Exploring the experiences of nurses caring for patients with COVID-19: a qualitative study in Iran

Background The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is now a major public health emergency in the world. Nurses as key members of the COVID-19 patient care team are exposed to most challenges caused by the disease. As exploring the experiences of nurses as patient supporters and caregivers can play an important role in improving the quality of care for patients with COVID-19 disease, the present study explored the experiences of nurses caring for patients with COVID-19. Methods The study employed a qualitative design. This study employed purposive sampling to select 10 nurses with bachelors and master’s degrees in nursing who were taking care of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs or inpatient wards in southern Iran. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The collected data were analyzed using the qualitative content analysis procedure proposed by Graneheim and Lundman. Results The analysis of the data revealed four main themes and ten sub-themes: A) physical, psychological, and social burden of care (excessive workload; fear, anxiety, worry; unpleasant social experiences; compassion fatigue) B) unmet needs (personal needs and professional needs) C) positive experiences (pleasant social experiences and inner satisfaction), and D) strategies (problem-solving strategies and stress symptom mitigation strategies). Conclusions An analysis of the themes and subthemes extracted in this study suggested that the nurses who participated in this study faced many personal and professional challenges. Therefore, health officials and specialists need to pay special attention to nurses’ challenges and needs.

Semiconductors between past and present

There is no doubt that the semiconductor contributed very significantly to changing our world in the long run, which made it very necessary to write this article and shed light on the semiconductor between past and present. Whereas, this article is not intended to teach you semiconductor chemistry and its applications, but it also aims to refresh your memory with everything related to semiconductors from the moment of sunrise to the present day.As known, people need to communicate with each other in order to meet their daily and professional needs. In the past, the communication process was very difficult and sometimes costly until the emergence of what is known as semiconductors, which in turn opened new purview in the world of communications through its entry into the communication devices industry and computers industry and its ability to processing The data, in turn, facilitated and summarized a very long journey on humans in the field of industry. Today, we are on the beginning of a new sun rise of semiconductor, especially after the emergence of the so-called nanotechnology, where semiconductors have been observed a very large role in the development of this technology, not only but have become Part of the integral ones.

Specifying Learners’ Professional Needs in Academic Writing

The article examines the controversial procedure of analyzing the learner’s professional needs. Needs analysis is generally regarded as an invaluable tool for constructing a course syllabus. It might be really informative if the target situation analysis and present situation analysis are combined. Speaking about academic writing teaching for Russian non-academic students at the Bachelor Degree level, one should admit that students have no or limited experience of functioning in an academic area in English. Consequently, their responses to the questionnaires as one of the frequently used methods of target situation analysis are merely assumptions; and the answers could not be taken as objective and valid. The author presents a system of analyzing students’ needs within the framework of Academic Writing course: namely, distinguishes the stages that precede or follow teacher-student talks about their expectations, provides more objective practice of examining learners’ needs, and discusses ways of improving question-answer sessions/ interviews. Needs analysis practice that develops learners’ professional needs involves task-based learning, reflexive activities, and teaching to ask good questions. Bringing into life the analogy between customer development theory in management and needs analysis practice in education, it is possible to work out a fruitful strategy. Conducting needs analysis pertains equally to specifying and developing students’ needs in academic communication.

Reflections on nursing and COVID-19 in light of health education

ABSTRACT Objective: To reflect on the nursing and pandemic of COVID-19 considering health education, health promotion, and the Ottawa Charter action areas. Methods: A theoretical-reflexive study on health education and health promotion concepts and the areas of action presented in the Ottawa Charter. Results: Educational actions are present in the contexts of epidemics and pandemics, as well as in the work of nurses, who need to be increasingly based on dialogue and individual and collective empowerment to enable users to adopt healthy and preventive behaviors - in this case, concerning COVID19. However, this professional needs effective and efficient public policy actions and measures based on scientific assumptions of health promotion. Final considerations: The actions of health education need to be increasingly valued because knowledge can be considered the first “vaccine” to combat any pandemic.

The Challenges of Industrial Engineer Management Skills in Industry 4.0

Industrial engineering and management (IEM) is considered a softer type of engineering. IEM professionals have been slow in implementing many changes that have occurred in production, ranging from mass production to mass customization paradigms embedded in Industry 4.0. This chapter introduces and discusses the role of IEM professionals in dealing with all the changes required for the implementation of these paradigms. This chapter discusses the training of these professionals that demands more applied research, and, at the same time, it seeks to instigate their curiosity and creativity to generate new solutions based on fundamental research. A semi-systematic literature review was used. The results indicate that an IEM professional needs a strong leadership style and ethical sense to lead multidisciplinary teams and should also be a systems, lean, and sustainability thinker, who has the technological, digital, and transversal skills to face the current and future challenges of the successive industrial revolutions.

