Modern Care Journal
Volume:18 Issue: 3, Jul 2021

 From the beginning of puberty, girls are exposed to many physical-psychological problems that experience for the first time, so it is very important to pay attention to puberty health.

 The aim of this study was to determine the predictors of puberty health behaviors based on application of the Integrated Behavioral Model (IBM) among girls’ high school students.

 This descriptive-analytical study was performed on 265 first grade girls’ high school students in Birjand in 2020 using multi-stags sampling. Data collection tools were a researcher-made questionnaire including demographic information and questions related to IBM constructs that were completed self-administered. Data were analyzed by SPSS 19 software using Pearson correlation coefficient and linear regression analysis.

 Pearson correlation showed that all IBM constructs except experiential attitude and control belief had a significant correlation with puberty health behaviors (P < 0.04). In total, about 54% of the behavior variance was explained by three variables of intention, self-efficacy, and mother's job, among which intention was the strongest predictor of puberty health behaviors (P = 0.001).

 The results of the present study indicate the high predictive power of IBM for investigating puberty health behaviors. Therefore, using this model to design educational interventions and improve behaviors in the field of maturity is recommended.

 Diabetes is one of the most common chronic and non-communicable metabolic diseases and one of the major public health problems. Lifestyle and diet are remarkable factors in controlling diabetes.

 This study aimed to determine the level of knowledge and stages of nutritional behavior change in diabetic patients.

 In this descriptive-analytical study, a simple random sampling method was used to select 330 diabetic patients covered by comprehensive health service centers in Ghayenat city, South Khorasan Province, Iran. The research instrument addressed the participants’ demographic information, knowledge, and stages of nutritional behavior change in diabetic patients. The ordinal logistic regression was used to examine factors affecting behavior change. In this regard, the significance level was set to be P < 0.05.

 The participants’ mean age was 57.86 ± 11.72 years, and 63.7% of the patients were female. The mean score of knowledge was 15.73 ± 2.61, and 52.8, 16.9, 8.9, 11.3, and 10.1 percent of the participants were in the maintenance, action, preparation, contemplation, and pre-contemplation stages. The ordinal Logistic regression model revealed that the main factors affecting behavior change were knowledge, level of income, and a family member with diabetes (P < 0.05).

 Given that about two-thirds of diabetic patients take no training course on diabetes, that above forty percent of these individuals have no proper knowledge about the disease, and that half of the patients are in the pre-maintenance stages of behavior change, holding a training course is of paramount importance for patients.

 Establishing appropriate communication with cancer patients is necessary to make decisions for them and involve them in the care process to prevent the adverse consequences of cancer treatment. Thus, the qualitative study on the challenges experienced by oncology nurses can lead to a better understanding of these challenges and help these nurses acquire advanced communication skills.

 This study was conducted to explain the communication challenges experienced by oncology nurses during providing care to cancer patients by applying a qualitative content analysis approach.

 This qualitative study was conducted with the participation of 18 nurses who were selected by the purposive sampling method, working in the oncology departments of Iran’s hospitals in 2021. Semi-structured interviews were held for data collection. After transcribing the interviews, data analysis was performed using the Granheim and Landman (2004) method. The MAXQDA software (2020) was used for data management. The criteria proposed by Lincoln and Guba were used to assure rigour and trustworthiness.

 Thirty subcategories, eight categories, and four themes were extracted following data analysis. The themes included the nurse’s close relationship with cancer patients as a double-edged sword, curvy and sinusoidal professional communication for oncology nurses, relationship with an opposite-gender patient as a missing factor in nursing care, and marginalization of relationships during the coronavirus pandemic.

 Nurses’ challenges in communicating with cancer patients can be reduced by improving their communication skills via various strategies, including empowering nurses by employing cognitive empathy and using communication models such as the Comfort model.

 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has emerged as a pandemic and is accompanied by extraordinary morbidity and mortality. Critically ill COVID-19 patients have frequent thrombotic problems and laboratory evidence of hypercoagulability. The spectrum of presentations and complications of COVID-19 is still evolving. We describe a patient with unusual visual symptoms as the presenting signs of COVID-19.

 In this case report, we describe a patient who presented with acute severe bilateral visual loss and headache. On neurological examination, cranial nerves were normal. There was no motor and sensorial abnormality. While the patient was in the emergency room, he was tested positive for COVID-19 via nasopharyngeal swab polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as part of COVID-19 surveillance. An unenhanced brain CT scan showed infarction in the occipital cortex bilaterally due to ischemic stroke involving the Posterior Cerebral Artery (PCA). A few hours later, oxygen saturation was 42%, and a sudden decline of consciousness was observed, progressing to coma. The neurosurgery intervention failed to change the patient's status, and he was pronounced dead in the next few hours.

