Petra Brysiewicz

University of KwaZulu-Natal | ukzn · School of Nursing and Public Health

This study aimed examin the factors associated with the uptake and non-acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine booster doses among healthcare workers (HCWs) in South Africa. We used a mixed-methods design with data from a web-based self-administered survey followed by semi-structured in-depth interviews (IDIs) with selected participants. Of the 6235 HCWs in...

Objective: To observe nurse administration of carbapenem antibiotics, in the context of medication safety measures, in intensive care units. Research methodology/design: A quantitative study was conducted using observation principles. Setting: Three adult private and public Intensive Care Units in the health district of a capital city in KwaZu...

Background Studies have shown that healthcare workers (HCWs) are considered trusted sources of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) information in their communities, ideally placing them as effective vaccine advocates. However, limited data exist on the role of HCWs in the promotion of vaccines, and whether they feel adequately equipped to fulfil th...

Background Studies have shown that healthcare workers (HCWs) are considered trusted sources of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) information in their communities, ideally placing them as effective vaccine advocates. However, limited data exist on the role of HCWs in the promotion of vaccines, and whether they feel adequately equipped to fulfil th...

Introduction: Professional isolation, feelings of being isolated from one's professional peers and lacking mentoring and opportunities for professional interaction, collaboration, and development, is a challenge for workers across the labor market. The notion of professional isolation is particularly prevalent in low-resource health care settings...

Obtaining feedback from the patient and their family members regarding their experience of the care they received in the emergency department is important. This provides an extremely valuable opportunity for healthcare professionals to assess the quality of care and serves to highlight any areas of weakness or strength in the care experience. Throu...

Background: Clinical scholarship is defined as an approach that enables evidence-based nursing and the development of best practices to meet the needs of clients efficiently and effectively. However, there are many barriers that impede its progress. Objective: This study aimed to identify the barriers and enablers to scholarship for post basic nur...

Background: Trauma remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality in South Africa, but attempts to track the epidemic are often based on mortality data, or derived from individual health facilities. This project is based on the routine collection of trauma data from all public health facilities in the province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), betwee...

Healthcare workers (HCWs) were the first population group offered coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines in South Africa because they were considered to be at higher risk of infection and required protecting as they were a critical resource to the health system. In some contexts , vaccine uptake among HCWs has been slow, with several studies...

COVID-19 had a major influence on nursing with the pandemic resulting in changes in the work environment while experiencing physical and emotional challenges such as moral distress, fear for self and family and dealing with the unknown. However, during this period, nurses demonstrated extraordinary resilience, crafted innovations in clinical practi...

Although family nursing research has become an important focus for over the past 20 years, the evolution and extent of family nursing research in the World Health Organization (WHO) Afro-regions is less explored. The purpose of this scoping review was to map the evidence of family-focused nursing research using the Joanna Briggs Institute Scoping R...

Background The use of social media platforms to convey public opinions and attitudes has exponentially increased over the last decade on topics related to health. In all these social media postings related to the pandemic, specific attention has been focused on healthcare professionals, specifically nurses. Objective This study aimed to explore ho...

Background: Postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs) are an important cause of perioperative morbidity and mortality. Although risk factors for PPCs have been identified in high-income countries, less is known about PPCs and their risk factors in low- and middle-income countries, such as South Africa. This study examined the incidence of PPCs...

Background: Family engagement positively impacts patient and family members' experiences of care and health outcomes. While partnering with families denotes best practice in intensive care units (ICUs), its full adoption requires improvement. A better understanding of the factors that influence the implementation of family engagement practices is...

Pregnancy is not a disease but a physiological process, and the family as a whole should take part in helping to ensure a healthy outcome for the woman. Family involvement and collaboration during this time cannot be over-emphasised. The purpose of the study was to explore and describe newly delivered married mothers’ perceptions of family involvem...

Aim: To investigate the existence of guidelines on the identification of nursing stakeholders as part of planning for human resources for health processes. Background: Effective involvement of nursing stakeholders in planning and implementing human resources for health policies is strongly advocated by leading global bodies. Systematic identific...

