Understanding the meaning of the lived experience "maternal role" in women with multiple sclerosis and planning a supportive program: a combined exploratory study protocol.

BACKGROUND: The maternal role is one of the most challenging yet rewarding roles that women experience in their lives. It begins when a woman becomes pregnant, and as the pregnancy progresses, she prepares to fulfill her role as a mother. A woman's health plays a crucial role in her ability to fulfill the maternal role. Multiple sclerosis (MS), as an autoimmune disease, presents unique challenges in achieving this role. Failing to fulfill the maternal role can have lasting consequences for both the mother and the baby. Given the increasing number of women with MS of reproductive age in Iran and the absence of specific programs for this group during pregnancy and postpartum, researchers have decided to develop a supportive program by exploring the meaning of the maternal role and identifying the needs of these women during this period. METHODS/MATERIALS: This study will be conducted in 3 stages. The first stage involves a qualitative study to explore the meaning of the "maternal role" in women with MS through a descriptive and interpretive phenomenological approach based on Van Manen's method. Data will be collected through semi-structured interviews with pregnant women with MS and mothers with MS who have children under one-year-old, recruited from the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Mashhad, Iran. The second stage will involve designing a support program based on the findings of the phenomenological study, literature review, and exploratory interviews. A logical model will guide the development of the program, and validation will be conducted using the nominal group technique. DISCUSSION: This study is the first of its kind in Iran to explore the meaning of the maternal role and develop a support program for women with MS. It is hoped that the results of this study will help address the challenges of motherhood faced by these women.

The maternal role is considered one of the most significant roles a woman will undertake in her lifetime. It is a process in which a woman, as a mother, attains competency in her role and eventually becomes comfortable with her identity as a mother. However, there are various factors, such as diseases, that can impede a mother from fully embracing her role. Multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease that predominantly affects women of reproductive age, is one such condition.Given the lack of research in Iran regarding the experiences of women with MS in their maternal role, a study was developed in three phases. The first phase involves interviewing pregnant women with MS and mothers with MS who have children under one-year-old to explore the meaning of the maternal role. In the second phase, utilizing the findings from the initial interviews and the experts' opinions, a support program will be created to assist women with MS during pregnancy and after giving birth, and in the last stage, this program will be evaluated by nominal group technique.

The Unmet Needs of Women with Maternal Near Miss Experience: A Qualitative Study.

Introduction: A maternal near-miss (MNM) case is defined as "a woman who nearly died but survived from life-threatening pregnancy or childbirth complication". This study was conducted on health care providers and near-miss mothers (NMMs) with the aim of discovering the unmet needs of Iranian NMM. Methods: In this qualitative study 37 participants of key informants, health providers, NMMs and their husbands were selected using purposive sampling. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted for data collection until data saturation was achieved. Data were analyzed using Graneheim and Lundman conventional content analysis. Results: The analysis revealed the core category of "the need for comprehensive support". Eight categories included "psychological", "fertility", "information", "improvement the quality of care", "sociocultural", "financial", "breastfeeding" and "nutritional" needs emerging from 18 sub-categories, were formed from 2112 codes. Conclusion: Many of the real needs of NMM have been ignored. Maternal health policymakers should provide standard guidelines based on the needs discovered in this study to support the NMMs' unmet needs.

Women's needs in their journey towards motherhood via oocyte donation: A mixed methods systematic review.

Background: Given the significant changes in family formation through donation procedures, providing an optimal level of care that is responsive to the needs of mothers who get pregnant via oocyte donation is pivotal to improve their maternal role. Therefore, it is necessary to recognize the needs of oocyte donation mothers to address their specific needs. Objective: This study aimed to review the needs of women in their journey towards motherhood via oocyte donation. Materials and Methods: In this systematic review, which followed the updated Joanna Briggs Institute's methodological guidance for conducting a mixed methods systematic review, the quantitative observational and qualitative studies were searched through databases including PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, the Cochran Library, and Google Scholar search engine. Letters to the editor, commentaries, magazine articles, articles without full text and abstracts presented in congresses were excluded. All English-language articles related to the needs of oocyte donation mothers, without time limitation, were reviewed. The eligible studies were critically appraised independently by 2 researchers. Results: 4649 records were identified from those 18 articles were finally included in the review. The needs of oocyte donation mothers comprised 8 categories: The need for special services in fertility clinics, the need to improve the quality of care, the need for emotional support and psychological consultation, information needs, the need for financial support, the need for disclosure counseling, educational needs, and the need for sociocultural and religious support. Conclusion: This review suggests various needs of oocyte donation mothers. The results can be used in carefully planning supportive programs for this vulnerable population.

