Modern Care Journal
Volume:13 Issue: 2, Apr 2016

Phlebitis is among the most common complications of intravenous therapy. It significantly correlates with the length of hospital stay and mortality rate.
This study sought to examine the effects of quercetin topical cream on phlebitis caused by peripheral intravenous catheters.
This single-blind randomized controlled trial was done in 2015 on 66 patients hospitalized at the internal medicine ward of Valiasr (PBUH) hospital, Birjand, Iran. The patients were conveniently recruited and randomly allocated to a control and an experimental group. The data collection tool was a five-point phlebitis assessment scale. As soon as the symptoms of phlebitis were observed, the related catheter was removed and the catheter insertion site was treated every twelve hours for 72 hours with either 2% quercetin cream (the experimental group) or a eucerin-based cream (the control group). Friedman, Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney U tests were run using the SPSS software for data analysis (v. 14.0).
There was no significant difference between the groups regarding patients’ age (P = 0.068) and gender (P = 0.69). No significant changes were observed in the severity of phlebitis in the control group during the 72-hour course of the study. However, in the quercetin group, the severity of phlebitis decreased significantly after twelve hours from the beginning of the intervention and the trend of its variations was downward (P 2% Quercetin cream could be effective in treating phlebitis caused by intravenous catheters and can be used as a useful and safe treatment modality for phlebitis management. The positive effects of quercetin on phlebitis appear very soon after its use.

There is a little consistency among prenatal care guidelines. An evidence-based guideline can be used to improve the quality of the mother and child health care. This study was designed to compare the consistency of the Iranian integrated maternal health care guideline with evidence-based prenatal care manuals and American guidelines.
In this comparative study, the Iranian guideline recommendations were compared with the content of American prenatal care according to obstetrics and gynecology recommendations of the U.S. preventive services task force and evidence-based prenatal care. The strength of the recommendations was assessed based on evidence-based medicine.
In this study, 71 recommendations were compared in four parts. About 18.3 percent of the recommendations were consistent with all guidelines. Screening for group B streptococcus, performing chorionic villous sampling and amniocentesis for at risk women, and anomaly screening were not mentioned in the Iranian guideline. The Iranian guideline was consistent with the content of U.S. preventive services task force in 38% of the recommendations, American Obstetricians and Gynecologists expert panel guidelines in 75.6% of the recommendations, and with evidence-based care in 66.2% of the recommendations.
Although there was a little consistency among guidelines, the Iranian guideline had a good consistency with the American guidelines and evidence-based care recommendations. Updating clinical tests and the prenatal screening part of the Iranian guideline based on the results of this study may increase the effectiveness of the prenatal care and ultimately improve the mother and child’s health.

Smoking is amongst unhealthy behaviors that endangers public health and can impose significant costs on the society. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of cigarette smoking and related factors in Birjand city, Eastern Iran, during year 2014.
This cross-sectional study was conducted on 5235 participants in Birjand city, east of Iran, during year 2014. We analyzed comprehensive data from Birjand study. Researchers asked participants to complete a check-list, which contained demographic questions and infectious disease risk factors. Binary logistic regression model was performed and P Prevalence of smoking was 7.0% (2.0% in females and 12.7% in males). No history of cigarette smoking (OR = 0.02, P The prevalence of cigarette smoking was lower than similar studies in Iran. This study showed that males smoked cigarettes more than females. The results showed that it is better to plan for the future to control cigarette smoking and its related factors.

Hepatitis B infection is one of the common diseases worldwide and the most prevalent communicable virus transferred by blood to the healthcare personnel. Active immunity is the most effective measure to prevent hepatitis B infection. The present study aimed at determining hepatitis B surface antibody (HBsAb) in nursing students in Iran, 2013.
The present cross sectional study was conducted on 178 students of nursing, anesthesia, and operating room. They had been fully vaccinated against hepatitis B. HBsAb level was determined in blood samples by enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) and Dialab kit made in Italy. Independent t test, ANOVA, and the Tukey range test were used to analyze the data. The level of significance was HBsAb level of 4 (2.2%) cases was below 10 mIU/L, 109 (61.3%) had an HBsAb level between 10 and 100 mIU/L, and in 65 (36.5%) cases, HBsAb level was above 100 mIU/L. Mean HBsAb level in the cases was 95.71 ± 61.4 mIU/L. There was no statistically significant difference among the means of HBsAb in terms of gender, time elapsed from the last vaccination, and time to attend training (P In general, it can be concluded that due to high immunogenicity of hepatitis B vaccine, serological immune response assessment of vaccinated individuals is not necessary except for special and risky groups and, therefore, not recommended.