Relational practice is characterised by genuine interaction between families and healthcare professionals that promotes trust and empowerment. Positive clinical outcomes have been associated with relational practice. To assess and examine in-hospital interventions designed to promote relational practice with families in acute care settings of emerg...

The IFNA Practice Committee was asked to create an IFNA Repository of Useful Resources This initiative was requested February 2017 by IFNA President Carole Robinson with the aim to serve as a toolkit of resources for family nurses around the world who are caring for migrant and refugee families. Many family nurses have limited expertise regarding t...

Background: Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) is a proactive healthcare intervention to improve patient outcomes by optimising antimicrobial use. Although nursing involvement is a recognised necessity, bedside nurses may not yet possess competencies to fulfil this role. Objectives: To identify recommendations for AMS education for the bedside nurs...

Background Professional isolation is viewed as a sense of isolation from ones professional peers and this has contributed to compromised quality of health service delivery as well as quality of life for health professionals in low resource environments. Professional isolation is a multidimensional concept which may be either geographic, social, and...

A changing climate will have demonstrable effects on health and healthcare systems, with specific and disproportionate effects on communities in Africa. Emergency care systems and providers have an opportunity to be at the forefront of efforts to combat the worst health effects from climate change. The 2020 African Conference on Emergency Medicine,...

The aim of this review was to map literature on available tools measuring families experience in the emergency department and to identify domains being measured in the tools. A two-stage screening process was employed to determine eligibility of articles. Articles written in English language were retrieved, and data extracted on design, setting, sa...

Background: Advances in technology have facilitated the implementation of improved alarm management systems in the healthcare sector. There is a need to identify challenges encountered by intensive care unit (ICU) nurses with clinical alarm management systems in South Africa (SA) to ensure utilisation of these technological resources for patient s...

Background: Antimicrobial stewardship aims to optimise the use of antimicrobial medicines to preserve the efficacy of these medicines and to contain antimicrobial resistance where possible. Nurses constitute the largest group of healthcare workers; however, the role played by nurses within current antimicrobial stewardship strategies is largely un...

Background Critical illness is distressing for families, and often results in negative effects on family health that influence a family's ability to support their critically ill family member. Although recent attention has been directed at improving care and outcomes for families of critically ill patients, the manner in which nurses engage with fa...

The World Health Assembly declared 2020 as the ‘Year of the Nurse and the Midwife’ in recognition of the critical contribution of both professions to global health. Nurses globally are having to do more with less and in the already resource deficient African context, significant adaptation and leadership is required in the way emergency nurses work...

Background The trauma burden in South Africa is significant. The objective of this project was to investigate the incidence of posttrauma pulmonary complications (PPCs) and to identify patient, health risks, and hospital factors, which predispose trauma patients to develop PPCs hospital in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Methods The design was a r...

Digital technologies continue to penetrate the South African (SA) healthcare sector at an increasing rate. Clinician-to-clinician diagnostic and management assistance through mHealth is expanding rapidly, reducing professional isolation and unnecessary referrals, and promoting better patient outcomes and more equitable healthcare systems. However,...

Background: Giving birth is one of the most important events in a woman’s life and is a highly individualistic and unique experience. Objectives: The study aimed to describe women’s childbirth experiences in two state hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal. Method: A non-experimental, quantitative, descriptive survey of low-risk mothers was conducted in two...

The DRILL programme at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Durban, South Africa, nurtures a selected talented group of early-career researchers (DRILL fellows) and is a move towards active, focused development of research leadership capacity and research. In this regard, the shift has been from a more unstructured (laissez-faire) to an increasi...

BACKGROUND: The South African government has created countless policies that support the need to admit and graduate students who had been excluded from health-science programmes in higher education settings during the apartheid eraOBJECTIVE: to develop a questionnaire that could be used by various stakeholders to obtain their perceptions about acce...

Background: Emergency departments are regarded as stressful working environments, associated with staff shortages, increased patient numbers and long waiting times. Increased organisational demands for performance can compromise genuine interactions between families and healthcare providers working in emergency departments. A relational practice a...

