Nursing and Midwifery Studies
Volume:1 Issue: 3, Jul-Sep 2012

Long and hard labor is a common complication of labor, which forms an important part of emergency Caesarean deliveries. Labor duration is an influencing factor on the pregnancy outcome and the injuries involving the mother and her fetus, such as infection, hemorrhage, and fetal distress. This study was conducted intending to measure the duration of the first and the second stages of labor in mothers using the breathing techniques with lavender aroma. The project was a randomized trial study that was carried out with two groups of 60 respondents, where both used the breathing technique, one with and one without lavender essence. This study was done in Fatemieh hospital in Shahroud. The laboring mothers, being participated in the study, were candidates for vaginal delivery. The duration of the first stage of labor was recorded from cervical dilatation of three centimeters. The second stage of labor also was recorded from the full cervical dilatation time until child birth. The breathing technique was such that when the contraction began, a deep breath was taken and exhaled. Then fast shallow breathings, being 1.5 times more than ordinary breathing per minute, were performed. The mothers in the experimental group were asked to put the mask on their faces and inhale the lavender essence. In the control group, only the breathing technique was used. T-Test was used to compare the mean lengths of active phase and second phase of labor and demographic variables. Chi square test was used for nominal variables such as education and job. The mean age in breathing technique with lavender and breathing technique alone were 25.5 ± 4.3 and 26 ± 4.9, respectively. Two groups were comparable in this regards (P = 0.6), but the length of active phase in interventional group was 7.85 ± 3.85 hours and in the control group it was 9.88 ± 6.65 hours. The decrease of the length of labor in the active phase was higher in the experimental group than that in the control group (P = 0.04). In the second stage, length of labor was 16.5 ± 5.7 and 28.9 ± 17.4 minutes in the experimental and control groups, respectively. Difference in length of labor was significant too (P = 0.001). The research showed that aromatherapy can be used to reduce labor duration.

Patients with drug addiction experience negative effects, not only regarding their own personal health, including cognitive and psychosocial abilities, but also on the part of their family members and society at large. This quasi-experimental research examined the effect of an intervention program for patients, along with their families, on improving the holistic health status of patients after discharge.Patients and Ninety patients were selected and were paired according to gender, age, education, and type of drug addiction. Simple random assignment was used to allocate each subject in the experimental (N = 45) and control (N = 45) groups. A standardized health assessment questionnaire (SF-36V2), covering eight study areas of holistic health status in terms of physical, mental, and social functioning, was administered. The experimental treatment, or the three-stage intervention program, consisted of an individual counseling program and a relapse prevention training program for patients, together with a family participation program. Descriptive statistics were calculated and chi-square test was used to compare the characteristics of two groups. Also t-test was applied to compare the mean scores of health status. The patients that received treatment in the experimental group had a higher mean score (before mean = 105.76 and after mean = 109.42; P = 0.013) regarding the difference in their holistic health status than those in the control group (before mean = 107.09 and after mean = 106.56; P = 0.713). This result showed that a three-stage intervention program helped improve the patients’ holistic health status. It is suggested that for addiction rehabilitation and relapse prevention, health practitioners should not only provide an intervention program to their patients, but they should design a program for families to participate in the treatment as well so that patients can function at a higher level of wellness. Therefore, the family participation program should be reinforced as part of the therapeutic intervention.

One of the most common problems in patients undergoing hemodialysis is interdialytic weight gain due to high liquid intake. Many patients are not fully aware of the fluid restriction. Group educations, such as small-group education, are among powerful methods to enable patients correct their behaviors, and enhance their capabilities, knowledge, and awareness. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of small-group education on interdialytic weight gain, and blood pressures in patients undergoing hemodialysis.Patients and This is a quasi-experimental study. Data collected from 42 patients undergoing hemodialysis. Before education, the mean of interdialytic weight gain during one week, and blood pressure were recorded. Then small-group education performed in 4 sessions. One week, and one month after the education, the mentioned parameters were recorded again. Repeated measure analysis of variances was conducted and pair-wise comparison was done using the Bonferroni test. Descriptive statistics were calculated for demographic variables. The mean, and standard deviation of interdialytic weight gain of participants was 3.64 ± 0.88 kg, before the education, and significantly decreased to 1.34 ± 0.61 kg, and 1.71 ± 0.72 kg one week, and one month after the education, respectively (P = 0.001). Also, the mean and standard deviation of participant's systolic blood pressure was 139.7 ± 16.45 mmHg before the education, and significantly decreased to 129.6 ± 12.16, and 129.5 ± 11.51 mmHg one week, and one month after the education, respectively (P = 0.001). But, the mean and standard deviation of diastolic blood pressure of the participants was 81.4 ± 6.07 mmHg before the education, and decreased to 79.7 ± 5.51 and 81.7 ± 5.27 mmHg one week, and one month after the education respectively. However, no statistically significant difference was observed between the diastolic blood pressure in the three phases (P = 0.061). Small-group education in patients undergoing hemodialysis leads to a decrease in interdialytic weight gain, and systolic blood pressure, but has no effect on diastolic blood pressure.

