An Investigation of the Effectiveness of Distance Learning on Nutrition Quality of Hemodialysis Patients during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Single-Blind Randomized Clinical Trial

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has limited hemodialysis patient’s attendance in healthcare centers and receiving diet education. This study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of distance learning on the nutrition quality of hemodialysis patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: In the single-blind randomized clinical trial, 60 patients undergoing hemodialysis were randomly divided into control (n=30) and experimental (n=30) groups. Before and after the intervention, Dialysis Malnutrition Score (DMS), Malnutrition-Inflammation Score (MIS) (primary outcome), albumin, the total iron-binding capacity of the blood (TIBC), and body mass index (BMI) (Secondary outcome) were investigated. The experimental group received educational content through social networks for three months, whereas the control group received routine care and training. Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of the mean of DMS, MIS, albumin, and TIBC before the intervention. Pre-test BMI had a confounding effect; therefore, an analysis of covariance was performed to eliminate that effect. This analysis showed significant differences in the post-test mean DMS, MIS, TIBC, and BMI between the two groups. In the control group, significant differences were observed in MIS and BMI toward deterioration. The results also indicated a significant relationship between education level and age with TIBC and between marital status and albumin index. Conclusion: Distance learning can be considered by healthcare managers and police makers as a suitable alternative to the classic face-to-face learning method to enhance hemodialysis patients’ nutrition quality during the COVID-19 pandemic

Mathematically and experimentally defined porous bone scaffold produced for bone substitute application

Objective (s): Artificial bone implants have been studied as a possible bone replacement for fractured and destroyed facial tissue; the techniques employed to determine the success of the dental implants. The stability, porosity and resistance of the bone implant which is subjected to varying forces and stresses within the surrounding bone is a subject of interest among the dentists. Materials and Methods: An experimental analysis was conducted on bio-nanocomposite scaffold using space holder methods. The reaction of the bio-nanocomposites deformation under load was determined using Abaqus software. Thereafter, an analytical solution was presented to express explicitly the deformation responses of the artificial bone implant. Results: It was seen that the vibrational behavior and mechanical performance of the sample containing 15 wt% additives have shown better mechanical characteristic compared to the pure specimen. On the other hand, the additive weight fraction has a significant effect on the compression test and porosity value. Also, the elastic modulus of the samples increases more than two times with the addition of additive (from 60 MPa to 145 MPa). From the results, it can be concluded that the highest vibration variation is seen in the sample with lower MNPs percentages.Conclusion: By observing the results of the stresses, it was seen that the stresses were in a small value in the bio-nanocomposites with highest amount of reinforcement

تأثیر یک روش تدریس خلاقانه جهت آموزش کدهای اخلاق پرستاری: یک مطالعه نیمه‌تجربی

Background and Aim: Nurses experience a variety of ethical challenges during their careers. Then to reduce these challenges, they need to improve their knowledge and attitude regarding nursing ethics. Hence this study was done aimed to investigate the effect of nursing ethics codes education on nurses' knowledge and attitudes in the adult ward of Kerman selected hospitals. Materials and Methods: In this quasi-experimental study 88 nurses were selected by convenience sampling method and randomly assigned into two groups of experimental and control (n=44). Then the experimental group was given a pocket guideline about nursing ethics codes. Before and after the intervention, the data was collected by a questionnaire. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings: The knowledge and attitude mean scores of the experimental group before and after training were 19.52+0.64, 17.71+0.59 and 27.55+0.52 and 23.9+0.54 respectively. The results showed that there was a statistically significant difference in the experimental group (p<0.000). Ethical Considerations: The study subject and method were approved by the Kerman University of Medical Sciences Ethics Committee. Written informed consent was signed by nurses and emphasized voluntary participation, information confidentiality, and withdrawal from the study at any time. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that ethics codes teaching improved nurses' knowledge and attitude. Therefore, to improve the health services quality, the training of nursing ethics codes is suggested and should be considered as an important component of nursing education.   Cite this article as: Khandan M, Abbaszadeh A. Effects of Creative Teaching Method for Nursing Ethics Codes' Education: A Quasi-Experimental Study. Med Ethics J 2020; 14(45): e17.زمینه و هدف: پرستاران در طول دوره کاری خود چالش‌های اخلاقی متعددی را تجربه می‌کنند و برای کاهش این چالش‌ها نیازمند ارتقای دانش و بهبود نگرش خود در رابطه با کدهای اخلاق پرستاری می‌باشند، لذا این مطالعه با هدف بررسی تأثیر آموزش کدهای اخلاق پرستاری بر دانش و نگرش پرستاران شاغل در بخش‌های بزرگسالان بیمارستان‌های منتخب شهر کرمان انجام شد. مواد و روش‌ها: مطالعه حاضر یک تحقیق نیمه‌تجربی است که 88 پرستار به صورت روش نمونه‌گیری در دسترس انتخاب و سپس به طور تصادفی ساده به دو گروه 44 نفره در گروه مداخله و شاهد تقسیم شدند. سپس راهنمای جیبی در رابطه با کدهای اخلاق پرستاری در اختیار گروه مداخله قرار گرفت. قبل و بعد از مداخله، اطلاعات مورد نیاز توسط پرسشنامه جمع‌آوری گردید. جهت تحلیل داده‌ها از آزمون‌های آماری توصیفی و استنباطی استفاده شد. یافته‌ها: میانگین نمرات حیطه دانش و نگرش گروه مداخله قبل از آموزش به ترتیب 64/0±52/19 و 59/0± 71/17 و بعد از آموزش 52/0±55/27 و 54/0±9/23 بود که در گروه مداخله اختلاف آماری معناداری مشاهده شد (000/0>p). ملاحظات اخلاقی: موضوع و روش مطالعه توسط کمیته اخلاق دانشگاه علوم پزشکی کرمان تأیید شد. رضایت‌نامه آگاهانه کتبی توسط پرستاران امضا و بر مشارکت داوطلبانه، محرمانه بودن اطلاعات و خروج از مطالعه در هر زمان تأکید شد. نتیجه‌گیری: نتایج این مطالعه نشان داد که آموزش کدهای اخلاقی موجب افزایش دانش و بهبود نگرش پرستاران در گروه مداخله شده است. بنابراین پیشنهاد می‌شود که جهت ارتقای کیفیت خدمات سلامت، آموزش کدهای اخلاق پرستاری به عنوان جزء مهمی از آموزش پرستاری در نظر گرفته شود

Effect of Educational Intervention Based on Orem\'s Self-Care Theory on Health Literacy in Patients with Prostate Cancer under Chemotherapy: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Background and Objective: Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers and the cause of death among men. Health literacy helps the maintenance and promotion of people's health through improving self-care behaviors. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the effect of educational intervention based on Orem's self-care theory on the health literacy of patients with prostate cancer undergoing chemotherapy in Shiraz, 2019-2020. Materials and Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, 134 patients with prostate cancer and under chemotherapy were randomly divided into two control and experimental groups (n=67 each). The control group received routine training, while the experimental group received educational intervention based on Orem's self-care theory. Data was collected via the Health Literacy Questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS software (version 21). Results: The mean health literacy scores in the experimental and control groups were obtained at 97.14±13.02 and 98.41±14.99 before the intervention and 100.22±14.14 and 146.02±9.09 after the intervention, respectively. There was a significant difference between the two groups only after the intervention (P<0.05). A significant improvement was also observed in the mean health literacy score of the experimental group, compared to before the intervention (P<0.05). The results indicated a significant relationship between mean health literacy scores and education and resource access methods (P<0.05). Conclusion: The self-care education based on Orem's theory increased health literacy in patients with prostate cancer undergoing chemotherapy. Therefore, educational intervention based on Orem's self-care theory is suggested to promote health literacy in these patients

Quality Assessment of Educational Services in Nursing and Midwifery School of Kerman Based on SERVQUAL Model

Introduction: One of the most important factors in the success and survival of the higher education system is attention to the quality of provided services. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of educational services in the Razi faculty of nursing and midwifery of Kerman based on SERVQUAL model in 2014. Methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, 150 students of the faculty of nursing and midwifery were selected by simple random sampling method. The data collection tool was SERVQUAL standard questionnaire which included three parts of demographic information and 28 pairs of items measuring current and desired status of service quality. The mean difference between the current and desired status was calculated as service gap. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (paired t-test, independent t-test, Kruskal-Wallis, and ANOVA). Results: The results showed that a negative gap existed in all dimensions of the service quality with the maximum gap being in the physical and accountability dimensions (-1.7) and the minimum gap in the reliability dimension (-0.6). There was no statistically significant difference between the gap in quality of educational services in the five dimensions and gender and educational level this difference was only significant between the gap in quality of educational services in the five dimensions and field of study (p< 0.05). Conclusion: Given the negative gaps in the five dimensions of service quality and greater gaps in physical and accountability dimensions, it is recommended that resources be allocated by appropriate planning and prioritization and also training courses be offered for staff and faculty members about effective methods of presenting educational services and effective communication with students

Investigation of Digital Citizen Science and its Challenges in Iran

This study aims to investigate digital citizen science projects in Iran and the challenges in this field from the perspective of experts. The present study is exploratory with a content analysis approach. First, scientometric research was conducted in Scopus to assess the status of digital citizen science. Second, to identify the challenges of digital citizen science in Iran, experts were interviewed. Though the number of scientific publications in this field has been growing recently, Iran's share of the scientific output is quite small. A Review of qualitative data obtained from interviews showed that the main challenges in this field in Iran are: Funding, Government policy, Engagement, Time, Recognition, Data quality for citizen science, Volunteers for citizen science, Capacity and skills, and Communication. This research can be a guideline for experts in the field of digital citizen science. These technologies can also facilitate interactions and communication between professionals and non-professionals. Despite the spread of digital citizen science projects in European and American countries, the term is unfamiliar in Iran

Comparative Study of Nursing PhD Curriculum in Iran and Widener University

Introduction: Nursing PhD programs are developing across the world and graduates, as professional nurses, are expected to reform nursing care in health systems according to society's needs. This study aimed to compare the curricula of nursing PhD programs in Widener University and Iran. Methods: This descriptive-comparative study was carried out in 2014. In order to compare components of nursing PhD program curriculum in Iran and Widener University, data were collected by searching through the internet and compared using Bereday’s four-stage model: description, interpretation, juxtaposition and comparison. Results: In Iran’s nursing PhD curriculum, the relationship between Islamic and professional values, and learners’ needs and capabilities is not clear. The content of some courses are very abstract and emphasize on theoretical issues. The executive strategies of the Widener University’s curriculum do not stress writing papers as a course requirement; while it is obligatory in Iran to publish papers based on dissertations. Courses are presented in both in-person and virtual classes in Widener University; however, they are presented only in in-person classes in Iran. It is only in terms of the specifications and structure of the program where Iranian and Widener University’s curricula have common grounds. Conclusion: The findings suggested that considering professional values, Islamic doctrine and culture, graduates’ roles and tasks, and society’s needs, the content and methods of presentation and evaluation of the PhD curriculum should be revised