Tunisian Nurses experiences of their humanitarian mission in the ''Choucha” Refugee Camp

Background

Participation in a humanitarian mission can be considered as a heroic work especially for health professionals. In 2011, a refugee camp was set up in southern Tunisia. The objective of this study was to describe and better understand the experience of Tunisian nurses in the Choucha refugee campbased on the Meleis transition theory.

Methods

We conducted a qualitative, phenomenological study among 14 nurses using an interview guide. Data analysis was carried out according to the method of Giorgi, from which 5 core themes and 28 sub-themes had emerged.

Results

This studydescribed the experience of nurses as a passage between 4 different phases: before, during, after the passage to the refugee camp and the memory.Five core themes emerged from our research:1) Trigger events: 3 sub-themes were evoked for the reason of participation: motivation, commitment and expectations; 2) Professional and interpersonal relationships marked the integration of the interviewees despite some misunderstandings, 3) Coping, 4) The impacts are mostly positive, and 5) Feelings that expressed emotions and nostalgia. For the transition, the last stage, which is the appreciation of the past moments, indicated the passage from an unbalanced state to stability.

Conclusions

Looking at the lived experience of the nurses and the transition experience described by the participants, this study found that the lack of training of the nurses previous to the humanitarian mission was the major barrier to making a healthy transition. These findings can contribute to raise the awareness, preparation and education of nurses to improve the experiences of future caregivers who will participate in humanitarian missions.

Key messages

It seems essential to set up training program focusing on preparation and debriefing of nurses to support them in achieving a healthy transition in their humanitarian mission in refugee camps. Training health care professionals before their participation to humanitarian mission in refugee camps can be among the factors that enhance the quality of care provided to refugee populations.

Production and transformation of volatile fatty acids from sludge subjected to hydrothermal treatment

The production of useful organic matter from sludge expands the potential for utilizing the product as a resource. This paper is focused on the accumulation and removal of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) produced from primary, secondary and a mixture of both sludges using hydrothermal treatment with and without the use of oxidants. The results confirmed that the maximum accumulation of VFAs was achieved at moderate hydrothermal treatment temperatures below 200 degrees C, and was dependent on the composition of sludge and the amount of oxidant used for treatment. The maximum accumulation reached 0.26-0.36 mg VFAs as COD per mg VS from the three sludge types. Acetic acid dominated the VFAs and was followed by propionic acid, with the other VFAs accounting for less than 5% of the total VFAs. As hydrothermal treatment progressed in terms of COD removal, the contribution of acetic acid to the total VFAs increased while the contributions of the other VFAs decreased. The VFAs constituted a major component of the accumulated dissolved organic matter, which reached a maximum of 0.5-0.7 mg soluble COD per mg VS from the three sludge types.