Background/Objectives: This study aims to explore how gender influences the role of informal caregivers aged 65 years, considering the increasing involvement of men in caregiving due to longer life expectancy and societal norms. Methods: A two-year cross-sectional study was conducted in the Valencian Community, Spain, involving informal caregivers of 65 years of age and older who provided home-based care for dependent individuals with chronic conditions. The participants were recruited through public health schools, carers’ associations, and clinical consultations. The caregivers completed a comprehensive semi-structured interview, which included items from the Zarit Brief Scale (seven items) to assess caregiver burden and questions about their caregiving responsibilities, training, and experience, as well as the self-perceived frequency of medication errors. Results: A sample of 80 caregivers over 65 years old was analyzed, including 23 men (28.8%) and 57 women (71.2%). Male caregivers were significantly less experienced (mean = 3.1 years, SD = 5.9) compared to female caregivers (mean = 10.1 years, SD = 13.0; p = 0.004). Men reported lower emotional and physical burdens than women (p-value = 0.003), as reflected in the Zarit scores. Caregiving performance, measured by self-reported errors, was comparable between genders. Conclusions: This study explores the growing role of older male caregivers, highlighting their lower experience and training compared to those of women but similar caregiving performance and lower burden. Additionally, trained caregivers demonstrated significantly lower odds of experiencing burden, underscoring the importance of training as a modifiable factor. The findings emphasize the need for gender-sensitive support and tailored training programs to address disparities, reduce caregiver burden, and enhance caregiving quality and equity.

Background: Hand hygiene is a critical strategy for preventing health care–associated infections (HAIs) and reducing health care costs. However, adherence remains low, particularly among health care assistants (HCAs) and informal caregivers (ICs), who often lack formal training. Virtual reality (VR) delivers standardized, immersive practice with active learning and real-time feedback. It has shown favorable effects on skill execution and acceptability in training paramedics and caregivers. To our knowledge, VR has not been systematically applied to train World Health Organization (WHO)–aligned hand hygiene techniques. Given its portability and suitability for brief, repeatable drills, VR is a plausible solution to upskill HCAs and ICs in both hospital and home-care settings. Objective: This study aims to assess the immediate training effectiveness and implementation feasibility of a brief VR-based hand hygiene program for HCAs and ICs in Colombia. We quantified pre-post changes in correct execution (primary outcome), timing, errors, and knowledge. Success was defined a priori as achieving ≥75% correct execution after training, consistent with adherence levels associated with HAI reductions when embedded in WHO-aligned bundles in prior studies. Methods: In this quasi-experimental, one-group pretest-posttest study, 215 participants (94 HCAs, 121 ICs) completed up to three 15-minute VR training sessions with real-time feedback on hand hygiene technique following the WHO recommendations for hand hygiene. Data were collected at baseline (pre) and immediately after the VR intervention (post). Variables assessed included correct execution (primary; binary), error counts, timing adequacy, knowledge assessment, and acceptability. Results: Correct hand hygiene performance increased from 26.6% to 97.9% among HCAs (95% CI 92.6-99.4; P<.001) and from 9.9% to 95.9% among ICs (95% CI 90.7-98.2; P<.001), with paired odds ratios of 34.5 (95% CI 8.46-140.72) and 21.8 (95% CI 8.90-53.43), respectively. Wide intervals were driven by the very small number who performed worse after training. Timing adequacy improved significantly in both groups, reaching 46.6 (SD 6.7) and 48 (SD 6.6) seconds, respectively (P<.001). Common errors, such as insufficient fingertip coverage and incomplete thumb cleaning, were reduced to near 0 (P<.001). Knowledge scores also improved significantly in both groups, and VR training was rated as “very useful” or “extremely useful” for skill acquisition. Conclusions: VR training significantly improved hand hygiene technique and knowledge. The high acceptance rates observed suggest that these technologies can effectively enhance infection prevention skills in undertrained populations, supporting broader adoption in health care education. Because this brief, portable, and highly acceptable intervention can be embedded in routine onboarding, refresher microdrills, and caregiver education—including home care and resource-constrained settings—VR is well-suited for scale-up. When implemented within WHO-aligned multimodal bundles and with adherence sustained above pragmatic thresholds, this approach may contribute to downstream reductions in HAIs. Definitive confirmation will require a controlled effectiveness trial. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT07005544; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07005544

