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Objective: This study aims to evaluate the roles and tasks of school nurses in the UAE, quantify the time spent on each, and identify areas for improvement in school health services. This aligns with the UAE government's initiative to enhance primary healthcare, focusing on illness prevention and health promotion for children and adolescents., Methods: The research adopts an observational study design, utilizing self-observation through diary recordings by school nurses to collect data on their daily tasks and time allocation. A sample of total of 2024 school nurse activities were recorded and analyzed over 126 days and 1084 h of observation by eight school nurses using self-report diaries. This method allowed for the collection of detailed information on how nursing time is allocated between core and noncore tasks., Results: In this study a total of 2024 tasks were observed over 1084 h. The findings reveal that core nursing tasks accounted for 78% of activities but only 53% of the total 1084 h observed, while non-nursing tasks, making up 22% of activities, disproportionately consumed 47% of the hours. This discrepancy highlights the inefficiency of time allocation, with non-nursing tasks such as administrative duties taking significantly longer than core patient care tasks., Conclusions: The study highlights a significant opportunity to enhance school health services in the UAE by optimizing the allocation of nursing time towards more illness prevention and health promotion interventions. By addressing the identified challenges, including the gaps in nurse competencies and the lack of structured practice frameworks, school health services can be improved., (© 2024 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Aim: This study aimed to clarify if sense of coherence (SOC) could be used as an element of primary-focused health services in schools., Background: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is striving to develop a high-quality, primary-focused health care system. School health care services are well established in the UAE but have not yet been fully used to play a key role in this development., Methods: This is a cross-sectional survey study to explore adolescents' SOC and their behavioural, psychosocial and clinical outcomes., Results: A total of 408 adolescents participated in this study. Compared with others, adolescents with higher SOC had better adherence to treatment, fewer visits to the school nurse, better self-efficacy, fewer hyperactivity problems, fewer emotional problems, more prosocial behaviours and fewer conduct problems., Conclusion: Implementing interventions that improve SOC may support improved well-being among adolescents. The findings also support the use of SOC and salutogenesis as a framework to reinforce primary health care services for this population., Implications for Nursing Management: Health service managers can utilize SOC as a framework to focus service on illness prevention and health promotion, they should collaborate with education authorities to include more health-related topics as part of school curricula to promote students' SOC and, finally, they should assess and build awareness of SOC and associated tools among school nurses and primary health care providers., (© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Aim: The aim of this study is to explore factors contributing to the theory-practice gap in nursing education in the United Arab Emirates., Background: The gap between what is taught in nursing classrooms and what is practised in clinical settings creates challenges for nursing students, practitioners, managers and educators. This has important implications for the United Arab Emirates and other developing countries as their healthcare systems require a permanent nursing taskforce that is well supplied with ready to practice graduates., Methods: A qualitative descriptive approach was used, whereby 25 senior student nurses were interviewed about their perceptions of the theory-practice gap., Results: The major theme that emerged in this study was the 'tripod of clinical practice', with three subthemes: prepared students, aware and supportive preceptors and qualified clinical faculty. The other theme that emerged was 'real life outside the simulated lab', with two subthemes: various and unfamiliar psychomotor skills and communication with real patients., Conclusion: The tripod of clinical practice must be achieved for quality clinical practice. Further, attention should be directed to development of skills (e.g., communicating with real patients) that are difficult to acquire while dealing with simulated patients., Implications for Nursing Management: Nursing students need longer immersion in simulated clinical settings, coupled with experienced clinical faculty and supportive, aware and prepared preceptors., (© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Aim: This study aims to explore the psychological status of nurses working with cancer patients in Jordan., Background: Literature shows that nurses face many stressors in their job, in particular oncology nurses. Some of them have psychiatric illness such as anxiety and depression. Most of the reviewed studies were conducted in developed countries, and none in the Middle East., Method: A qualitative descriptive approach was adopted, whereby interviews were conducted with 24 nurses that were selected from the oncology departments of one governmental hospital., Results: Participants identified coping with death and dying in nursing care and some cultural issues (that they encountered) as the main factors that influence their psychological well-being, which in turn may have contributed to a reduced quality of care for patients., Conclusion: Findings indicated that the working environment within oncology is highly stressful, which might negatively affect the nurses' job satisfaction and the quality of care that they provided., Implications for Nursing Management: Findings of this study could help health care managers to understand the impact of psychological stressors on nurses' performance, and the importance of improving the psychological status of oncology nurses., (© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Aim and Objectives: To illustrate the Palestinian community's views, opinions and stances about the concept of do-not-resuscitate for terminally ill patients., Background: Do-not-resuscitate orders are practised in many countries worldwide, but there is no consensus on their practice in the Middle East. Do-not-resuscitate orders may be applied for terminally ill paediatric patients. Some studies have been conducted describing people's experiences with these do-not-resuscitate orders. However, few studies have considered community perspectives on do-not-resuscitate orders for terminally ill patients in Palestine., Design: A descriptive-qualitative design was adopted., Methods: A purposive sample of 24 participants was interviewed, with consideration of demographical characteristics such as age, gender, education and place of residency. The participants were recruited over a period of 6 months. Individual semistructured interviews were utilised. These interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis., Findings: Significantly, the majority of the participants did not know the meaning of do-not-resuscitate and thought that removal of life-sustaining devices and do-not-resuscitate were the same concept. Most of the interviewees adopted stances against do-not-resuscitate orders. Several factors were suggested to influence the decision of accepting or rejecting the do-not-resuscitate order. The majority of the participants mentioned religion as a major factor in forming their viewpoints. The participants expressed different views regarding issuing a law regarding do-not-resuscitate orders., Conclusion: Our findings provide a unique understanding that there is a general misunderstanding among our participants regarding the do-not-resuscitate order. Further research with policymakers and stakeholders is still required., (© 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Aims and Objectives: To deepen our understanding of the perceptions of health professionals regarding family witnessed resuscitation in Jordanian adult critical care settings., Background: The issue of family witnessed resuscitation has developed dramatically in the last three decades. The traditional practice of excluding family members during cardiopulmonary resuscitation had been questioned. Family witnessed resuscitation has been described as good practice by many researchers and health organisations. However, family witnessed resuscitation has been perceived by some practitioners to be unhealthy and harmful to the life-saving process. The literature showed that there are no policies or guidelines to allow or to prevent family witnessed resuscitation in Jordan., Design: An exploratory qualitative design was adopted., Methods: A purposive sample of 31 health professionals from several disciplines was recruited over a period of six months. Individual semi-structured interviews were used. These interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis., Findings: It was found that most healthcare professionals were against family witnessed resuscitation. They raised several concerns related to being verbally and physically attacked if they allowed family witnessed resuscitation. Almost all of the respondents expressed their fears of patients' family members' interfering in their work. Most of the participants in this study stated that family witnessed resuscitation is traumatic for family members. This was viewed as a barrier to allowing family witnessed resuscitation in Jordanian critical care settings., Conclusion: The study provides a unique understanding of Jordanian health professionals' perceptions regarding family witnessed resuscitation. They raised some views that contest some arguments in the broader literature. Further research with patients, family members, health professionals and policy makers is still required., Relevance to Clinical Practice: This is the first study about family witnessed resuscitation in Jordan. Considering multi-disciplinary healthcare professionals' views would be helpful when starting to implement this practice in Jordanian hospitals., (© 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)