Cardiovascular Nursing Journal
Year:2015 | Volume:4 | Issue:1|Papers Count:8

Aim. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of aromatherapy on ICU nurses' stress.Background. Nursing, due to its high sensitivity, is known as one of the most stressful professions. ICU nurses experience more stress than other nurses. This stress can reduce the quality of patient care and results in nurses' feelings of inadequacy and depression. Aromatherapy, as a method of complementary medicine may reduce anxiety and warring.Method: This was a quasi-experimental study in which 70 nurses, working in intensive care unit, were divided into experimental and control groups. Nurses' stress were measured before intervention, then intervention (inhalation of Lavendula using tags for 4 consecutive shifts, each shift for 20 minutes) was was applied for the experimental group (control group received no intervention). At the end of intervention in experimental group, the stress was again measured in both groups. Data were analyzed using the Chi-square and t-test in the SPSS, version 20.Findings. After intervention, the mean of stress in experimental group (20.57±4.20) was not statistically different when compared with control group (22.43±5/24). But, in the experimental group, the mean of stress score after intervention (20.57±4.20) was significantly lower than the mean of stress score before intervention (22.32±4.61) (P=0/001). Comparing the groups, the changes in mean stress score before and after the intervention was statistically significant (P=0.001).Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that the Lavender essence can reduce stress in ICU nurses. It is recommended that the aroma of lavender be applied to reduce stress in ICU nurses.

Aim. This study aimed at examining the effect of nursing care training program on outcomes of mechanically- ventilated infants.Background. Mechanical ventilation in infants is considered as an invasive procedures with complications such as bronchopulmonary dysplasia, lung bleeding, obstruction or removal of the endotracheal tube, which are almost all preventable. Nurse have responsibility to avoid these complications.Method. This study was a randomized clinical trial (outcome-based). The study included all infants undergoing mechanical ventilation in the neonatal intensive care unit of Comprehensive Women's hospital in Tehran. Nurses were trained over one month at bedside by the clinical instructor. Data on ventilator complications were collected of 120 cases from patients' medical records, before and after intervention. The data were analyzed by SPSS version 21.Findings: A statistical significant decrease was seen in most outcomes. The incidence of bronchopulmonary dysplasia declined from 35% to 18%, re-intubation decreased from 57% to 33%, pulmonary hemorrhage declined from 32% to 13%, and pneumothorax changed from 55% to 35%. Duration of mechanical ventilation and length of stay also decreased significantly after intervention. No statistically significant decrease was observed in retinopathy of prematurity and death.Conclusion. Educational program, especially by the coach, is effective on most outcomes of the infants under mechanical ventilation. Taking into account the workload of nurses and problems with attending in educational classes outside of the ward, it is recommended to hold education at bedside for nurses to improve quality of education.

Aim. This study aimed at investigating the effect of education based on illness perception on self-care behaviors of patients with heart failure.Background. Heart failure is the final outcome of most cardiovascular diseases, reducing patients’ self-care behaviors as a chronic condition. Changing illness perception of patients with heart failure about the disease is a way to improve the self-care behaviors in these patients.Method. An experimental design was used to conduct the study. Seventy and six patients with heart failure who admitted to hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences and were eligible to participate in the study was recruited in 2014 and were randomly divided into intervention and control group. The intervention group attended in three educational sessions and received cell phone follow-up for 8 weeks. The control group received conventional treatment. The self-care behaviors was compared in both groups before, and eight weeks after the intervention. The data were analyzed by SPSS-16 software.Findings. There was no statistical significant difference between demographic variables of two groups. Self-care behaviors in the intervention group increased after the intervention when compared with the control group (p<0.0001). In the experimental group, the mean score of self-care behaviors after the intervention was significantly higher than mean score before intervention (p<0.0001).Conclusion. The results showed that education based on illness perception affects self-care behaviors in patients with heart failure. It is suggested as an effective method to promote the self-care behaviors in these patients.

Aim. This study examined the effect of white noise on depression of patients in the Cardiac Care Unit (CCU).Background. Many patients with cardiovascular disease are susceptible to experience depression after admission in Cardiac Care Unit (CCU). Depression can influence patients' recovery.Method. This was a quasi-experimental study conducted in Shaheed Rajaei Cardiovascular Center, Tehran in 2014. Ninety patients admitted to the cardiac care unit were recruited in the study based on convenience sampling and divided into experimental and control group (45 patients in each group). Depression was measured for 3 consecutive days by depression subscale of DASS-21 questionnaire. In the experimental group, white noise with an intensity of 50 to 60 decibels was played for 30 minutes. Data were analyzed by SPSS , version 17, using independent t-test, paired t-test and chi-square test.Findings. In control group, no statically significant difference was observed between mean scores of depression, before and after intervention (4.12±4.35 and 3.52±3.74, respectively; p=0.05). In the experimental group, the difference between mean scores of depression, before and after intervention was statistically significant (4.81±4.47 and 3.93±4.48, respectively; p=0.02).Conclusion. According to the findings, white noise can leads to a significant reduction in depression. This intervention can be used as a simple and low-cost non-pharmacological care for these patients.

