Background: Wound healing competence is implied in the nursing profession, but there is no standardized content regulation for wound care in university curricula. The primary objective of this study was to identify the barriers to the acquisition of knowledge about skin integrity impairment. Methods: A quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test study with an ad hoc questionnaire involved 304 students (control: 165; intervention: 139) from June to July 2023. A 10-h educational intervention focused on skin integrity assessment and treatment was conducted. Results: The control group, scoring 17 ± 0.22 out of a maximum of 61, achieved a significantly lower final test score (p < 0.001) compared to the wound care educational intervention group, with the pre-test group scoring 30 ± 0.76 and the post-test group scoring 43 ± 0.61. The educational intervention in wound care program improved nursing students’ knowledge of prevention, assessment/diagnosis, treatment, lower limb wounds, and wound bed preparation by replacing the number of "Don’t know" answers in the post-test group with correct answers. Conclusions: The barriers identified to the acquisition of knowledge about skin integrity impairment in nursing studies are the following: the transversality of teaching, the teaching and evaluation system, and the variability in the training of professionals and teachers in charge of their education. The educational intervention can be used to consolidate knowledge and to enhance students’ self-confidence in caring for patients with wounds.

Chronic wounds are defined as those with disturbances in normal healing. They involve symptoms like exudate, odor, pain or impaired mobility, severely impacting life quality. In the case of patients with additional comorbidities, these are known to aggravate the healing impairment. Amniotic membrane (AM) is gaining attention for its regenerative potential, as it has shown promise in treating hard-to-heal wounds, such as diabetic foot ulcers. This work examines a series of five patients who, while suffering an array of other chronic conditions, were treated with AM for the management of non-healing chronic ulcers. Inclusion criteria involved patients with lesions that have been active at least for six weeks and resistant to multiple treatments, accompanied by complex underlying pathologies affecting cardiovascular, immune or renal functions. Exclusion criteria included untreated active infections and patients undergoing other experimental treatments. The mean age of the patients was 68.4 ± 5.2 years. Wounds were treated once a week with AM, following standardized procedures. The variables measured included pain levels, microorganism presence, wound reduction and the number of AM applications to recovery. The median pain VAS score decreased significantly from seven at the start to two at the end of procedures. Four out of five patients achieved complete epithelialization, while the remaining patient showed significant reductions of 40% in wound size after 14 months. Our results confirm how the application of AM is a safe and effective resource for the management of chronic wounds in patients with serious comorbidities, enhancing patients’ quality of life, firstly by reducing pain, later by allowing recovery. Future research, including molecular analyses of wound exudates before and after AM treatment, can contribute to better understanding and fine tuning of this therapeutic resource.

Aim: To explore nurses’ perceptions regarding their knowledge, degree of autonomy, and the difficulties encountered in managing diabetic foot in Primary Care. Background: Diabetes mellitus is a chronic condition with a high prevalence in Spain, predominantly type 2. One of its most serious complications is diabetic foot disease, affecting between 19% and 34% of patients and associated with considerable morbidity and amputation risk. Primary Care, particularly nursing professionals, plays a pivotal role in the prevention, assessment, and management of diabetic foot. However, institutional, methodological, and personal barriers continue to affect care quality. Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional observational study was conducted using quantitative and qualitative methods. A validated ad hoc questionnaire was administered to 176 nurses from the Murcian Health Service participating in a blended learning course on diabetic foot. Variables assessed included professional autonomy, knowledge, dressings use, clinical documentation, training, and perceived challenges. Qualitative analysis was based on open-ended responses using content analysis. Findings: A total of 88.1% of nurses reported autonomy in performing foot examinations; however, only 45.5% managed wound care independently. Just 19.9% considered themselves sufficiently trained, while 42.6% felt confident in selecting dressings appropriate to the healing phase. Although 56.8% regularly completed specific clinical documentation forms, many still expressed uncertainty about dressing use. Qualitative analysis identified five key barriers: lack of knowledge, patient complexity, institutional constraints, issues of authority and communication, and professional insecurity. These findings provide a current picture of persistent barriers in diabetic foot care and reinforce the need for targeted training and institutional support.

