Effect of Post-Hospital Discharge Follow-up on Health Status in Patients with Burn Injuries: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Background: Patients with burn injuries still face various burn-related challenges after being discharged from the hospital. Hence, a follow-up program for such patients is essential. The present study aimed to evaluate the health status of burn victims after 1.5 months follow-up. Methods: The present randomized clinical trial was of a pretest-posttest design, carried out in Kermanshah (Iran) from July 2016 to September 2017. A total of 117 participants were recruited out of which 86 were included in the analysis. The participants were randomly assigned into two groups, namely the intervention group (N=42) and the control group (N=44). All participants were evaluated both at the time of hospital discharge and at 1.5 months post-discharge. The follow-up plan for the intervention group included home visits, telenursing, and referral to specialists or health education centers. To evaluate the physical and psychological status of the participants, five different instruments were used; namely the Burn Specific Health Scale-Brief (BSHS-B), the General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28), the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI), the Vancouver Scar Scale (VSS), and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). All statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS software (version 17.0). Data were analyzed using the Chi-square test, independent t-test, and paired t-test. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The mean score of the BSHS-B questionnaire at both the time of discharge and 1.5 months post-discharge follow-up for the control and intervention groups was 61.22±19.07, 57.14±18.92; 83.70±24.73 and 105.16±29.17, respectively. There was a significant difference between the groups at 1.5 months post-discharge follow-up (P<0.001). At 1.5 months, the VSS score was 5.16±1.68 and 6.77±3.46 for the intervention and control groups, respectively. The GHQ-28 score was 28.69±12.39 and 40.79±16.20 for the intervention and control groups, respectively. The VAS and BPI scores of the control group were 5.56±3.11 and 21.93±29.25, respectively. For the intervention group, these scores were 4.85±3.49 and 15.61±27.47, respectively. There was a significant difference between the groups as to the GHQ and VSS scores (P<0.05). However, no significant difference was noted in the BPI and VAS scores (P<0.05). Conclusion: Health status, psychological status, and scar management were improved due to post-discharge follow-up. However, burn patients required continued care for pain, psychological health, and itching problems. Trial Registration Number: IRCT2016110630712

Management of compassion fatigue in clinical nurses: A qualitative content analysis

Background: Compassion fatigue (CF) is a progressive process of absorbing patients’ pain and suffering resulting from caring interactions between caregivers and patients. Since compassion fatigue is strongly influenced by cultural and ethnic differences, the question arose, "How do Iranian deal with CF?”Objectives: This study aimed to obtain a deep understanding of Iranian nurses’ strategies in dealing with CF.Methods: The study was conducted using the conventional content analysis method. Purposive sampling was conducted to select clinical nurses working in hospitals of Tehran and Kashan Universities of Medical Sciences, Iran. Using semi-structured face-to-face interviews, data were collected from 13 nurses who had experienced CF. Data analysis was performed according to the steps proposed by Graneheim and Lundman. To prove the trustworthiness of the data, the four criteria of credibility, dependability, confirmability, and transferability were used.Results: Participants included 13 nurses whose average age was 31 years. Three categories emerged from the participants' experiences, namely "creating a work-life balance," "trying to ignore," and "use of support circle." All categories were placed under the theme of “struggling to survive in a turbulent workplace”.Conclusion: Nurses make lots of effort to deal with CF in personal and social levels. Healthcare managers can help nurses by providing them with more support, such as spiritual and organizational ones

Evaluation of the level of professional socialization of postgraduate nursing students

AbstractBackground and Aim:Professional socialization is an important issue in nursing. This process creates a mechanism thatgroup members think and act the same and finally will control over their actions. With growingexpectation from nurses omits exits professional socialization dimensions such as independency,problem solving, responsibility, conducting research and competency of care delivery.Nevertheless, there are fewer problems with professionalism in nurse specialists and the levels ofpatient’s satisfaction of delivered services are increased, so the aim of this study is to evaluate thelevel of professional socialization of nursing student postgraduate degree.Materials and Methods:A descriptive study in Shahid Beheshti School of nursing and midwifery in 2015 was conducted.Population of study was the MSc nursing student. Census Sampling was conducted and all studentswho wish to participate in the study were enrolled. The questionnaire was an instrument which wasdesigned in a previous PhD in nursing dissertation.Finding:The range of participant’s age was 23 to 45 with mean ± SD 30.81±6.1 years. 79.4% of study unitswere female. The majority of students were married and live in urban area. Mean score ofprofessional socialization of nursing students was 212±22.2 and it was ranged from 157 to 269.Conclusion:Based on the scores of professional socialization of MSc nursing students, it was in a high level.The score was equal to the level of proficient and expert at Benner’s stages of clinical competence.It can be recommended that to make the learning of professional development and socializationfrom undergraduate level more effective the education in postgraduate degrees should be facilities.More collaboration between university and clinical environment should be provided.Keywords:Professionalism; Socialization; Nursing; Education; Education, Nursing, Postgraduat