Death-stricken survivor mother: the lived experience of near miss mothers.

BACKGROUND: A Near Miss Mother (NMM) who survives life-threatening conditions, experiences intense physical, emotional, and psychological consequences following the maternal near-miss (MNM) events. The aim of this study was therefore to explore indepth understanding meaning of NMM everyday lived experiences on the social and cultural background of Iran. METHODS: This qualitative study utilized a hermeneutic phenomenology procedure. The study was conducted in hospitals affiliated with the Educational, Research and Treatment Centerwhich usually handle the NMMs. The sampling was purposeful with a maximum variation of eleven NMMs. Datawere collected using unstructured face-to-face interviews, and thetranscribed data were analyzed using Diekelmann, Allen, and Tanner's seven-stage thematic analysis approach. RESULTS: "Death-stricken survivor mother" was the central emerged theme, and three extracted sub-themes included: "Distorted psyche on a journey to death", "physical destruction due to an ominous event ", and the "vicissitudinous life after reviving ". These sub-themes, in turn, involved 12 sub-themes that emerged from 38 common meanings and 1200 codes. CONCLUSIONS: Findings demonstrate that the living conditions of NMMs are mixed in all aspects of the MNM event. They need a supportive program that includes additional follow-up visits, psychological support from the time of hospitalization until long-time after discharge, alleviation of social, sexual, and financial worries to return them to the normal life, as well as psychosocial rehabilitation to increase their life quality. Furthermore, post-discharge care in NMMs should be done actively and directly at their homes.

A maternal near miss (MNM) is a life-threatening condition experienced by a mother with organ failure due to severe maternal morbidity. Near miss mother (NMM) experiences adverse outcome such as physical, emotional, and psychological consequences after near miss event. Understanding the meaning of these mothers' lived experience and listening to their voices will help in reducing the burden of complications and will be effective in rehabilitating the disability created in their life. "Death-stricken survivor mother" was the central emerged theme resulting from the study of phenomenology. The main body of this theme reflects the severe physical, psychological burden and vicissitudes life. Server maternal morbidity due pregnancy and childbirth, have made NMM mother's life very different from those of normal mothers. The living conditions of these mothers are mixed in all aspects of the MNM event. Long-term physical and psychological damages they have endured, should be on the agenda of women's health policy makers to support them for years after discharge with integrated care.

Experience of patients hospitalized with COVID-19: A qualitative study of a pandemic disease in Iran.

BACKGROUND: The spread of COVID-19 as an infectious disease brings about many newly arrived challenges, which call for further research on the scope of its effect on life due to the special conditions of this disease. The present study is, therefore, an attempt to understand the lived experience of inpatients hospitalized with COVID-19. METHOD: In this phenomenological study, among patients with COVID-19 who were hospitalized in COVID-19 referral hospitals, 17 people were selected by random sampling method. Data were gathered by interviews and analysed using MAXQDA10 software. FINDINGS: Analysis revealed 4 main themes and 16 subthemes. Main themes included the (1) denial of the disease, (2) negative emotions upon arrival, (3) perception of social and psychological supports and (4) post-discharge concerns and problems. CONCLUSION: Patients with COVID-19 experience a different world of stresses, concerns and feelings in the course of their disease. Gaining a deeper insight into patients' experiences with this disease can help handle this disease more effectively and provide better post-corona nursing and psychological care and services.

Mothering sweetness mixed with the bitterness of death: the lived mothering experience of near-miss mothers.

