The study confirms the intrinsic and extrinsic motivators on work engagement posited by job demands-resources model. Theory-driven strategies to improve work environment, enhance job characteristics and promote wok engagement are needed to address the nursing shortage and high turnover intention among experienced nurses.

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Effective communication among healthcare professionals in the intensive care unit (ICU) is a particular imperative, with accurate and efficient interdisciplinary communication being a critical prerequisite for high-quality care. Nurses and physicians are highly important parts of the healthcare system workforce. Thus, identifying strategies that would improve communication between these two groups can provide evidence for practical improvement in the ICU, which will ultimately improve patient outcomes. This integrative literature review aimed to identify interventions that improve communication between nurses and physicians in ICUs. Three databases (Medline, CINAHL, and Science Direct) were searched between September 2014 and June 2016 using 11 search terms, namely, nurse, doctor, physician, resident, clinician, ICU, intensive care unit, communication, teamwork, collaboration, and relationship. A manual search of the reference lists of found papers was also conducted. Eleven articles met the inclusion criteria. These studies reported on the use of communication tools/checklists, team training, multidisciplinary structured work shift evaluation, and electronic situation–background–assessment–recommendation documentation templates to improve communication. Although which intervention strategies are most effective remains unclear, this review suggests that these strategies improve communication to some extent. Future studies should be rigorously designed and outcome measures should be specific and validated to capture and reflect the effects of effective communication.

This review identifies and models the determinants of patient loyalty to healthcare providers. Further studies are needed to explore the influence of trust, commitment, and switching barriers on patient loyalty.

Background Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is common in elderly people, causes pain, loss of physical functioning, and disability. This was a two-arm, superiority, quasi-experimental trial. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a home-based exercise intervention (HBEI) to reduce KOA symptoms and improve the physical functioning of elderly patients. Methods A total of 171 elderly patients (60 years of age or older) with KOA were recruited from four community centers. Patients from two community centers were randomly assigned to the intervention group (IG) and the other two centers were randomly assigned to the control group (CG). Participants in the IG received a 12-week HBEI (including four 2-h sessions supervised by a physiotherapist and fortnightly telephone support) combined with health education, while patients in the CG only received health education. The participants and physiotherapists were aware of the group assignment and alternative treatment components, but the study’s hypotheses were not disclosed to the participants. Pain intensity, joint stiffness, lower-limb muscle strength, balance, mobility, and quality of life were measured before and after the intervention by the same blinded assessor. Results A total of 171 patients (IG: n = 84, CG: n = 87) were enrolled. Data were obtained from 141 patients with an average age of 68 (range, 60–86 years) who completed the 12-week study (IG: n = 71, CG: n = 70). No significant group differences were found in any outcome measures at baseline. At week 12, the pretest/posttest changes 3significant between-group differences in decreases in pain intensity (− 1.60 (CI, − 2.75 to − 0.58)) and stiffness (− 0.79 (CI, − 1.37 to − 0.21)), with the IG exhibiting significantly larger improvements on both measures than the CG. The IG also showed significantly greater improvements on all the secondary outcomes than the CG did. Conclusions HBEI may be effective for relieving KOA symptoms, increasing the physical functioning, and improving quality of life in community-dwelling KOA elderly patients. A large randomized controlled trial with long-term follow-up is needed to confirm these findings. Trial registration Chinese Clinical Trails Registry number ChiCTR1800017026 (retrospectively registered). Registered 9 July 2018. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12891-019-2521-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.