To examine triggers, responses, and outcomes for patient-related violence and/or aggression events during acute hospitalisation.
This was a descriptive observational study undertaken at two healthcare organisations.
Pre-existing data were extracted from organisational incident reports and individual medical records during a retrospective period (1/1/2023 to 30/6/2023) and a prospective period (7/6/2024 to 16/11/2024). Violence and/or aggression events requiring an organisational response that involved patients hospitalised in general ward areas at a metropolitan (Site A) and a regional (Site B) site were included. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and content analysis.
The sample included 100 retrospective cases and 42 prospective cases. The most prevalent causes for hospitalisation related to a medical or mental health condition and dementia. Confusion and irritability were the most common forms of behaviour of concern prior to the event. Physical restraint was utilised more frequently in the prospective period compared with the retrospective period. Chemical restraint was used in approximately half of the cases in both study periods. A form of physical violence was the most prevalent behavioural symptom in both periods, followed by verbal aggression and inability to be re-directed.
Patients with a pre-existing medical condition, confusion and/or dementia are frequently involved in violent and/or aggressive events in ward settings. Physical and chemical restraints are commonly used to manage violence and aggression.
Alternative strategies are needed to manage occupational violence and aggression to minimise the need for physical and/or chemical restraint.
This study addresses a gap in evidence regarding triggers, responses and outcomes for patients exhibiting violence and aggression in ward settings during hospitalisation. Patients with dementia, confusion and irritability frequently exhibit behaviours of concern, exposing healthcare workers to potential physical and psychological harm.
STROBE checklist.
This study did not include patient or public involvement in its design, conduct, or reporting.
To explore the views of healthcare practitioners in Britain regarding the role of midwives and nurses in the delivery of medical and surgical abortion.
An observational study of the Shaping Abortion for Change study healthcare practitioner survey (2021–2022).
Relationships between healthcare practitioner type, participant characteristics, knowledge of and attitudes towards abortion, and views about nurses' and midwives' role in abortion care were examined using Pearson's Chi-squared tests of association and multivariable logistic regression.
Amongst 763 participants including doctors, nurses, midwives and pharmacists, 71.6% supported specialist nurses in sexual and reproductive health and abortion clinics and hospitals, expanding their roles to include prescribing abortion medications and surgical abortion methods. Support was lower for midwives (35.8%) and primary care nurses (32.5%). There was considerable support for all nursing and midwifery groups to be involved in adjacent tasks of abortion care. Differences in support by healthcare practitioner type persisted after adjustment for exposure variables.
There is strong support for specialist nurses to expand their role in abortion care. This change could be implemented following clarification of the legal position. Some healthcare practitioner groups are more reluctant to support broader involvement of nurses and midwives in abortion provision.
Expanding specialist nurses' role in abortion care could increase service capacity and improve patient access and experience. Understanding and addressing the concerns of healthcare practitioners opposing this change is critical for successful implementation and patient safety.
This study addresses the potential for nurse and midwife role expansion in abortion care. The findings highlight broad support for specialist nurses whilst identifying barriers to wider role expansion. The research informs policy discussions on workforce optimisation and access to abortion services across Britain.
This study adheres to the STROBE guidelines for reporting observational studies.
In the SACHA study, patient and public involvement was included at all stages to inform study design, recruitment, data collection and analysis.
Doctoral research in nursing is central to advancing scientific knowledge, strengthening professional identity, and informing evidence-based practice, education, and health policy. Analyzing the thematic content of doctoral theses offers insight into research priorities and national variations in nursing scholarship. Yet, no systematic cross-country analysis has examined the thematic focus of such work.
To explore and describe the diversity and scope of doctoral nursing research themes across eight countries in the Sigma Europe Region, identifying key areas of scholarly focus and shared priorities.
A document-based qualitative study using reflexive thematic analysis, as outlined by Braun and Clarke, to examine patterns of meaning within thesis summaries.
The study included doctoral nursing thesis summaries defended between January 2020 and December 2023, sourced from national and institutional repositories in eight countries of the Sigma Europe Region. A total of 15 repositories (4 national, 11 institutional) were systematically searched, and additional summaries were obtained via direct contact with universities offering doctoral nursing programmes.