Aim. This study was aimed to assess the effect of self-care educational program on quality of life in patients with hypertension.Background. Hypertension is a major health problem due to complications and high mortality rate. It causes problems in the ability of patients for self-care and affect their quality of life.Method. This clinical trial study with control group was conducted in Mahmud-Abad Hospital affiliated to Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. In this study, 70 patients who met the inclusion criteria were selected through convenience sampling and to prevent information contamination, they were allocated to groups according to whether they refer to hospital even or odd days. Before and three months after intervention, data were collected by quality of life questionnaire SF-36 in both groups. Patients in control group received routine education. Patients in intervention group participated in three face to face self-care education sessions (each session lasted 20 minutes) and received educational package including instruction booklet and CD. Data were analyzed by using Independent t-test, Paired t test, Chi-square test, and Fisher’s exact test through SPSS version 21.Findings. The results showed that before intervention, there was not a statistically significant difference between two groups regarding quality of life, but after 3 months there was a statistically significant difference (P<0.0001). Also, in the intervention group, there were statistically significant differences regarding the total score of quality of life and all related dimensions, before and three months after education (P<0.0001).Conclusion. Self-care education can improve quality of life among patients with hypertension. It is recommended that health care providers, particularly nurses, implement these educational programs for improving the quality of life of patients with hypertension.

Aim. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of cardiac rehabilitation on quality of life and return to work in patients with Acute coronary syndrome (ACS).Background. ACS is one of the major cardiovascular diseases that can affects the patients’ quality of life and return to work.Method. This was a clinical trial study conducted on 50 patients with ACS admitted to the coronary care units of the selected hospital of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in 2013-2014. The participants were randomly assigned to control (n=25) or experimental group (n=25). The experimental group received phase 1 and 2 cardiac rehabilitation program, however, the control group received usual care. The data was collected via demographic questionnaire and SF-36 quality of life questionnaire, before and one month after intervention. Return to work was estimated through questions and then was compared in both groups.Findings. There was no statistically significant difference between experimental and control groups in terms of demographic variables and cardiovascular risk factors. After intervention, in the experimental group, the mean scores in all domains of quality of life increased significantly (p<0.0001). In the control group, the mean score of quality of life, before and after the intervention was not significantly different. A statistical significant difference was found between the experimental and control groups in all domains of quality of life, except for general health and social function, in favor of the experimental group. No statistically significant difference was found between the groups in terms of the duration of return to work.Conclusion. The results of this study showed that cardiac rehabilitation program can improve the quality of life in patients with ACS.

Aim. The aim of the study is to investigate the need for hospital infection control and prevention.Background. Nosocomial infections are among the major health problems which increase mortality and hospital costs, especially in intensive care units. Successful control of nosocomial infections depends on recognition of hospital challenges in this issue.Method. This study is an overview study. The keywords “hospital infection” and “ICU”, alone or together, with Persian equivalents were searched in websites such as Iranmedex, CINAHL, Scopus, Medline, Embase, SID, PubMed, Magiran and Irandoc.Findings. Based on the findings, the main causes of nosocomial infections included multiple procedures and invasive diagnostic and therapeutic treatments, especially in ICUs. Compromised immune system, duration of hospitalization, absence of hospital surveillance reporting system, inappropriate disinfection and sterilization of equipment, inappropriate physical structure of ICU, non-cooperative managers and departments, and lack of knowledge of medical staff, especially physicians and nurses.Conclusion. Identifying causes of hospital infections and the use of especial measures to promote safety and enhance quality of care in the treatment and prevention of these infections are necessary for a comprehensive and integrated controlling program.

Aim. The purpose of this study was to review the effectiveness of new cardiac biomarkers.Background. Cardiovascular diseases have been a heavy burden on the health system’s shoulders and caused about 30 percent of human's deaths annually. Irreversible myocardial injury occurs within around 15-20 minutes following the coronary artery occlusion. Therefore, early diagnosis of this problem is very important for the health care professionals to save patients’ lives. Nowadays, thanks to recognition of new biomarkers and using their characteristics, evaluating the short-term and long-term prognosis is possible.Method. In this study, papers published within the time period 1980 to 2014, were considered. The papers were searched out by the keywords “cardiac biomarker”, “new cardiac markers”, “coronary diseases”, and “cardiovascular diseases” in Elsevier, Google Scholar, JAMA, Science Direct, Wiley, PubMed, and Iran Medex databases.Findings. The results indicate that characteristic of each biomarker can play an important role to advance the goals of medicine and harm reduction in the cardiovascular patients. However, despite the high efficiency, routine usage of them is still unclear which indicates the need for further research in this field.Conclusion. New biomarkers provide new insight about recognition of the causes of cardiovascular diseases, also their easy and rapid application with high sensitivity and predictive value will develop a dramatic change in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with cardiovascular diseases.