Aim To explore nursing management issues within COVID‐19 narratives of Italian front‐line nurses. Background The COVID‐19 pandemic has dramatically affected health systems and professionals worldwide. Italian nurses have key messages for nursing leaders following their acute experiences in the pandemic. Method A descriptive qualitative study with thematic analysis. Results Twenty‐three testimonies from clinical nurses were analysed. Six macrothemes were identified as follows: organisational and logistic change; leadership models adopted to manage the emergency; changes in nursing approaches; personal protective equipment issues; physical and psychological impact on nurses; and team value/spirit. Conclusions Our testimonies highlighted the huge impact of COVID‐19 on the Italian nursing workforce, especially in terms of the high risks associated with caring for COVID‐19 patients, exacerbated by the shortage of appropriate personal protective equipment. Nurses had to care for their colleagues and live separately from their families to avoid infecting them, revealing nurses' resilience and the important role of effective and sensitive management. Implications for Nursing Management Nurse managers must be prepared for the impact of pandemics on staff and need to ensure availability and replacement of quality personal protective equipment, rehearse strategies for communicating with patients while wearing personal protective equipment and establish protocols for communicating with relatives.

Nurse managers need to facilitate and enhance nurses' use of evidence-based practice. Both managers and nurses need to have the necessary academic preparation, support and resources required for practising using an evidence base.

The themes of transformational leadership could serve as a guide for nurse managers to help them improve their leadership style, and improve the levels of job satisfaction in staff nurses. Owing to the complexity and the importance of this issue, classroom educational interventions would not be sufficient: it should be dealt as a strategic priority by nursing directors.

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Few studies dealt with moral distress in the setting of nurse education, and there is a knowledge gap related to this phenomenon. The results of this review underline the need for further research regarding interventions that can minimize moral distress in undergraduate nursing students.

ObjectivesNotwithstanding decades of efforts to increase the uptake of seasonal influenza (flu) vaccination among European healthcare workers (HCWs), the immunisation rates are still unsatisfactory. In order to understand the reasons for the low adherence to flu vaccination, a study was carried out among HCWs of two healthcare organisations in Liguria, a region in northwest Italy.MethodsA cross-sectional study based on anonymous self-administered web questionnaires was carried out between October 2013 and February 2014. Through univariate and multivariate regression analysis, the study investigated the association between demographic and professional characteristics, knowledge, beliefs and attitudes of the study participants and (i) the seasonal flu vaccination uptake in the 2013/2014 season and (ii) the self-reported number of flu vaccination uptakes in the six consecutive seasons from 2008/2009 to 2013/2014.ResultsA total of 830 HCWs completed the survey. Factors statistically associated with flu vaccination uptake in the 2013/2014 season were: being a medical doctor and agreeing with the statements ‘flu vaccine is safe’, ‘HCWs have a higher risk of getting flu’ and ‘HCWs should receive flu vaccination every year’. A barrier to vaccination was the belief that pharmaceutical companies influence decisions about vaccination strategies.DiscussionAll the above-mentioned factors, except the last one, were (significantly) associated with the number of flu vaccination uptakes self-reported by the respondents between season 2008/2009 and season 2013/2014. Other significantly associated factors appeared to be level of education, being affected by at least one chronic disease, and agreeing with mandatory flu vaccination in healthcare settings.ConclusionsThis survey allows us to better understand the determinants of adherence to vaccination as a fundamental preventive strategy against flu among Italian HCWs. These findings should be used to improve and customise any future promotion campaigns to overcome identified barriers to immunisation.

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The management of type 2 diabetes mellitus includes ability and empowerment of the patient to change lifestyle, maintain an adequate diet and physical activity, manage the disease, and follow a specific program of periodic medical checks and education sessions. In addition, the patient should be able to correctly identify and adequately solve problems related to the disease and actively collaborate with the healthcare system. To obtain these goals, therapeutic patient education (TPE) is now considered a crucial element not only in the treatment but also in the prevention of type 2 diabetes. Several trials showed that TPE is able to improve clinical, lifestyle, and psycho-social outcomes. Nevertheless, studies have not clarified the ideal characteristics of a comprehensive patient education program in clinical practice. Other work is needed to answer open questions regarding the type of PTE (individual or group education), themes, frequency and number of education sessions, contact time between educator and patient, background of educators, use of new technologies, and barriers to self-management. The present review discusses these points on the basis of the most recent data of the literature.