No abstract

Aims To evaluate the relationship between mental workload and job performance among nurses providing care to patients with COVID‐19, and to explain the factors predicting their performance. Background The increased workload of health care workers in the COVID‐19 pandemic affects their job performance, causes medical errors, contributes to patients’ mortality and is a major concern for all health care organisations in the world. Methods This cross‐sectional study recruited 139 nurses selected from the ICUs, infectious disease wards and emergency units of two hospitals in Iran. The NASA‐Task Load Index and Paterson's job performance questionnaire were used. Results Mean scores of mental workload and job performance of the nurses were 67.14 ± 30.53 and 37.37 ± 7.36, respectively. A total of 71.95% and 96.4% of the nurses had high mental workload and job performance levels, respectively. The results indicated a weak positive correlation between mental workload and the mean score of job performance( r = .057). Unlike the mental demand ( r = .175, p = .04) and temporal demand ( r = .307, p < .001) that had a significant positive correlation with job performance, frustration had a significant negative correlation with job performance ( r = −.183, p = .032). The following variables explained 33% of the variance of nurses’ job performance: age, gender, type of ward, working shift, experience of providing care to patients with COVID‐19 and frustration. Conclusion The nurses’ mental workload increased during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Given the negative effect of mental workload on the nurses’ behaviour and performance, the rise in their job performance and its weak positive correlation with their mental workload should be further addressed. Implications for Nursing Management The present study results support the need for focusing on implementing strategies such as providing social and psychological support to moderate mental workload and improve job performance of nurses who provide care to patients with COVID‐19.

Kidney disease and its related psychological costs have significantly increased in recent years. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of Qur'an recitation on anxiety in hemodialysis patients. Sixty hemodialysis patients were randomized to either Qur'an recitation or a control group. Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) was completed by patients at baseline and 1 month afterward. The intervention involved listening to the recitation of the Qur'an in traditional cantillation voice. The control group received no intervention. The data were analyzed using Student's t test and general linear models. Recitation of the Qur'an was effective in reducing anxiety in the intervention group, decreasing STAI score at baseline from 128.5 (SD = 13.0) to 82.1 (SD = 11.3), compared to the control group which experienced no change in anxiety scores from baseline to follow-up (118.3, SD = 14.5, vs. 120.1, SD = 14.4, respectively. Between-subject comparison at follow-up, after adjusting for baseline differences, indicated a significant reduction in anxiety in the intervention versus the control group (F = 15.5, p = 0.0002, Cohen's d = 1.03). Listening to the Holy Qur'an being recited is an effective intervention for anxiety in patients undergoing hemodialysis in Iran.

Understanding strategies that influence the patients' coping with the SCI will contribute to the nursing body of knowledge. It also helps nurses and other health-care professionals as well as the families in reinforcing the most effective coping strategies and promoting the quality of care. Such coping strategies also can help patients to achieve a greater sense of empowerment.