PURPOSE: Maternal near miss (MNM) refers to women who survive death as a result of life-threatening obstetric complications or organ system dysfunction during pregnancy, childbirth or postpartum. The aim of the present study was to gain an understanding of mothering experiences in survivors 'mothers due maternal near miss event. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Heideggerian hermeneutic phenomenology guided this qualitative study. The study was conducted 1 June and 30 December 2019. The sampling was purposeful with maximum variation of 11 near miss mother that used unstructured face-to-face interview for data collection. Data analyzed using Diekelmann, Allen, and Tanner seven stage thematic analysis approach. FINDINGS: Emergent theme was "mothering sweetness mixed with the bitterness of death." The two themes constituting the essence was: "An Angel with Broken Wings" and "Mothering in the Shadow of Death." The subthemes comprised five sub-sub themes which emerged from over 850 meaning units. Data were analyzed using MAXQDA10 software. CONCLUSION: Maternal health providers need to know that it is not enough only to focus on saving the mother's physical life. While strengthening the role of mothering is essential element to support near-miss mothers who have experienced difficult physical and psychological conditions. The "beyond numbers" concept, implies that it is not enough only to focus on saving the mother's physical life. Removing barriers in order to achieve to early mothering, can have a significant impact on reducing the psychological burden of MNM events.

Postpartum depression in women with maternal near miss: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: postpartum depression (PPD) is one of the psychological complications of mothers who have experienced severe maternal morbidity/maternal near miss (SMM/MNM) which can adversely affect the wellbeing of mothers, new born infants and other family members, but the risk level in this group is unclear. Therefore, we did a meta-analysis to ascertain the relationship PPD with MNM/SMM. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The authors searched relevant studies in databases (Web of Science, PubMed, EMBASE, Clinikalkey, Scopus).The summary odds ratio (OR) along with 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated by use of random or fixed effects models. RESULTS: Four studies were included in qualitative synthesis. The pooled analysis revealed that PPD was significantly associated with an increased risk of MNM/SMM (OR = 1.83; 95% CI 1.37-2.44, p = 0.027). CONCLUSION: The results show that the risk of PPD in the MNM mothers are twice as likely as women without MNM. Therefore, more attention should be paid to psychological symptoms such as depression in MNM in order to reduce the long-term burden of maternal morbidity.

Diagnostic and Therapeutic Costs of Patients With a Diagnosis of or Suspected Coronavirus Disease in Iran.

OBJECTIVES: To understand the social and individual effects of the disease and make decisions on the allocation of health resources, it is necessary to understand the economic burden of coronavirus disease (COVID-19); however, there are limited data in this field. This study aimed to estimate diagnostic and therapeutic costs of patients with a diagnosis of or suspected of COVID-19 disease admitted to hospitals in northeast Iran. METHODS: This descriptive and analytical research was conducted as a retrospective study using the data collected from 2980 patients admitted to 30 hospitals from February to April 2020 in Iran. For data collection, an appropriate data capture tool was designed to record detailed resource use. A multivariate regression analysis was performed to examine the association between the treatment costs and sociodemographic, disease severity, and underlying diseases. Data were analyzed using Excel 2017 (Microsoft, Redmond, WA) and SPSS version 21 software (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL). RESULTS: The inpatient costs per patient were Int$416, of which 74% were paid by social health insurance systems, 19% by the government, and 7% by the patients. The largest cost components were hoteling (37%) and medicine (36%). The 4 subscales of age, sex, underlying disease, and severity predicted 48.6% of the cost variance. CONCLUSION: Understanding the economic consequences of diseases can help policymakers to make plans to reduce out-of-pocket payments and make plans for funding. Since COVID-19 is a newly emerging disease and there is no definitive cure for the disease, the discovery of an effective medicine may alter medical costs and reduce the hospital length of stay, therefore significantly reducing treatment costs.

The challenges of physicians' participation in hospital accreditation programs: a qualitative study in Iran.

BACKGROUND: Due to the increasing pressure on hospitals to enhance the quality of services, the participation of physicians in accreditation programs has become more important than ever. The present study was conducted to describe challenges of physicians' participation in hospital accreditation programs in Iran using a qualitative approach. METHODS: We conducted interviews with 11 managers, 9 physicians and 8 experts in the field of hospital accreditation. Interviewees were selected through purposive snowball sampling. In-depth unstructured and semi-structured interviews were conducted for data collection. The data obtained were analyzed in ATLAS.ti using the conceptual framework method. RESULTS: The results of this study extracted 3 main themes including: cultural, organizational and behavioral factors. Also, this study found 12 sub-themes and 57 items. Sub-themes in the cultural domain were motivation, patient demand, mutual trust and evaluation system. The organizational domain consisted of seven sub-themes, including high workload, understanding the role of quality management unit, unrealistic accreditation, nature of accreditation, empowerment of physicians in the field of quality, effective communication, resource constraint. Sub-themes in the behavioral dimension were ambiguity in the role and uncertainty about how to participate in accreditation program. CONCLUSION: Physicians' participation in accreditation programs can be increased through culture building and proper training about accreditation activities in the medical community.