Nurses experience considerable stress due to their difficult working conditions. Experiencing stress over a long period of time can influence mental health.
This study aimed at predicting nurses’ mental health based on their job burnout, perceived social support, and psychological hardiness.
This correlational study was done during year 2015 on 400 individuals, who worked in public hospitals located in Tehran, Iran. All nurses completed Maslach and Jackson’s job Burnout inventory, Zimet et al.’s Perceived Social support scale, Kobasa’s psychological hardiness inventory, and Goldberg and Hillier’s general health questionnaire. The data were analyzed using the SPSS software (v. 19.0) through running the Pearson correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis at a significance level of less than 0.01.
Nurses’ mental health was positively correlated with their job burnout (r = 0.37) and negatively with their perceived social support (r = -0.56) and psychological hardiness (r = -0.53; P Given the significant role of job burnout, perceived social support and psychological hardiness in predicting nurses’ mental health, manipulating these variables can help improve nurses’ mental health.

Anxiety is among the commonest psychological problems experienced by patients receiving hemodialysis. One of the anxiety management strategies is complementary therapy. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of slow-stroke back massage on anxiety among hemodialysis patients.
This randomized controlled clinical trial was carried out in a sample of 60 patients. The patients were allocated either to an experimental or a control group through simple random allocation. Patients in the experimental group received a slow-stroke back massage for 10 minutes thrice a week during 4 consecutive weeks, while patients in the control group received routine care services and had no information about the intervention provided to the patients in the experimental group. The level of anxiety was measured using Splielberger’s State-trait anxiety inventory at 3 time points, namely, after hemodialysis and before the intervention, 15 days after the intervention, and 30 days after the intervention. Data were entered into SPSS software (v. 16.0) and analyzed through running the repeated measures analysis of variance and the independent-sample t-test. Descriptive statistic measures were used for data description.
The repeated measures analysis of variance showed that slow-stroke back massage significantly alleviated state and trait anxiety at 15 and 30 days after the intervention (P Using massage therapy programs can positively affect the level of anxiety among patients receiving hemodialysis.

Infertility is associated with physical, financial, psychological, and social stress, and affects all aspects of infertile couples’ lives. It is among the most stressful life events and can inflict psychological damage on couples. The present study sought to evaluate the effects of a relationship enrichment educational program, based on the theory of planned behavior, on infertile couples.
This was a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental study. The study population was all infertile couples, which had referred to the offices of obstetricians in Birjand, Iran. Thirty-two infertile couples were recruited and randomly allocated to either an experimental or a control group. Data were collected at three time points, before, immediately after, and three months after the intervention, using a researcher-made instrument developed based on the constructs of the Theory of Planned Behavior. The study intervention was a relationship enrichment educational program, which was developed based on the theory of planned behavior and implemented in six ninety-minute sessions in three weeks. Education was provided using the lecture method, PowerPoint presentations, and video clips. The SPSS software (v. 16.0) was used to analyze the data through performing independent sample t test and the repeated measures analysis of variance.
Findings: At baseline, there were no significant differences between the groups regarding the participants’ demographic characteristics and the mean scores of the constructs of the Theory of Planned Behavior. However, following the study intervention, the scores for attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and intention constructs of the theory significantly increased from 79.59 ± 13.6, 43.7 ± 9.7, 2.5 ± 1, and 1.5 ± 0.6 to 95.63 ± 11.4, 51.8 ± 8.1, 4.3 ± 0.7, and 2.7 ± 0.5, respectively (P The relationship enrichment educational program can significantly improve the scores of the constructs of the Theory of Planned Behavior among infertile couples.

Endoscopy is a diagnostic tool, which causes its candidates different levels of anxiety. Anxiety can reduce patients’ tolerance and cooperation and increase the likelihood of endoscopy-related complications. One strategy to alleviate anxiety is patient education. However, previous studies reported conflicting findings about the most appropriate patient education method.
This study aimed at examining the effects of video- and pamphlet-based patient educations on anxiety and satisfaction among candidates for gastroscopy.
This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 90 patients referred to the endoscopy unit of Valiasr hospital in Birjand city, Iran. The patients were selected through convenience sampling method and randomly allocated to a video, pamphlet, or control group. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire, a researcher-made questionnaire for satisfaction assessment, and the Spielberger’s state-trait anxiety inventory. One day before gastroscopy, the participants completed the demographic questionnaire and Spielberger’s state-trait anxiety inventory. Then, educations were provided to them. In the day of their gastroscopy, their anxiety was reassessed both two to three hours before and immediately after the procedure. Collected data were entered into the SPSS software version 15. As all study variables had normal distribution, the data were analyzed by performing the one-way analysis of variance, the Tukey’s post hoc, the paired- and independent-sample t test, the chi-square, and Fisher’s exact tests at a significance level of less than 0.05.
The groups did not differ significantly from each other regarding the pretest and posttest values of total, state, and trait anxiety. However, the level of patient satisfaction in the video group was significantly greater than the control and pamphlet groups (P Video-based patient education can improve patient satisfaction among candidates for gastroscopy.