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Background: Hazardous chemicals are essential for modern society but the use and transportation of them bears the risk of major incidents. Past incidents have revealed the importance of preparation and training of emergency medical service (EMS) personnel when responding to these incidents. However, studies have shown the level of preparedness to be insufficient. There is a lack of knowledge as to how EMS personnel perceive their preparedness and response when facing chemical incidents.

Aim: The aim of this study was to qualitative investigate working procedures regarding chemical incidents among a cohort of EMS personnel.

Method: Seventeen ambulance nurses from rural and urban areas were individually interviewed using four different realistic scenarios (vignettes). The transcribed text from the interviews was analyzed using qualitative content analysis.

Result: The results were derived into two categories with underlying sub-categories: a struggle to organize the onsite work situation (insufficient managerial support, limited resources, trust in rescue services, difficult decision making, stressful responsibilities); and decontamination—a demanding and risky situation (risk management, work in protective gear, aggravating circumstances). Participants often lack real life experience in facing a chemical incident and training that improves preparedness and the ability to respond adequately.

Conclusion: Chemical incidents pose many challenges for EMS personnel, but with proper training efforts many of these challenges could be solved. This study has shown the need for more accessible chemical incident training targeting EMS personnel: especially focusing on risk assessment; managerial support; resource management; equipment; and decontamination, including stress management and decision-making. Research in the area of chemical incidents is sparse and there remains much to understand concerning work procedures during chemical incidents.

Background: The risk of high-energy trauma injuries on construction sites is relatively high. A delayed response time could affect outcomes after severe injury. This study assessed if an advanced first aid course for first aid response for laypersons (employees or apprentices) in the construction industry or real-time video communication and support with ambulance personnel, or neither, together with access to an advanced medical kit, would have an effect on immediate layperson vital responses in a severe injury scenario.

Method: This was a controlled simulation study. Employees or apprentices at a construction site were recruited and randomly allocated into a group with video support or not, and advanced first aid course or not, and where one group had both. The primary outcomes were correct behavior to recognize and manage an occluded airway and correct behavior to stop life-threatening bleeding from a lower extremity injury. Secondary outcomes included head-to-toe assessment performed, placement of a pelvic sling, and application of remote vital signs monitors.

Results: Ninety participants were included in 10 groups of 3 for each of 4 exposures. One group was tested first as a baseline group, and then later after having done the training course. Live video support was effective in controlling bleeding. A first aid course given beforehand did not seem to be as effective on controlling bleeding. Video support and the first aid course previously given improved the ability of bystanders to manage the airway, the combination of the two being no better than each of the interventions taken in isolation. Course exposure and video support together were not superior to the course by itself or video by itself, except regarding placing the biosensors on the injured after video support. Secondary results showed an association between video support and completing a head-to-toe assessment. Both interventions were associated with applying a pelvic sling.

Conclusion: These findings show that laypersons, here construction industry employees, can be supported to achieve good performance as first responders in a major injury scenario. Prior training, but especially live video support without prior training, improves layperson performance in this setting.

Purpose: This study describes preparedness of emergency physicians and general practitioners following chemical, radiological and nuclear incidents.

Design/methodology/approach: Five emergency physicians and six general practitioners were interviewed individually, and data was analysed using qualitative content analysis.

Findings: The study results showed that physicians' preparedness for chemical, radiological and nuclear incidents is linked to one main category: to be an expert and to seek expertise and two categories: preparations before receiving CRN patients, and physical examination and treatment of CRN patients with subcategories.

Research limitations/implications: The results have implications for further research on the complexity of generalist vs specialist competence and knowledge when responding to chemical, radiological and nuclear incidents.

Originality/value: This study provides insights regarding chemical, radiological and nuclear preparedness among physicians at emergency departments and primary healthcare centres.

Postgraduate education programmes in health professions need to assess their students’ ability to practise in relation to the expected standards and to verify that students have met certain criteria upon programme completion (Ossenberg et al., 2015). Assessment of clinical practice must also correspond with the requirements for knowledge, skills, and professional judgements stipulated in national regulatory requirements. In this context, the importance of having valid and reliable assessment tools for the assessment process is clear (Shumway and Harden, 2003; McCarthy and Murphy, 2008; Wu et al., 2015). The present paper reports on a process to update and validate the tool Assessment of Clinical Education (AssCE-master) for use in clinical postgraduate nursing education.

The most common complication due to intubation isa high cuff pressure. A high cuff pressure can causepostanesthetic tracheal mucosal injuries in patientsundergoing surgery. The aim of this cross-sectionalstudy was to describe whether anesthetic nurses andanesthesiologists identified a very high cuff pressureby manual palpation of the external cuff balloon onan endotracheal tube. An airway device was intubatedwith an endotracheal tube cuffed to 95 cm H2O. Eachparticipant palpated the external cuff balloon and thenfilled out a questionnaire, including estimation of thecuff pressure and user frequency of the cuff pressuremanometer. The results showed that 89.1% estimatedthat the cuff pressure was high. Among the participantswho rated the cuff pressure as high, 44.8% ratedthe pressure as quite high and 60.6% rated the pressureas very high. There was no significant relationshipbetween profession and skill in identifying a veryhigh cuff pressure (P = .843) or between work experienceand skill in terms of identifying a very high cuffpressure (P = .816). These findings indicate that 10%of patients are at risk of tracheal erosion because of ahigh cuff pressure.