Data were collected between September 2024 and February 2025 using predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. In total, 431 eligible thesis summaries were analyzed following Braun and Clarke's six-phase framework, supported by MAXQDA software for data management and coding.
Thematic analysis identified three overarching domains: (1) foundations of nursing practice and care philosophy, (2) systemic and organizational dimensions of nursing, and (3) clinical innovation and public health impact. Ten interrelated themes emerged, including holistic and patient-centred care; emotional, psychological, and quality-of-life dimensions; communication in healthcare; workforce challenges; transforming nursing practice; maternal, neonatal and pediatric health; digital and virtual health innovations; public health and chronic disease management; and disease management, caregiving, and outcomes. Cross-cutting elements such as cultural sensitivity and resilience spanned multiple themes.
This cross-national synthesis demonstrates the breadth and depth of doctoral nursing research in the Sigma Europe Region. Findings highlight nursing's pivotal role in addressing healthcare needs through innovative, person-centred, and evidence-informed solutions, and underscore the value of international collaboration in shaping resilient, equitable, and future-ready healthcare systems.
To explore the views of health care professionals involved in initiatives that have led to successful research-related roles for nurses and midwives working in community settings.
A sequential mixed-methods study.
Between December 2022 and January 2023 a survey was completed by health care professionals with relevant experience of successful research-related initiatives for nurses and midwives in community settings. Survey responses were categorised into low, medium or high-priority examples of productive practice. Nineteen of the twenty responders who provided high-priority examples were interviewed between May and July 2023. The research capacity development for impact framework underpinned data collection and analysis. Data were thematically analysed using the framework method.
The seven themes of the research capacity development for impact framework: leadership and sustainability, skills and confidence building, infrastructures, linkages and collaborations, ownership and responsibilities, actionable dissemination and co-production were identified as important features of successful research-related roles in community settings. A new cross-cutting theme of trust and relationships was generated. The initiation, continued growth and ambition continuum guided the development of the planning change and features of success template.
This study highlighted the key features that matter when planning change and developing research-related roles for nurses and midwives in community settings.
Study findings have the potential to inform policy and practice for organisations focused on developing research capacity and capability in community settings.
This study adhered to the COREQ reporting guidelines.
No patient or public involvement.
To critically examine the safety, sustainability and ethical dimensions of recruiting internationally qualified nurses to Australia. A Global Justice Framework focusing on the political ethics of care is applied to the complexity and practical application of issues raised by the urgent nursing workforce needs in the health and aged care sectors.
A discursive paper based on a critical reading of the literature.
Based broadly on a narrative review, this paper provides a critical analysis of relevant literature identified through CINAHL and PubMed databases. These included peer-reviewed articles, government reports, international guidelines and policy documents. Key issues identified included patient safety, sustainability and ethical considerations pertaining to international nurse migration.
Australia has rigorous standards for assessing the professional competency of Internationally Qualified Registered Nurses to ensure safety. Challenges persist, however, regarding professional integration, retention and adherence to ethical recruitment practices. While nurse migration alleviates workforce shortages in Australia, it exacerbates healthcare deficits in source countries facing critical shortages. Sustainability concerns include ensuring long-term workforce stability and maintaining high-quality care standards. Bilateral agreements must consider the needs of both source and host countries.
Addressing Australia's nursing workforce shortages requires ethical and sustainable recruitment strategies. Workforce demands must be balanced to ensure global health equity while upholding public safety and professional standards for all countries.
Ethical recruitment practices are essential for developing policies and practices that support internationally qualified nurses' professional integration and retention. Establishing robust support systems enables these nurses to adapt effectively to Australian healthcare settings. Strengthening retention strategies fosters workforce stability, minimises attrition and may contribute towards consistent delivery of high-quality and safe patient care.
The feature cover image is based on the article Intent to treat analysis of the Primary and Secondary Outcomes for the XXX intact fish skin graft for deep diabetic foot wounds trial by John Lantis et al., https://doi.org/10.1111/iwj.70847.
The feature cover image is based on the article Intent to treat analysis of the Primary and Secondary Outcomes for the XXX intact fish skin graft for deep diabetic foot wounds trial by John Lantis et al., https://doi.org/10.1111/iwj.70847.
