Evaluation of Saffron (Crocus Sativus L) Effects on Anxiety in Hospitalized Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome.

Background: Anxiety is a common psychiatric condition in cardio-vascular diseases. Saffron appears to have a wide range of therapeutic effects on psychiatric conditions and cardio-vascular disorders. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of saffron on anxiety in hospitalized patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Materials and Methods: In this clinical investigation, we selected 80 patients with ACS from Tohid Medical Center, Sanandaj. Patients were divided randomly into two groups, intervention group (n = 41), and control group (n = 39), based on how they received saffron and placebo every 12 hours for 4 days, respectively. The Spielberger Anxiety Inventory was completed before and after the intervention in both groups. Results: There was no significant difference between the intervention and control groups regarding the mean scores of the trait and state anxiety before and after the intervention (P > 0.05). Conclusion: The present study did not corroborate the therapeutic effects of saffron on reducing anxiety in patients with ACS.

Examination of the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the attitude towards pressure ulcer prevention instrument in nurses.

INTRODUCTION: Pressure ulcer development is a known indicator of the quality of care. Negative attitudes towards the prevention of pressure ulcers can lead to preventive care with suboptimal quality. There is no valid and reliable instrument in Iran to assess clinicians' attitudes towards pressure ulcer prevention; therefore, this study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Attitude towards Pressure ulcer Prevention instrument (APuP) in Nurses. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 250 nurses were selected using a convenience sampling method. Face, content, and construct validity were examined using exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Internal consistency was assessed using the McDonald's omega (ω), and reliability was assessed using the test-retest method. RESULTS: In the EFA, five factors of Competence, Responsibility, Perceived Consequences of Pressure Ulcers on Patients, Priority, and Confidence in the Effectiveness of Prevention were extracted that together explained 50.26% of the total variance. A McDonald's ω of 0.891 demonstrated the internal consistency of the total scale, and internal consistencies ranging from 0.70 to 0.86 were found for different dimensions of the instrument. In addition, an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.876 was found that indicated the reliability (stability) of the total scale (95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 0.736-0.963). CONCLUSION: The Persian version of the Attitude towards Pressure ulcer Prevention instrument (APuP) has good validity and reliability in Iranian nurses and can be used in future clinical studies.

The Effect of Music Therapy and Aromatherapy with Chamomile-Lavender Essential Oil on the Anxiety of Clinical Nurses: A Randomized and Double-Blind Clinical Trial.

Nurses may be anxious due to critical and emergencies, and anxiety can affect their professional performance. Non-pharmacological interventions, as a safe method, can reduce anxiety. This study aimed to determine the effect of music therapy and aromatherapy with chamomile - lavender essential oil on the anxiety of clinical nurses. This was a randomized, double-blind clinical trial. One hundred twenty nurses from clinical wards of Besat Hospital in Sanandaj, Iran, were selected between 2018 and 2019 by purposeful sampling. The samples were randomly assigned to three groups with different interventions, namely music therapy, both aromatherapy with chamomile-lavender essential oil and music therapy, and aromatherapy with chamomile-lavender essential oil, along with a control group as well. The anxiety of nurses was measured based on the Beck Anxiety Inventory before the intervention and after three work shifts. The data were analyzed using the SPSS v.22 software. One-way ANOVA was used to test the hypotheses. The findings showed that the mean scores of the anxiety of nurses after the intervention in the three groups namely the group for which music therapy was applied, the group for which aromatherapy with chamomile-lavender essential oil was used and the group for which both music therapy and aromatherapy with chamomile-lavender essential oil were applied, were (39.28), (37.82) and (40.03), respectively. Therefore, the obtained mean score of each group was significantly lower than that of the control group (56.08) (p < 0.0001). The results showed that the interventions of music therapy and aromatherapy with chamomile-lavender essential oil could reduce the anxiety of nurses. Therefore, it is recommended to use music therapy and aromatherapy with chamomile-lavender essential oil to reduce the anxiety of nurses in the clinical setting.

Breast cancer research in Iran: a scientometric analysis of publications output from 1991 to 2015 in Scopus.