Teachers are the greatest group of professional voice users. Prolonged, continuous speaking in a loud voice at school may entail a bad vocal health. It seems that their occupational circumstances make them more likely to develop voice disorders in comparison with other groups. The purposes of this study are 1) to compare teachers with and without voice complaint on the Dysphonia Severity Index and 2) to compare component measures that establish Dysphonia Severity Index. This study included 40 female teachers with voice complaint and 40 female teachers without voice complaint between the ages of 30 and 50 years who were teaching in elementary schools of Tehran city. Simple non-random sampling was done for selected teachers in two groups. The examinees were asked to produce the vowel /a/ three times for calculating any variables, then measures of maximum phonation time, jitter, highest phonational frequency, and lowest intensity were obtained for each subject with Praat and Phonetogram softwares and incorporated into multivariate Dysphonia Severity Index formula. Kolmogoro- Smirnov one sample test and independent sample T-Test was used, the significance level was set at P < 0.05. Results indicate that female teachers without voice complaint have significantly higher Dysphonia Severity Index scores than female teachers with voice complaint (mean Dysphonia Severity Index: 3.58 vs. 1.05, respectively), also significant differences are observed between groups of with and without complaint for four of components of the DSI (F0 high, I low, jitter and maximum phonation time) (P value = 0.001). The findings of this study indicate that there is a significant difference in Vocal Quality between teachers with and without voice complaint. This finding may indicate teachers with voice complaint have worse vocal quality that means they are at risk for voice problems. This information may be very important for voice professionals and, speech and language pathology to advice teachers with voice complaint and manage to advocate "good vocal health”.

Nurses have critical roles in the process of medication. Evaluating the process of medication helps nursing educators and students to determine the present status and then, improve the quality of care. The current study was conducted to compare the self-evaluation of nursing students in their own medication skills with the evaluation done by clinical instructors, in Qom’s Azad University and Arak University of Medical Sciences, in 2011. A descriptive study was conducted. Data gathered using a self-report questionnaire and an observation checklist. A total of 141 students and 10 instructors participated in the study. SPSS software (version 13) was employed to analyze the data. Descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon rank test were used. The mean scores for the domain of medication preparation were 2.51 ± 0.55 and 2.58 ± 0.57 based on the students’ self-evaluation and the instructor's evaluation of the students, respectively. No significant difference was observed between the total mean scores of ‘medication preparation’ in the two evaluation methods (P > 0.05). The highest mean score was achieved in the domain of drug administration both in the self-evaluation and evaluation by the instructors. A significant difference was observed between the total mean scores of ‘drug administration’ in the two evaluation methods (P < 0.05). The domain ‘post medication nursing care’ has got the lowest mean score among the three domains both from the perspective of the students and that of the instructors. The mean scores of different domains of medication management were close in the two universities. The present study showed that the nursing students are not quite competent in the process of medication therapy both from their own and their clinical instructors’ perspectives. This finding shows the urgent need to implement some actions to strengthen the students’ skills in medication therapy..

Nursing is an extremely stressful profession. Nurses are confronted with a variety of personal, communicational and organizational stresses, which affect their health. The current study aimed to assess general health level and its related factors in employed nurses in educational hospitals affiliated to Shiraz University of medical sciences. This cross-sectional study was performed on 126 nurses and practical nurses who work in educational hospitals affiliated to Shiraz University of medical sciences selected by multi stage sampling method. Data collecting tools included demographic characteristics and General Health Questionaire-28 (GHQ-28). Descriptive statistics are presented and Chi-square test, t-test, and analysis of variance were used to analyze the data. Of 126 subjects 75 (59.5%) cases were suspects of mental disorders. Also 12.7% had physical disorders, 15.9% had anxiety and sleep disorders, 8.7% had social dysfunction and 6.3% had depression. Average score of mental health was 28.4. In this study mental health was significantly associated with job satisfaction and economic satisfaction (P < 0.05).. With regard to significant relation between mental health, job satisfaction, and economic satisfaction, a system for educating and stress reduction counseling should be established to help nurses effectively coping with stress. Also, improving the work environment, increasing staff, increasing salary, and decreasing working hours may reduce the nurse's exposure to stressful risk factors..