Newborn bloodspot screening (NBS) is freely and universally available to babies born in Australia, with nearly 300 000 newborns screened each year. The NBS programme screens for approximately 30 conditions; however, there are hundreds of childhood conditions that could be treated if identified earlier and asymptomatically. Contemporary screening platforms have relied on mass spectrometry-based technologies, limiting surveillance to conditions with validated biomarkers detectable within the neonatal period. Advancements in metabolic techniques and genomics have expanded the range of conditions that could be detected. The NewbornsInSA research study will develop, validate and evaluate a novel multi-omic model of newborn screening, integrating metabolomic and genomic newborn screening as complementary methodologies.
Parents can opt in to additional NBS through NewbornsInSA during pregnancy or shortly after birth. One thousand prospectively recruited families will be offered genomic NBS by whole-genome sequencing, including analysis of a virtual gene panel of over 600 genes, and concurrent metabolomic screening. Clinically actionable pathogenic or likely pathogenic genetic variants will be reported to parents and whole genome sequencing data will be available on request for diagnostic reanalysis, if required later in life.
Acceptability of the NewbornsInSA programme will be evaluated through stakeholder engagement activities with healthcare professionals, members of the public and patient advocacy groups. Family experiences will be assessed using online surveys. The diagnostic yield, accuracy and the costs and consequences of the multi-omic NBS model will be assessed by comparison to standard-of-care NBS.
NewbornsInSA will investigate the acceptability, feasibility and cost-effectiveness of a multi-omic newborn screening model in a prospectively recruited South Australian population. We hypothesise that this approach will increase the number of conditions identified, reduce the time to diagnosis and facilitate earlier care with better outcomes for newborns with genetic conditions.
This research study has been ethically approved by the Women’s and Children’s Health Network Human Research Ethics Committee (2022/HRE00258 and 2023/HRE00236). Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publication and conferences.
Effective communication is essential between health professionals during surgical procedures for delivery of safe patient care. The influence of noise on communication during critical moments of surgery and on communication failures is unclear.
To examine communication events among health professionals in the operating room and investigate the influence of noise on communication.
Non-participatory observations were undertaken of communication between health professionals during surgical procedures while simultaneously measuring sound pressure levels. Audio visual recording was used to document communication events, ensuring data accuracy. A generalised linear mixed model was used to examine relationships between various explanatory variables and the presence of at least one communication failure. The STROBE checklist guided the reporting of this paper.
A representative range of procedures was observed from diverse surgical specialties (N = 80). Observations comprised 2274 communication events; communication failures were observed in 24% and repeated communication was observed in 25% of all communication events. The mean maximum sound pressure levels were 64.9 dB[A] for communication events, 64.5 dB[A] for communication failures and 65.5 dB[A] for repeats. The type of surgical procedure, the emergence from anaesthesia compared to other phases of surgery, communication related to the surgical safety checklist, communication related to the surgical count, the presence of multitasking, and the use of surgical facemasks, were associated with the presence of at least one communication failure.
This research identified the inherent risks and occurrence of communication failure in noisy operating room environments where health professionals are undertaking complex cognitive tasks and where effective communication is essential to ensure patient safety.
This study did not include patient or public involvement in its design, conduct, or reporting.
There is a significant need for trials that evaluate the treatment of University of Texas (UT) grade 2 and 3 diabetic foot ulcers (bone, joint, or tendon exposed wounds). We undertook a trial looking at the effect of intact fish skin graft (IFSG) on these deep and difficult-to-heal ulcers. 262 patients Intent to Treat (ITT) patients with UT grade 2 and 3 DFUs were randomised to receive intact fish skin graft (IFSG) or a standardised treatment (SOC) that adhered to the International Working Group on the Diabetic Foot (IWGDF) guidelines. The secondary endpoints that were measured included wound area reduction (WAR), healing rates at 20 and 24 weeks; closure rates by UT grade, perfusion, quality of life, pain reduction and IFSG safety. We report ITT (all randomised) (mITT previosly reported) The (WAR) at 12 weeks was 65.53% for IFSG versus 30.82% for SOC (p = 0.007). UT 2 wounds (60% of total) exhibited a closure rate of 47% versus 23% at 16 weeks for IFSG versus SOC (p = 0.0033). Target wound infections were comparable (39 vs. 37) and major outcomes were comparable during the 24 week period (target-limb amputations 8% vs. 7%). Time-to-heal favoured IFSG (restricted mean to 24 weeks 17.31 vs. 19.37 weeks; KM/log-rank significant; Cox HR 1.59). The in the treatment of deep complex diabetic foot wounds the addition of IFSG significantly improved the number of patients with total wound closure as well as the time to wound closure without increased risk of complications. This improvement in total wound closure and time to wound closure was noted across prior amputation status, quality of perfusion, and UT grade.
