Accessible Summary: What is Known on the subject?: Working on the frontline during the pandemic has had a negative impact on the mental health of health professionals. A significant proportion experienced anxiety, insomnia, posttraumatic stress or depression. What the paper adds to existing knowledge?: Analysis and synthesis of the evidence of the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on the mental health of nurses based on their work context. There exists a gap in the literature as no studies were found that analysed the effects on nurses' mental health according to the level of care they worked in (hospital–primary care–nursing home). What are the implications for practice?: There is an urgent need to assess and respond to the impact of COVID‐19 on the physical and mental well‐being of nurses, and to monitor international policies for the improvement of nurses' working conditions. Introduction: Health professionals have suffered negative consequences during the COVID‐19 pandemic. No review has specifically addressed the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of nurses exclusively according to the work context.Aim: To analyse the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on the mental health of nurses who have worked in hospitals, primary care centres and social health centres.Method: PubMed, CINAHL, PsychINFO and Cochrane databases were searched (Prospero number: CRD42021249513). Out of 706 papers, 31 studies (2020–2021) were included in the systematic review. A qualitative synthesis method was used to analyse the data.Results: Most studies were conducted in hospitals or frontline settings. The prevalence of moderate‐to‐severe symptoms was for anxiety 29.55%, depression 38.79%, posttraumatic stress disorder 29.8%, and insomnia 40.66%.Discussion: This review highlights the mental health effects among nurses working in acute hospital settings. It also evidences a data gap on mental health effects among nurses working in primary health care and in nursing homes.Implications for practice: In the post phase of the pandemic, there is an urgent need to assess and respond to the impact on the mental well‐being of nurses, and to monitor international policies for the improvement of nurses’ working conditions.

Aim: To explore the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on the mental health of nurses working in primary, secondary, and tertiary healthcare centers in Navarre (Spain).Background: Healthcare workers, especially nurses, are at high risk for developing mental health problems during the COVID‐19 pandemic.Introduction: Spain ranks among the European countries with the highest incidence of and mortality from COVID‐19 and has a 31% deficit in the number of nurses compared with the average for the European Union.Methods: This was a cross‐sectional study involving 800 Registered Nurses in Navarre, Spain. Four standardized instruments, along with a self‐administered online questionnaire, were used to measure the impact in terms of depression, anxiety, insomnia, and posttraumatic stress disorder. The STROBE checklist for cross‐sectional studies was used to report this study.Results: Of the 800 nurses, 68% had some level of depression, anxiety, insomnia, and distress, and of these, 38% had moderate or severe symptoms. Those who worked in hospital COVID units and in nursing homes showed a higher impact on their mental health.Discussion: The sustained pressure that nurses have experienced in their work during the COVID‐19 pandemic has negatively affected their mental health.Conclusion: This study found that nurses who worked in hospital COVID units and in nursing homes during the pandemic had worse mental health outcomes.Implications for nursing/policy: Recommendations for nursing policy include the need to implement coaching and emotional programs to support nurses on the frontlines of the pandemic. There is also an urgent need for the implementation of national training programs to strengthen health emergency preparedness, improve response capacity, and increase the resilience of nurses to disasters.

Invasive techniques such as venipuncture are painful procedures causing stress and anxiety, both in pediatric patients and in their carers. For this reason, efforts are being made to develop mitigating strategies for the patient’s pain and anxiety during the performance. To analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the use of Virtual Reality distraction techniques as a measure of pain and anxiety reduction in pediatric patients and their parents. In addition, the effects of two modes of Virtual Reality (passive vs. interactive) were compared. A quasi-experimental study was carried out in the pediatric emergency department of a tertiary referral hospital in north Spain. The participants were children who underwent venipuncture for blood extraction and vascular cannulation. From the 124 patients, 51.6% (n = 64) were girls and 48.4% (n = 60) were boys (p = 0.574). The mean age was 8.4 years (SD: 4.1). The mean level of pain experienced was 2.33 (SD: 0.76) in the interactive VR group (n = 88) versus 2.67 (SD: 1.35) in patients with passive VR (n = 36) (p = 0.008); being the presence of anxiety in 27.3% (n = 24) of the cases treated with interactive Virtual Reality and in 88.9% (n = 32) of the patients with passive Virtual Reality (p = 0.000). The virtual reality is an effective method to reduce pain and anxiety levels in pediatric patients, with the effectiveness of interactive virtual reality and its use in the population aged 7–15 years being greater.

Long-term breast cancer survivors (>5 years free of disease) may suffer late sequelae of cancer that impact on their quality of life. The use of telehealth for cancer care is recommended but little is known about the effectiveness of digital interventions for long-term cancer survivors. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a web-based personalized intervention based on artificial intelligence instead of usual primary health care to improve the quality of life of long-term survivors of breast cancer and self-efficacy for the management of late sequelae. A randomized controlled trial will be conducted. The sample will consist of long-term breast cancer survivors recruited from primary health centers. Women will be randomly assigned to the intervention group to receive a web-based personalized intervention or to the control group to receive standard primary health care by nurses. Data on quality of life of cancer survivors and self-efficacy for the management of late sequelae of cancer will be collected and assessed at preintervention, and at 3, 6, and 9 months. It is expected that, at the end of the programme, the experimental group will have improved quality of life and improved self-efficacy for the management of late sequelae of cancer.

The application of augmented reality in training health science students is increasingly widespread. The aim of this work was to assess the usability and user expectations of an augmented reality application for smart glasses (Microsoft HoloLens) that can be used to train on four invasive procedures (i.e. intramuscular injection, nasogastric tube insertion, endotracheal intubation and suctioning via tracheostomy tube). A descriptive study was conducted with nursing students from three Spanish universities. Participants answered a questionnaire to assess the use of the ARSim2care application. This application offers the possibility of visualizing the internal anatomical structures during the training of the clinical technical skills for the performance of the mentioned invasive techniques. The questionnaire included demographic data, the System Usability Scale and questions about the user expectations in relation to learning with the use of augmented reality. In total, 61 participants responded to the questionnaire after using the ARSim2care application. The mean score of the System Usability Scale was 73.15 (standard deviation: 15.04) and 62.4% (n = 38) of the participants considered their experience with the application as excellent or good. In relation to user expectations, more than 90% of students indicated that the use of the application could improve their motivation and stimulation in learning, their content retention and their anatomical understanding. The developed ARSim2care application for Microsoft HoloLens showed a high level of usability and acceptance as a learning tool for training certain clinical procedures by visualizing the internal structures of the body.