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Background: Death is an unavoidable feature of the human experience, and nurses play a critical role in caring for patients at the end of life. Nurses’ attitudes toward death reflect their individual feelings toward death but may affect the quality of care provided at the end of life. Objectives: To explore the nurses’ attitudes toward death and the factors that may affect the quality of end-of-life care delivery in Oman among patients cared for in tertiary hospitals. Design: A cross-sectional study design. Methods: The study explored the nurses’ attitudes toward death in Oman through a nationwide survey of the major governmental hospitals in Oman. The Death Attitude Profile–Revised scale was adopted to collect data from 1469 nurses working in tertiary hospitals using simple random sampling and population proportionate sampling methods. Results: The nurses in Oman were Omani (46.8%) or Indian (43.7%) and had a bachelor’s degree in nursing education (54.5%), with a mean age and clinical experience being 35 and 11 years, respectively. The mean scores showed that they had slightly more positive (4.78 ± 0.92) than negative (4.30 ± 0.94) attitudes toward death. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to explore correlates of negative and positive death attitudes. The negative death attitudes were significantly associated with nationality (β = −1.25, p = 0.007), clinical experience (β = 0.94, p = 0.012), and self-rated spirituality (β = 0.92, p = 0.043). The positive death attitudes were significantly associated with nationality (β = 2.40, p = 0.009), age (β = 3.71, p < 0.001), and clinical experience (β = 2.40, p = 0.004). Conclusion: The current study shows that nurses in Oman have slightly more positive than negative attitudes toward death. The positive death attitudes were significantly associated with increasing age among nurses and their clinical experience. The negative attitudes were significantly associated with increasing age and self-rated spirituality. Plain language summary Nurses’ attitudes towards death in Oman: Prevalence and correlates in a nationwide sample This research explores how nurses in Oman perceive death and how these perceptions influence the care they provide to patients at the end of life. Understanding nurses’ attitudes toward death is crucial, as it directly impacts the quality of care given to patients and their families during difficult times. We conducted a nationwide survey involving 1,469 nurses working in major hospitals across Oman, utilizing the Death Attitude Profile–Revised to assess their attitudes. The findings revealed that a majority of nurses (approximately 48%) held slightly positive attitudes toward death, while about 43% had negative views. Notably, older nurses and those with more clinical experience tended to have more positive perspectives, whereas negative attitudes were associated with factors such as nationality and personal beliefs about spirituality. These results underscore the importance of providing support and training for nurses to help them navigate their feelings about death, ultimately enhancing the quality of end-of-life care for patients and their families.

Background Efforts to increase access to palliative care (PC) must consider healthcare providers’ level of knowledge and attitude because both affect the quality of services. Nurses play essential roles in the delivery of PC, including end-of-life care. Objectives The study aimed to describe nurses’ readiness to provide PC in Oman by measuring PC knowledge and attitudes towards end-of-life care. Method A cross-sectional design was used. The Palliative Care Knowledge Questionnaire and the Modified Frommelt Attitude towards the Care of the Dying Scale were used to collect data from nurses (n = 1469) practising in government tertiary hospitals across Oman. Results The nurses exhibited suboptimal PC knowledge and positive attitudes towards end-of-life care. Significant differences were noted in some domains of knowledge and attitudes of nurses with different levels of professional experience. Attitude towards end-of-life care was associated with experience, caring for a dying family member, education and training in PC, religiosity, spirituality and age, but none was a significant predictor. The predictors of PC knowledge were gender, caring for a dying family member and education and training in PC. Conclusion Nurses in tertiary care settings in Oman have positive attitudes towards end-of-life care, but they lack optimal PC knowledge. The gaps in knowledge could be attributed to professional education, training and experience. Contribution The identified gaps in nurses’ PC knowledge could influence the provision of PC. Interventions are needed to sustain optimal knowledge and competencies to deliver quality PC to patients and their families.

Purpose - Since little research has been done on e-government initiatives in developing countries from a government perspective, this study aims to contribute towards filling this empirical gap. It also comes at a time when Oman, like many other countries in the region are tackling issues related to transformation of public services and transparent government. E-government is one of the tools in the process of transition.Design methodology approach - A theoretically derived and empirically confirmed framework of government motives for implementing e-government is proposed. This study used a qualitative case study approach with semi-structured interviews as the main tool of data collection and hermeneutics as the technique for data analysis. Empirical investigation was preceded by a content analysis of research and public official artefacts relating to motivation for engagement with e-government in 70 developing countries. Identified motives were categorised through the lenses of institutional theory, information quality, and quality of service models and incorporated in a single framework to guide the empirical investigation while keeping it flexible to accommodate for country-specific factors specific to Oman.Findings - Findings suggest that Oman is motivated by driving forces similar to other developing countries. Specifically, the Government of Oman implemented e-government projects due to international coercive, mimetic, and normative dynamics of conformance to international standards. Similarly, the government employed e-government to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of government operations by improving public service quality and quality of information shared between different agencies. Motivating factors were, first, the compelling need to effectively respond to a specific economic crisis of anticipated depletion of oil reserves and, second, institutional dynamics inflicted by the global discourse on e-government and knowledge-based economy.Practical implications - The framework proposed in this paper represents a view of e-government objectives conceptualised in a theoretical context. It can be used to assist policy-makers in formulating successful e-government implementation strategies. In addition, dimensions of service quality and information quality could form a systematic basis for successful provision of electronic public services.Originality value - The research in e-government lacks a clear definition and theoretical linkage of the different adoption motives from a government perspective especially during the pre-implementation stage. The proposed framework strives to be both comprehensive and integrative, based on interrelated theoretical elements, as compared to existing frameworks which mostly focus on the end-user adoption of e-government services.