To identify and synthesise existing evidence on family-centred care for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and other diverse identities (LGBTQ+) people in acute hospital settings, including hospital-based palliative care, oncology, general in-patient and intensive care.
A scoping review guided by the JBI methodology.
Nine databases and grey literature sources were searched. Inclusion criteria focused on LGBTQ+ adults and family-related care experiences in hospital-based acute settings. After screening, qualitative, quantitative, and narrative data were extracted. Thematic analysis synthesised findings, with quantitative data narratively integrated.
Searches were conducted across nine databases and grey literature up to April 2025.
Five studies met inclusion criteria: three qualitative, one quantitative, and one reflective narrative. Four themes emerged: (1) invisibility and disclosure dilemmas, (2) exclusion of chosen families from visiting and decision-making, (3) barriers to inclusive communication and provider competence, and (4) enabling conditions for affirming care. Challenges occurred at interpersonal (e.g., provider assumptions, discomfort) and structural (e.g., lack of inclusive protocols, failure to recognise legal surrogates) levels. In the two studies reporting gender identity, transgender participants described heightened misrecognition and exclusion.
LGBTQ+ individuals and their chosen families face relational and structural barriers in acute hospital care. Inclusive interventions, protocols, and training are urgently needed to ensure affirming care.
Acute and intensive care providers should promote inclusive family engagement by using patient-preferred terminology, recognising chosen families, and advocating for inclusive policies and staff training.
This scoping review adhered to PRISMA-ScR guidelines.
No Patient or Public Contribution.
Registered with the Open Science Framework: 10.17605/OSF.IO/FSU8D (23/02/2025)
To investigate the effects of organisational interventions on the incidence, healing and management of pressure injuries in adult patients in acute hospital settings.
Systematic review.
The review included adult patients at risk of or with pre-existing pressure injuries in acute hospital settings, excluding mental health units, emergency departments or operating theatres. Interventions employed in the included studies were categorised using the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care taxonomy.
Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, EBSCO CINAHL Complete and Web of Science Core Collection were searched from 01 January 2012 to 31 December 2023.
Of 8861 records identified, 7 prevention studies met the inclusion criteria. Six studies reported reductions in pressure injury incidence. Included studies employed various combinations of 14 organisational strategies to enhance practices. Educational interventions were utilised in six studies, including educational meetings, materials and outreach visits. Other common strategies included audit and feedback, communities of practice and continuous quality improvement. The interventions targeted patients and clinicians, primarily nurses, with some involving multidisciplinary teams. The focus was on enhancing healthcare practices through systematic approaches and stakeholder engagement.
Organisational strategies targeting both patients and clinicians as part of an intervention bundle may enhance the prevention of pressure injuries in acute hospital settings. Further, high-quality effectiveness–implementation hybrid trials are required to evaluate these strategies.
Organisational factors influence clinicians' ability to implement evidence-based practices. The effectiveness of specific organisational strategies in acute settings is uncertain. Multiple organisational strategies targeting patients and clinicians may improve the implementability of a pressure injury prevention intervention.
This study adhered to PRISMA guidelines.
Neither patients nor the public were directly involved in this study.