Background: The rapid progression of diseases and the complex, changing landscape of healthcare has increased the awareness that interprofessional collaboration is essential in ensuring safe and effective healthcare delivery. However, to develop a "collaborative practice-ready" workforce, organisations need to invest in the application of alternat...

Introduction Measuring patients' experience in the emergency department can be an avenue through which the patients are able to evaluate their own care experience, and this may provide guidance for healthcare professionals in addressing quality improvement. This scoping review aimed to identify and examine existing tools that measure patients' expe...

Background: Antimicrobial stewardship has become an important initiative within intensive care units in the global fight against antimicrobial resistance. Support for nurses to participate in and actively direct antimicrobial stewardship interventions is growing however, there may be barriers that impede the development of this nursing role. Obje...

Purpose The purpose of this study was to describe families’ perceptions of relational practice when interacting with health care professionals in emergency departments in the South African context. Background Relational practice is seen as an approach that amplifies the voices of families through creating meaningful connections with health care pr...

Background The Developing Research Innovation, Localisation and Leadership (DRILL) programme is a research leadership programme that uses mentorship and relational triads to develop early career health scientists (DRILL Fellows). Between August, 2015, and August, 2019, 25 health scientists from various health professions in KwaZulu-Natal, South Afr...

After a person dies in the emergency department, a series of activities form the procedural base to sudden death. The person is declared dead; the body must be identified, cleaned, wrapped and transported to a mortuary. Evidence relating the death must be documented, and property is to be packed carefully. The process has a temporal aspect in that...

With the introduction of the One Health approach to global health advocated by the World Health Organization, the role of the environment as a reservoir and transmission route for diverse microorganisms is increasingly being recognised globally. This study investigated the diversity and functional profiles of bacterial communities using high-throug...

Purpose Acute trauma patients are at risk for the development of acute kidney injury (AKI). One potential nephrotoxic agent, which a trauma patient may be exposed to, is iodinated contrast media (ICM). We aim to review the incidence and outcome of contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) in trauma patients in a busy trauma service, and to identify potent...

Introduction: This project set out to audit our compliance with the 3-hour bundles of care for surgical sepsis and to interrogate how compliance or non-compliance impacts on the outcome of surgical sepsis in our institution. Methods: All emergency surgical patients over the age of fifteen years were reviewed. All patients who fulfilled the ACCP/...

This study explores and describes caring and uncaring nursing encounters from the perspective of the patients admitted to inpatient rehabilitation settings in South Africa. The researchers used an exploratory descriptive design. A semi-structured interview guide was used to collect data through individual interviews with 17 rehabilitation patients....

Background: Caring for cancer patients can take a toll on the emotional health of oncology nurses, which may lead to compassion fatigue, resulting in decreased quality of nursing care, absenteeism and decreased retention of staff. Aim: The aim of this study was to describe compassion fatigue from the perspective of oncology nurses. This study is pa...

Family caregivers of patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) play a significant role in providing substantial care for a prolonged period for their sick relatives, often with very limited resources, making it a difficult environment. Government support for family caregivers of patients with ESRD is lacking in Nigeria, increasing their vulnerab...

Background: There is growing realisation that human error contributes significantly to morbidity and mortality in modern healthcare. A number of taxonomies and classification systems have been developed in an attempt to categorise errors and quantify their impact. Objectives: To record and identify adverse events and errors as they impacted on a...

Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) has developed over the past decade as a critical tool to promote the appropriate use of antimicrobials in order to contain antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and conserve antimicrobial medicines. Current literature supports the role of the nurse in AMR, with a strong focus on the responsibilities of the nurse in infectio...

Background: The critical illness of a loved one can negatively affect all family members (FMs), leading to the interruption of family functioning and integrity. Hospitalisation is a stressful, unplanned event for both the patient and FMs and is associated with psychological disturbances, emotional distress and altered family roles and functioning....

Background: Nursing encounters are face-to-face meetings and interactions occurring between the nurse and the patient and they can be experienced as being caring or uncaring. Caring nursing encounters are those that promote positive care experiences to the patient leading to satisfaction with care, and an improvement in their well-being. Uncaring n...

