International Journal of Health Studies
Year:2020 | Volume:6 | Issue:3|Papers Count:8

Background: The aim of the study was to determine the causes and rate of needle stick injuries among Bahar hospital in Shahroud during 2009-2018. Methods: This is a descriptive case series study conducted in Bahar educational and research center in Shahroud. The study population included all health care workers and service staff during 2009-2018. Census sampling was performed using health care records of the medical and paramedical group (individual at risk of occupational exposure) from the beginning of January 2009 to the end of December 2018. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics (absolute and relative frequency), and t-test and analysis of variances for quantitative values. Results: A total of 246 cases of needle sticks were reported in ten years. Most cases belonged to bachelor's staff (69. 1%), nursing job group (69. 5%), emergency department and labor (28. 9%), equipment of injections (75. 6%), injections (45. 5%), carelessness (37%), recapping (24. 8%), and at night shift (51. 6%) were observed. Bleeding from the injured site was the most common post-exposure action (44. 3%). Conclusions: Considering the high prevalence of needle stick among health care workers, instruction of prevention methods, holding educational classes, emphasizing on vaccination, controlling HBV antibody titer, and designing a precise reporting mechanism for personnel is necessary.

Background: Nursing education is part of a higher education system dealing with the lives of human beings, and paying attention to it is of particular importance. This study was conducted to identify the faculty members' background characteristics in clinical tutoring in nursing department. Methods: The study was conducted using qualitative research approach. Data collection was performed using semi-structured interviews, extensive literature review and observation of the existing situation. Then, by specifying the various dimensions and items, the effective fundamental characteristics in clinical teaching of faculty members of the nursing department were determined. Results: The three important and effective fundamental characteristics features or classes relevant to the findings of the data analysis in this study are as follows: 1. Faculty member’ s personal characteristics: Adherence to administrative, cultural and Islamic value-adherence to the principles of professional ethics-management ability-positive job and social attitude. 2. Faculty member's nursing professional characteristics: Having theoretical knowledge and practical skills. 3. Faculty member's tutorial characteristics: Observance of educational rules, ability to follow the principles of educational planning, ability to teach, ability to persuade and motivate students, ability to evaluate, research capabilities, teaching experience, professional ability and ability to develop professionally and scientifically. Conclusions: Paying attention to the instructor as the most effective factor in clinical education and recognition of the challenges associated with this factor is very important and effective for improving the quality of clinical education. In this regard, the use of a correct and effective evaluation system is very important. Therefore, determination of the effective fundamental characteristics in clinical teaching of faculty members of the nursing department is necessary to improve the quality of education and ultimately improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the educational system.

Background: Malnutrition is common in hemodialysis patients and it must be controlled quickly. This study aimed to investigate the effect of zinc sulfate on malnutrition in dialysis patients. Methods: This study was a randomized controlled trial on 84 hemodialysis patients referred to Imam Hossain hospital in Shahroud (northeastern of Iran). Patients were randomly divided into two case and control groups. For the intervention group, one tablet of zinc sulfate 220 mg was administered daily for 8 weeks. Both groups were subjected to standard dialysis three times in the week and all patients were assessed for malnutrition using a standard questionnaire, lab tests, and necessary examinations in the first stage, one month and two months after the treatment. Results: Of 84 patients, 39 cases (46. 4%) were female and rest was male. The mean age of the patients was 59. 1± 27. 2 years. The mean total duration of dialysis was 2. 9± 2. 3 years. The severity and extent of malnutrition at the beginning and one month after the study did not differ between the two groups, but after the second month, there was a significant decrease of malnutrition in the intervention group (Pvalue=0. 015). Also, malnutrition variables were significantly associated with BMI less than 18 kg/m2 (Pvalue<0. 039), and serum creatinine less than 3 mg/dl (Pvalue<0. 011) and hemoglobin less than 11 g/dl (Pvalue<0. 001), Conclusions: The results of this study showed that zinc sulfate consumption for at least 2 months could significantly reduce the severity of malnutrition in hemodialysis patients.

Background: Women with gestational diabetes are at the increased risk for type 2 diabetes. Men's participation during the pregnancy plays a vital role in the safety of the pregnant mothers by ensuring the access to care and providing the financial and emotional support. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the effect of education based on the spouses' participation on the treatment adherence in the women with gestational diabetes. Methods: This non-randomized clinical trial study was performed on 80 women with gestational diabetes mellitus (40 in the control group and 40 in the intervention group) referred to the Bahar educational and medical center affiliated to the Shahroud university of medical sciences (Shahroud, Semnan province, Iran). The control group received the routine care and training. In addition to the usual training, the intervention group received the training in terms of gestational diabetes care along with their spouses. The testing of diabetes activities questionnaire (TDAQ) was completed by both study groups before and 5 weeks after the intervention. The p-value of 0. 05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: The results showed that in the post-intervention phase, the treatment adherence score was not statistically significant in both study groups. Conclusions: Results of the study showed no remarkable effect for the education based on the spouse participation on the treatment adherence of the women with gestational diabetes therefore; further studies are suggested to investigate the lack of effect of the educational intervention reported in the present study. On the other hand, there is a need to repeat this research in the societies with poor treatment adherence.

