Nursing and Midwifery Studies
Volume:1 Issue: 1, Jan-Mar 2012

Education, universal precautions, using protective glasses and a standard method of used needle disposal, are the most important strategies for preventing bloodborne infections.. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of a face-to-face education program with the effect of an official-imperative circular, on the needle-disposal behavior of nurses working in the Shahid Beheshti Hospital, Kashan, Iran.Patients and This was a quasi-experimental study. We randomly selected eight wards from the hospital and educated all of the 120 staff nurses working in those wards about universal precautions. After one month, we communicated an official-imperative circular. A monetary penalty was given for non-adherence to the circular’s procedural advice. We used the SPSS 11.5 software for data management and analysis.. The educational program increased the proportion of recapped needles from 60.7% to 62.3%. However, this increase was not statistically significant (P = 0.346). After implementing the official-imperative method, this proportion decreased significantly from 62.3% to 11.1% (P = 0.001). Education, per se, is not effective in increasing nurses’ adherence to universal precautions; rather, strict supervision and obligatory regulations should be implemented following education.

Education is an integral part of the treatment in diabetes mellitus. Attendance at long courses might not be convenient for many patients. The current study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of self-management, short course instruction on glycemic control in adults with diabetes mellitus.Patients and A total of 60 patients with diabetes mellitus were randomly allocated into intervention (n = 30) and control (n = 30) groups. Fasting blood sugar (FBS) and blood sugar (BS) (5pm) tests were conducted. The intervention group received instructionabout self-management in diabetes mellitus for two hours, during two sessions. They were followed-up for three months with telephone calls. Patients asked any questions they had during these calls. After three months the patients’ FBS and BS were recorded again. The same process took place in the control group without training. Independent sample t-test and chi-square tests were used to analyze data using SPSS version 16.0. The sample included 60 patients with a mean age of 46 ± 2.14 years. The FBS dropped from 151 mg/dL to 110 mg/dL in the intervention group (P = 0.02). While it increased from 146 mg/dL to 150 mg/dL in the control group. The BS also decreased from231 mg/dL to 196 in the intervention group. (P = 0.05), but it increased from 240 to 247 in the control group (P = 0.09). There was a significant difference in FBS and BS tests in the two groups after three months. (P = 0.002, P = 0.05), respectively. The results showed that a short course of instruction is effective in glycemic control. It is suggested that further research is conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of self-management long course instruction on glycemic control in adults with diabetes mellitus.

Postpartum depression has serious complications. There are various risk factors for postpartum depression and in some cases these are controversial. This study tested the prevalence of postpartum depression and its related factors in Kashan, Iran, in 2006.Patients and In this cross-sectional study, 460 women referred to Kashan’s health centers, during the second and third months after childbirth, were enrolled. The Beck Depression Inventory was used to make a diagnosis of depression. Other variables such as; type of delivery, satisfaction with husband, and demographic features were also assessed. Data were analyzed by chi-square, independent t-test and regression analysis, using SPSS 16 software.. The prevalence of severe and moderate depression was 28.9%. Our findings did not reveal any significant relationship between; type of delivery, unwanted pregnancy, gender of neonate, duration of marriage and gravidity with postpartum depression (P > 0.05). The stepwise regression analysis showed that depression made a significant model with; satisfaction with husband, age and education of mother. Satisfaction with husband, age and education of mother are the important risk factors for postpartum depression.

Changes in vital signs may affect the myocardial oxygen demand. Massage therapy has been used in intensive care units to relive patients’ physical and psychological problems. In all of the studies massaging has been done by a nurse and the patients’ family did not have any role. The present study aimed to examine the effects of massage therapy by patient’s relative on vital signs of patients with acute coronary syndrome and acute myocardial infarction.Patients and A randomized controlled trial was conducted on 60 male patients hospitalized in coronary care units. In the intervention group, massage therapy was done by one of the patient’s male relatives on the third day of admission. The control group only received the routine care. Vital signs were recorded before and after the massage therapy session. SPSS 11.5 software was employed to analyze data using qui-square, Fischer exact test, independent t-test, paired t-test and descriptive statistics. The pre intervention mean of systolic blood pressure of the intervention group were 126.36 ± 16.80 and changed to 121.70 ± 13.31 after the massage therapy session (P = 0.021). The mean pulse rate of the intervention group was 79.46 ± 10.41 and reached 69.30 ± 9.47 after the intervention (P = 0.001). The mean respiration rate of the intervention group also decreased after massage (P = 0.001). No significant changes were observed in diastolic blood pressure and temperature of the intervention group. No significant changes were observed in vital signs of the control group either. Massage therapy by the patients’ relative, decreased systolic blood pressure, pulse and respiration rates of patients admitted in critical care Unite (CCU). Because of the useful effects of those changes, it can be recommended that massage therapy by a member of the patient’s family be used to balance vital signs of patients admitted in CCU. This study was registered at Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT). The registration number of the study is IRCT201112048296N1.

Maternal passive smoking or exposure to environmental tobacco smoke may be a risk factor for maternal and newborn morbidity. The current study aimed to assess the relationship between preterm delivery and tobacco smoke exposure in pregnant woman referring to the Shabih-Khani maternity hospital in Kashan, Iran.Patients and An analytical retrospective cohort study was conducted on 300 non-smoker pregnant women in two groups of passive smoking and non- passive smoking. Passive smoking was defined as exposed to smoking of 5 or more cigarettes per day during pregnancy at home. Preterm delivery compared between passive smoking and non-passive smoking groups. Preterm delivery in the passive smoking group was more than non-passive smoking group (10% versus 6%, P = 0.2), this difference was not significant. Gestational age was similar in the two groups (38.96 ± 1.56 and 38.99 ± 1.42 weeks in the passive and non-passive smoking groups respectively). Preterm delivery in the exposed group was more than non-exposed group, but difference was not significant.

