Support in Clinical Settings as Perceived by Nursing Students in Iran: A Qualitative Study

Background: Although support is one of the most substantial needs of nursing students during clinical education, it is not clearly defined in the literature. Objectives: The current study aimed to explore the concept of support in clinical settings as perceived by nursing students. Materials and Methods: A qualitative content analysis was used to explore the meaning of student support in clinical settings. A purposive sampling with maximum variation was used to select the participants among bachelor nursing students in the nursing school of Babol University of Medical Sciences in the north of Iran. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather the perceptions and experiences of seventeen nursing students. Conventional content analysis was applied to analyze the data. Results: In the current study, the main theme, nurturance, was emerged with seven subthemes of humanistic behavior with the student, respectful communication with students, accepting the student in the clinical setting, sustaining confidence, need based supervision, accepting the profession in the society and empowerment. Conclusions: Nursing students support in the clinical education requires a nurturing care; a care that leads to the sense of worthiness and respectability in students and contributes to the improvement of their clinical abilities

Investigating the relationship between self-compassion and occupational stress of nurses working in hospitals affiliated to Tehran university of medical sciences in 2017

Introduction: The effect of occupational stress on quality of life and job performance of nurses necessitates the management of stresses in the workplace. Self-compassion is one of the main constructs in this regard, which in turn has attracted much attention as feature of resilience to stress, burnout, and emotional exhaustion in recent years. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between self-compassion and occupational stress among nurses working in hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2017. Method: The present descriptive-correlational cross-sectional study was conducted on 430 nursing staff working in hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences. The subjects were selected using stratified sampling, with appropriate allocation to the number of nurses employed in each hospital. The data collection tool was long 26- item form of the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS-LF) and a standard occupational stress questionnaire (Gray-Toft and Anderson, 1981). Data analysis was performed using descriptive and inferential statistics in SPSS ver. 16. Findings: The majority of nurses (60.5) had a moderate degree of self-compassion and high occupational stress (69.3). The results of Pearson correlation test showed that there is a statistically inverse significant relationship between occupational stress and self-compassion (P<0.001), as well as all of their dimensions, with the exception of dimensions of "common humanity" and "conflict with physicians" (P<0.001). In other words, increased self-compassion level leads to a decrease in nurses' occupational stress and its dimensions. Conclusion: The results of this study revealed a reverse relationship between self-compassion and occupational stress of nurses; therefore, policymakers and nursing authorities can take strides in moderating nurses' level of occupational stress and improving their professional performance by improving their self-compassion skill. © 2018, OMICS Group

Investigating the relationship between self-compassion and occupational stress of nurses working in hospitals affiliated to Tehran university of medical sciences in 2017

Introduction: The effect of occupational stress on quality of life and job performance of nurses necessitates the management of stresses in the workplace. Self-compassion is one of the main constructs in this regard, which in turn has attracted much attention as feature of resilience to stress, burnout, and emotional exhaustion in recent years. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between self-compassion and occupational stress among nurses working in hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2017. Method: The present descriptive-correlational cross-sectional study was conducted on 430 nursing staff working in hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences. The subjects were selected using stratified sampling, with appropriate allocation to the number of nurses employed in each hospital. The data collection tool was long 26- item form of the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS-LF) and a standard occupational stress questionnaire (Gray-Toft and Anderson, 1981). Data analysis was performed using descriptive and inferential statistics in SPSS ver. 16. Findings: The majority of nurses (60.5) had a moderate degree of self-compassion and high occupational stress (69.3). The results of Pearson correlation test showed that there is a statistically inverse significant relationship between occupational stress and self-compassion (P<0.001), as well as all of their dimensions, with the exception of dimensions of "common humanity" and "conflict with physicians" (P<0.001). In other words, increased self-compassion level leads to a decrease in nurses' occupational stress and its dimensions. Conclusion: The results of this study revealed a reverse relationship between self-compassion and occupational stress of nurses; therefore, policymakers and nursing authorities can take strides in moderating nurses' level of occupational stress and improving their professional performance by improving their self-compassion skill. © 2018, OMICS Group

Iranian nursing students' preparedness for clinical training: A qualitative study

Background: Clinical training plays a fundamental role in nursing students' acquisition of professional capabilities. Students' preparedness for learning in clinical setting is one of the most important factors that determine the quality of clinical training. Different studies indicate the nursing students' unpreparedness for entering clinical environment. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore Iranian nursing students' preparedness for clinical training. Method: This research is a qualitative research using content analysis approach. The participants consisted of seventeen nursing students, three nursing educators and one nurse, selected through the purposive sampling method and questioned in semi-structured interviews. The acquired data was analyzed by qualitative content analysis approach. Results: Two main themes were captured in this study; including: 1) rejection of the profession and 2) fear and anxiety. Conclusion: The findings indicated that the nursing students are not psychologically prepared for internship in clinical settings. Therefore we recommend in the first place reducing students' fear and anxiety of facing the reality and preparing them for a better beginning through conducting workshops in retraining and practicing clinical skills along with a course of visiting the hospital for students' confrontation and familiarization with real environment immediately before entering into the clinical setting. In addition, after the students' entrance to the setting the clinical educators should strive to heed students' level of preparedness especially their psychological needs and condition including the extent to which they accept their profession. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd

Effect of local cold and hot pack on the bruising of enoxaparin sodium injection site: a randomized controlled trial