Surgical site infections (SSI) in vascular surgery have a huge impact on patients’ morbidity and mortality and healthcare systems worldwide. Dialkylcarbamoylchoride (DACC) is a synthetically produced material that can irreversibly bind and inactivate bacteria that exhibit cell-surface hydrophobicity (CSH). The DACC in the Reduction of Surgical Site Infection (DRESSINg) trial is a multicentre randomised controlled trial which aims to assess the effectiveness of DACC-coated post-operative dressings in the prevention of SSI in vascular surgery. Seven hundred and eighteen participants undergoing clean or clean-contaminated lower limb vascular surgery will be randomised in a 1:1 ratio to either DACC-coated dressings or standard dressings for their postoperative wounds. The primary outcome is the incidence of SSI defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) criteria or total ASEPSIS score of 21 or more within 30 days of surgery. The secondary outcomes include satisfactory wound healing with a total ASEPSIS score of 10 or less, quality of life pre and post surgery, Bluebelle wound healing scores, resource use and financial (£), and environmental (KgCO2e) cost analyses. This multicentre randomised controlled trial will provide level 1 evidence on the effectiveness of preventing SSI in lower limb vascular surgery.
Using advanced forms of medical technology such as extracorporeal organ support to take over organ function in the face of critical illness is a manifestation of the technological expertise to support and prolong life. However, clinician focus on the technical aspects of extracorporeal organ support both in research and clinical practice has the tendency to relegate to the background and disregard multiple, non-technical components such as the meanings, interactions, and experiences of nurses, families and other healthcare professionals.
To understand how experiences and social interactions of critically ill children, families, and healthcare professionals are influenced by the use of extracorporeal organ support.
Hermeneutic review of the literature.
CINAHL, PubMed and Web of Science followed by cross-citations and snowballing.
A total of 24 studies were included in the review, representing four conceptual streams, namely (1) extracorporeal organ support as a biomedical intervention, (2) relationality concerning extracorporeal organ support, (3) performativity in using extracorporeal organ support and (4) the agential role of extracorporeal organ support.
The hermeneutic framework helped foreground perspectives demonstrating that extracorporeal organ support is not merely a piece of medical technology, but is an active fulcrum upon which human and material elements revolve, interact, and integrate to form multiple assemblages that can influence how the huge volume of nurse work can be reframed beyond the perpetuation of the patient-machine connection and affect the ways by which patients and families are cared for.
Understanding extracorporeal organ support as more than a medical device can enable nurses to develop informed plans of care and advocate for the interests of the family and that of the critically ill child who remains a passive recipient of care in an intensive care bed.
No patient or public contribution.
To explore and map the landscape of doctoral nursing research across eight countries.
A scoping review.
This review followed the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for scoping reviews and included doctoral theses in nursing defended between 2020 and 2023 in Austria, Italy, Israel, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and the United Kingdom.
Searches were conducted across 15 national and university repositories (4 national, 11 university) in the eight participating countries.
This review included 431 doctoral nursing theses, the majority of which employed quantitative methodologies and focused on patient populations and healthcare professionals. Key topics included clinical nursing care, quality of care, quality of life, home care, perinatal care and the work environments.
Nursing doctoral research shows progress in healthcare delivery, patient care and education via digital tools, holistic approaches and professional development. Yet gaps persist in mental health, paediatrics and marginalised groups. Limited qualitative/mixed-methods research and weak interdisciplinary collaboration reveal further opportunities.
This review underscores that nursing doctoral research is addressing major healthcare and professional challenges. Nonetheless, the identified gaps emphasise the need for more comprehensive and inclusive research to enhance equity and guide future nursing practices and policies.
This review provides an overview of the scope of doctoral nursing research across eight countries, identifying key trends and research gaps. The findings are expected to inform nursing academia, policymakers, and healthcare professionals by guiding future research priorities, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, and promoting equitable, patient-centred care practices.
No direct involvement in data collection; one lay reviewer gave feedback on readability and practice implications, informing minor refinements.
To explore community nurses' experiences of changes to their roles in palliative and end-of-life care.
An e-survey was followed by focus groups.
Fifty-one community nurses with recent experience of delivering end-of-life care in the United Kingdom completed a survey about changes to their roles. A purposive sample of 35 respondents participated in focus groups exploring these changes in more depth; thematic analysis was used with constant comparison.
As well as two new roles—prescribing and verifying death—many participants talked about a broader expansion of their role, increasing their leadership in making complex end-of-life care decisions with patients and families. Most nurses expressed pride in their new knowledge and skills, and satisfaction with the care they were providing. Yet many also expressed distress that heavy workloads impaired their capacity both to provide good clinical care and to train junior colleagues. The importance of General Practitioner support with complex cases was often highlighted, but accessing such support was sometimes difficult.
