Introduction: Nurses are particularly at risk of being affected by professional burnout because of the unique patient – caregiver relationship, which requires strong emotional involvement. Aim: In this study, we decided to examine the mutual correlations of working excessively and burnout – two basic occurrences affecting the mental well-being of employees – and their relationship with sick leave. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted among 460 nurses working in 3 hospitals in Poland. The polish version of Maslach Burnout Inventory and the Working Excessively Questionnaire developed by Paluchowski were used to conduct the survey. All the demographic data and data on sick leaves were obtained from surveys in the form of respondents’ self-reports. Results: The constructed regression model shows that the tendency to work excessively, as assessed by loss of control over work (LCW), perfectionist work style (PWS), and perceived oppressiveness of the organization (OOP) measures, explains 12.4% of the variation in burnout levels. This confirms that overburden with work can be a factor contributing to the increase in burnout measures. The constructed logistic regression model showed that increase in the level of occupational burnout by 1 point, the chance of nurse having at least three sick leaves per year increases 1.029 times (i.e., by about 2.9%). None of working excessively measures affected the frequency of sick leaves. Conclusion: (1) Excessive workload increases burnout symptoms, which in turn encourages nurses to take sick leave more frequently. (2) The tendency for nurses to overburden themselves with work may be seen by hospital managers as a positive phenomenon, but, based on this study, it is clear that this can only be done in the short term, whereas in the long term it will be clearly detrimental to the organization of hospitals and the quality of care.

Cellular senescence is a complex process that significantly contributes to the pathogenesis of various diseases, including cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. It is characterized by permanent cell cycle arrest and morphological changes, such as cell enlargement and a decrease in lamin B levels. As organisms age, a secretory phenotype known as the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) develops, which produces pro-inflammatory factors that can impact surrounding tissues and promote disease. This article discusses the molecular mechanisms regulating senescence, notably the p53/p21 and p16INK4a/pRb pathways, which are crucial for inducing cell cycle arrest. While increased activity of cyclin inhibitors like p16 and p21 serves as a protective mechanism against cancer, their prolonged activation can lead to pathological effects. Additionally, the article examines therapies involving senolytics and senomorphics, which aim to eliminate senescent cells. Current research suggests that targeting senescence may represent a promising strategy for treating various diseases, improving health outcomes, and enhancing the overall quality of life as we age.

Background: In the last decade, studies on frailty have become increasingly frequent in the literature on aging, and also the number of available questionnaires regarding frailty has increased over the years. Therefore, the choice of which questionnaire to use is becoming more difficult. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Polish version of the Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI), an instrument that identifies frailty in the elderly population. Design: Setting, and Participants. The study was carried out in a community-based setting in Wrocław, Poland. Nurses and doctors (general practitioners) administered the TFI in primary care facilities. Participants included a sample of 212 community dwelling elderly aged 60 or older (mean age:70.6 SD≥7.16). Measurements: The validation (assessment of face validity, content validity) was carried out in accordance with the literature. The Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI) consists of two different parts. One part addresses the potential determinants of frailty and the other specifically addresses the components of frailty, covering its physical, psychological and social domains. Scale reliability was estimated using two methods: Cronbach’s alpha, measuring the scale’s internal consistency, and the test-retest method, determining the scale’s absolute stability. To assess test-retest reliability, the same group was re-interviewed by the same observer within 10-14 days of the first interview. Results: The test-retest reliability showed a high level of agreement for all items of the instrument, with values ranging from 96 to 100%. The Cronbach’s Alpha internal consistency was 0.74. Conclusion: The Polish version of the TFI proved to be a valid and reproducible tool for assessment of Frailty Syndrome for the Polish population. We would recommend to be used as the screening tool to assess frailty.

Introduction: The health of nurses has a direct impact on the quality of care and health outcomes for patients. The length and quality of sleep as well as the intensity of perceived stress have an impact on the health of nurses. An appropriate stress coping strategy can reduce the impact of stress and mitigate its negative consequences.Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate relationships between excessive sleepiness and insomnia in interaction with selected socio-occupational factors and stress coping strategies among nurses.Material and Method: The cross-sectional study was conducted among 448 nurses working in hospitals in Podlasie Province in Poland. Mini-Cope inventory - the polish adaptation of Carver's BriefCope was used for measuring coping with stress. Sleep problems were assessed using the Athens Insomnia Scale and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale.Results: The most frequent used coping strategies were active strategies (active coping, planning). The least-used were avoidant strategies (behavioral disengagement, substance use). Excessive sleepiness affected 38% of surveyed, while insomnia 33%. Excessive sleepiness was most strongly related with behavioural disengagement (R² = 18.6%), substance use (R² = 17.5%), humour (R² = 13.8%) and denial (R² = 12.0%) while insomnia with substance use (R² = 17.5%) and self-blame (R² = 15.9%). Nurses with tertiary education experiencing sleep problems less frequently used the strategy of humour, behavioural disengagement, substance use and religion than with lower education. Nurses working in interventional wards experiencing excessive sleepiness used the strategy of humour, religion and positive reframing less often than those working in other wards while those suffering from insomnia used the strategy of humour more often than those working in other wards.Conclusions: The implementation of avoidant and support-seeking and emotion-oriented stress coping strategies by nurses were associated with the sleep problems. Tertiary education discourages nurses with sleep problems from using avoidant coping strategies and devoting themselves to religion. Education and improvement of the quality of sleep may prevent nurses from resorting to stress coping strategies that have a detrimental effect on their health and well-being.

[b]Introduction. [/b]Patient aggression affects healthcare quality and, in extreme situations, may even lead to medical malpractice. Little is known, however, about the specific distribution of health care professionals’ exposure to patient aggression in various countries. [b]Objective....

Introduction: Nursing is considered one of the most stressful professions in the world. The high emotional burden associated with excessive workload in qualitative and quantitative terms, exposure to existing and emerging infectious diseases, daily confrontation with the suffering of individuals and their families and low social support leads to the development of numerous stress reactions among nurses, resulting in the development of anxiety, insomnia, social dysfunction and depression. Indeed, somatic and mental stress-related disease rates are higher among nurses than in the general population.Aim: To determine the impact of subjective work characteristics on the mental health of nurses in relation to demographic and occupational factors.Material and method: The research was carried out among 558 nurses working in hospitals in Podlaskie Voivodeship, and used the Subjective Work Evaluation Questionnaire (SWEQ) and Goldberg's GHQ-28 Questionnaire.Results: As measured by SWEQ, and as self-assessed by means of the GHQ-28 questionnaire, overall stress negatively affects the nurses' health (R² = 18.7%). Among the partial measures of the SWEQ questionnaire, work overload had strong and the lack of rewards, social relations and lack of support had weak negative effect on the overall mental health assessment of nurses (R² = 19.2%). The responsibility measure was an exception that had a positive impact on the nurses' well-being. Among occupational and demographic factors, only higher education in relation to secondary education in interactions with the overall stress measure and unpleasant work conditions had a positive effect on the overall mental health self-assessment of nurses (R² = 20.7%).Conclusions: The results of our study provide a clear message to the hospital management that improving the work organization and atmosphere of nurses by reducing perceived work overload and increasing the responsibility of nurses can have a positive impact on their mental health. Encouraging nurses to improve their education can result not only in an obvious improvement in staff qualifications, but also in better resistance to stressors in the workplace and, consequently, in better staff well-being. Both measures can have a positive impact on the quality of care provided by nurses and on reducing staff turnover.