Archives of Hygiene Sciences
Volume:10 Issue: 4, Autumn 2021

By being aware of the state of critical thinking and the factors affecting it in students, it is possible to help improve the planning and quality of education. This study aimed to comparatively determine the status of critical thinking and the factors affecting it in students.

The present cross-sectional study’s population and the sample consisted of health disciplines students of Ardabil University of Medical Sciences in Ardabil City, Iran. All students of the two entrances of 2017 and 2020 were enrolled in the study by completing a virtual questionnaire. According to the relevant results, 155 individuals completed the questionnaire. Descriptive and analytical tests in SPSS v. 20 analyzed the collected data.

The minimum score of critical thinking was 4, the maximum was 16, and the Mean±SD essential score of thinking was 10.17±2.56 in all students. Among the studied variables, only the relationship between the subscales of inference and inductive reasoning with the year of entry of the studied students was significant (P=0.02) and (P=0.026). In other cases, there was no significant correlation between demographic variables, such as age, gender, the year of entry, native or non-native, the field of study, and grade point average with the overall scores of critical thinking and its subscales (P>0.05).

The current study results indicated that the critical thinking skills of health students of Ardabil University of Medical Sciences are poor in all dimensions and subscales. Considering the importance of critical thinking in the development, progress, and well-being of individuals and societies, reviewing and correcting the curriculum, training and empowering teachers concerning critical thinking skills, and teaching it in higher education and academic centers.

Occupational stress is a psychological condition that occurs due to an imbalance between occupational needs and individual abilities. Resilience is an approach to cope with occupational stress. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between different dimensions of occupational stress and the level of resilience in the employees of an oil refinery.

This descriptive-analytical study was performed on 275 operational staff of an oil refinery in southern Iran in 2020. The study participants were selected using a simple random sampling method. Due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the tools used included three electronic questionnaires, demographic information, Osipow occupational stress questionnaire, and the Connor- Davidson Resilience Scale. The collected data were analyzed in SPSS v. 22 using descriptive tests, Pearson correlation test, one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and linear regression analysis.

The Pearson correlation test data indicated that different dimensions of occupational stress, including occupational scope, responsibility, and physical environment, also, the total score of occupational stress, have a significant negative correlation with the resilience score of individuals. The highest correlation concerned the physical environment dimension, with a coefficient of -0.189.

We can increase employees’ resilience by improving the working environment and raising people’s awareness of occupational responsibility; it can reduce occupational stress among employees.

Reporting human errors in healthcare agencies is often accompanied by embarrassment and the fear of punishment; such errors can highlight motivation, the lack of attention, and enough education. Thus, there is a tendency to hide them. This study aimed to investigate the barriers and facilitators of reporting medical errors in hospitals.

A qualitative study design with a conventional content analysis approach was used. The data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 13 employers working in the hospital in Qom Province, Iran. Interviews were transcribed and finally analyzed through conventional content analysis. Accordingly, its results were presented in a theme, subcategories, and categories.

Our findings indicated that the employees had a multilevel perspective of medical error, viewing facilitators, and barriers to a medical error concerning several system levels. The barriers to medical error included individual, organizational, and social barriers. The facilitators of medical errors consisted of education, organizational, and cultural facilities.

Findings suggested the need for support and security for employees and consideration of facilities to prevent the nonreporting of errors. Managers must provide the necessary personal, professional, and legal support to employees to remove barriers to encourage them to report the mistakes effectively

A major factor affecting health is regular physical activity. Physical activity reduces the risk of infectious diseases. The current study aimed to investigate the Perceived benefits, barriers, and self-efficacy of physical activity of the administrative staff of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in 2018.

In this descriptive-analytical study, a sample of 300 employees of the administrative staff of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran City, Iran, was selected by a convenience sampling method. The study variables included demographic information, perceived benefits and barriers, and self-efficacy physical activity. SPSS v. 16 was used to analyze the obtained data using the Chi-squared test, Mann-Whitney U test, KruskalWallis test, and Spearman correlation coefficient.

The collected results indicated a significant relationship between personal (P<0.03) and interpersonal (P<0.001) benefits and gender. Moreover, among the barriers, only environmental barriers had a significant relationship with gender (P<0.03). A significant association was observed between benefits and barriers and self-efficacy (P<0.01). The most common (environmental) barriers were the lack of sports space for men (51.6%) and women (62.9%), and being away from sports spaces for men (41.5%) and women (49.4%); the (personal) barriers were time-consuming for men (38.5%), women (43%). The most common benefits were better sleep for men (96.9%) and improved appearance for women (95.3%). The most general self-efficacy was exercising alone in men (61.5%) and women (56.5%).

The staff expressed common barriers to physical activity. These barriers should be considered in designing health care policies and interventions such as providing sports facilities to promote physical activity

This study aimed to evaluate the environmental risk and human health risk of heavy metals in some agricultural products cultivated in Dezful and Shushtar in 2020.

In this research, 18 samples of 1 kg of crops grown on farms in the summer of 2020 were collected randomly from 6 stations in two areas of (Safiabad & Shamsabad farms) and two regions of Shushtar (Gelalak & Shoaibiyeh farms). ICP model Varian 710-ES measured heavy metals.

