer's test χ 2 = 5.297; P = 0.021). In conclusion, this study showed that being treated differently and being refused to provide care to clients were the main challenges faced by male nursing students during their maternity practice. The participants had a strong belief that they will not be accepted by maternity clients because of the gender difference and cultural influence. There is a need to design strategies in both academic and clinical How to cite this paper: