The Effect of Aromatherapy with Citrus aurantium Aroma on Pain after Orthopedic Surgery: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Introduction: Postoperative pain is one of the most common physiological and psychological stress in patients that disrupts body function and can endanger patients’ health. This study aims to determine the effect of aromatherapy with Citrus aurantium essential on pain after orthopedic surgery. Methods: This randomized clinical trial was performed on 60 candidates for orthopedic surgery. Patients were selected through convenience sampling and divided into intervention and control groups through randomized block allocation. If the visual analogue scale (VAS) score was above 3, patients in the intervention group received aromatherapy with C. aurantium essential and the patients in the control group received a placebo (almond oil). VAS was used to measure pain. Data analysis was performed using independent t test, paired t test, and analysis of variance with repeated measures using SPSS software version 13. Results: Mean (SD) of pain intensity after intervention in experimental and control groups within 4, 8, and 12 hours after surgery was 7.30 (1.23) vs. 7.90 (0.99), 5.30 (0.98) versus 5.53 (0.68) and 2.53 (0.9) vs. 3.60 (0.77) respectively. The findings indicated that there was a significant difference in mean pain intensity between the experimental and control groups at 4 and 12 hours after surgery. Use of analysis of variance with repeated measures test with taking into account the interaction of time and group also showed a significant difference in mean pain intensity between the two experimental and control groups. Conclusion: Aromatherapy with Citrus aurantium essential can be effective in reducing mild to moderate pain after orthopedic surgery. Further studies are recommended to confirm this finding

Senior Nursing Students\' Skills in Patients\' Health Assessment in Zanjan University of Medical Sciences

Introduction: Assessing patients' health is the base of nursing process. Also finding patients' problems is necessary for designing care plan by nurses and nursing students. This study was performed to determine the proficiency level of senior nursing students in assessing patients' health in Zanjan University of Medical Sciences in the year 2005. Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, all senior nursing students of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences (44 students) were studied. The data gathering tools included a questionnaire consisted of demographic data, which was filled by the samples and an observational checklist which was completed by researchers while observing students' performance in assessing patients' health status. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics methods, independent t-test, and one-way ANOVA by SPSS software. Results: Twenty point four percent of students had a poor performance in assessing patients' health, 68.2% of them achieved moderate score, and only 11.4% were proficient in assessing patients' health. Conclusion: Most senior nursing students were not skillful enough in assessing health status. The collabora-tion of administrators of nursing in ministry of health and medical education, hospitals, nursing schools and instructors in order to make appropriate planning for this problem seems necessary

Burden of care and its relationship with sleep quality of cancer patients’ caregivers: A descriptive-correlational study

Background: Nowadays, transferring care plans to the home, shifts the burden of care from medical staff to informal care providers that include family members, spouses, friends, or relatives. Aims: This study aimed to assess the burden of care and its relationship with the sleep quality of cancer patients' caregivers. Design: A descriptive-correlational study. Methods: This study was conducted in a referral center for cancer in Zanjan province, northwest of Iran. 135 caregivers of cancer patients participated. The data were collected using a demographic characteristics questionnaire, Novak and Guest's caregiver burden inventory, and Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI). Results: The mean (±SD) burden of care and sleep quality of the participants was 45.22 (±17.75) and 8.88 (±4.21), respectively. A significant positive relationship between the burden of care and quality of sleep scores was detected. Conclusions: Cancer patients' caregivers endure a remarkable burden of care and their quality of sleep is undesirable. Results indicated that an increase in the burden of care reduces the caregivers' quality of sleep. Reducing the burden of care is an effective strategy for improving the caregivers' quality of sleep

Assessment on the Dissemination and Knowledge Translation of Medical Students and PhD Students’ Theses in the Year 2006-2013

Objective: The importance of research and its fundamental role in the country’s growth and development is vital. Connecting research to knowledge translation is an essential component of research process and its production, management, and the maintenance of this process is the reason behind the survival of the national health research system. Knowledge translation is the process of disseminating knowledge into actual use, or simply application of knowledge. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted on 418 university students enrolled in medical universities throughout the country during the period from September 2006 to 2013. Results: About 42.5% of respondents have expressed that results of dissertations will benefit the health care providers while 2.2% of respondents have expressed that research results can benefit the industrial sector, they further expressed that 11.4% of researchers and 32.2% of the general population can benefit from these researches. Furthermore, in order that results of students’ dissertations will become useful to others 71.7% of the students have expressed that research results be published as an article in international indexed journals. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that majority of students have selected the title of their research project based on their personal interest and then decided based on the opinion of their thesis mentor. The principles of accurate and relevant data management must be implemented in order that researches will be directed toward being more practical rather than theoretical. Hence, by performing more extensive researches, barriers as well as factors that promote researches will be identified and by emphasizing on knowledge translation a cultural environment aiming at presenting research results to users will be achieved and researches and dissertations that resulted to the solution of the problems of the community will be promoted