While welcoming the opportunity to extend their palliative care roles, many participants indicated experiencing moral distress.
Excessive workloads and patchy medical support threaten the retention of the experienced nurses upon whom community palliative care depends.
Our findings suggest that new and extended palliative care roles are viewed positively by nurses. To be sustainable, these changes require better workload management and consistent medical back-up.
We adhered to relevant EQUATOR guidelines, using the SRQR checklist.
Our Public and Clinician Advisory Group helped shape questions and commented on findings.
To synthesise and critically analyse existing reviews of evidence on mentorship in nursing and midwifery, providing a comprehensive overview of current knowledge.
A scoping meta-review.
The review was conducted using the scoping meta-review framework outlined by Sarrami-Foroushani et al. (2015), alongside the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines to ensure rigour and transparency. The following steps were included: (i) defining the problem, (ii) literature search and criteria, (iii) study selection and data extraction, (iv) data synthesis, (v) presentation of results and (vi) interpretation and recommendations.
A comprehensive search strategy was designed, utilising Boolean operators, truncation and predefined keywords across seven databases including MEDLINE, CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO, Epistemonikos, ERIC and Google Scholar.
Following double-blind screening of 269 papers, 14 literature reviews were included. The findings provided a detailed overview of mentorship programme types (formal and informal), outcome measures used to evaluate mentorship effectiveness and recommendations for future programmes. Identified themes included skill development, job satisfaction, career progression and retention outcomes, together with challenges including time constraints and balancing clinical responsibilities with mentorship roles. Formal mentorship programmes that are adequately supported and integrated into the organisational culture can improve healthcare systems, workforce stability and patient outcomes. Informal mentorship continues to offer valuable, flexible support, particularly when used alongside formal structures. Implementation challenges exist, such as time constraints, limited organisational support, and mismatched mentor-mentee pairings.
This review highlights the critical role of mentorship in nursing and midwifery, offering insights into effective practices, challenges and potential areas for further research. The findings suggest that formal, structured mentorship programmes produce consistent benefits, including enhanced clinical skills, confidence and satisfaction among mentees, as well as leadership development and professional fulfilment for mentors, while positively impacting organisational efficiency and patient outcomes. Successful mentorship programmes require organisational commitment, with protected time, resources, and ongoing mentor training.
Mentorship programmes in nursing and midwifery enhance professional development, job satisfaction, and retention, enabling a stable healthcare workforce. Mentorship for mentors and mentees is linked to increased confidence, competency and readiness for advanced roles among nurses and midwives. Fostering mentorship in healthcare can lead to improved quality and continuity of care as mentees grow into more competent and confident practitioners.
Formal mentorship programmes that are adequately supported and integrated into the organisational culture can improve healthcare systems, workforce stability and patient outcomes. Policymakers responsible for healthcare workforce development can use these findings to advocate for mentorship as a strategic investment, potentially influencing policies related to nurse retention, professional development and funding allocations for mentorship initiatives. Structured mentorship improves job satisfaction, reduces turnover and fosters professional growth, thus reducing costs associated with recruitment and training.
The findings are reported in line with the PRISMA guidelines (Page et al., 2021) and through a narrative synthesis, summarising and analysing the results of various reviews to present a cohesive understanding of mentorship practices in nursing and midwifery. This method allowed for the integration of qualitative and quantitative findings and the identification of common themes and patterns across studies.
Patients or members of the public did not directly contribute to this review. However, by focusing on mentorship practices that support nurses and midwives, the study indirectly addresses public interests, as improved mentoring contributes to the quality of patient care. Future studies could benefit from patient or public feedback on desired qualities in care providers, further informing the development of mentorship programmes aligned with patient-centred care outcomes.
