Nursing Practice Today
Volume:2 Issue: 3, Summer 2015

Higher education is a critical component of society’s culture and knowledge that plays an important role in the society’s political and economic development. Higher education worldwide is changing and so too is nursing education, in particular, at tertiary level. The change in what and how we teach our future nursing generation depend largely on the country’s needs for health care services for the increasing ageing population with increasing burden of chronic diseases. With these changes, the requirements for nursing practice call for health care professional to implement current best evidence interventions in making sound clinical decisions.
Fundamental preparing of nurses for the requirements for practice depends on their educational preparation. While there has been consensus on the importance of evidence-based practice (EBP), discussions on how to embed EBP as an educational paradigm and the inclusion of this as a standard in nursing curricula is limited. Although curriculum change is a slow process, we as nurse educators and leaders could guide the directions of nursing curriculum development that would inculcate EBP in our teachers and students alike...

Students’ academic achievement is one of the important indicators in the assessment of higher education. Applying critical thinking in education is a significant factor affecting the growth and development of the students. This study was performed in an attempt to determine the relationship between critical thinking dispositions and academic achievement in midwifery students of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Iran, in 2014.
Methods & Materials: This correlation study was conducted on 60 midwifery students of Mashhad School of Nursing and Midwifery in 2014. All eligible students were recruited in this study. Data collection instruments included demographic and academic achievement form and the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory. Collected data were analyzed by descriptive statistics tests and Pearson correlation coefficient using SPSS software version 16.
The mean and standard deviation (SD) of the total score of critical thinking dispositions were 260.10 ± 38.18. The mean (SD) grade point average of students was 16.31 ± 1.05. The results of Pearson correlation test showed no significant relationship between the total and subscales scores of critical thinking and academic achievement (P > 0.05).
The results of this study indicated that there was no significant relationship between the critical thinking dispositions and its subscales with academic achievement.

The four elements of the nursing meta-paradigm¡ namely¡ human¡ health¡ environment¡ and nursing have attracted much attention in the West for years. This study redefined the meta-paradigm or core concepts of nursing from the perspective of Islam.
Methods & Materials: A qualitative content analysis was used to collect and analyze data. Data collection were based on in-depth semi-structured individual interviews and focus groups with religious experts and nursing faculty members with many years of experience in training nurses and providing clinical patient care. The samples were selected purposefully and to the extent that data saturation was reached. The data were analyzed using deductive content analysis.
Human in the Islamic model of care¡ the concept “human being” describes a creature capable of growing unified and holistic; capable of acting¡ choosing¡ and willing; and God’s successor who was assigned to reach a goal by God¡ and the human should move on the path to the goal. From the perspective of Islam¡ “health” encompasses sickness and disease in a holistic view that considers illness as a path to blessings¡ and purification of the heart (and spirit or mind). The environment includes not only the physical world but also the metaphysical world. Based on the Islamic model¡ all creatures are interconnected through webs of relationships that connect across space and time. Finally¡ “nursing” is a reciprocal relationship between the nurse and patient that optimally leads to (mutual) growth. The concept of nursing encompasses caring that includes God¡ through the establishment of win-win relationships with patients (and their families) through prayer¡ caregiving¡ and professional behaviors¡ and actions associated with faith and Godliness in Islam.
In the Islamic worldview¡ not only the nursing meta-paradigms but also the whole universe has been formed on the basis of the monotheism core concept that is different from the Western philosophy. Thus¡ redefinition of nursing meta-paradigmatic concepts on a monotheistic basis in Islamic countries is of special importance. Redefining nursing Islamic meta-paradigm is beneficial for both Muslim and non-Muslim countries¡ because it can promote understanding and exchanging of dialogue between nursing scholars and health care professionals and also it can introduces a new point of view about human¡ sickness and health¡ environment¡ and care for them. Hence¡ this article can be helpful for cross-cultural nursing because understanding the differences and commonalities between cultures can help us go beyond our differences and share our common values to deliver person-entered care. In fact¡ as Muslims benefit from Western models¡ non-Muslims can use this concept to provide care to their patients¡ too.

