Objective To describe nursing workload in Intensive Care Units (ICU) in different countries according to the scores obtained with Nursing Activities Score (NAS) and to verify the agreement among countries on the NAS guideline interpretation. Method This cross-sectional study considered 1-day measure of NAS (November 2012) obtained from 758 patients in 19 ICUs of seven countries (Norway, the Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Egypt, Greece and Brazil). The Delphi technique was used in expertise meetings and consensus. Results The NAS score was 72.8% in average, ranging from 44.5% (Spain) to 101.8% (Norway). The mean NAS score from Poland, Greece and Egypt was 83.0%, 64.6% and 57.1%, respectively. The NAS score was similar in Brazil (54.0%) and in the Netherlands (51.0%). There were doubts in the understanding of five out 23 items of the NAS (21.7%) which were discussed until researchers’ consensus. Conclusion NAS score were different in the seven countries. Future studies must verify if the fine standardization of the guideline can have a impact on differences in the NAS results.

The measurement of patients' satisfaction is increasingly becoming legal and ethical duty of healthcare providers worldwide. Till now, there were no validated, widely available Polish scales to assess patients' satisfaction with nursing care. The aim of this study was to assess the experiences and satisfaction with nursing care of patients hospitalized in surgical and nonsurgical wards in Poland using Polish version of the Newcastle Satisfaction with Nursing Scale. This is a multicentre, cross-sectional, descriptive study. Eight hospitals were qualified to participate in a convenience manner. The correlations between variables were analysed using the Mann-Whitney or the Kruskal-Wallis tests. In the case of a significant correlation, the Dunn's test was used to conduct multiple comparisons for the group of variables. A significance of α = 0.05 was assumed for the tests. A total 918 patients participated in the study, and 787 (85.72%) questionnaires were correctly filled out. The average result on the 'experience' scale was 73.22 (Me 73.07) and on the 'satisfaction' scale, 74.98 (Me 76.31). Education levels did not affect the experiences of nursing care levels p = 0.2204 and satisfaction with nursing care p = 0.1075. Patient age had a statistically significant impact on the results of the 'experiences of nursing care' scale p = 0.0005 and the 'satisfaction with nursing' scale p = 0.0194. The experiences of nursing care (p = 0.0002) and patients satisfaction (p = 0.0000) were significantly higher in surgical wards than in nonsurgical wards. The experiences of nursing care were significantly lower in the university hospital than in provincial hospitals (p = 0.0374) and district hospitals (p = 0.0183). A comparison of patient satisfaction with nursing in various hospitals shows that patients were most satisfied in district hospitals (average 78.10, Me 82.89), followed by provincial hospitals (average 72.11, Me 76.31) and the university hospital (average 70.64, Me 71.05).

IntroductionAnimal pericardial patches are widely used in adult and pediatric cardiac surgery. A search is ongoing for a new material with optimal surgical properties that will reduce intraoperative bleeding and the occurrence of restenosis, calcification, and pseudoaneurysms in long-term observation. One product of interest is the CardioCel bovine pericardial patch.AimEvaluation of the short-term results of CardioCel bovine pericardial patch implantation during pediatric cardiac surgery.Material and methodsThe study included 8 patients who underwent surgical correction of congenital cardiac defects between January 2015 and February 2016. Pericardial patches were used to repair supravalvular aortic stenosis and reconstruct the aortic arch and pulmonary arteries. The age of the patients ranged from 10 days to 14 years.ResultsThere were no hospital deaths. The new material exhibited satisfactory durability and elasticity during surgery, facilitating optimal adaptation of the patch to the patient's tissues. No significant bleeding was reported from the suture site. The median duration of follow-up was 58 days. During the follow-up, there were no symptoms of pseudoaneurysm formation, patch thickening, or calcification in the areas where the pericardial patches were implanted. No clinical or laboratory symptoms of infection were observed in locations where the new material was applied.ConclusionsSatisfactory surgical properties of the patch were observed intraoperatively. Positive results using the new pericardial patch were obtained in short-term follow-up.

Ból defi niowany jest jako subiektywne, negatywne odczucie mające podłoże tak zmysłowe, jak i emocjonalne, które powstaje pod wpływem czynników, które doprowadzają do uszkodzenia tkanek bądź zagrażają ich uszkodzeniem [1]. Zjawisko bólu u pacjenta towarzyszy wielu sytuacjom klinicznym i zważywszy na negatywne dobrze poznane skutki bólu, powinno ono być oceniane i niwelowane. Ból może powodować szereg zaburzeń na poziomie narządów i tkanek, przyczyniając się do zwiększenia poziomu endogennych katecholamin, co z kolei doprowadza do przyspieszenia czynności serca, liczby oddechów, wzrostu ciśnienia tętniczego, skutkując zwiększonym zapotrzebowaniem na tlen, zwięk

IntroductionThe paper presents the methods of cultural adaptation of the Newcastle Satisfaction with Nursing Scale (NSNS) to the conditions in Polish hospitals.Material and methodsThe process of cultural adaptation of the research tool took into consideration an analysis of different equivalence levels, the translation procedure and the estimation of psychometric parameters. The Polish version of the NSNS questionnaire was correctly completed by 787 patients making up 59.36% of the total number of patients who received the scale.ResultsThe Polish version of the NSNS questionnaire was correctly completed by 787 patients making up 59.36% of the total number of patients who received the scale. Cronbach's α coefficient was 0.921 for the “experience” scale and 0.981 for the “satisfaction” scale. The values of Spearman's rank correlation coefficient were from 0.224 to 0.797 for “experience” and 0.815–0.894 for “satisfaction”. All questionnaire items of the Polish NSNS version exerted a statistically significant influence on the total results of the scale (p = 0.0001).ConclusionsThe Polish NSNS version, similarly as the original version, can identify differences referring to “experience” and “satisfaction” with nursing care between the particular departments and between hospitals. The Polish NSNS version was conducted among patients during multicentre studies and it meets the criteria of functional, psychometric and façade equivalences.