Understanding the Meaning of Lived Experience "Maternal Near Miss": A Qualitative Study Protocol.

Background: Maternal near-miss (MNM) is defined as "a woman who almost died but survived a serious maternal complication during pregnancy, childbirth, or within 42 days of completion of pregnancy". Despite the long-term physical and psychological burden of this event on the mother's life, the meaning of MNM is not clear. In addition, the mother's role complicates the understanding of this phenomenon. Therefore, this study aimed to understand lived experience of Iranian "near-miss" mothers in the postpartum period. Methods: In this Heideggerian phenomenological study, we used Souza and colleagues' theoretical framework to understand the meaning of the lived experience of near-miss mothers in-depth. The participants had experienced MNM at least one year ago by World Health Organization (WHO)approach in multicenter, academic, tertiary care hospitals in Mashhad, Iran. Taking into account reflexivity and after obtaining ethical approval, participants were purposively sampled using semi-structured interviews, and data analysis was conducted by Diekelmann and colleagues up to data saturation. Data collection and analysis has been argued by Lincoln and Guba. Discussion: Our findings resulted in updating the existing knowledge about the meaning of MNM and its implication. Given the different needs and challenges of near-miss mothers, it is necessary to design a supportive program of primary care for them. Policymakers and managers should consider the lived experience of these mothers when planning and taking decisions.

Quality assessment of services provided by health centers in Mashhad, Iran: SERVQUAL versus HEALTHQUAL scales.

BACKGROUND: Primary health care is the entry point to the health-care system and regarded as an essential step to achieving universal health coverage. The present study aimed at evaluating the quality of health-care services provided in health centers in Mashhad, Iran. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study implemented among 200 health service users who were referring to four health centers in Mashhad during January to June 2019. The quality of services in health centers was evaluated with the SERVQUAL and HEALTHQUAL models. Data was analyzed by employing paired t-test and independent sample t-test using SPSS version 16 software. The Levene test was used for examining the equality of variance (homogeneity). Significance level of all the tests was considered when p ≤ 0.05. RESULTS: According to the results of SERVQUAL questionnaire, the average scores of health service users' expectations and perceptions were 4.97 and 3.26, respectively, and the quality gap in the provided services was equal to - 1.7. Based on HEALTHQUAL questionnaire, the average scores of health service users' perception and expectations were 4.72 and 3.25, respectively, and the quality gap in the provided services was equal to - 1.16. Empathy was the highest quality dimension (- 2.019) based on SERVQUAL model, and efficiency dimension was the highest based on HEALTHQUAL model (- 1.761). CONCLUSIONS: The findings of the current study showed a negative gap between the service users' expectations and perceptions in both models. Therefore, the results of this study helps the health managers and policymakers to plan effective interventions for improving the provided services emphasizing the dimensions with the wider gaps.

Implementing the six sigma model on the treatment of congenital hypothyroidism: An analytical hierarchy process.

Background: Congenital hypothyroidism is a disease able to cause severe mental retardation and developmental delays. However, timely diagnosis and treatment of infants with this disease could prevent relevant complications. This study aims to investigate the effects of the implementation of the Six Sigma model on reducing the treatment initiation time in infants with congenital hypothyroidism in the population chosen from Samen Health Center in Mashhad. Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, the referral process of infants for congenital hypothyroidism screening and treatment was evaluated for the time period starting from March 20, 2017, to March 19, 2018, using the standard five-phase quality strategy, description, measurement, analysis, improvement and control phase (DMAIC), based on Six Sigma. Data were collected using the sampling form of the national screening program for congenital hypothyroidism. To analyze the data, software including Expert Choice V11, Microsoft Excel 2013, and SPSS 18, were utilized. In addition, a p-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The number of infants who entered the intervention process was 4,574, of whom 51.3% (2346 infants) were boys. The mean time to start treatment before the implementation of the model was 21.72±7.72 days, which decreased to 17.41±6.47 days after the implementation of the model (p≤ 0.05). Besides, 81.8% of the patients received treatment during infancy before the intervention, which increased to 94.1% after it. After the implementation of the Six Sigma model, the Sigma level of treatment initiation improved from 2.41 to 3.06. Conclusion: Six Sigma could be used as an intervention tool for improving indices of health intervention processes.