Pandemic within workplaces. Address the recovery post Covid-19 by training

This paper concerns the effects of the pandemic in the Italian working context. The Covid-19 crisis has forced transformations in working methods, has involved changes of working spaces and times, has generated new social and professional needs and different training demands. The aim is to understand how Covid-19 has changed the way people work and stay at work, exploring the effects of the pandemic in new skills and training needs of adults at work. Through a quantitative approach, an organization in the North-East of Italy is studied as a case study in order to offer theoretical perspectives and practical advice useful to broaden the discussion on the topic. Pandemia e mondo del lavoro: sostenere la ripresa attraverso la formazione. Questo contributo riguarda gli effetti della pandemia nel contesto lavorativo italiano. Il Covid-19 ha imposto trasformazioni nelle modalità lavorative, ha implicato ristrutturazioni degli spazi e dei tempi di lavoro, ha generato nuovi bisogni sociali e professionali e nuove domande formative. L’obiettivo di questo articolo è quello di comprendere come e in che modo il Covid-19 abbia cambiato il modo di fare e di stare al lavoro, facendo emergere nuove competenze e differenti bisogni formativi presso gli adulti al lavoro. Attraverso un approccio di tipo quantitativo, verrà studiato come caso di ricerca una azienda del Nord Est, al fine di offrire prospettive teoriche e indicazioni pratiche utili per una più ampia discussione sul tema.

Relevancy and Effectiveness of In-Service Training with Professional Needs of University Teachers in Curriculum Development and Instruction

The major purpose of the study was to critically analyze the relevancy and effectiveness of the training contents and process of the workshop, to assess the training needs of university teachers in terms of conceptualizing new meaning and scope of curriculum development. The population of the study consisted of thirty-nine teachers from different departments of the Khawaja Fareed University of Engineering and Information Technology Rahim Yar Khan and resource person. Pre and Post tests were developed as a research tool. A pre-test was to be delivered to the trainees for assessing their previous knowledge about curriculum development. At the end of the workshop, a post-test was conducted to evaluate the outcomes of the workshop. Researchers also observed the resource persons’ role, participants’ performance, and instructional material, time management, venue, and refreshment. The collected data through pre-test and post-test was filtered and analyzed critically. In the light of the analysis of the research study, it was found that trainees of the workshop gained enough knowledge about the concepts, models, roles, global trends in the 21st century, principles, and main factors of curriculum development. It was concluded that the workshop was effective and healthy practice for the participants in the perspectives of curriculum development at the university level.

Self-evaluation and observation: A proposal to promote CLIL teacher training at Infant Education

The Bilingual Program of the Community of Madrid (BPCM), Spain, started offering Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), in English, at Primary Education in 2004, at Secondary in 2010, and at Infant Education (3–6-year-old students) in 2017. This approach requires multiskilled practitioners, highly trained in the CLIL methodological principles, to ensure the planning and delivery of effective lessons. However, CLIL teacher training is deficient and needs to be boosted through alternative proposals. This work analyses the potential of a checklist for self-evaluation and observation of CLIL teachers at Infant Education. It is an exploratory research that presents a case study in two Infant Education classrooms in which CLIL is taught by the same teacher. The data collection includes linguistic data collecting techniques such as the checklist for the observer and for the teacher, an observation protocol, transcripts of the interviews, among others. Results from the qualitative analysis of the Infant teacher self-evaluation and the observer showed that a never-ending-teacher-development-awareness to promote teachers to manage their experience adequately was stimulated, and it was likely to open the door to innovation in educational trends (CLIL) in order to offer a solid respond for their professional needs. It also proved to identify the actual CLIL training needs of the Infant teacher and unveiled her thoughts and practice in her bilingual classes. Therefore, it can be concluded that the self-evaluation checklist can be a useful instrument likely to shed some light on the complex phenomenon of in-service CLIL teacher training.

Learn, Engage, and Act to Advance Age Inclusivity in Higher Education

Shifting age demographics are reshaping our social structures with far-reaching implications for higher education. Aging populations mean more older adults are looking to higher education to meet their professional needs and personal interests, and the longevity economy is calling for a trained workforce to provide services to support the health and functioning of individuals as they age. As well, there is a need to improve students’ aging literacy, along with developing synergistic age-friendly campus-community partnerships to address aging issues. How can institutions explore, create, develop, and sustain more age-friendly programs, practices, and partnerships? This presentation will introduce the toolkit specially designed by the GSA-AGHE Workgroup for use by faculty, students, administrators, and other campus leaders, and will provide an overview of the Age-Friendly University (AFU) initiative and its 10 guiding principles for creating more age-inclusive campuses.