The political and historical stance of handicraft marks one of the most resistant cultures for technological implementation in the current postindustrial world. This paper explores ways of leveraging the relationship between the Omani traditional handicraft industry and technological innovations, and the main boundaries for technological implementation in handicraft training.

Alcohol withdrawal syndrome, if untreated, can lead to potentially life-threatening complications. Benzodiazepines are the drugs of choice for the treatment of alcohol withdrawal syndrome. We aimed to compare the symptoms-triggered approach and fixed-dose approach of benzodiazepine administration for treatment of alcohol withdrawal syndrome in regard to the health care utilization measured by the total dose of benzodiazepines, length of hospital stays, and 90-day readmissions rate. A single-center prospective non-randomized controlled trial included all patients diagnosed with alcohol withdrawal syndrome. The group of patients admitted between October 1, 2019, and September 30, 2020, were treated with the fixed-scheduled approach (n = 150), while all patients admitted between November 1, 2020, to October 31, 2021, were treated with the symptoms-trigger approach (n = 50). The fixed-dose approach group showed a significant higher 90-day readmissions rate (HR: 2.61; 95% CI = 1.18, 6.84; p = 0.01). Kaplan–Meier survival analysis showed a significantly shorter duration to the first readmission in the fixed-scheduled approach group (HR: 2.3; 95% CI = 5.6, 1.16; p = 0.02). The symptoms-triggered approach group required a significantly lower dose of diazepam (40 mg vs. 10 mg; p < 0.01) and a higher dose of thiamine (800 mg vs. 600 mg; p < 0.01). Length of hospital stay was significantly increased in the symptoms-triggered approach group (3.9 vs. 2.2 days; p < 0.01). The use of a symptoms-triggered approach to treat alcohol withdrawal syndrome was associated with a lower 90-day readmission rate, prolonged period to the first readmission, and reduced total dose of benzodiazepines, but longer length of hospital stays. The symptoms-triggered approach is safe, cost-effective, and associated with reduced alcohol dependence relapse. •The use of the symptoms-triggered approach for treatment of alcohol withdrawal syndrome was associated with reduction of 90-day readmissions, increased duration to the first readmission, and reduced the total dose of benzodiazepines.•Compared to fixed doses of benzodiazepam, the symptoms-triggered approach for treatment of alcohol withdrawal syndrome may increase length of hospital stay.•The use of the symptoms-triggered approach for treatment of alcohol withdrawal syndrome is safe and was not associated with increased in-hospital adverse events.

Introduction:Patient safety is one of the critical and crucial health issues worldwide and in Oman. Limited studies were conducted in Oman regarding the predictors of patient safety culture and frequency of event reporting among critical care nurses.Purpose:This study was conducted to explore to what extent fatigue, workload, and work environment predict patient safety culture and frequency of event reporting among critical care nurses in selected hospitals in Oman.Methods:A cross-sectional predictive design was used to collect data from 270 critical care nurses who were working in Sultan Qaboos University Hospital and Royal Hospital mpleted the self-administered questionnaire with response rate of 90%. Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC), Fatigue Assessment Scale (FAS), Maslach Bumout Inventory-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS), NASA task load index, and Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI) were used. Descriptive analysis included the mean standard deviation, frequency and percentage Correlation analyses and regression analyses were also conducted.Results:Majority of participants was females (86%) and 62.6% of them had Bachelor degree in Nursing. Results of Pearson's correlation indicated that there was negative association between nurses' fatigue, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and overall perception of patient safety culture (r = -0.24, 1 = -0.17, = -0.26, n = 270, p<0.001, respectively), and positive correlation between nurses' work environment and patient safety culture (r= 0.13, n=270, p <0.05). Also results indicated positive correlation between personal accomplishment and frequency of event reporting ( 0.13, n= 270, P <0.05). Results of parsimonious multiple regression model indicated that work environment and feedback and communication about error were predictors for overall perceptions of patient safety culture among critical care nurses in Oman and they accounted for 36.5% of the variance R2= 0.365, F = 20.58, p < 0.01) in overall perception of patient safety culture. The parsimonious multiple regression model results for frequency of events reporting indicated that, feedback and communication about errors was predictor for frequency of events reporting among critical care nurses in Oman and they accounted for 21.4% of the vanance (R2=0.214, F = 12.82, <0.01) in frequency of event reportingConclusions:Utilization of this study finding by hospital administration is an imperative first step in creating a safer healthcare system, which can be followed by cause analyses and action plans to address systematic issues and improve patient safety culture and frequency of event reporting.