Background: Health care professionals are expected to deliver safe and effective health services; however there is increased realisation that adverse events in the health system are a major cause of preventable morbidity and mortality. Objectives: To conduct a retrospective audit of nursing-related morbidities in a state hospital in KwaZulu-Natal,...

Introduction: This study reviews our experience with penetrating Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in order to define and describe the injury pattern and the outcome. A secondary aim of this study was to review the use of the Motor Score (M Score) and the Simplified Motor Score (SMS) to assess and triage patients with penetrating TBI. Methods: All patie...

Introduction: This study focuses on a specific and often dramatic injury, namely gunshot wounds (GSW) of the head in order to determine whether there is a discrepancy in outcome between patients who sustain their injury in a rural setting and those who sustain it in an urban setting. Materials and methods: This study involves a retrospective rev...

Background: The need to use innovative teaching and learning strategies in the nursing pedagogy is important in the 21st century. The challenges of clinical sites and opportunities for nursing students to gain clinical experience are a growing concern for many nurse educators. High-fidelity human patient simulators (HFHPS) are computerised mannequi...

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate families’ perceptions of support provided by health care professionals in three emergency departments in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Background: In low- and middle-income countries, engagement with families in emergency departments is often aimed at supplementing manpower for care provision rat...

The main purpose of this study was to describe students’ perceptions of student support services at a selected nursing campus in the eThekwini District of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The content analysis of Elo and Kyngäs guided the research process. Non-probability purposive sampling was used to recruit fourth-year nursing students undertaking th...

Background. Emergency healthcare professionals can practise family-centred care (FCC) by engaging in active partnerships with families. In a chaotic environment, which challenges communication and supportive behaviours, responding to and acknowledging families' individuality enhance positive family outcomes. Objective. To describe the adherence of...

Introduction Penetrating thoracic trauma is common and costly. Injuries are frequently and selectively amenable to non-operative management. Our selective approach to penetrating thoracic trauma is reviewed and the effectiveness of our clinical algorithms confirmed. Additionally, a basic cost analysis was undertaken to evaluate the financial impact...

Background: Intra-abdominal vascular injury (IAVI) is uncommon but continues to be associated with high mortality rates despite technological advances in the past decades. In light of these ongoing developments, we reviewed our contemporary experience with IAVI in an attempt to clarify and refine our management strategies and the outcome of these...

Introduction: Emergency nurses are usually the first to interact with critically ill patients and victims of violence and injuries, and require advanced skills and knowledge to manage such patients. Inadequate training prevents nurses from providing optimal emergency care, and it is important to investigate if there are any skills and competencies...

Background: Cerebral gunshot wounds (CGSWs) represent a highly lethal form of traumatic brain injury, and triaging these patients is difficult. The prognostic significance of the serum lactate level in the setting of CGSWs is largely unknown. Objectives: To examine the relationship between elevated serum lactate levels and mortality in patients...

Background: Intra-abdominal vascular injury (IAVI) is uncommon but continues to be associated with high mortality rates despite technological advances in the past decades. In light of these ongoing developments, we reviewed our contemporary experience with IAVI in an attempt to clarify and refine our management strategies and the outcome of these...

Purpose Prolonged and continual contact with grief and recurrent deaths, observing patients undergoing unrelenting medication therapies which could prove unsuccessful, and a constant atmosphere of hopelessness put the oncology nurse at high risk of developing compassion fatigue and burnout. This study conducted a survey of compassion satisfaction,...

Background: This study used data from a large prospectively entered database to assess the efficacy of the motor score (M score) component of the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) and the Simplified Motor Score (SMS) in predicting overall outcome in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Objective: To safely and reliably simplify the scoring system...

In transformative education, learners are supported to look beyond their own frame of reference to accommodate an alternative. Mezirow’s Transformative Learning Theory (MTLT) proposes that transformative education occurs following an emotional event—a disorientating dilemma. This study aimed to review whether palliative care could be useful in fost...