Nowadays, the number of cosmetic surgery clients -whose majority are females- is increasing all around the world. One of the most common, difficult and time consuming cosmetic surgeries is liposuction that may be accompanied with dangerous complications. As regards to the probability of developing severe complications and even death, this question comes to mind that what are the reasons of liposuction clients’ tendency to undergo this surgery. This study was conducted to explore the women's experiences from making decision to do a liposuction surgery. Present study was conducted based on a qualitative content analysis method. The main method of data collecting was semi-structured open-ended interviews and taking interviews was continued till the data saturation was achieved. Participants have been selected purposefully among female clients had undergone liposuction at least three months before taking interviews. Thirteen 30-55 years old women had undergone liposuction in the past one-five years, participated in the study. Two main themes including “desire for beauty” and “risk accepting” were extracted from data. "beauty era", "ugliness era" and "desire for returning to beauty era" categorized as subthemes of “desire for beauty”; and "living under pressure", "trying to compensate", "reaching to the end of line" and "accepting the risk of operation" categorized as subthemes of “risk accepting”. Making the decision to undergo liposuction accompanies with facing risks. Understanding these clients’ experiences may help health care team to provide a better care; and other people to make a better decision..

Diarrhea has been considered as a major cause of mortality in children aged less than five years old. Most of these deaths are due to dehydration and mis management or delayed management of the disease. Most of the diarrhea episodes are treated in the home by mothers. Therefore the mothers’ knowledge in management of diarrhea is likely related to its mortality and morbidity. This study designed to evaluate the knowledge of the mothers with children under five years old about diarrhea and its management and to identify the relation of the knowledge content with some demographic characteristics. In this cross-sectional study, 430 mothers who had at least one child aged below five years old were selected by cluster sampling. The mothers were asked to complete the 22 items questionnaire designed to evaluate their knowledge of diarrhea. Some demographic characteristics such as age, number of children, education of the mother and her spouse and the source of knowledge also were recorded. Subsequently, the data analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square test. Most of the mothers were 25-30 years old (43.8%). Slightly more than half (55.6%) had just one child. The health center, educational programs and the personal reading were the main sources of the knowledge about the treatment (43.7%). Twenty eight point eight percent of the mothers had a good knowledge in diarrhea diagnosis and its treatment, while the 46.5% had medium and 24.7% suffered low knowledge. The knowledge of the mothers had significant relationship with the age of the mother, education of the father, number of children, occupation of the mother, and the source of the knowledge. The mothers studied in this research had inadequate knowledge about diagnosis and treatment of diarrhea. The educational programs must be an essential part of the health centers programs..

Pandemic H1N1 influenza A 2009 (H1N1/09) virus has been identified as a leading cause of febrile respiratory diseases worldwide, and pregnant women constitute a high risk group.. To determine the clinical characteristics and outcomes of pregnant women with H1N1 influenza A hospitalized in university hospitals of Qom city in Iran.Patients and This descriptive retrospective study was conducted using existed data related to October and November 2009. All pregnant women with influenza manifestations were admitted to the hospitals to undergo nasopharyngeal culture. H1N1 virus was confirmed in 11 cases. Data including demographic characteristics, clinical manifestations, laboratory test results, and pregnancy complications was extracted from medical records, and analyzed by descriptive statistics. The mean age of the women was 28.1 ± 4.7 years with a mean gestational age of 28.7 ± 10.9 weeks. The most common clinical manifestations included coughing (100%), fever (87.5%), and dyspnea (75%). The most common abnormal test was anemia (88%). Pregnancy complications included preterm delivery (36.3%), low birth weight (18%), oligohydramnios (9%), gestational diabetes (9%), and fetal distress (9%). Also one (12.5%) wound dehiscence happened. vaccination seems to be necessary to prevent this potentially fatal infectious disease. Furthermore, timely prescription of antiviral medications is recommended to decrease the risk of severe complications.