BackgroundThe arduous emotional and physical nurses’ work, the gradual nursing staff cutbacks and the lack of recognition that nurses feel regarding their skills and overall capabilities are some of the factors that act of bullying between nursing staff and management, between nurses and patients/families or even among nurses themselves. Workplace bullying has physical and psychological effects on worker-victims and, by extension, patients themselves. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the phenomenon of workplace bullying and general health status among the nursing staff of Greek public hospitals.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted on a convenience sample of 841 members of the nursing staff working in five major hospitals of the 1st Regional Health Authority of Attica, located in Athens. The response rate was 84.1 %. The respondents completed the Negative Acts Questionnaire (NAQ) and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and also their demographic characteristics. The appropriate permissions were obtained by the Hospitals’ Ethics Committees and the questionnaire’s authors. Data were collected from March to July 2013. Data analysis was performed with IBM SPSS 21.0 and included t test, χ2 test and regression analysis. The two-tailed significance level was set ≤0.05.Results30.2 % of the respondents reported that they had been psychologically harassed in their workplaces during the preceding 6 months. Statistical analysis revealed that relative to other respondents, respondents who had received support from their families and friends enjoyed better health but respondents who perceived their work environments more negatively because of work-related bullying suffered from worse general health.ConclusionsWorkplace bullying among nursing staff is a major concern in Greece. Support systems play a crucial role in addressing the negative effects of bullying and they should be taken into account when designing prevention and troubleshooting policies about bullying.

ObjectivesSafe pharmaceutical care (PC) requires an interprofessional team approach, involving physicians, nurses and pharmacists. Nurses’ roles however, are not always explicit and clear, complicating interprofessional collaboration. The aim of this study is to describe nurses’ practice and interprofessional collaboration in PC, from the viewpoint of nurses, physicians and pharmacists.DesignA cross-sectional survey.SettingThe study was conducted in 17 European countries, each with their own health systems.ParticipantsPharmacists, physicians and nurses with an active role in PC were surveyed.Main outcome measuresNurses’ involvement in PC, experiences of interprofessional collaboration and communication and views on nurses’ competences.ResultsA total of 4888 nurses, 974 physicians and 857 pharmacists from 17 European countries responded. Providing patient education and information (PEI), monitoring medicines adherence (MMA), monitoring adverse/therapeutic effects (ME) and prescribing medicines were considered integral to nursing practice by 78%, 73%, 69% and 15% of nurses, respectively. Most respondents were convinced that quality of PC would be improved by increasing nurses’ involvement in ME (95%), MMA (95%), PEI (91%) and prescribing (53%). Mean scores for the reported quality of collaboration between nurses and physicians, collaboration between nurses and pharmacists and interprofessional communication were respectively <7/10, ≤4/10, <6/10 for all four aspects of PC.ConclusionsME, MMA, PEI and prescribing are part of nurses’ activities, and most healthcare professionals felt their involvement should be extended. Collaboration between nurses and physicians on PC is limited and between nurses and pharmacists even more.

Introduction: Exclusive breastfeeding is the optimal mode of feeding for the first six months of a child’s life. Modifiable factors associated with increased breastfeeding, may be addressed through antenatal breastfeeding education. In Greece, the rates of exclusive breastfeeding remain rather low. Aim: The aim of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a structured in-hospital midwife-led antenatal breastfeeding educational programme on breastfeeding knowledge and self-efficacy, attitudes towards breastfeeding and perceived-barriers of breastfeeding. Patients and Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study with two study groups: an intervention group (following a four-hour midwife-led antenatal breastfeeding programme) and a control group. All nulliparous women attending antenatal care at the tertiary hospital in Athens, Greece during May 2016–January 2017 were invited to participate, of which 203 nulliparous pregnant women took part. Demographic data forms, the Breastfeeding Self-efficacy Scale, the Iowa Infant Feeding Attitude Scale, the Breast Feeding Knowledge Questionnaire and the Perceived Breast Feeding Barriers Questionnaire were used for data collection. Results: Post-intervention, women in the intervention group had a more positive attitude towards breastfeeding (73.5% versus 66.1%, p<0.001), greater knowledge (14.6% versus 13.1%, p<0.001) and more breastfeeding self-efficacy (51.4% versus 45.6%, p<0.001) compared to the control group. Furthermore, they had significantly less perceived barriers regarding breastfeeding (27.4% versus 31.0%, p<0.001). Conclusion: The four-hour antenatal breastfeeding education intervention which occurred and was evaluated for the first time in the Greek female population was effective in increasing breastfeeding knowledge, self-efficacy and a positive attitude towards breastfeeding. The intervention was furthermore effective in lowering perceived breastfeeding barriers. This midwife-led antenatal breastfeeding education programme could be suitable for integration to routine antenatal care in health care services in Greece.

Objectives To understand healthcare professionals’ experiences and perceptions of nurses’ potential or ideal roles in pharmaceutical care (PC). Design Qualitative study conducted through semi-structured in-depth interviews. Setting Between December 2018 and October 2019, interviews were conducted with healthcare professionals of 14 European countries in four healthcare settings: hospitals, community care, mental health and long-term residential care. Participants In each country, pharmacists, physicians and nurses in each of the four settings were interviewed. Participants were selected on the basis that they were key informants with broad knowledge and experience of PC. Data collection and analysis All interviews were conducted face to face. Each country conducted an initial thematic analysis. Consensus was reached through a face-to-face discussion of all 14 national leads. Results 340 interviews were completed. Several tasks were described within four potential nursing responsibilities, that came up as the analysis themes, being: 1) monitoring therapeutic/adverse effects of medicines, 2) monitoring medicines adherence, 3) decision making on medicines, including prescribing 4) providing patient education/information. Nurses’ autonomy varied across Europe, from none to limited to a few tasks and emergencies to a broad range of tasks and responsibilities. Intended level of autonomy depended on medicine types and level of education. Some changes are needed before nursing roles can be optimised and implemented in practice. Lack of time, shortage of nurses, absence of legal frameworks and limited education and knowledge are main threats to European nurses actualising their ideal role in PC. Conclusions European nurses have an active role in PC. Respondents reported positive impacts on care quality and patient outcomes when nurses assumed PC responsibilities. Healthcare professionals expect nurses to report observations and assessments. This key patient information should be shared and addressed by the interprofessional team. The study evidences the need of a unique and consensus-based PC framework across Europe.

ObjectivesThe promotion of health and safety (H&S) awareness among hospital staff can be applied through various methods. The aim of this study was to assess the risk level of physical hazards in the hospital sector by combining workers' perception, experts' evaluation and objective measurements.MethodsA cross-sectional study was designed using multiple triangulation. Hospital staff (n = 447) filled in an H&S questionnaire in a general hospital in Athens and an oncology one in Thessaloniki. Experts observed and filled in a checklist on H&S in the various departments of the two hospitals. Lighting, noise and microclimate measurements were performed.ResultsThe staff's perception of risk was higher than that of the experts in many cases. The measured risk levels were low to medium. In cases of high-risk noise and lighting, staff and experts agreed. Staff's perception of risk was influenced by hospital's department, hospital's service, years of working experience and level of education. Therefore, these factors should be taken into account in future studies aimed at increasing the participation of hospital workers.ConclusionThis study confirmed the usefulness of staff participation in the risk assessment process, despite the tendency for staff to overestimate the risk level of physical hazards. The combination of combining staff perception, experts' evaluation and objective measures in the risk assessment process increases the efficiency of risk management in the hospital environment and the enforcement of relevant legislation.