The Factors Associated With Direct Medical Costs in Patients With Gastric Cancer: Quantile Regression Approach Compared With Gamma Regression.

OBJECTIVES: Evaluating the costs of illness can provide evidence to improve performance at all levels of health organizations. This study aimed to identify the relationship between the costs of diagnosing and treating patients with gastric cancer and their explanatory variables, using quantile and gamma regressions and comparing the results of the two models. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional and descriptive-analytic study carried out in 2016. In total, 449 patients with gastric cancer were selected at a hospital affiliated with Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. Direct costs and other variables were collected from medical documents. Data were analyzed using the STATA 12 software, using quantile and gamma regression analysis, and the results were compared. RESULTS: The highest average cost per patient was related to hospitalization costs in both metastatic (20 911 034 Iranian Rials) and nonmetastatic patients (20 738 062 Iranian Rials). The lowest average cost was related to biopsy services in nonmetastatic patients. The results of the study also showed that quantile regression is an appropriate substitute for gamma regression and, in some cases, can provide more information for the analysis of disease costs. Based on the results of the quantile regression, being a male and having a shorter stay had a positive effect on cost and the age of the patient had a significantly negative effect. CONCLUSIONS: Examining the cost of a common illness, such as gastric cancer, is an important economic tool for policy makers and decision makers. It provides evidence-based decision making about resource allocation that they can use for future planning and cost control.

The Needs of Women Who Have Experienced "Maternal Near Miss": A Systematic Review of Literature.

BACKGROUND: Maternal Near Miss (MNM) event is associated with emotional, psychological, and social effects on women. Determining the needs of women with these experiences is the key to programming for providing high-quality care and reducing its burden. Hence, this study was conducted to determine the needs of women who have experienced MNM. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this literature systematic review, to achieve the intended information, articles published in Web of Science and PubMed databases were systematically searched. The search strategy focused on three keywords or phrases: "maternal morbidity" OR "maternal near miss" AND "needs." Publication date was all relevant articles before 2019, and publication language was restricted to English. Article search was conducted by two independent reviewers. After the primary search, 2140 articles were found. Eventually, 77 articles, including 20 qualitative studies and 57 quantitative studies, were enrolled for final evaluation. RESULTS: According to the results, the needs of these women could be categorized into six groups of "Management and care needs of health system," "Educational needs of health system," "Follow up and continuity of care at the primary care level," "Need to develop a physical, psychological and social of care packages," "Social support," and "Psychosocial support and counseling." CONCLUSIONS: The near-miss events change the mothers' living conditions, and therefore, they need to receive special support, given the difficult conditions they are undergoing. It is necessary that a supportive program be designed to follow-up MNM after the discharge to be run by the primary care team.

Coping Strategies of Pregnant Women with Detected Fetal Anomalies in Iran: A Qualitative Study.

BACKGROUND: Progressing technology has increased the detection of fetal abnormalities in the pregnancy. Detection of fetal abnormalities during pregnancy can cause significant social, physical, psychological, and emotional stress. The aim of this study was to explore the coping strategies of Iranian pregnant women with detected fetal anomalies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This qualitative content analysis study was conducted on two referral centers for fetal anomaly. The data were collected from April 2017 to January 2018 in Mashhad (Iran) through individual, semistructured, in-depth interviews with 25 pregnant women with a prenatal diagnosis of fetal anomalies. Data were analyzed using conventional content analysis based on Graneheim and Lundman's approach. RESULTS: As a result of data analysis, the four categories of seeking information, religiousness and spirituality, cognitive avoidance, and seeking social support, and 12 subcategories emerged. Seeking information consisted of the four subcategories of personal search, visiting different doctors, performing various diagnostic tests and sonography, and seeking peers' experiences. Religiousness and spirituality contained the three subcategories of praying, acceptance of destiny, and reliance on faith. Cognitive avoidance consisted of the two subcategories of avoiding negative information and avoiding situations that remind them of their problem. Seeking social support contained the three subcategories of getting support from family, getting support from friends, and getting support from others. CONCLUSIONS: The findings showed that pregnant women with detected fetal anomalies reported a variety of coping strategies. Therefore, it is important that healthcare providers encourage mothers to use strategies that are likely to be more effective.

