Iran Journal of Nursing
Year:2009 | Volume:22 | Issue:59|Papers Count:10

Background and Aim: Malnutrition is one of the important health problems throughout the world, particularly in developing countries, having undesirable effects on mental and physical health of children. It is an underlying factor for infection and an important cause of children mortality in these countries. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of malnutrition among hospitalized children aged 1-36 months at Imam Ali Hospital in Zahedan.Material and Method: This descriptive analytical study was conducted on 360 hospitalized children aged 1-36 months, between June and November 2005. Data were collected through measurement of weight and height, and questionnaire was completed by interviewing children’s parents. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.Results: Nutritional status of the subjects was evaluated according to the weight- for age, weight- for height, and height- for age (Water low’s classification) based on which. Height, based on which the prevalence of malnutrition were 68.6%, 60.1%, and 38.4%, respectively. Malnutrition in children had statistically significant association with birth weight, mother job, and duration of breast feeding (P<0.05). Malnutrition increased among children in rural areas, low birth weight ones, those whose mothers were housewives, with short duration of breast feeding, and late beginning of complementary nutrition.Conclusion: regarding high prevalence of malnutrition among hospitalized children and its association with the above mentioned variables, measures such as increasing parents’ awareness and literacy, constancy of breast feeding until the age of 2, starting complementary nutrition in due course, promoting complementary nutrition in due course, promoting economic, social, and health status of families, and preventing infectious diseases- particularly gastroenteritis are recommended.

Background and Aim: Documentation is among the most important practices in nursing, asstudies indicate that this activity takes about 13% to 28% of total shift time. The aim of this study was determination of nurses’ knowledge and practice of the principles of nursing documentation at hospitals affiliated to Kerman University of Medical Sciences, 2006.Material and Method: In this descriptive analytical study, 226 staff nurses were selected based on census sampling method. Data were collected by a self-made instrument consisting of three sections. Instrument was used after obtaining validity and reliability. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis using SPSS. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.Results: The finding showed that the majority of nurses (37.8%) working in Shafa hospital and majority of nurses had no history of spending the course of nursing documentation. also, the findings of this study revealed that majority of nurses had moderate knowledge (46.5%) and bad practice of documentation (85%) and there was statistically significant relationship between the type of hospital and knowledge and practice (P<0.0001) and spending course of nursing documentation and knowledge (P<0.0001). Results also revealed that there was a positive relationship between knowledge and practice (P<0.0001), but this relationship was not strong (r=0.24).Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that spending course of nursing documentation may promote knowledge of nurses about the principles of documentation. The application of this knowledge in practice needs to be emphasized.

Background and Aim: Stroke patients face to various physical, sensory, mental, psychological and social problems that have a negative effect on quality of life. The aim of this study was to determine relationship between quality of life and social support in stroke patients.Material and Method: This was a correlational study in which the study population consisted of the stroke patients in Marageh, the city in werstern Iran. Convenience sampling was used through which 106 patients who had entrance criteria were selected; and data were collected through interviewing based on quality of life and social support instruments. Then, data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics using the SPSS software (Version15). The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.Results: The results indicated that quality of life and social support were optimal in 70.8% and 82.1% of stroke patients, respectively and there was a statistically significant positive relationship between these two variables (P<0.002, r=0.3). Regarding quality of life subsections; quality in social and physical dimensions was desirable in respectively 97.2% and 63.2% of patients, while quality in psychological dimension was undesirable in half of them. In social support subsections, optimal emotional support was found in 96.2% of samples; and the impact of instrumental and informational support on quality of life were not found to be statistically significant.Conclusion: Nearly, one third of the patients didn’t have optimal quality of life and social support, and regarding to positive relationship between these two concepts, specially the relationship between emotional support and quality of life, it is suggested that health care policy makers and managers consider emotional support in in order to improve quality of life in stroke patients and also pay attention to increasing instrumental and informational support.

Background and Aim: The diabetic foot ulcer is one of the most common and devastating complications of diabetes mellitus. Patient education about the prevention of foot ulceration is among the most challenging issues. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of group and individual patient education on the level of the knowledge, attitude and practice of self-care in patients with diabetic foot ulcer.Material and Method: In this quasi-experimental study, the samples consisted of 80 patients with type 2 diabetes randomly allocated to two groups to receive either individual or group education (40 patients in each group). The patients received one day education program about foot care. The patients’ knowledge, attitude and practice of self-care were assessed before and after the interventions and the data were compared between two groups. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.Results: The finding showed that the level of knowledge about foot care was poor in most patients of both groups.The attitude was positive and the practice was moderate. The level of the knowledge (P=0.09), attitude (P=0.21), and practice (P=0.01) of both groups improved after educational program. There was not a statistically significant difference between two groups in terms of knowledge and practice improvement. There was a statistical significant difference between two groups in terms of attitude improvement.Conclusion: The effects of group and individual education on diabetic foot self-care are similar. Group education is more economical.