A lack of murine models that mimic impaired wound healing in people with type 2 diabetes has hindered research. The commonly used leptin-receptor knockout model (db/db) fails to accurately reflect the pathophysiology of human disease. This study aimed: (i) to investigate whether our novel murine model of diabetes, whilst less hyperglycaemic and obese than db/dbs, effectively demonstrated impaired wound healing, and (ii) to identify the most robust methods for quantifying wound closure. C57BL/6J mice were high-fat diet fed for a total of 11 weeks and injected with three doses of streptozotocin (65 mg/kg body weight) at week 5 with chow-fed mice as controls. All mice received four excisional wounds and were euthanised at day-4 or day-10 post-wounding (n = 8/group/timepoint). Wound healing was evaluated by digital planimetry, histology, Micro-CT, and tensiometry. Histological analysis was the most sensitive method for identifying impaired wound healing. Our high-fat diet/low-dose streptozotocin model had significantly higher non-fasting blood glucose (25.7 ± 5.4 mmol/L vs. 8.7 ± 0.8 mmol/L) and lower wound quality scores (day-4 post-wounding: 2.6 ± 1.9 vs. 4.4 ± 0.8) than healthy controls (both p < 0.05). At day-10 post-wounding, a linear trend in wound healing was observed between healthy controls, our novel model and the db/db model, indicating that our diabetic murine model may be clinically relevant for studying diabetes-related wound healing.
To examine factors influencing emergency nurse turnover and retention pre- and post-COVID-19 and inform planned Participatory Systems Mapping research.
A scoping review of the literature reporting reasons emergency nurses leave, intend to leave or stay.
Following the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology and a pre-registered protocol, databases and grey literature were systematically searched in January 2025 (updated August 2025). Literature published after 1st January 2010, was included. Two reviewers independently screened records, and 10% of extractions were cross-checked. Data were grouped thematically on a visual coding system using the Miro platform. Pre- and post-COVID-19 sources were categorised and analysed using a two-dimensional framework of intensity and frequency.
MedLine, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Cochrane and grey literature.
Ninety-three sources were included. Burnout, workload, staffing and workplace violence (WPV) were linked across study designs to turnover, while job satisfaction, supportive leadership and team cohesion appeared to support retention. Problem-focused and resilience-based coping were associated with retention across study designs (n = 5); emotion-focused strategies were linked with poorer outcomes (n = 3). In a subset of 86 sources, traditional protective factors (leadership support and team camaraderie) appeared weakened post-COVID-19. A novel theme of moral obligation to remain, despite personal risk, emerged. Adaptive coping gave way to downshifting and emotional suppression.
The included evidence indicates that multiple, interacting factors shape emergency nurse turnover and retention, whilst systemic strategies aligning operational demands with psychological safety and core nursing values may contribute to sustainable retention.
Workforce interventions should address the psychological legacy of COVID-19 and focus on rebuilding trust, flexibility and moral sustainability in emergency departments.
While individual drivers of turnover are known, their complex interplay and retention factors are underexplored. This review identifies themes transcending boundaries and recurring across the turnover pathway, underscoring the need for multi-level interventions relevant to both nurse managers and policy makers.
Reporting follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines (PRISMA-ScR).
This study did not include patient or public involvement in its design, conduct or reporting.
There is an unmet clinical need for the development of novel treatment strategies to improve the outcome of children with frequent relapsing or steroid-dependent nephrotic syndrome. Obinutuzumab (OBI) is a second-generation anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody that has demonstrated its superiority to rituximab (RTX) in vitro and in vivo. Our assumption is that a single infusion of low-dose OBI will induce longer B-cell depletion, longer sustained remission and reduce the frequency of relapses and the use of oral immunosuppressors compared with a single infusion of RTX.
We conduct a double-blind, multicentre, randomised, parallel group in a 1:1 ratio controlled trial. In the experimental group, patients receive 1 infusion of OBI (300 mg/1.73 m2) and in the control group, the patients receive 1 infusion of RTX (375 mg/m2). The primary outcome of the study is the occurrence of the first relapse within 12 months following the initiation of treatment and secondary outcomes include the time to first relapse, the total number of relapses during the 24-month follow-up period, and any adverse events such as infusion-related complications, infectious complications, hypogammaglobulinaemia and neutropenia.
The study has been approved by the ethics committee (Comité de Protection des Personnes) of Sud Méditerrannée 2 and authorised by the French drug regulatory agency (Agence Nationale de Sécurité du Médicament et des Produits de Santé). Results of the primary study and the secondary aims will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications.
2022-003336-59.