فهرست مطالب e. moradi-asl

Coronaviruses are a large group of viruses and constitute a subfamily of Coronaviridae ranging from the common cold virus to viruses causing more acute diseases such as SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Symptom), MERSE (Middle East Respiratory Symptom) and COVID-19 inflicting human respiratory system. The aim of this study was to evaluate the trend of changes in the clinical symptoms of COVID-19 disease during the epidemic period in patients admitted to hospitals in Ardabil province.

In this cross-sectional (descriptive-analytical) study, all patients with suspected symptoms of COVID-19 who were referred to hospitals in Ardabil province were studied. The information was extracted from the hospital data registration system of Ardabil University of Medical Sciences and was analyzed in two time periods between 20th February to 10th July 2020. Chi-square and Fisher tests in SPSS 16 software were used to investigate the relationship between COVID-19 symptoms and time periods.

The total number of hospitalizations during the study was 5541, which after PCR test was positive for 2506 patients (45.22%). Patients were examined at two different time intervals. The first time period from the beginning of the disease in Ardabil province to 4/20/2020 and the second time period from 5/1/2020 to 10/7/2020 were studied. According to the results of this study, the prevalence of stomachache and bruising had almost doubled between the first and second time (p<0.05). However, the prevalence of general weakness, confusion or irritability, runny nose, chest pain and conjunctival redness were significantly reduced during this period (p<0.05).

This study showed that at the beginning of the epidemic, respiratory symptoms had reported in most patients. Over time, some other symptoms, such as gastrointestinal, olfactory, and taste symptoms, had increased, but respiratory symptoms in COVID-19 were still severe and directly affected hospitalization and mortality.

Currently, the coronavirus pandemic is one of the most important health problems all over the world. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of Ardabil University of Medical Sciences during the coronavirus epidemic in Ardabil province.

This cross-sectional study was performed in Ardabil province in northwestern Iran. All patients admitted to hospitals in Ardabil province were recruited. All data were collected from the information registration portal, which was designed according to the instructions of Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education. In this portal, demographic characteristics, clinical and laboratory presentations and other data for patients in all hospitals were recorded in one format. SPSS-19 software was used for simple statistical analysis.

During the period from the beginning to preparation of this report, four peaks of Covid-19 were observed in Ardabil. The total number of PCR samples was 76673, of which 33189 (43%) were positive. The number of hospitalized patients was 28792, of which 13716 were positive and the number of outpatients was 47881, of which 19473 were positive.

The results of this study indicate that despite the implementation of national guidelines by Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, the number of hospitalizations and death rates of COVID 19 are still relatively high.

Hand Hygiene by health care providers is a key factor in patientschr('39') health. The aim of this study was to determine knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of nurses working in Valiasr Hospital in Meshginshahr regarding hand hygiene in 2018.

In this cross-sectional study, 100 nurses working in all wards of Valiasr hospital in Meshginshahr in 2018 were selected by census method. Nurseschr('39') knowledge, attitude and practice questionnaire about hand hygiene was used for data collection. Data were analyzed by SPSS software version 16 and Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney and Pearson correlation tests. In all cases of statistical analysis, p-value less than 0.05 were considered significant.

The mean age of the nurses was 32.9 years. The mean score of knowledge, attitude and practice of nurses regarding hand hygiene were 9.5±1.5, 3.6±0.36, and 4.5±0.41, respectively. This study showed that the most unfavorable score of knowledge (29%) was related to the phrase "hand hygiene is not necessary after office works". The most unfavorable attitude score (30%) related to "I think the lack of an acceptable soap product can be one of the reasons not wash your hand" and the most unfavorable performance score (57%) was related to "Washing hands after touching healthy skin".

According to the present study, nurses have a good knowledge, attitude and practice about hand hygiene. But there is still a gap with ideal situation, which due to the undeniable importance of hand hygiene in improving the quality of patient care; interventions should be made in this regard.