The average amount of zinc in tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, and onions grown in farms were 38.396, 23.440, 16.136, and 90.706 mg/kg, and in cultivated lands of Shushtar, 11.690, 6.730, 5.713, and 7.406 mg/kg were obtained. Analysis of variance showed that the heavy metals lead, cadmium, and chromium in crops of Dezful and Shushtar were significantly different (P<0.05), but in the case of zinc, copper, and nickel in tomato, cucumber, No significant difference was observed between potato and onion (P>0.05). In tomato and cucumber crops grown in Dezful and Shushtar and potatoes in Shushtar, the hazard values of cadmium, chromium, zinc, and copper were higher than 1. In the tomato crop and the potatoes grown in Shushtar, the lead metal risk index values were higher than 1. Nickel metal hazard index values were obtained in cultivated agricultural products of potatoes, cucumbers, and tomatoes in Shushtar and adults and children less than one.

The carcinogenic rates of cadmium, chromium, and lead in the crops of Shushtar and were higher than the allowed limit of 4-10. The carcinogenicity rate of nickel metal in Shushtar and Dezful crops was 4-10 lower than the permitted limit.

Cognitive functions, such as precision and speed, significantly affect human errors and incidents. The temperature of light color and heat can impact cognitive functions. Therefore, the present study examined the effect of heat and color temperature on the speed and precision of work in the laboratory.

This study was conducted on 10 female students in the Laboratory of Atmospheric Medical School of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in Isfahan City, Iran. Piron v-vibrometer and precision and target vibrometer devices were used to measure accuracy and speed. The test was held in 4 turns, each time for 1 hour. The first turn, 22°C, and color temperature 3000°K, the second turn 22°C and color temperature 6000°K, the third turn 36°C and color temperature 3000°K and the fourth turn 36°C and color temperature 6000°K, adjusted.

Based on the obtained results, precision measurement with precision and target vibrometer was significant in two cases with a color temperature of 3000 and temperatures of 22°C and 36°C (P<0.05); thus, with increasing temperature, the frequency of errors enhanced, and consequently the precision decreased. Furthermore, the speed measurement with the precision and target and Piron v-vibrometer in color temperature state 6000 and temperatures of 22°C and 36°C and the color temperature of 3000 and temperatures 22°C and 36°C were significant (P<0.05). In other words, with increasing temperature, the time of work decreased, and as a result, the speed of work increased, and in other cases, no significant relationship was observed (P>0.05).

In general, the present study results indicated that the precision of work at 36°C is less than exposure to 22°C; the speed of work is higher, and changing the color temperature of light has no significant effect on increasing the precision of work. Therefore, it is suggested to use control strategies to reduce the temperature in environments with temperatures higher than comfort.

Background & Aims of the Study: Dust as a phenomenon is among the significant problems in numerous regions of Iran and other countries. Empirical equations can be used to estimate the concentration of particulate matter. This study evaluated computational values of suspended particles less than 10 μm with their actual concentration in Ahvaz city based on a linear regression model.

This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from April 2016 to March 2018. The dust images were obtained from the MODIS sensor of the Aqua satellite. The meteorological data included 3-hour horizontal visibility data recorded in m. PM10 concentration data were obtained from the Environment Organization. Accordingly, 5 empirical equations between horizontal visibility and PM10 have been used in this case. The calculated values of particulate matter less than 10 μm in Ahvaz City, Iran, were evaluated with actual values of PM10 based on the linear regression model.

The study results suggested that the computational R index for empirical equations had higher accuracy in 2017 data. The coefficients of determination using D’Almeida (1986), Dayan (1986), Chung (2003), Jugder et al. (2014), and Camino et al. (2015) indicators were calculated as 0.87, 0.806, 0.745, 0.873, and 0.866, respectively.

Jugder et al. (2014) index with R² equal to 0.548667 was the best index for estimating PM10 in this region. The study results showed that empirical equations could estimate particulate matter and dust in southwestern Iran.

Occupational burnout is a process of biopsychological fatigue caused by constant and continuous emotional stress due to long-term involvement in humans. Dentistry is one profession with extant biopsychological fatigue that can lead to burnout. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of burnout and related influential factors in dentists in Qom Province, Iran.

This cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 158 general and specialist dentists in Qom Province, Iran (2018-2019) who were randomly selected. The instrument for collecting data was Maslach's standard burnout questionnaire and questions about demographic information and occupational factors. The obtained data were analyzed in SPSS using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), t-test, Chi-squared test, and Pearson correlation coefficient.

This study suggested that the burnout score in all studied dentists was moderate in Qom (n=158). It is revealed that 9.1% of subjects had severe emotional exhaustion, 11.4% had severe depersonalization, and 8.2% had severe individual accomplishment loss. The lack of regular exercise, general dentistry, the lack of educational responsibility, job dissatisfaction, conflict in the role, ambiguity in the role, and work overload are the predictors of burnout in dentists in Qom Province, Iran.

The obtained data revealed that although burnout is not a common problem in dentists in Qom Province; however, strategies for coping with it should be evaluated and managed continuously. Further studies are recommended in this field.