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Aim. This study aims to verify the possibility of developing an International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP) Subset for preterm newborns hospitalized in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Material and methods. This retrospective descriptive study is a lexical cross-mapping from nurses' notes to the ICNP. The study analyzes a convenience sample of 115 newborns' nursing notes of a NICU. The sample included preterm newborns with birth weight under 1500g hospitalized for at least three days. The frequency distribution, and the percentage frequency distribution of ICNP terms, together with ICNP terms for each need of the Italian nursing conceptual model were calculated. Results. As many as 99.8% of nursing phenomena in nurses' notes found correspondence with ICNP terms. A total number of 203 ICNP terms described nursing phenomena, of which 161 belonged to pre-coordinated axes. Frequency of ICNP terms was categorized according to an Italian nursing conceptual model. Need of Nutrition and Hydration, need of Breathing and need of Urinary and Bowel Elimination were the patients' needs with the highest number of ICNP terms. Conclusions. Results of the study suggest the possibility of developing an ICNP Subset for the NICU. Further studies are needed to validate a Subset and new ICNP terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: All over Europe, an increased use of public health services has been noticed, particularly referring to access and hospitalization among elderly in the emergency department (ED). Methods: Prospective study at a university teaching hospital in Turin, northern Italy, recruiting subjects aged >65 years consecutively attending the medical ED during 1 month. Demography, functional and cognitive status, comorbidity, severity of acute critical illness, previous ED accesses and hospitalization, diagnosis and other relevant data for ED admission and hospitalization were considered. Results: Data were collected for 1632 patients (average age 77.6 years), 89% of the 1834 older subjects who attended the ED during the study period (29.3% of the patients attending the ED). Six hundred and fifty older subjects were admitted to the hospital (62.2% of the hospital admissions). Severity of acute critical illness, presence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart failure, a high number of drugs being taken, functional dependence and advanced age were independently associated with hospital admission. One-third of the patients appeared to be frequent users of health services with more than two visits/admissions. Higher comorbidity, partial or complete functional dependence, chronic diseases (arrhythmia, pulmonary neoplasm, diseases of the large intestine) and politherapy were associated either with frequent use of the ED and multiple admissions. Conclusions: Elderly account for a high proportion of hospitalizations, mainly determined by critical health conditions, advanced age and functional dependence. Poor health conditions (high comorbidity and presence of chronic multi-organ diseases), functional dependence but not critical social factors were the main determinants of multiple hospital admissions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]