In today’s complex healthcare environments, the traditional teaching strategies and learning models are unable to prepare learners to confront with rapid changes. Some education scholars believe that the teaching strategies based on socioculturally theory are more responsible and efficient. The present study was conducted to investigate socio-culturally-based teaching strategies being adopted or assigned by Iranian clinical nurse educators as high priorities.Patients and A descriptive study was conducted on 38 nurse educators from two nursing and midwifery faculties in Tabriz and Urmia, Iran. Data were collected over a period of 2 months in 2010 using the Phillip’s Adoption Appraisal Instrument, developed by Bonk & Kim. The instrument items have been ranked on a 4-point Likert-type scale and ordered in 10 subscales. The data were analyzed using SPSS software version 13.0. The overall mean, standard deviation, and confidence interval 95% were calculated for each subscale to determine the rank distribution of subscales. All strategies were known as a moderate adoption (2.72 ± 0.44 of 4), however prioritizing in adoption of socio-culturally-based teaching strategies from clinical nurse educators’ viewpoints indicated that 60% of strategies were evaluated as the most adopted strategies, 10% as the least, and the other 30% in moderate mode. Due to the importance of socio-culturally-based theory strategies in clinical settings and the moderate adoption of strategies from clinical nurse educators’ viewpoints,educational planners and policymakers should prepare required prepositions to progress the adoption and the usage of these strategies.

Methods learnt by children to cope with stress will be used in their adolescence. Failure to learn adaptive coping strategies causes some mental, physical and behavioral problems which continue until adulthood. The current study was conducted to investigate the methods of coping with stress among Iranian school-age children. Patients and A descriptive study was conducted in which a randomly selected sample of 839 students of third to fifth grade of primary school in Tabriz, Iran participated. The data were collected using the Schoolagers` Coping Strategies Inventory questionnaire. SPSS software was employed to analyze the data by percentage, absolute frequency, and linear regression test. All coping methods inserted in the questionnaire were used by students. More than 70% of students mentioned “pray”, “say I’m sorry or tell the truth”, and “try to relax, stay calm” out of 26 cases of coping strategies. According to more than 60% of children, “pray”, “say I’m sorry or tell the truth”, and “draw, write, or read something” were the most useful coping methods and “pick on someone” and “yell or scream” were not mostly used by the children under study. Children use variable methods to cope with their stress. Therefore, parents, health trainers and school authorities should distinguish non-adaptive methods of children and teach them the adaptive coping strategies.

Nowadays, the patients’ satisfaction is used as a criterion to measure the hospitals’ service quality. However, there are controversial results about the aspect of caring behaviors which mostly affects the patients’ satisfaction. The current study aimed to assess the relationship between caring behaviors and patients’ satisfaction.Patients and A descriptive correlation study was conducted on 250 randomly selected patients in Beheshti Hospital in Kashan, Iran. A questionnaire was used to gather the data. Degree of satisfaction was measured on a five-point scale using the patient satisfaction instrument, and caring behavior was measured on a six-point scale by caring behavior inventory. A significant positive correlation was observed between caring behavior mean score and that of the patient satisfaction (P < 0.001, r = 0.565). The subscale of “knowledge and professional skills” of the caring behavior inventory obtained the highest and the subscale of “respectful deference to others” got the lowest mean scores. In the patient satisfaction instrument, the two subscales of “technical - professional care” and “patient education” gained the highest and the lowest mean scores respectively. The caring behaviors of nurses and patient education can increase the patient satisfaction.

Adaptation is an important process for humans. Children, who are physically or mentally disabled, impose special stresses on their families, parents and in particular on their mothers. This study examines the relationship between the characteristics of mothers who have educable mentally retarded children, and their adaptation based on Roy’s adaptation model.Patients and This descriptive study was performed on 40 mothers of educable mentally retarded children referred to the single exceptional school in Aran va Bidgol City, Iran, during 2010 - 11. An adaptation questionnaire based on Roy’s adaptation model and demographic questionnaire were completed by the subjects. The results were analyzed using SPSS software version 16. Descriptive statistics and a Fisher’s exact test were used. The overall adaptation of mothers was satisfactory. There was a significant relationship between the child’s birth order (P = 0.04) and the time of awareness of the child’s problem (P = 0.02), with adaptation levels in mothers who had a mentally retarded child. The child’s birth order and the time of awareness of the child’s problem were related to the mother’s adaptation level.

Diabetes is a common problem with severe complications. The control of diabetes needs a close and honest relationship between patients and health professionals. The views of these two groups might influence the professional relationship. The purpose of this study was to identify the views of diabetic patients versus the views of diabetic care professionals on the content of caring.Patients and This qualitative study was conducted with the content analysis method. The participants consisted of adults who had suffered from diabetes for a minimum of one year, and health care professionals working in diabetes care centers. Fifteen patients and fifteen health professionals participated in the interviews. The findings present four main themes which are as follows: what caring is and what means to care, the obstacles in providing care, the outcomes of caring, and specialist community-based care as a crucial intervention in diabetes care, the themes were identified and based on the data analysis, It appeared that patients were more outcome centered, while health professionals were more process- centered in the context of caring. It appeared that patients were more outcome centered, while health professionals were more process -centered in the context of caring.