Curriculum evaluation of nursing education in Iran

The purpose of this thesis is to clarify different aspects of the nursing curriculum from lecturers' and students' points of view in Iran. The evaluation employed a triangulation technique in order to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the nursing programme and to provide explanations for its successes and failures. In addition, it attempts to find whether there was any relationship between the characteristics of the respondents and their evaluation of the curriculum. The thesis begins with an introduction to the research. The general policy of The Ministry of Health in nursing education and also the main problems which the students and the teaching staff are confronted with, and the deficiencies of facilities are clarified as background to the research. After describing the main features of the nursing curriculum, some critical issues in nursing education are reviewed. At first, investigations on the nursing curriculum in general are analysed and then nursing research on a particular course of a component of the nursing curriculum is described. The conceptual framework of the research explores different concepts of curriculum and its evaluation. Methodological issues and the findings of the research are also presented in detail. In order to make inferences about the characteristics of the lecturer and student populations from the characteristics of the samples drawn from these populations, inferential statistics are applied. The most important findings of this study fall into three categories: The different components of the curriculum from viewpoints of the lecturers and students were: - Goal: ambiguous from the respondents' viewpoints; - Content: acceptable from the respondents' viewpoints: - Methodology: controversial. Lecturers were critical of the teaching methods. On the other hand, they were acceptable to the students; - Evaluation: controversial. Assessment approaches of the individuals were acceptable to the lecturers but not acceptable to the students; There was no common viewpoint among the respondents about the nursing components of the curriculum. None of the respondents' characteristics had a statistical significant relationship with their perceptions about evaluation of the nursing curriculum

Intrauterine Bowel Rupture of Fetus from Stab Wound Injury in a Pregnant Woman: A Case- Report

Background: Penetrating injuries of the uterus are rare complications during pregnancy which happen most by stab and gunshot wounds. Although the fetus is enclosed within the protective shield of the uterus, it is vulnerable to forceful trauma to the maternal abdomen. Cases Report: Following an upper abdominal stab wound to the 18-week pregnant mother, fetal death had occurred in the uterine. She was resuscitated and underwent exploratory laparotomy and hysterotomy. The patient had a 3cm laceration on the upper anterior fundus, which has caused the rupture of membrane, leading to fetal death and protruding of bowel loops. After surgery, she was transformed into the recovery room with stable hemodynamic status. Conclusion: Trauma during pregnancy is a significant burden due to morbidity and mortality that follows mother and fetus for developed countries. The ultimate purpose is to provide optimal care for a mother and fetus

Lived Experience of Women Suffering from Vitiligo: A Phenomenological Study

Vitiligo is a chronic skin disease, which through change of appearance and body image, exerts a devastating effect on people, especially women. The objective of this study is to explore lived experience of women with Vitiligo by the hermeneutic phenomenology method. The purposive sample consisted of 16 Iranian women. Data analysis followed Diekelmann, Allen, and Tanner (1989). The results showed four main themes: (1) Perceiving myself in a different light; (2) Vitiligo: Worry about others’ perceptions; (3) Vitiligo, Being influenced by cultural beliefs; and (4) Accepting and fighting the disease; Variations in experiences of living with Vitiligo. The women affected with Vitiligo during their marriage-ready years face various psychosocial problem s such as rejection by associates, isolation, divorce, and forced choice of a single lif

Management of Molar Pregnancy During COVID-19 Pandemic

Molar pregnancy is a group of diseases called gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD) that originates in the placenta and has the potential to invade the uterus and metastasize locally1, 2. During the past months, the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been responsible for the worldwide pandemic3.  Patients usually go to the hospital only if they need high emergency aid or have a high-risk condition in this quarantine situation. Hence, this situation can impact diagnosing and managing benign and malignant molar pregnancy, and the diagnosis might be delayed

Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome during Pregnancy: A Case Report

