Abstract:Introduction: Nurses play diverse roles in educating patients about a healthy diet and in promoting healthy eating habits, through their conversations with patients and families and through their work providing enteral and parenteral feeding to critically ill patients. Given the position of nurses as key providers of dietary guidance, and given the health benefits of dietary fibre, we wanted to assess the level of fibre-related knowledge among nurses in Croatia. Objectives: The primary objective of this cross-sectional s tudy was to compare knowledge between nurses and the general population from Croatia about the health importance of consuming dietary fibre. Methods: Knowledge from 369 nurses and 727 residents from the general population about fibre was assessed using a validated survey developed by the CI&DETS Polytechnic Institute, Viseu, Portugal. Differences between nurses and the general population were assessed for significance using the Mann-Whitney U test and the Kruskal-Wallis test, while associations between study variables and knowledge were explored using Spearman rank correlation coefficients. Results: The level of knowledge among nurses and the general population in Croatia about dietary fibre varies from «undecided» to «partial knowledge». No association was observed between nurse education level and either general knowledge about fibre or knowledge about the health benefits of fibre intake. No significant differences were observed between nurses and the general population in general knowledge (p = 0.894) or in health-related knowledge (p = 0.578). Conclusion: The results suggest the need for updating and expanding nursing curricula. The similar level of knowledge between nurses and the general population about dietary fibre indicates the need to strengthen nurse education and training in the areas of diet and diet therapy in Croatia. Given the role of nurses as diet educators and advisors, this may help improve the quality of health care.
SUMMARY: Microorganisms in the air are part of the bioaerosol which is composed of different particles of biological substances, dust particles, bacteria cells and their portions, mould spores and a number of by-products of their metabolism. This research focuses on analysing the primary microclimate indicators (temperature and relative humidity) and the presence of microorganisms in the work environment (air). Measurements were taken after the process of sterilisation of infective waste over three months with the objective to determine the total number of aerobic mesophilic bacteria and the total number of moulds. The microclimate indicators were measured with an attested device. The study monitored the microbiological purity of the air in a given place using the sedimentation method, with samples subsequently processed in a microbiology lab in keeping with the prescribed standards. After incubation and following the counting of developed colonies on microbiological substrates (Tryptic soy agar and Sabouraud dextrose agar), different strains of bacteria and moulds were identified. The most common were Gram (+) sporogenes bacteria Micrococcus spp and Staphylococcus spp., and as for fungi the most commonly found were Aspergillus spp and Penicillium spp. It was found that temperature and relative humidity affect the total number of aerobic mesophilic bacteria and fungi which was confirmed using the Wilcoxon equivalent pairs test at the level of statistic significance p<0.05.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2025 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.