Informational needs of pregnant women following the prenatal diagnosis of fetal anomalies: A qualitative study in Iran.

INTRODUCTION: An appropriate exchange of information between the health-care provider and the family is an important component of coping with stress following the prenatal diagnosis of fetal anomalies. Therefore, this study was conducted to explore the informational needs of pregnant women following a prenatal diagnosis of fetal anomalies in Mashhad, Iran. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This qualitative, conventional, content analysis study was designed through two referral centers for fetal anomaly. The data were collected from April 2017 to January 2018 in Mashhad (Iran) through individual semi-structured in-depth interviews, from 25 pregnant women with a prenatal diagnosis of fetal anomalies. RESULTS: Three categories and nine subcategories emerged. Category 1, information needed for clarifying the diagnosed anomaly and making a decision, containing four subcategories: The need to know the reasons of doing more diagnostic tests; The need to know the facts regarding the anomaly and its cause; The need for more information to gain control over the situation; and The need to know about legal permission for therapeutic abortion. Category 2, Information needed for preparing to the future, containing three subcategories: Practical and economic issues; The delivery and postnatal situation; and Future mortality and morbidity of especial anomaly. Category 3, the adequacy of the information provided, containing two subcategories: Information overload and Inadequate information. CONCLUSIONS: Pregnant women receiving a prenatal diagnosis of fetal anomaly have a variety of information needs that are not adequately met by the health-care providers. Further research is required for finding a means to meeting this information need.

Emotional and Cognitive Experiences of Pregnant Women Following Prenatal Diagnosis of Fetal Anomalies: A Qualitative Study in Iran.

BACKGROUND: Pregnant women are often ill-prepared for the health of their unborn child in the case of abnormal findings, and experience several difficulties following the detection of fetal anomalies. Therefore, this study was conducted to explore the emotional and cognitive experiences of pregnant women following prenatal diagnosis of fetal anomalies in Mashhad, Iran. METHODS: This qualitative conventional content analysis study was designed through two referral centers for fetal anomaly. The data were collected from April 2017 to January 2018 in Mashhad (Iran) through individual semi-structured in-depth interviews, from 25 pregnant women with a prenatal diagnosis of fetal anomalies. RESULTS: Four categories and 10 subcategories emerged. Category one, grief reactions during the time of diagnosis, contained two subcategories: shocked and panicked, and distressed and disbelieved.Category two, perinatal loss through a pregnancy termination, contained four subcategories: guilt and shame during pregnancy termination, loss of their expected child, suffering and emotional distress process, and unmet needs by health professionals. Category three, fears of recurrence in future pregnancies, had two subcategories: worried about inadequate prenatal care in the future pregnancies and worried about abnormal fetus in next pregnancies. Finally, Category four, a dilemma between hope and worries contained two subcategories: hope for normality and worried about future. CONCLUSION: It is important to monitor emotional reactions of women following prenatal anomaly diagnosis. So, training clinicians and health-care professionals for proper response to grief reaction in post therapeutic abortion is essential.

Weaknesses in the Reporting of Cross-sectional Studies in Accordance with the STROBE Report (The Case of Congenital Anomaly among Infants in Iran): A Review Article.

