Assessment of The Nurse Interns' Medication Administration Safety Performance

Contents: Medication administration is an integral part of delivering quality nursing care. The nurse intern should follow the specific guidelines to enhance their medication administration safety. Aim: The study aims to assess the nurse intern's medication administration safety performance. Methods: The study conducted at Ain Shams University Hospitals using the descriptive design on 90 nurse interns by using three tools, namely, medication administration knowledge questionnaire, the observational checklist for nurse interns' safety performance, and Medication Administration safety Attitude Rating Scale. Results: Findings of the study revealed that the minority of nurse interns (4.3%) had satisfactory total knowledge, 39% had adequate total practice, and around two-thirds of them (62.6%) had a positive attitude. Conclusion: It is concluding that the nurse interns had unsatisfactory knowledge of medication administration safety, and their related practices are mostly inadequate, although the attitude tends to be high. The study recommended that nurse internship programs should emphasize medication administration safety knowledge and practice with more focus on identified gaps and deficiencies. Further research is proposed to assess the effect of training strategies on the nurse intern's medication administration safety.

Rendimiento escolar y actitudes personales y de responsabilidad social en el alumnado preadolescente

This study focuses on the analysis of the differences observed between students with different levels of academic performance in their social attitudes and personal responsibility towards study, according to various theories and models. Participants were 235 students from the third cycle of Primary Education (10-12 years old). They completed two attitude rating scales: (a) <em>Assessment Scale of Social Responsibility Attitudes of Primary School Pupils </em>(EARSA-P, Monsalvo, 2012b), consisting of 23 items grouped into six factors (obedience in the family, polite and accepting their mistakes, trust in their parents, responsible in school setting, friendly and willing to help and careful of their environment); and (b) <em>Assessment Scale of General Attitudes towards Study E-1 </em>(Morales, 2006), which consists of 15 items grouped into five dimensions (high aspirations, enjoyment of study, study organization, efforts to understand and desire to continue learning). We compared the levels of social responsibility and attitudes toward study according to the level of academic achievement, finding significant group differences in attitudes toward study and responsibility in terms of academic achievement.

Minimizing Method-Specific Variance in the IAT

The present paper introduces a new variant of the Implicit Association Test (IAT; Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998 ) called the Single Block IAT (SB-IAT). By eliminating the IAT’s block structure, the SB-IAT is argued to solve the structural problem of recoding in the IAT and accordingly, its contamination by method-specific variance. In Study 1, a flower-insect SB-IAT, a task-switching ability SB-IAT, and a geometry SB-IAT showed reduced, but still significant effects. Zero correlations between the three SB-IATs indicated a substantially reduced amount of method-specific variance. Study 2 examined the SB-IAT’s psychometric properties. A political attitude SB-IAT showed acceptable reliability, discriminated between liberal and conservative voters, and correlated with the corresponding attitude rating in the same magnitude as the standard IAT. Results indicate that the SB-IAT minimizes method-specific variance while retaining the IAT’s satisfying psychometric properties. The discussion focuses on potentials and constraints of this newly developed measure.

An Evaluation of Staff Attitudes towards the Sexual Activity of People with Learning Disabilities

This article presents part of a study which aimed to evaluate staff attitudes towards the sexual activity of people with learning disabilities. The need for such a study is clarified, drawing upon the development of societal attitude change, normalisation and community care. Previous research in this area is reviewed and the potential change in hospital policy at the research site, which is a medium secure unit, is considered. The first part of the research is presented, which involved 69 questionnaires containing a 20-item attitude rating scale and open and closed questions being sent to both clinical and non-clinical staff. The data from the 46 (67%) returned questionnaires are analysed. Although some conservative attitudes remain, the results highlight a liberal trend in attitudes. Many staff identified a need to change hospital policy, provide more staff training and improve condom availability. Methodological issues are also discussed.

Word Position in Unipolar Semantic Stapel Scales

This study examined the effects of adjective placement on Stapel Scale values. Results for 63 college students showed that the attitude-rating values generated by three different word positions did not differ significantly.

Single-Anchor Stapel Scales versus Double-Anchor Semantic Differential Scales

The present study examined the comparability of attitude-rating values generated by 72 single-anchor semantic scales (the Stapel Scale) and 12 double-anchor semantic scales (the Semantic Differential). Results showed that the attitude-rating values generated by the two scales did not differ.