Background: Low birth weight (LBW) is one of the most important health indicators and a major cause of infant mortality. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of family socioeconomic status (SES) on LBW in Shahroud. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 4242 neonates were included in the study. The data gathering tool was used as a valid and reliable questionnaire. electronic records of the household’ s health profile were also employed to complete the data collection form. Determinants of household’ s SES were 10 economic factors, including household assets such as car ownership, computer and Internet access, microwave, cooking place, the number of residential house rooms, type of heating and cooling equipment, bathroom in the house, mother’ s history of foreign travel-tourism. In terms of the social factors, there were 4 variables: Father's education, mother's education, father's job and the number of children. The logistic regression model was adopted by controlling the confounding variables to investigate the effect of socioeconomic factors on LBW. Results: Among the subjects, 312 (7. 4 %) of them were LBW (CI 95%=6. 6-8. 1). The chance of low birth weight in neonates with the low socioeconomic group was 2. 6 times more than high-class group (95% CI=3. 47-2. 01). Conclusions: The quality of health services and the improvement of the socio-economic situation must be taken into account to reduce the inequity of LBW between poor and rich family neonates.

Background: Heart failure, with a very high disability, leads to reduced quality of life. Variables such as self-efficacy and social support have a very much impact on the quality of life of patients. This study aimed to determine the relationship between variables selfefficacy and social support with quality of life in patients with heart failure. Methods: Participants were 298 heart failure (HF) patients of Farabi hospital in Mashhad. They have completed the social support questionnaire (12 items, Zimet and et al. ), Self-efficacy (10 items, Schwarzer and et al. ), and the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure questionnaire MLHFQ (21 Rector). Results: Confirmatory analysis method and path analysis showed that the quality of life of patients with heart failure is affected by social support and self-efficacy. Therefore, social support has a positive effect on quality of life. Self-efficacy has also been able to mediate the relationship between social support and the quality of life, as its path coefficient was equal to 0. 38. Multiple indices such as RMSEA (0. 078) and GFI (0. 93) were used to evaluate the model. The proposed model fits the data. Conclusions: It seems that social support directly and through selfefficacy can improve the quality of life of patients with heart failure.

Background: It has been more than four decades since preconception care was recognized as an important part of women’ s healthcare. However, most women do not seek preconception care. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess the predictors of receiving preconception care. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 1, 019 pregnant women who referred to Mashhad teaching hospitals in 2019. The convenience sampling method was used for sample selection and the required data were collected through a questionnaire. Furthermore, the data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 16). Results: This study showed 33% of the women had utilized preconception care. Number of children (AOR: 0. 47; 95% CI: 0. 38, 0. 6), housing status (AOR: 0. 45; 95% CI: 0. 23, 0. 91), folic acid consumption (AOR: 14. 54; 95% CI: 8. 75, 24. 16), Received information regarding PCC (AOR: 8. 67; 95% CI: 5. 27, 14. 26) were significantly associated with preconception care service utilization. Conclusions: According to the results, a different strategy should be adopted from what has been adopted so far to raise public awareness of the importance of pre-pregnancy care. Since a significant relationship has been reported between obtaining information on prepregnancy care and receiving this care, modifying information methods to promote public awareness seems necessary.

Background: Along with general health and economic indices, policymakers are more dealing with the subjective well-being (SWB) of society as a criterion to evaluate their performance. Also, the increasing number of articles published in mainstream health economics journals approves that the importance of SWB is increasing. The aim of the study was to investigate the urban-outskirt difference in subjective well-being level among Tehran and Rasht dwellers as Iranian metropolises. Methods: The analysis of the study is based on a structured interview that has been carried out by a designed questionnaire with 451 people living in Tehran and Rasht selected by the stratified two-stage cluster sampling method in 2018. One of these study innovations is defining the relative SWB index, a proxy for SWB and happiness. As the second main contribution, we try to overcome data unreliability about income and wealth by defining a specific index for identifying the financial status of interviewees. A series of statistical techniques like ordered Probit were used. Results: According to the results, the city dwellers have higher life satisfaction (5. 23 out of 7) than outskirt dwellers (5. 05) while keeping the other factors to be constant. Also, people who live in Rasht had a lower level of SWB (5. 06) than Tehran dwellers (5. 22). The impact of religious belief is positive on the SWB level. Conclusions: It is for several years that international reports show that Iranian people are not at a proper level of happiness. Having more financial satisfaction, and feeling more positive emotions should be considered across society. Besides, being the landlord has a statistically significant positive effect on city dwellers’ SWB.