 This case illuminates a wide range of COVID-19-related symptomatology and highlights the need for clinicians to be aware of different clinical appearances associated with this infection.

 New coronavirus (COVID-19) has a major impact on the individual's physical activity level (PAL). The COVID-19 outbreak caused a decrease in the PAL, which might also affect the general health and quality of life (QoL).

 This study aimed to evaluate the relationship of PAL with QoL and general health (GH) among COVID-19 recovered individuals (CRI).

 This is a descriptive-analytical study in which 890 CRI (men [n = 438] and women [n = 452]) were recruited from volunteers of different COVID-19 testing centers in Kermanshah Province. The participants were chosen by the multi-stage (Cluster) sampling techniques. The consent form and questionnaires (PAL, GH, and QoL) were filled out, and demographic information was evaluated. The short form of international physical activity questionnaire (IPAQ-SF), GHQ, and the short-form-SF-12 QoL questionnaires were used to appraise the PAL, GH, and QoL. Data were analyzed by independent t-test and Pearson correlation coefficient using SPSS version 24.0 at a significance level of P < 0.05.

 The findings of the present study showed that men and women with COVID-19 had inadequate PAL (876.11 ± 40.23 and 739.08 ± 27.02, respectively), insufficient GH (50.13 ± 3.11 and 54.15 ± 4.28, respectively), and poor QoL (22.02 ± 2.28 and 19.23 ± 1.87, respectively). The results also showed that men had significantly higher PAL (P = 0.035), GH (P = 0.047), and QoL (P = 0.023) compared to women. Also, the results showed a significant inverse relationship between PAL and GH (men: r = -0.589, P = 0.038 and women: r = -0.685, P = 0.029) and a significant positive relationship between PAL and QoL (men: r = 0.792, P = 0.018 and women: r = 0.824, P = 0.001) in COVID-19 recovered individuals.

 Considering the prevalence of COVID-19 and its negative impact on GH and QoL, maintaining adequate PAL can be considered as one of the effective strategies for improving QoL and GH.
 

Transfusion transmissible infections (TTIs) are the most frequent complication of blood transfusions. This fact stresses the need for regular evaluation and monitoring of TTIs in blood donors.

This study was done to determine the prevalence of the hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and syphilis among blood donors at the South Khorasan Transfusion Center (SKBTC) in South Khorasan Province, Iran. This report is the first of its kind that has been performed in this region.

A retrospective study was carried out on 165,267 blood donors at the SKBTC from 2006 to 2016. Data were analyzed on the metrics of donation status, age, gender, educational level, and serologic results for the infectious markers. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software (version 16.0).

The overall seroprevalence rates of HBV, HCV, and HIV infections per 100,000 donations were 247, 21, and 0.6, respectively. There was no positive donor for syphilis. HBV and HCV infections in first-time donors were present at significantly higher rates than in regular and repeat donors (P < 0.001 and P = 0.003, respectively). Although gender was not found to be significantly associated with HBV and HCV (P = 0.32), there was a significant relationship between younger age (P < 0.001) as well as lower educational level and hepatitis agents (P < 0.001). Moreover, being single evinced a significant association with HCV seropositivity (P = 0.001).

This report found a decreased prevalence of TTIs relative to the most of previous reports. This decrease may have resulted from public health programs, improved donor selection, improved recruitment of repeat/regular donors, and the use of highly sensitive kits for the screening procedure.

There is difficulty in identifying low-risk patients with acute coronary syndrome in the emergency department (ED).

The aim of this study was to compare mistriage between the Emergency Severity Index (ESI) plus the cardiac troponin I rapid test (cTnI) and ESI among patients with chest pain.

A randomized clinical trial was conducted from January to April 2019. One hundred patients with low-risk chest pain were randomly allocated to the ESI + cTnI and ESI groups. Triage levels, used resources, and mistriage rate were compared between both groups among patients discharged from the ED and admitted to the cardiac unit (CU) or coronary care unit (CCU).

Our samples included 100 patients (age: 52.9 ± 13.92 years; 51% female) who were equally assigned to the ESI + cTnI and ESI groups. Overtriage rate was 6% and 88% for the ESI + cTnI and ESI groups, respectively. The triage level between the ESI + cTnI and ESI groups was significantly different among patients who were discharged from the ED (3.92 vs. 3.00).

The ESI + cTnI score seems to be more valid than the ESI scale to triage patients with low-risk chest pain. It is recommended to add cTnI to the ESI for the triage of patients with low-risk chest pain in the ED.