Background: Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) is a neurological condition entity presenting with headache, confusion, seizure, altered mentation and loss of vision associated with white matter changes on imaging. The lesions in PRES are thought to be due to vasogenic edema, mainly in the posterior cerebral hemispheres. Cases Report: This study has reported a patient who developed PRES without any indicators for preeclampsia-eclampsia in her pregnancy. The patient’s brain images showed abnormal signal intensity in the occipital lobe. Conclusion: Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome is reversible when initial diagnosis established and suitable treatment start immediately

Assessing Awareness Level about Warning Signs of Cancer and its Determinants in an Iranian General Population

The present study was aimed at investigating the awareness level about warning signs of cancer and its determinants in an Iranian general population. This cross-sectional interview-based survey investigated 2,500 people aged 18 years and over, as a representative sample of Tehran population. Latent class regression was applied for analyzing data. A small (18.8%) proportion of the respondents had high level of knowledge, and 54.5% had moderate awareness, and 26.7% had low level of awareness. Most effective predictors for awareness were educational attainment, sex, and marital status. The findings suggest that the overall level of knowledge about warning signs of cancer among the public is low, particularly about some specific signs. Accordingly, educational and intervention programmes, with special attention placed on particular at-risk populations, to increase awareness about the disease leading to its early diagnosis are needed

Coping With Acquired Immune Deficiency Infection: A Phenomenological Study

Introduction: The epidemic of HIV infection is a serious health problem with major effects on people’s lives. It is essential to comprehend the lived experience of life with HIV. Therefore, the present research was conducted for a better understanding of the meaning and nature of life with this phenomenon. Method: This qualitative study was conducted using an interpretative, phenomenological approach. 19 HIV-infected patients were coosen by purposive sampling method. Audio-taped, indepth, and semi-structured interviews and field notes were used for data collection. All the interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed by using the hermeneutic approach developed by Diekelmann. Results: According to the findings, the 19 participants were between 21-56 years of age in 47.4% CD4 count was under or equal to 200 cells/mm3 and the others were in an earlier phase of HIV infection. The main themes were beliefs and time, other HIV patients, inconsistencies in coping, and fighting and struggling. Conclusion: People with HIV/AIDS diagnosis face many challenges in different aspects of their lives. Some can not cope with their new situation effectively and may be threatening to both their own and others people’s lives. Understanding these patients' experiences and explaining the positive experinces to other patients, and giving them support and guidance is suggested to care givers. Keywords: HIV/AIDS, Lived experience, Coping, Phenomenolog

Clinical, Laboratory, and Obstetrics Features of Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) during Pregnancy

Background: The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains a new entity; the data on its clinical features, complications, and adverse outcomes during pregnancy are still to be identified and described. Several studies have reported a series of COVID-19 infections in pregnancy, the maternal and the neonatal outcome from different ethnicities and geographical regions. Materials and Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted in the obstetrics department of Mahdiyeh Hospital of Tehran, Iran, between February and April 2020. We included a series of 23 singleton pregnancies presenting to our department with fever and dry cough. All patients were tested for COVID-19 infection using nasopharyngeal swabs. Results: We included 23 singleton pregnant patients with a mean age of 28.1 ± 6.16 (ranging from 15 to 39) years and gestational age of 29.96±10.2 [ranging from 7 to 40] weeks. Of these patients, 7 (30.4%) tested positive for the SARS‑CoV‑2. Among the total patient population, 16 (69.5%) had elevated serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), 1 [4.3%] had lymphopenia, and 8 (34.7%) had elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). Only 2 (8.7%) patients had positive findings of chest CT-scan. Most newborns had acceptable Apgar and birth weight, and only 4 (17.4%) required NICU admission. Conclusion: The clinical characteristics of the COVID-19 infection in pregnant patients were comparable to those of non-pregnant patients. We did not record a high frequency of lymphopenia and leukopenia, probably due to leukocytosis during pregnancy. CRP was a sensitive marker for COVID-19 pneumonia in pregnant patients

The effect of the emotional intelligence education programme on quality of life in haemodialysis patients

Author's accepted version (post-print).Available from 18/10/2018.acceptedVersio