Background Experiencing the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic, high vaccination coverage by a safe and effective vaccine globally would be a great achievement. Acceptance of vaccination by nursing students is an important issue as they play a decisive role as future professionals in educating patients, counselling, and guiding them to the right clinical decision. Objectives To explore the intention of nursing students to get vaccinated for SARS-CoV-2 infection and the factors acting either as motivators or as barriers towards vaccination. Design A multicenter cross-sectional design. Participants In total 2249 undergraduate nursing students participated. Methods The study was conducted in 7 universities in participating countries (Greece, Albania, Cyprus, Spain, Italy, Czech Republic, and Kosovo) through a web survey. Data was collected during December 2020–January 2021 in all countries. Results Forty three point 8% of students agreed to accept a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine, while the acceptance was higher among Italian students. The factors for intention to get vaccinated were male gender (p = 0.008), no working experience in healthcare facilities during the pandemic (p = 0.001), vaccination for influenza in 2019 and 2020 (p < 0.001), trust in doctors (p < 0.001), governments and experts (p = 0.012), high level of knowledge (p < 0.001) and fear of COVID-19 (p < 0.001). Conclusions Understanding of factors that influence students' decision to accept COVID-19 vaccination could increase the acceptance rate contributing to a management of the pandemic.

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Aims and Objectives:To investigate nurses' intention in accepting COVID-19 vaccination and the factors affecting their decision.Background: COVID-19 vaccination has started in most European countries with healthcare personnel being the first group receiving the vaccine shots. Their attitude towards vaccination is of paramount significant as their role in the frontline could help in the awareness of general population. Methods:A study was conducted in Albania, Cyprus, Greece, Spain and Kosovo with the use of an online questionnaire. The Fear of COVID-19 Scale was used. The STROBE checklist was followed for this cross-sectional study.Results: Study population consisted of 1135 nurses. Mean age of the participants was 38.3 years, while most of them were female gender (84.7%) and married (53.1%).Acceptance of a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine was higher among Greek (79.2%) and Spanish (71.6%) nurses, followed by Cypriot (54%), Albanian (46.3%) and Kosovo (46.2%) nurses. Key factors for willingness to get vaccinated were male gender, living in a country with a high mortality rate in comparison with low mortality, being not infected with COVID-19, having high level of knowledge about COVID-19 vaccines and having been vaccinated for influenza in the last 2 years. Moreover, trusting the government and doctors regarding the information about the COVID-19 and having high level of fear about this virus were key factors for willingness to get vaccinated. Conclusion:Vaccination of healthcare personnel is a crucial issue not only for their own safety but also for their patients'. Healthcare acceptance to get vaccinated can work as a role model for general population.

When holding unfavourable attitudes, healthcare professionals become less involved with the people they care for and they do not provide nursing care to the best of their abilities. Undergraduate and continuing education, along with workplace enhancements, should aim to provide high-quality health care to people with disabilities.

Experiencing the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, high vaccination coverage by a safe and effective vaccine globally would be a great achievement. Acceptance of vaccination by healthcare students is an important issue as they have a key role as future professionals in educating patients, informing and guiding them to the right clinical decision. The aim of this study was to explore the intention of nursing students to get vaccinated for SARS-CoV-2 infection and the factors acting either as motivators or barriers towards vaccination. A multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted in 7 countries (Greece, Albania, Cyprus, Spain, Italy, Czech Republic and Kosovo) through a web survey. In total 2249 undergraduate nursing students participated. Forty three point eight percent of students agreed to accept a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine, while the acceptance was higher among Italian students. The factors for intention to get vaccinated were male gender (p=0.008), no working experience in healthcare facilities during the pandemic (p=0.001), vaccination for influenza in 2019 and 2020 (p<0.001), trust in doctors (p<0.001), governments and experts (p=0.012), high level of knowledge (p<0.001) and fear of COVID-19 (p<0.001). Understanding of factors that influence students’ decision to accept COVID-19 vaccination could increase the acceptance rate contributing to a management of the pandemic.HighlightsLess than half of the sample intended to accept COVID-19 vaccinationFactors that influenced nursing students to get vaccinated against COVID-19 were male gender, no working experience in healthcare facilities during the pandemic, vaccination for influenza in 2019 and 2020, trust in doctors, governments and experts, high level of knowledge and fear of COVID-19.

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Aim. The aim of the present study was to record habits and attitudes of primary school students in Greece regarding sun-protection measures. Materials and Methods. 2,163 students with an average age of 9.9 (±1.1) years, studying in 14 schools of a Greek region, constituted our sample. The SPSS 17.0 software was used for the statistical analysis and significance level was set to P ≤ 0.05. Results. Our sample had an equal gender distribution. 16% of the students belonged to the high-risk group, 70.2% of the participants lived 0–5 km away from the sea (urban area), 84.2% of the students were Greek, and 15.8% had non-Greek nationality. Half of the participants said they wear a hat when under the sun and 72% of them said they use sunscreen. 33.1% of the students said they had a sunburn last summer. Greek students as well as those who lived near the sea had better behaviour patterns regarding sun protection. Finally, children who did not use a sunscreen systematically had suffered sunburns more often than the rest. Conclusions. Health education programmes are necessary for students and parents/teachers alike, in order to raise awareness about everyday sun protection.

ObjectivesThe promotion of health and safety (H&S) awareness among hospital staff can be applied through various methods. The aim of this study was to assess the risk level of physical hazards in the hospital sector by combining workers' perception, experts' evaluation and objective measurements.MethodsA cross-sectional study was designed using multiple triangulation. Hospital staff (n = 447) filled in an H&S questionnaire in a general hospital in Athens and an oncology one in Thessaloniki. Experts observed and filled in a checklist on H&S in the various departments of the two hospitals. Lighting, noise and microclimate measurements were performed.ResultsThe staff's perception of risk was higher than that of the experts in many cases. The measured risk levels were low to medium. In cases of high-risk noise and lighting, staff and experts agreed. Staff's perception of risk was influenced by hospital's department, hospital's service, years of working experience and level of education. Therefore, these factors should be taken into account in future studies aimed at increasing the participation of hospital workers.ConclusionThis study confirmed the usefulness of staff participation in the risk assessment process, despite the tendency for staff to overestimate the risk level of physical hazards. The combination of combining staff perception, experts' evaluation and objective measures in the risk assessment process increases the efficiency of risk management in the hospital environment and the enforcement of relevant legislation.