Background: Informal caregivers play a crucial role in home care and many lack formal training, potentially compromising patient safety. Immersive virtual reality (VR) offers an innovative approach to training by simulating real-life caregiving scenarios in a risk-free environment. Prior to implementation, the environments and the technique’s feasibility and acceptability must be assessed by the professionals who will use it to train caregivers, establishing a performance benchmark based on experienced health care professionals. Objective: This study aims to test feasibility and develop exploratory benchmarks and acceptability of immersive VR training for home caregiving tasks, using experienced professionals to establish a reference standard for execution quality. Methods: This observational study was conducted in health care centers in Andalusia, the Valencian Community, and Madrid (Spain). A structured process was followed, including the identification of key home care tasks, the development of best practice guidelines, creation of immersive VR training materials, and the design of a performance evaluation rubric. Health care professionals (n=75) were recruited using a convenience sampling approach. They performed caregiving tasks in VR, and their performance was recorded and assessed using a standardized rubric, which included 205 predefined errors. Participants also completed a posttraining survey evaluating usability, comprehension, and perceived applicability to real-world caregiving. Results: A total of 75 professionals participated, completing 257 caregiving simulations in a fully immersive VR environment. A total of 417 errors were identified (417/3142, 13.3% of the maximum number of predefined errors), with a mean average of 5.6 (SD 6.8) errors per participant. The most frequent errors occurred in medication management, insulin administration, diaper changing, broncho aspiration prevention, blood pressure monitoring, and hand hygiene. The perceived usefulness of VR training was rated 8.1 out of 10 points (SD 1.9), with 98.7% (74/75) of the participants stating that the time spent in the simulation was worthwhile and 85.3% (64/75) agreeing that the tasks were appropriately represented. Conclusions: Immersive VR training for informal caregivers is a feasible and well-accepted approach, demonstrating high perceived usefulness among health care professionals. The study establishes a preliminary benchmark for home caregiving task execution, providing a basis for future research evaluating informal caregivers’ performance and targeted training interventions to enhance patient safety. Further studies are needed to explore the long-term impact of VR training on caregiver competence and home care quality.

Background: Patient safety is a fundamental aspect of health care practice across global health systems. Safe practices, which include incident reporting systems, have proven valuable in preventing the recurrence of safety incidents. However, the accessibility of this tool for health care discipline students is not consistent, limiting their acquisition of competencies. In addition, there is no tools to familiarize students with analyzing safety incidents. Gamification has emerged as an effective strategy in health care education. Objective: This study aims to develop an incident reporting system tailored to the specific needs of health care discipline students, named Safety Incident Report System for Students. Secondary objectives included studying the performance of different groups of students in the use of the platform and training them on the correct procedures for reporting. Methods: This was an observational study carried out in 3 phases. Phase 1 consisted of the development of the web-based platform and the incident registration form. For this purpose, systems already developed and in use in Spain were taken as a basis. During phase 2, a total of 223 students in medicine and nursing with clinical internships from universities in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Spain received an introductory seminar and were given access to the platform. Phase 3 ran in parallel and involved evaluation and feedback of the reports received as well as the opportunity to submit the students’ opinion on the process. Descriptive statistics were obtained to gain information about the incidents, and mean comparisons by groups were performed to analyze the scores obtained. Results: The final form was divided into 9 sections and consisted of 48 questions that allowed for introducing data about the incident, its causes, and proposals for an improvement plan. The platform included a personal dashboard displaying submitted reports, average scores, progression, and score rankings. A total of 105 students participated, submitting 147 reports. Incidents were mainly reported in the hospital setting, with complications of care (87/346, 25.1%) and effects of medication or medical products (82/346, 23.7%) being predominant. The most repeated causes were related confusion, oversight, or distractions (49/147, 33.3%) and absence of process verification (44/147, 29.9%). Statistically significant differences were observed between the mean final scores received by country (P<.001) and sex (P=.006) but not by studies (P=.47). Overall, participants rated the experience of using the Safety Incident Report System for Students positively. Conclusions: This study presents an initial adaptation of reporting systems to suit the needs of students, introducing a guided and inspiring framework that has garnered positive acceptance among students. Through this endeavor, a pathway toward a safety culture within the faculty is established. A long-term follow-up would be desirable to check the real benefits of using the tool during education. Trial Registration: Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05350345; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05350345

