İlKnur Tura

Purpose: This study sought to describe the experiences of emergency department nurses with compassion fatigue. Design: A qualitative phenomenological design was used. Methods: This study was conducted with 10 nurses working in the emergency department in July 2026. Interviews were documented through handwritten notes, expanded into digital format within 24 h, and complemented by observational notes. Data were analysed manually, without the use of qualitative data analysis software. Data analysis was performed in accordance with Colaizzi's seven‐stage phenomenological analysis method, including identifying meaningful statements, formulating meanings, developing thematic clusters and validating findings through participant feedback. Results: Among the primary themes of compassion fatigue, 3 secondary themes emerged: emotional strain with regard to a sense of powerlessness, incompetence and guilt as a result of intense empathic involvement, emotional transformation in terms of waning empathetic engagement and distancing from others' feelings and adaptation and self‐defence including coping methods such as setting an emotional distance, increasing one's psychic distance from sources of exposure or re‐creating work‐life balance. Conclusion: Compassion fatigue in the emergency department is a dynamic process, which is initiated with empathy and encumbrance of emotional stress over time will transform the nurse's emotion and care giving. These results emphasize the need for context‐sensitive and nurse‐focused intervention to enhance the emotional resilience of nurses. Framing these interventions around a structured well‐being model such as PERMA may offer healthcare organizations a practical, multidimensional pathway for sustaining nurses' emotional resilience and safeguarding compassionate care in high‐acuity settings. Reporting Method: This qualitative phenomenological study followed the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) checklist (see Supplementary Appendix ). Patient and Public Contribution: Nurses who had cared for patients within high‐acuity clinical environments were included in interviews, providing experiential knowledge that informed the data analysis and supported the clinical relevance of findings. Impact: Among nurses working in challenging clinical settings, compassion fatigue remains an underdeveloped threat to both nurse well‐being and the sustainability of high‐quality patient care. Findings of the study illustrates how compassion fatigue evolves out of cumulative emotional strain and how nurses actively manage this by developing emotional boundaries and creating self‐protection strategies in order to remain functional within difficult care situations. By shining a spotlight on these lived experiences, the findings highlight the value of organizational awareness and nurse‐led supportive interventions in nurturing emotional resilience, safeguarding compassionate care and promoting workforce retention in clinical nursing practice.

Background: The aim of this study was to culturally adapt the Abbey Pain Scale (APS-TR) into Turkish and to evaluate the validity and reliability of the scale in dementia patients. Patients and Methods: Between September 16, 2020 and April 16, 2023, a total of 103 dementia patients aged ≥ 65 who were admitted to the intensive care units of a university hospital were included in the study. Pain levels were assessed 1 min before mobilization or repositioning, during the procedure, and 20 min afterward using the Turkish version of the APS, the Nonverbal Pain Scale (NVPS), and the Verbal Descriptive Scale (VDS). Construct validity was evaluated through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Reliability was assessed using internal consistency analysis with Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, and criterion validity was examined by analyzing correlations between APS-TR and the other pain scales using Pearson correlation analysis. Results: Of a total of 103 patients, 37 were male and 66 were female with a mean age of 71.7 ± 5.67 (range, 65 to 92) years. As a result of linguistic and cultural adaptation, the Turkish version of the scale was found to be appropriate. The content validity index was found to be 0.90. Exploratory factor analysis showed that the items formed a single-factor structure, and factor loadings ranged from 0.489 to 0.855. Confirmatory factor analysis fit indices (χ ² /df = 1.21, root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] = 0.046, standardized root mean square residual [SRMR] = 0.045, [comparative fit index] = 0.989) indicated that the model was acceptable. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the scale was calculated as 0.777, and positive and significant relationships were found between APS-TR and NVPS and VDS at all measurement times. Conclusion: Our study results suggest that the Turkish version of the APS is a valid, reliable, and unidimensional measurement instrument which can be used to assess pain in dementia patients receiving treatment in intensive care.

Objective: The aim of the study was to determine the effects of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) on pain and vital signs during chest tube removal (CTR). Methodology: This randomized controlled study was conducted with a group of patients treated in the thoracic surgery unit of a university hospital between May 2023 to September 2023. Participants were equally allocated using simple randomization. This randomized-controlled study collected data 60 thoracic surgery patients using Patient Information Form (PIF) and the Numerical Rating Scale (NRS). TENS was applied for a total of one hour, 2-3 cm from the chest tube site. The pain level and vital signs of the patients were assessed at immediately before (T1), during (T2) and immediately after (T3) the CTR in all groups. Results: Pain levels were significantly lower in the TENS group compared to the control group (p < 0.05). In addition, a significance was found between the groups at T2 for Heart Rate (HR), T2-T3 for Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP) and T2-T3 for Respiratory Rate (RR). HR, SBP and RR were statistically significant at T2 time (p<0.05) in this group. Conclusion: TENS effectively reduces acute procedural pain and provide maintain stable vital signs as a safe complementary method in multimodal pain management.

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of mobile application-based musical tonalities delivered at different times of day on postoperative pain and analgesic consumption after orthopedic trauma surgery. METHODS: This randomized controlled study included 80 patients undergoing orthopedic trauma surgery at a university hospital. Tonalities (Rast, Nihavend, Neva) were delivered via an Android-based mobile application in the morning (T1), afternoon (T2), and evening (T3). Pain was assessed using the Numerical Rating Scale, and analgesic consumption was recorded. RESULTS: Baseline characteristics were largely comparable; however, body mass index (p=0.002) and marital status (p<0.001) differed between groups. Pain scores decreased significantly over time in both groups (p<0.001). After Bonferroni correction, baseline pain did not differ between groups, whereas post-intervention pain scores differed at all post-intervention time points (T1b, T2b, T3b; p0.05). In robust regression analyses controlling for baseline Numerical Rating Scale, body mass index, and marital status, the intervention group showed significantly higher Numerical Rating Scale scores at all measurement times, and baseline Numerical Rating Scale was the strongest predictor of postoperative pain. CONCLUSION: Postoperative pain decreased over time in both groups, and baseline pain level was the strongest determinant of postoperative pain perception; no significant between-group difference was observed in analgesic consumption.

Thousands of people die or become disabled every year due to illness, disaster, traffic accidents, work and home accidents. According to the researches, 50% of the deaths occur within the first half an hour. In order to prevent the increase in these deaths, first aid knowledge is required. Therefore, evidence-based practices should be included in whole process, from the basic principles and practices of first aid to hospital care of the patient/injured. In the guide published by American Heart Association (AHA) and Red Cross in 2020, the stroke recognizes and cures, the management of hypoglycaemia, anti-coagulant treatment for non-traumatic chest pain, life-threatening bleeding, the use of compressions to be applied in trauma, hyperthermia or heatstroke treatments are emphasized. Including evidence-based practices in first aid possibly reduce mortality and morbidity rates with conscious, quality first aid as soon as possible. Therefore, in order to reduce the risk of harm, to mobilize the society within the scope of disaster preparedness, to contribute to the development of health awareness, to ensure that people are competent in saving their lives and standardizing first aid practices. The recommendations of the guides should be taken into consideration in this process.