BACKGROUND: The inadequate reporting of cross-sectional studies, as in the case of the prevalence of Congenital Anomaly, could cause challenges in the synthesis of new evidence and make possible mistakes in the creation of public policies. This study was conducted to critically appraise the quality of the articles involving congenital anomaly prevalence in Iranian infants with the STROBE recommendations. METHODS: We performed a thorough literature search using the words "congenital anomaly" "birth defect" and "Iran" in MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, SID, Elmnet, Magiran, IranDoc, Iranmedex, and Google Scholar until Aug 2017. In this critical appraisal we focused on cross-sectional studies that reported the prevalence of congenital anomaly in Iranian infants. Data were analyzed using the STROBE score per item and recommendation. RESULTS: The results of 17 selected articles on Congenital Anomaly prevalence showed that the overall accordance of the cross-sectional study reports with STROBE recommendations was about 63%. All articles met the recommendations associated with the report of the study's rationale, objectives, setting, key results and provision of summary measures. Methods and results were the weakest part of the articles, in which recommendations associated with the participant flowchart and missing data analysis were not reported. The recommendations with the lowest scores were those related to the sensitivity analysis (6%, n=1/17), bias (6%, n=1/17), and funding (41%, n=7/17). CONCLUSION: Cross-sectional studies about the prevalence of congenital anomaly in Iranian infants have an insufficient reporting on the methods and results parts. We recognized a clear need to increase the quality of such studies.

Attitudes of Mashhad Public Hospital's Nurses and Midwives toward the Causes and Rates of Medical Errors Reporting.

INTRODUCTION: Patient's safety is one of the main objective in healthcare services; however medical errors are a prevalent potential occurrence for the patients in treatment systems. Medical errors lead to an increase in mortality rate of the patients and challenges such as prolonging of the inpatient period in the hospitals and increased cost. Controlling the medical errors is very important, because these errors besides being costly, threaten the patient's safety. AIM: To evaluate the attitudes of nurses and midwives toward the causes and rates of medical errors reporting. MATERIALS AND METHODS: It was a cross-sectional observational study. The study population was 140 midwives and nurses employed in Mashhad Public Hospitals. The data collection was done through Goldstone 2001 revised questionnaire. SPSS 11.5 software was used for data analysis. To analyze data, descriptive and inferential analytic statistics were used. Standard deviation and relative frequency distribution, descriptive statistics were used for calculation of the mean and the results were adjusted as tables and charts. Chi-square test was used for the inferential analysis of the data. RESULTS: Most of midwives and nurses (39.4%) were in age range of 25 to 34 years and the lowest percentage (2.2%) were in age range of 55-59 years. The highest average of medical errors was related to employees with three-four years of work experience, while the lowest average was related to those with one-two years of work experience. The highest average of medical errors was during the evening shift, while the lowest were during the night shift. Three main causes of medical errors were considered: illegibile physician prescription orders, similarity of names in different drugs and nurse fatigueness. CONCLUSION: The most important causes for medical errors from the viewpoints of nurses and midwives are illegible physician's order, drug name similarity with other drugs, nurse's fatigueness and damaged label or packaging of the drug, respectively. Head nurse feedback, peer feedback, fear of punishment or job loss were considered as reasons for under reporting of medical errors. This research demonstrates the need for greater attention to be paid to the causes of medical errors.

Risk Assessment of Using Entonox for the Relief of Labor Pain: A Healthcare Failure Modes and Effects Analysis Approach.

INTRODUCTION: In order to prevent medical errors, it is important to know why they occur and to identify their causes. Healthcare failure modes and effects analysis (HFMEA) is a type of qualitative descriptive that is used to evaluate the risk. The aim of this study was to assess the risks of using Entonox for labor pain by HFMEA. METHODS: A mixed-methods design (qualitative action research and quantitative cross-sectional research) was used. The modes and effects of failures in the process of using Entonox were detected and analyzed during 2013-2014 at Hefdahe Shahrivar Hospital, Mashhad, Iran. Overall, 52 failure modes were identified, with 25 being recognized as high-risk modes. RESULTS: The results revealed that 48.5% of these errors fall into the care process type, 22.05% belong to the communicative type, 19.1% fall into the administrative type, and 10.2% are of the knowledge and skills type. Strategies were presented in the forms of acceptance (3.2%), control (90.3%), and elimination (6.4%). CONCLUSION: The following actions are suggested for improving the process of using Entonox: Close supervision by the midwife, precise recording of all the stages of the process in the woman's medical record, the necessity of the presence of the anesthesiologist at the woman's bedside during labor, confirming the indications for use of Entonox, and close monitoring to ensure the safety of the gas cylinder guards.