Europe's aging population and the move to home-based long-term care place growing demands on informal caregivers, who often lack formal training. This substantially increases both caregiving and medication errors and caregiver burden. Virtual reality (VR) enables experiential training but is seldom tailored to non-professional caregivers or evaluated in real-world conditions. To analyze the ability of a brief training based on VR to reduce informal caregivers' burden and their caregiving/medication errors at home. Two-arm randomized controlled trial in three Spanish regions. Informal caregivers were randomized to structured VR training or usual materials; N = 140 (70/70) caring for people with chronic conditions. Assessments at baseline and 3 months, aligned with the Kirkpatrick model: L1 satisfaction; L2 video-based error detection; L3 self-reported caregiving/medication errors; L4 emotional burden. The intervention delivered 18 immersive scenarios reflecting common home-care tasks. Satisfaction was high in the intervention arm (≥90% positive on usefulness, relevance, and applicability). Level 2: the intervention group improved error recognition in video scenarios (mean identified errors 5.41 to 6.64; mean change + 1.23; P = 0.0001), with 46/70 (65.7%) showing improvement (χ² = 33.114; p < 0.0001). Level 3: self-reported errors decreased in the intervention group (62 to 23) but increased in controls (46 to 77); the time-by-group interaction was significant (F = 11.53; P = 0.0009). Level 4: emotional burden shifted toward lower categories at follow-up in the intervention group (χ² = 17.73; P = 0.0014). Complementary measures showed an increase in COM-B total score from 6.38 to 7.43 (P = 0.0017), with improvements in Opportunity (P = 0.0325) and positive trends in Capability and Motivation. A short, structured VR training improved recognition of unsafe practices and reduced self-reported caregiving/medication errors among informal caregivers, with concurrent reductions in emotional burden. Findings support integrating immersive, user-centered training into caregiver support programs to enhance the safety and quality of home care. gov NCT05885334.

Background: Providing support to second victims in workplaces is crucial for maintaining high-quality performance. Peer support approach has proven to be one of the most effective and well-accepted approaches. However, the specific competencies required for peer supporters remain unclear. This review aims to address this gap by identifying and categorising these competencies. Objective: This scoping review examines the competencies (skills, attitudes and knowledge) needed to support workers where the pressure of their roles may lead to errors that could cause harm to others. In such situations, these individuals may experience intense feelings of responsibility, potentially impacting their ability to perform their duties. In the healthcare sector, these workers are commonly referred to as ‘second victims’. Eligibility criteria: This review includes studies that define the competencies necessary for peer supporters assisting second victims in any industry. It covers all professional roles susceptible to human errors affecting people’s well-being. The focus is on peer support and psychological first aid, encompassing relevant competencies, attitudes and knowledge for addressing safety-related incidents and workplace errors. Sources of evidence: The scoping review was conducted following Arksey and O’Malley’s framework and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines. Studies were identified through a comprehensive search of databases, including Embase, ProQuest, PsycINFO, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science. References from eligible studies were also considered. Charting methods: Data were extracted and categorised into competency domains through a standardised process. Two reviewers independently performed data extraction, with discrepancies resolved by consensus. Results: A total of 34 studies were included in the review. Across five identified domains, 91 specific and 30 general competencies were categorised. Additionally, the review identified 29 types of peer-based interventions designed to support professionals following incidents or stressful situations. Conclusions: The findings underscore the need for well-defined competencies for peer supporters of second victims, emphasising training in communication, emotional support and role-specific knowledge. Tailoring peer support programmes to the professional context and industry-specific characteristics is essential for providing effective assistance.