Purpose: This study aimed to assess the effect of the application of local cold and cold-hot packs upon the size of bruising at the injection site of subcutaneous enoxaparin sodium.Methods: One-hundred and eighty patients with coronary diseases were allocated randomly to three groups: (i) local cold gel pack group; (ii) local cold-hot gel pack group; and (iii) control group. Assessment of the presence of a bruise was conducted at 24, 48 and 72 hours after the injections for all patients.Results: The cold-hot pack group had significantly less and smaller injection site bruising than the two other groups at 48 and 72 hours (both p < 0.001).Conclusions: The local application of cold-hot packs is more effective on reducing bruises following enoxaparin sodium injections when compared with local cold pack application alone.Thus, this process can improve the quality of nursing care for hospitalized patients receivingthese injections. © 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

Effect of auricular acupressure on acute nausea and vomiting induced by chemotherapy among breast cancer patients

Background & Aim: Approximately 75 of patients with cancer experience acute nausea and vomiting (24 hours after chemotherapy). The aim of this study was to determine the effect of auricular acupressure in relieving acute nausea and vomiting among women with breast cancer receiving chemotherapy. Methods & Materials: This study was a posttest only randomized clinical trial conducted on 48 women with breast cancer receiving chemotherapy in Imam Khomeini and Hazrat Rasoul Akram hospital. Before chemotherapy and after obtaining informed consent, the patients were randomly allocated into intervention and control groups. Intervention group received routine medications for controlling nausea and vomiting as well as auricular acupressure. Meanwhile, the control group received only the routine medications. The data were gathered using demographic and Morrow Standard questionnaire; and were compared using statistical tests in the SPSS-21. Results: The results showed that using auricular acupressure led to a decrease in the number and the intensity of nausea at acute phases (P=0.001). Acupressure application did not lead to any complications in the patients. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, using auricular acupressure on Shenmen, Point zero, stomach, Brainstem, and cardia points can relieve nausea and vomiting at acute phase of chemotherapy. It is suggested that nurses use this pressure technique as a complementary treatment for relieving nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy. © 2015, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS). All rights reserved

The effect of auricular acupressure on nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy among breast cancer patients

Objective The aim of this study was to determine the effect of auricular acupressure in relieving nausea and vomiting among the women who received chemotherapy. Methods 48 women suffering from Breast Cancer and receiving chemotherapy were recruited for the study. The patients were randomly assigned into two groups of experiment and control. In the initial phase of chemotherapy, the experimental group received standard medications to control nausea and vomiting and auricular acupressure for five days. Meanwhile, the control group received only the standard medications. Results The use of auricular acupressure led to the decrease in the number and intensity of nausea and vomiting in both the acute and delayed phases in experimental group which were significantly lower than the control group (P = 0/001). Conclusions It is suggested that nurses use this pressure technique as a complementary treatment, non � pharmacological, inexpensive, non-invasive approach for the relief of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. © 2016 Elsevier Lt

Effects of sub-lethal dose of antimicrobial photodynamic therapy on major virulence traits of Streptococcus mutans

Background: Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) as a complementary step of selective removal of dental caries appears as an ideal choice to help manage caries with minimal interventions. Sub-lethal dose of aPDT (sPDT) impressively effects microbial virulence, although it does not kill microorganisms. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the influence of sPDT using diode laser plus chlorophyllin-phycocyanin mixture (PhotoActive+) on changes in gtfB gene expression and the subsequent protein expression of GtfB. Materials and methods: sPDT using PhotoActive+ and 635 ± 10 nm diode laser was used to examine the expression of gtfB mRNA and GtfB protein expression of Streptococcus mutans by quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR) method and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), respectively. Results: In this study, sPDT using 2.4 � 10�3 mol/L PhotoActive+ with 3 min irradiation time of diode laser with energy density of 104 J/cm2, significantly reduced the gtfB gene expression with rates of 3.5-fold (P &lt; 0.05). Also, PhotoActive+ mediated sPDT demonstrated a significant reduction in GtfB protein expression of S. mutans up to 54 (P &lt; 0.05). Conclusions: This study demonstrated the potential effect of PhotoActive+ mediated sPDT on one of the most important virulence factors of S. mutans. © 2020 Elsevier B.V

Health care�associated infection surveillance system in Iran: Reporting and accuracy

Background: Valid data are a crucial aspect of infection prevention and control programs. The aim of this study was to examine the accuracy of routine reporting in the Iranian Nosocomial Infection Surveillance System in intensive care units. Methods: A blinded retrospective review of general intensive care unit medical records was performed with a standard case-finding form. Infection control nurses (ICNs) were also interviewed to explore possible reasons for differences. Results: The results of 951 events in 856 medical records were assessed. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of routine surveillance were 27.5, 97.2, 69, and 85.3, respectively. The results indicate 82.2, 68.4, 62.7, and 57.3 under-reporting of surgical site infections, urinary tract infections, bloodstream infections, and pneumonia, respectively. Over-reporting of approximately 8-15 was detected in 4 types of health care�associated infections (HAIs). Misinterpretation of HAI definition, high ICN workload, and inactivity of infection control link nurses were the main causes of inaccurate reporting. Conclusions: Under and over-reporting of HAIs are main challenges of HAIs reporting in Iran. Developing guidelines, empowering ICNs through specialized training and activating infection control link nurses are necessary to achieve more accurate data in the Iranian Nosocomial Infection Surveillance System. © 2019 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc