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INTRODUCTION: Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic autoimmune disorder that leads to joint swelling, stiffness, pain and progressive joint destruction. It is a common disease with prevalence of 1% worldwide that affecting all aspects of patients' lives. Therefore, this study was conducted to summarize and provide a clear view of quality of life among the patients in Iran through a literature review. METHODS: This study was conducted as a literature review over article published between 2000 to 2013, by using data bases comprise of Google scholar, Science Direct, Pubmed, IRANDOC, SID, Medlib, Magiran and by key words: "quality of life", "rheumatoid arthritis", "Iran" and their Persian equivalents. Finally 2065 articles assessed and according to the aim of the study are 11 studies synthesized. Extracted results first were summarized in Extraction Table, and then analyzed manually. RESULTS: In reviewed articles rheumatoid arthritis patients' quality of life was measured by using five different tools, the most important one of them was SF36 questionnaire. Among eight dimensions of SF36 questionnaire, the highest mean according included articles result was social functioning with average score of 63.4 and the lowest for physical limitation (physical role functioning) with score of 43. Overall, mean of eight dimensions was 52.47. The most important factors affecting quality of life were disease severity and pain, depression, income, educational, occupational status, married status, sign of disease, fatigue, anxiety and disease activity scores. CONCLUSION: The results of the study showed relatively low quality of life of rheumatoid arthritis patients in Iran. Empowering patients by participating them in service delivery process and decision making can improves quality of life and in this regard health care provider must be focused on patient self-care abilities and reinforcing this factor by training them.
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CONTEXT: Medical waste (MW) is all waste materials generated at health care facilities. MW naturally is hazardous for environment and subsequently for human. Waste minimization (WM) is the latest alternative for risk reduction. All hospital staff generally and nurses specially can play an active role through education and the implementation of measures to reduce medical wastage and their environmental effects. AIMS: This study is aimed to compare nurses and other staff functions in selected hospitals in Isfahan about waste minimization strategies. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This is a descriptive analytical study. The study tool was a researcher -designed questionnaire in five area of waste minimization based on WHO recommendation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: There were 90 nurses and other staff from randomized selected public and private hospitals of Isfahan as the sample of this research. This study was done in 2009. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Data were analyzed by t-test using SPSS16. RESULTS: Nurses mean score of WM performance was 58.16 (12), and others was 58.56 (12.18) (of max 100). There was no significant difference between nurses and others mean score of WM performance according to t-test. There was not significant difference between WM performances of two studied groups in public and private hospitals based on t-test. Comparing between two studied groups mean scores by waste minimization areas indicated that nurses have done significantly better in source reduction area and other staffs have acted better in waste segregation (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: All of hospital staff specially, nurses have an important role in qualified waste management practice of hospitals. Totally mean score of WM performance in hospitals (nurses and other) was average. With regard to other countries activities, this result is disappointing. So, it is necessary to plan educational programs for hospital staff, especially nurses.