Cellular therapy is a promising treatment option for Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD). Different cell types can be used to regenerate and repair tissues affected by PAD. Many studies have proposed the use of stem cells, such as mesenchymal stem cells, or even mononuclear cells isolated from peripheral blood or bone marrow, to treat PAD. This paper reports a protocol of systematic review and meta-analysis that aims to identify the effects of stem cell treatment in patients with peripheral arterial disease. The search will be conducted in the following database: PubMed/MEDLINE, Clinicaltrial.gov, Scopus, Embase, Epistemonikos, Web of Science and Cochrane Library. Studies will be selected independently by two reviewers and will include all published randomized and non-randomized clinical trials. The data extraction will include studies population characteristics, type of treatment and main outcomes. We will assess the methodological quality of the studies using the Cochrane Risk of Bias 2.0 and Risk of Bias in Non-randomized Studies of Interventions. The certainty of the evidence will be rate using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations. The findings will be presented in narrative summary tables and in a meta-analysis.

Objectives: This pilot study evaluated the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary outcomes of the Up-Res school-based resilience intervention designed for immigrant and refugee students in European secondary schools (Germany and Greece). Methods: A sequential explanatory mixed-methods design was implemented across four pilot schools in Germany and Greece. In the quantitative phase, 57 immigrant and refugee students (aged 12–15 years; 63.2% male) completed the 25-item Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-25) across three time points (PreTest, PosTest after Module 1, and final PosTest), with longitudinal changes analyzed using Friedman and post hoc Wilcoxon tests. In the qualitative phase, inductive thematic analysis was applied to teacher analytical reports, authorized student interview recordings, and digital reflection journals to evaluate implementation conditions and mechanisms of change. Results: Statistically significant longitudinal gains were observed across all resilience sub-dimensions (all p < 0.001), with overall resilience scores increasing from baseline (60.44 ± 12.72) to mid-intervention (68.88 ± 15.67) and final post-test (74.51 ± 15.90, W = 0.64). The qualitative findings supported these improvements through five key themes: growing student engagement, high contextual relevance of migration-sensitive materials, perceived skill gains (coping, emotion regulation, positive thinking), strengthened trust and willingness to seek adult help, and key practical considerations (pacing and group size). Conclusions: The Up-Res intervention is a feasible, acceptable, and contextually meaningful framework for enhancing psychosocial resilience and social connectedness among displaced youth. Translating abstract concepts into concrete, participatory activities, as well as adopting a strengths-based approach, can facilitate implementation in European educational settings.

University students are currently exposed to high levels of academic stress, which negatively affects mental health and psychological well-being. Stress perception depends on individual appraisal processes and coping strategies, as well as emotional resources such as emotional intelligence, resilience, and self-esteem. However, few studies have jointly examined these variables across different academic disciplines. This study aimed to address the gap in comparative research between health sciences and computer engineering regarding academic stress and its emotional correlates. A cross-sectional study was conducted with a convenience sample of 277 1st-year students from a private university in Spain. Data were collected using validated scales (Academic Stress Coping Scale, Ryff, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Rosenberg, and Trait Meta-Mood Scale 24). The study was approved by the Catholic University of Murcia Ethics Committee (code CE022402). Participants completed a battery of validated questionnaires assessing perceived stress, coping strategies, emotional intelligence, resilience, self-esteem, and psychological well-being. Group comparisons and correlation analyses were performed using nonparametric tests. Health Sciences students reported significantly higher stress levels than computer engineering students ( P < .05). Specifically, 37.25% of medicine students reported experiencing “a lot” of stress, compared to only 10.2% of computer engineering students. Nursing students showed the highest levels of psychological well-being, self-esteem, and resilience. Significant negative relationships were found between stress and positive reappraisal ( r = −0.32, P < .01), resilience ( r = −0.29, P < .01), self-esteem ( r = −0.26, P < .01), and self-acceptance ( r = −0.24, P < .01 mainly among nursing and physiotherapy students. Medicine students displayed lower emotional clarity (21.7 ± 7.7), which was positively associated with stress ( r = 0.28, P < .05). The findings highlight discipline-specific differences in stress and emotional resources, underscoring the need for targeted university interventions. Specific programs to enhance resilience are recommended for physiotherapy students, while medicine students specifically require emotional clarity training to improve their coping skills and psychological well-being.