People with multiple sclerosis (MS) face numerous physical and psychological problems and use multiple strategies to manage these problems to reduce its impact on their own lives. The aim of this study is to explore the self-management strategies in people with MS.
Methods & Materials: This study is a qualitative research with content analysis approach. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with seven people with MS recruited from a rehabilitation clinic and the MS Support Community. Participants were selected through purposive sampling method. Data collection continued until data saturation. Trustworthiness criteria were considered to ensure the quality of findings. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis with conventional approach.
Analysis of the data ultimately led to the emergence of “attempt to maintain independence” as the main theme referring to the self-management strategies in people with MS. Selfmanagement strategies the participants used in this study were grouped into seven categories: disease acceptance, information enhancement, change of lifestyle, developing psycho-emotional balance, environmental modifications, improving financial credits, and promoting capabilities.
People with MS use various self-management strategies for reducing their problems. Due to the nature of the disease, the use of self-management strategies can improve their control over illness. Understanding these needs and strategies helps health providers to provide better services to people with MS.

Fear of fall is well-known risk factor for falls among senior citizens. However, the mechanism by which fear of falls can facilitate falls is not clear. This study hypothesized that falls self-efficacy can play a role in relationship between fear of falls and falls. There has been rapidly growing literature on falls among senior citizens, and however, the role of falls selfefficacy on falls among older adults has not been well-investigated. The aim of this study was to identify the mediation role of self-efficacy between fear of falls and falls among the elderly people living in community.
Methods & Materials: In this cross-sectional study, researchers used the secondary data of a clinical trial in 2013. Subjects of the study were 1312 senior citizens living in Shahroud; Semnan province, Iran, was selected by a simple random method using online software of random number generator based on their health file numbers in district health centers. Subjects of the study were assessed for fear of falls (by Falls Efficacy Scale), falls self-efficacy (by Activity-specific Balance Confidence Scale) and history of falls.
This study indicated that fall is a frequent event among senior citizens. One-third of elderly people had the experience of falls, annually. Moreover, this study showed that high levels of fear of falling were significantly related to low falls self-efficacy (P Results of this study provide evidence that fear is related to falls. Moreover, it can be concluded that falls self-efficacy plays a mediation role on relationship between fear of falls and falls. Hence, it is recommended that any falls prevention should consider psychological covariates of falls especially subjects’ self-efficacy to reduce falls, alongside other risk factors and covariates of falls.

The effect of the anesthetic substance given to the mother during cesarean section, and the pain experienced by the mother after the intervention practiced on the mother during cesarean section delay the mother-infant interaction and the initiation breastfeeding time. This study has been conducted to determine the effects of breastfeeding counseling given to the mothers that gave birth by cesarean section on initiation breastfeeding time and body temperature of newborn in Turkey.
Methods & Materials: The study has been conducted in the gynecology and obstetrics service of State Hospital between April 15, 2013, and November 14, 2013, on 95 with suitable criterion for the research (45 experimental and 50 controls) newborns with mothers who have had cesarean birth using quasi-experimental design. In data analysis, frequency distribution, correlation, chisquare test, t-test for independent groups have been used.
Initiation breastfeeding time among mothers in the experimental group was 49.97 ± 12.78 minutes which was shorter than in the control group (101.56 ± 42.56 minutes). The incidence of hypothermia in newborns of the control group was significantly higher than those of newborns in the experimental group. As the time of initial breastfeeding got shorter, the body temperature of newborns in control and experimental groups after 30 minutes, the 4th and 10th hour after the birth increased.
It has been observed that breastfeeding counseling shortens the initial time of breastfeeding, and rises body temperature of the newborn. Breastfeeding counseling is important for early mother-infant interaction after cesarean section, starting breastfeeding within the first 1 hour and protecting the newborn from hypothermia.