Background and Aim: Quality of services in hospitals should be continuously evaluated in terms of structure, process, and outcome. The purpose of this study was to compare patient satisfaction, physical space and medical equipment between governmental and privative hospitals in Qom, Iran.Material and Method: In this descriptive-analytical study, 500 patients from selected Qom hospitals were recruited based on stratified random sampling. Data were collected by patient satisfaction form and assessment check lists of physical atmosphere and medical equipments. Data were analyzed by SPSS, version 11.5. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.Results: Patient satisfaction in inpatient and emergency wards of governmental hospitals were, respectively %69 and %71/14. Patient satisfaction in inpatient and emergency wards of privative hospitals were %80 and %78, respectively. General and emergency wards of governmental hospitals were somewhat equipped with medical equipments. Physical atmosphere, in terms of facilities and the building, was acceptable in general and relatively acceptable in emergency wards of governmental hospitals. This atmosphere was relatively acceptable for both general and emergency wards of privative hospitals.Conclusion: Satisfaction among patients was relatively good. It is possible to improve satisfaction through increasing the visiting time, improving quality of lavatories, and modifying personnel interactions with the patients. Also, promoting medical equipments and physical space can improve the situation according to organizational goals.

Background and Aim: Nowadays, one of the roles of all nurses is the research. Managers with their power can promote the conduct and utilization of research among practical nurses. This study aimed to identify attitudes and perceived barriers to carry out research among hospital nurse managers.Material and Method: In this descriptive study, sample included nurse managers of the all levels working in hospitals of Kerman city. An instrument was designed in three parts: demographic characteristics, attitude scale and Barriers scale. The data was analyzed with measures of central tendency, dispersion, ANOVA, t-test, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Witney test. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.Results: The mean age of managers was 39.16 years. The majority (96.4%) of managers were women and Bachelor of Science degree (84.1%). The rate of managers’ research activities in seven of twelve items was lower than 20%. The most research activity in managers was “aticipating research courses” (59.7%). Attitudes to nursing research were quietly positive (71.8%). The most agreement was with “the managers must specify time to read the latest research findings (97.8%)”. Managers evaluated the intensity of all barriers higher than 70%.The most intensity was attributed to the barrier “heavy workload in hospital as the result of lack of personnel” and “not having formal time for research activity” (96.4%). Demographic characteristics did not have any statistical significant relationship with attitudes and barriers. Conclusion: These results signals a warning to body of nursing and managers, If this condition continues, practice nurses will not have any role in production of nursing science that leads to loss of true nursing identity.

Background and Aim: Exclusive breastfeeding which has been recommended as the best feeding method for infants up to six months has a protective effect against mortality and morbidity. Nevertheless, breastfeeding is not a universal practice and reduction in breastfeeding rate is now considered as a serious problem, especially in developing countries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of Kangaroo contact on duration of exclusive breastfeeding and success of first breastfeeding in primiparous women.Material and Methods: This study is a randomized controlled trial performed in labor and maternity wards of Shahid Akbar-Abadi hospital in Tehran. One hundred healthy primiparous mother-infant dyads were randomly assigned either to Kangaroo contact (n=50) or routine care (n=50). The Infant Breastfeeding Assessment Tool was used to assess success of first breastfeeding and duration of exclusive breastfeeding was evaluated by face to face interview in 4 months post delivery. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.Results: In Kangaroo contact group, 100 percent of babies had a successful first feed compared with 74% in the routine care group. The difference in the success rate was 26%, with 95% confidence interval; X2=14.943; df=1; P£0.0001. No statistical significant differences was found in duration of exclusive breastfeeding (101.2±27.84 vs 88.7±42.47; P<0.85) during follow up.Conclusion: Very early Kangaroo contact enhanced breastfeeding success during the early postpartum period. The difference between the groups in duration of exclusive breastfeeding at 4 months was not statistically significant. Overall, we believe our study provides support for the implementation of Kangaroo contact.

Background and Aim: Osteoporosis and the fractures associated with are a major public health concern, because of related morbidity and disability, diminished quality of life, and mortality. Evidence suggests that to adopt changes on some life styles can prevent or delay development of osteoporosis. Most important modifiable risk factors of osteoporosis are receiving inadequate calcium intake and not doing weight-bearing exercises such as walking. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of an educational program based on health belief model on preventive factors of osteoporosis among postmenopausal women.Material and Method: This study was a quasi-experimental research with two groups, experimental (n=43) and control (n=41) selected from 4 mosques situated in ray city. The subjects in experimental group participated in a 6-week educational program (each session 60-90 minutes) based on health belief model. Data collection tools included demographic information form, knowledge questionnaire, health belief scale and food frequency questionnaire which were completed by the subjects of two groups before and after intervention. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.Results: Before intervention, there was no statistically significant difference between two groups regarding demographic characteristics, knowledge, health belief constructs, calcium intake and walking. After intervention, t-test showed a statistically significant difference between two groups in perceived susceptibility and severity (P<0.0001), barriers of calcium intake (P<0.0001), and barriers of exercise (P<0.0001). Perceived benefits of calcium intake and exercise were not significantly different between groups after intervention (P=0.06). Dietary Calcium intake increased to 906.55±282.45 mg/day in experimental group, but there was not statistically significant difference between two groups (P=0.40). Changes in frequency of weekly walking was statistically significant (p=0.005) between groups, but the total time of walking wasn’t statistically significant between them (P=0.07).Conclusion: Educational program based on health belief model was effective in increasing health belief constructs and walking frequency but not in dietary calcium intake.