INTRODUCTION: As a common type of malignancy, breast cancer is one of the major causes of death in women globally. The purpose of the current study was to analyze Iran research performance on Breast Cancer in the context of national and international studies, shown in the publications indexed in Scopus database during 1991-2015. METHODS: Data were retrieved from the Scopus citation database in this scientometric study. The following string was employed; "breast cancer OR breast malignancy OR breast tumor OR mammary ductal carcinoma" keywords in the main title, abstract and keywords and Iran in the affiliation field were the main related keywords. The terms used were searched in Scopus using the tab specified for searching documents. Time span analyzed was 1991 to 2015 inclusive. Using the analyzing software of Scopus, we analyzed the results. RESULTS: Iran's increasing publication production during 1991-2015 in breast cancer research which indexed in Scopus, consists of 2,399 papers with an average of 95.96 papers per year, and achieved an h-index of 48. Iranian cancer research articles have received 15,574 citations during 1991-2015, and average citations per paper were 6.49. Iran ranked 27th among the top 30 nations with a worldwide stake of 0.67 %, the 20 top publishing journals published 744 (31%) Iranian research articles on breast cancer, among them, there were 15 Iranian journals. CONCLUSION: The number of Iranian research papers on breast cancer and also the number of citations to them, is increasing. Although the quantity and quality of papers are increasing, regarding the prevalence of breast cancer in Iran and also the ineffectiveness of screening programs in the early detection of the cases, more effort should be made, and Iranian policy makers should consider more investment on breast cancer research.

The Influence of Oral Ginger before Operation on Nausea and Vomiting after Cataract Surgery under General Anesthesia: A double-blind placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: According to Iranian traditional medicine, using safe ginger may contribute to taking less chemical medicines and result in fewer side effects. OBJECTIVE: To determine the influence of using ginger before operation on nausea and vomiting, after cataract surgery under general anesthesia. METHODS: This study was a double-blind placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial conducted at Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences in 2015. 122 candidates of cataract surgery were randomly allocated in three groups. The first group received a ginger capsule in a single 1 g dose, the second received two separate doses of ginger capsule each containing 500 mg and the third group received placebo capsule before operation. The patients were examined and studied for the level of nausea and occurrence of vomiting for 6 hours after the operation. The intensity of nausea was scored from zero to ten, based upon Visual Analog Scale. SPSS version 20 was used to analyze the data. We used Chi square and Kruskal-Wallis test for the analyses of outcomes. RESULTS: The frequency and intensity of nausea and the frequency of vomiting after operation among those who had taken the ginger capsule in 2 separate 500 mg doses was less than the other 2 groups. This difference was significant (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: As the results of the study indicated, using ginger as safe medicine, which could act complementary to chemical medicines was really useful in reducing the frequency and intensity of nausea and vomiting after cataract surgery. As this study found, the maximum efficiency of ginger was when it had been taken regularly and constantly in separate doses. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trial was registered at the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (http://www.irct.ir) with the Irct ID: IRCT2015062122853N1. FUNDING: This research was supported by the research cluster grant (93/132) from Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran.

The prevalence of violence against women and some related factors in Sanandaj city (Iran) in 2015.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Violence against women is considered as one of the social problems of all countries in the world. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of violence against married women referring to health centers, and determining its related factors in Sanandaj, Iran, in 2015. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 700 married women referred to health centers in Sanandaj, Iran in 2015. A researcher made questionnaire was used to collect data. To perform sampling, the city was divided into 5 regions and from each region, one health center was selected randomly. Data were analyzed by SPSS 18 and using descriptive statistics, independent-samples t-test, chi-square test and ANOVA. Significance level of .05 was considered. RESULTS: The results of this study showed that all women in the study had been subjected to violence at least once. In 11.7% of cases, the violence was moderate and severe. A total of 9.6% had been subjected to physical violence, 42.2% to verbal and psychological violence, 52.4% to sexual violence and 53.4% to economic violence. It was a statistically significant correlation between violence and following variables; education (p=0.0001), occupation (p=0.0001), history of domestic violence in family (p=0.0001), and having a boy in the family (p=0.0001). There was no statistically significant relationship between the number of girls in the family and violence against women (p=0.19). CONCLUSION: Although Physical violence against women has decreased, other forms of violence including; verbal, sexual and economic were used against women. It seems that the problem of violence against women would not be solved without improving women's socio-economic status.

Exploring nurses' experience about facilitating factors in medication administration based on clinical judgment of nurses: A content analysis.

BACKGROUND: Clinical judgment of nurses to conduct medication orders is based on patient assessment, medication knowledge, observation, and interpretation of the data collected. This process is influenced by many factors. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to explore nurses' experience about facilitating factors in medication administration based on clinical judgment of nurses. METHODS: This qualitative study was part of an approved project research of the Iranian National Institute of Health Research, which was conducted in Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences in 2015. Based on purposive sampling of 18 participants, 26 open and semistructured interviews were conducted. Based on conventional content analysis method and using MAXQDA2010, coding and categorizing the data were applied. During the analysis, data collection continued until saturation. RESULTS: Analysis of the data led to the emergence of five themes, including the implementation of evidence-based medication orders, situational-based medication orders, medication orders in critical condition, educational interventions in medication orders, and supporting the nurses as facilitator of the implementation of medicinal orders based on clinical judgment of nurses. CONCLUSION: In response to constraints such as the routines, clinical crisis and lack of evidence in medicinal orders, nurses used following ways to fix these barriers and facilitators. Combining evidence such as clinical guidelines, physician's views based on patients, and clinical conditions proved the best facilitator. It is recommended that, using these results, a perfect background for the proper administration of medication orders by nurses should be provided.

Nurses' Clinical Judgment Development: A Qualitative Research in Iran.

BACKGROUND: Clinical judgment development is necessary because it leads to appropriate nursing diagnoses, clinical decision-making and health promotion. OBJECTIVES: In this study we explored the process of Iranian nurses' development in clinical judgment. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This qualitative study was conducted in 2013 at hospitals of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, located in the Sanandaj city of Iran. The data were collected based on semi-structured interviews and the study included 24 participants. Data analysis was carried out concurrently with data collection using the grounded theory method. RESULTS: The study participants' main concern was 'being non-professional in clinical judgment'. In response to this concern, they were struggling for gaining professional autonomy, striving for integrating clinical judgment skills, scrambling to make effective educational interventions and striving for professional and inter professional collaboration in clinical judgment. The core category was 'struggling for becoming professional in clinical judgment development'. When nurses were supported professionally, they were able to develop their professional clinical judgment. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study provided critical information about nurses' professionalization in clinical judgment. Accordingly, the participants adopted different strategies to develop their clinical judgment ability. Integrating these strategies into nursing theory and clinical education can improve nurses' clinical judgment ability.

Epilepsy Research in Iran: a Scientometric Analysis of Publications Output During 2000-2014.

AIM: The aim of this study is to analyze the epilepsy research output of Iran in national and global contexts, as reflected in its publication output indexed in Scopus citation database during 2000-2014. METHODS: This study was based on the publications of epilepsy research from Iranian authors retrieved Feb. 2015 from Scopus Citation database [www.scopus.com]. The string used to retrieve the data was developed using "epilepsy OR epilepsies" keywords in title, abstract and keywords and Iran in affiliation field was our main string. RESULTS: Cumulative publication output of Iran in epilepsy research consisted of 702 papers from 2000 to 2014, with an average number of 46.53 papers per year. The total publication output of Iran in epilepsy research increased from 2 papers in 2000 to 88 papers in 2014. Hence, with 702 paper, Iran ranked 25(th) among the top 25 countries with a global share of 0.82 %. Iranian publication average citation per paper increased from 0 in 2000 to 7.88 in 2014. Overall, the received citations were 3184 citations during those years. CONCLUSION: Iran is collaborating with 36 countries with no more than 244 of its papers (35% of its total papers). It is necessary to prepare conditions for epilepsy researchers to collaborate more with international scientific societies in order to produce more and high quality papers.

Professional support as a facilitator to the development of Iranian nurses' clinical judgment: A content analysis.

BACKGROUND: Nurses' clinical judgment development is essential for the professional nursing practice. The aim of this study was to explore the facilitators to the development of Iranian nurses' clinical judgment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A qualitative design using conventional content analysis method was employed in the study. A purposive sample of 24 participants was recruited from three hospitals located at Sanandaj, Iran. Study data were collected in 2013 by using semi-structured individual interviews. A content analysis approach was used to analyze the study data and MAXQDA was used for coding and categorizing the data. RESULTS: The main theme of the study was "professional support as a facilitator to the development of nurse's clinical judgment." The sub-themes of this main theme included "provision of direct support to nurses" and "provision of clinical judgment resources." The first sub-theme consisted of different types of managerial, clinical, educational, and social supports. The two categories of the second sub-theme included the provision of necessary clinical evidence and the provision of medical equipments. CONCLUSION: The study findings highlighted the importance of providing nurses with adequate professional support for facilitating the development of their clinical judgment.