Background: During the last 20 years there have been different approaches to teaching nurse students cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Receiving CPR with compressions of adequate depth and frequency, and ventilations of adequate volume improves the chance of survival. The aim of this study was to evaluate effects of different types of feedback on CPR skills among nursing students.

Methods: A pilot study with an explorative approach including 30 nurse students. Students was randomized in three groups; 1) instructor-led training followed by self-training without feedback, 2) self-training with visual graphic feedback, and 3) self-training with voice advisory manikin (VAM). Outcomes were correct compression deep, frequency, hand position and release, and correct ventilation volume and flow. If performance was correct to 70%, students were considered to have reached approved level. The students also answered questions about theoretical knowledge about CPR.

Results: In technical skills, group 2 had significant higher level of correct ventilation volume compared with the other group. Both group 1 and 3 did not reach the level of 70% correct performance. Group 1 and 2 had significant higher level of correct deep of compressions compared with group 3 which did not reach the 70% level. There was no difference in performance between groups in other parameters.

Conclusion: This pilot study suggests that visual graphic feedback is promising and seemed to be more effective than self-training with voice advisory manikin and instructor-led training with followed self-training without feedback.

The aim of the study was to illuminate very old men’s experiences and reflections of purpose in life. The participants were 23 men who were interviewed and answered a specific question about purpose in life. The answers were analyzed according to qualitative content analysis, which revealed three content areas: the purpose of one’s life as a whole; purpose in everyday life; and reflections on purpose in life. Our findings showed that very old men experience purpose in life most strongly when remembering the past and when work is stressed as important. The analyzed text was dominated by positive experiences of PIL, although one man said that he had given up and that there was no purpose in his life at all.

Background: Few studies have specifically examined purpose in life among very old people, and we know of none that has used a prospective approach. The aim of this study was to examine changes in pupose in life over five years in very old men and women and to investigate whether depressed mood, malnutrition, inactivity in daily life, or cognitive impairment increased the risk for developing low purpose in life.

Methods: The study includes data from 51 participants (42 women and 9 men) living in Northern Sweden who completed the Purpose in Life Test once at baseline and again five years later.

Results: Purpose in life decreased over five years and the decrease was significantly associated with being a woman (p<0.001) and having depressed mood (p=0.009) or depression (p=0.002) at baseline. There were no differences in baseline PIL scores between depressed and not depressed, but those who had depression had significantly decreased PIL scores after five years (p=0.001).

Conclusion: A strong purpose in life does not seem to prevent very old people from developing depression, and being depressed at baseline and living with depression over five years is associated with a loss of purpose in life.

Objectives: To investigate the relationship between purpose in life and depression and, in a five-year follow-up investigate whether purpose in life, adjusted for different background characteristics, can prevent very old men and women from developing depression. Methods: A cross-sectional study included 189 participants (120 women and 69 men) 85–103 years of age living in a county in northern Sweden. Those who had not been diagnosed as depressed at baseline were included in the five-year follow-up study (n=78). Depression was assessed using the Geriatric Depression Scale-15, the Organic Brain Syndrome scale, the Montgomery–Åsberg Depression Rating Scale, and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV criteria. Purpose in life was assessed with the Purpose in Life (PIL) scale. Results: In the cross-sectional study, 40 participants out of 189 (21.2%) were depressed, and those with depression had significantly lower PIL scores (mean score 107 vs. 99, p=0.014). In the follow-up study, 78 persons were available for the assessment of depression. Of those, 21 (26.9%) were diagnosed as depressed and their mean PIL score at baseline was 106 (SD=17.4) versus 108 (SD=16.0, p=0.750) among those not depressed. Using multivariate logistic regression analysis controlling for possible confounders, we found no association between purpose in life and the risk of developing depression after five years (OR=1.0, 95% CI 0.97–1.03). Conclusions: The results show a significant inverse relationship between purpose in life and depression in the cross-sectional study; however, a high PIL score does not seem to serve very old people as a protection against the risk of developing depression.

The aim of this study was to investigate purpose in life in relation to psychological well-being, social relations, and physical and psychological symptoms among very old women (n = 120) and men (n = 69). Their purpose in life was evaluated using the Purpose in Life (PIL) scale. Women scored lower on this PIL scale than men (102 vs.108 p = .0.013). Regression analysis was used to estimate influencing factors on the PIL score. Determinants for purpose in life did not differ between the men and women, except for musculoskeletal symptoms. Attitude toward own aging had the strongest relation to PIL scores for both men and women; to have family to talk to was also important, as were musculoskeletal symptoms, for women. Our study indicates that the very old people studied were feeling indecisive about their purpose in life and that feelings are linked with poorer psychological health. For this reason, the purpose in life must be discussed and taken into consideration in the care of the elderly.