Background. This study used data from a large prospectively entered database to assess the efficacy of the motor score (M score) component of the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) and the Simplified Motor Score (SMS) in predicting overall outcome in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Objective. To safely and reliably simplify the scoring system use...

Background. This audit of snakebites was undertaken to document our experience with snakebite in the western part of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Province, South Africa (SA). Objective. To document our experience with snakebite in the western part of KZN, and to interrogate the data on patients who required some form of surgical intervention. Methods. A ret...

Nurses remain a crucial part in the management and care of HIV, especially in resource constrained settings where they fulfil a variety of roles and functions. Competent HIV healthcare providers, especially nurses who provide and support the first line of healthcare in South Africa, are needed to achieve optimal clinical outcomes for all people liv...

It is common practice globally for women to be discharged from a health facility within twenty-four to forty-eight hours after a normal vaginal delivery. The purpose of this article is to explore postnatal women's perceptions of hospital-based postnatal care following a normal vaginal delivery. This qualitative study used content analysis and was c...

Background The training of undergraduate midwifery students to identify and manage post-partum haemorrhage, is an essential skill in midwifery. Aim The aim of this study was to develop, implement and evaluate a simulation learning package (SLP) on post-partum haemorrhage for undergraduate midwifery students using high fidelity simulation without ri...

Introduction In recent years there has been a movement to promote patients as partners in their care; however this may not always be possible as in the case of critically ill patients, who are often sedated and mechanically ventilated. This results in family members being involved in the care of the patient. To date, this type of care has been repr...

Background. This study used data from a large prospectively entered database to assess the efficacy of the motor score (M score) component of the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) and the Simplified Motor Score (SMS) in predicting overall outcome in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Objective. To safely and reliably simplify the scoring system...

Background. Care of the critically ill patient has become increasingly challenging, with a rising incidence of resistant pathogens resulting in the ineffectiveness of many antibiotics. Severe infection is associated with prolonged intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay, and increased morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. Antimicrobial stewa...

Background Family caregivers in many African countries bear the burden of caregiving alone, with the paucity of research, especially for caregivers of End-Stage Renal Disease patients, having concealed their needs. Aim To explore the caregiver burden of family caregivers of End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) patients in South-West Nigeria. Design Fol...

Background. Care of the critically ill patient has become increasingly challenging, with a rising incidence of resistant pathogens resulting in the ineffectiveness of many antibiotics. Severe infection is associated with prolonged intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay, and increased morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. Antimicrobial stewa...

Introduction: In recent years there has been a movement to promote patients as partners in their care; however this may not always be possible as in the case of critically ill patients, who are often sedated and mechanically ventilated. This results in family members being involved in the care of the patient. To date, this type of care has been rep...

Background: The training of undergraduate midwifery students to identify and manage post-partum haemorrhage, is an essential skill in midwifery. Aim: The aim of this study was to develop, implement and evaluate a simulation learning package (SLP) on post-partum haemorrhage for undergraduate midwifery students using high fidelity simulation without...

OBJECTIVES. This retrospective review of a prospectively entered and maintained hybrid electronic trauma registry was intended to develop a comprehensive overview of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in children and adolescents and to compare it with previous audits from our local environment and from other developing world centres. All TBI patients adm...

Introduction The aim of this study was to examine and interrogate outcomes in trauma laparotomy in a South African trauma centre to determine whether systematic factors were associated with any discrepancies in outcome. Methods This was a retrospective review of a prospectively entered trauma registry undertaken at the Pietermaritzburg Metropolita...

Aim: To conduct a cross-sectional survey of next of kin needs of critically injured trauma patients admitted to Intensive Care Units in South Africa. Methods: The needs of next of kin of trauma patients (in public and private hospitals) who were critically injured and required admission to Intensive Care Units were surveyed at two points: on adm...

Nurses are the largest group of healthcare workers in Africa. By adequately equipping nurses to identify, intervene and care for emergency conditions, emergency healthcare systems can be strengthened. To address this need, a nursing working group was formed within the African Federation for Emergency Medicine (AFEM). The aim of this international e...