Exploring the meaning of care among lived experiences of patients with blindness:an interpretive phenomenological study

Objective:To explore the meaning of care experienced by people with blindness in hospitals.Methods:Interpretive phenomenology along with the 6-step method of van Manen was used to conduct the study.Using purposeful sampling,15 people with legal blindness were interviewed.Thematic analysis was used to isolate the meaning of care.Results:Five themes emerged:(a)nurses in the eyes of patients with blindness;(b)negligence in the caring moments;(c)being cared for in ambiguity;(d)Uncoordinated care;and(e)Psychological discomfor t.These sub-themes were condensed into an overarching theme titled as“marginalized patients inside the stereotypical healthcare system.”Conclusions:Lived experiences of patients with blindness revealed that hospitals provide stereotypic or inappropriate care for this minority group in society.Health professionals par ticularly nurses should be skilled to provide person-centered and coordinated care for patients with blindness.

Characteristic Duties of Critical Care Nurses in Japan: A Time-Study Comparison with Neurology Ward Nurses

Background: The importance of the acute phase in hospitals has been increasing. While administering high-level critical care, the working styles of critical care nurses, the types of clinical care they provide, and the way in which they prioritize tasks, remain unclear. Aim of this study was to elucidate the characteristic duties of critical care nurses through a comparison with neurological ward nurses. Methods: We recorded the duties of critical care nurses and neurology ward nurses (10 each) using a time-study design. Duties were measured separately by action, classified using a classification table, and differences between the two groups were compared. Results: No differences in the number of actions were observed between the two groups. The top five items that required the most time for critical care nurses were, “Movement”, “Administration and oxygen management”, “Handover process/Doctor’s rounds”, “Preparation for entry and exit management of patients”, and “Bed bathing (for bedbound patients)”. Of the 195 items, significant differences between the groups were noted for 34 items, while the duties of critical care nurses were best characterized by bed bathing (for bedbound patients), changing position, confirmation of infusion tubes, handover process/doctor’s rounds, and preparation for entry and exit management of patients. Conclusion: A characteristic of critical care nurses is that they must remain near patients and perform tasks while moving only a short distance. Moreover, the promotion of tasks while communicating with physicians is presumed to play a role in the promotion of team medicine. Furthermore, much time was spent caring for patients in bed, and a lot of time was devoted to the preparation and finalizing of treatments and care, suggesting the possibility that more time can be spent on caring for patients through a revision of duties.

Influential factors of healthcare provider resilience in disasters:A thematic analysis

Objective:To identify the influential factors of healthcare staff resilience in disasters.Methods:In this qualitative study,the influential factors of healthcare staff resilience in disasters were investigated through interviewing 20 experts.The interviews were conducted face-to-face,and MAXQDA software version 10 was used to organize the data and thematic analysis.Results:The participants included 5 medical emergency technicians,5 physicians,2 Red Crescent technicians,and 8 nurses.The main influential factors of healthcare providers’resilience were limited relief infrastructure,supportive empowerment,organizational capitals,and contradictory consequences.Other important factors were resource limitation,confusion and uncertainty,empowerment training,comprehensive support,human and value capital,social capital,physical capital,suffering,disability,calm,and excellence.Conclusion:Improving healthcare providers’resilience can be achieved by reducing uncertainty,providing the physical,economic,and human resources,strengthening motivation and comprehensive supports.It is suggested that disaster managers consider all identified dimensions to improve the resilience of healthcare providers to serve better in disasters.Moreover,researchers should study each dimension to provide profound knowledge regarding resilience in disasters.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Urban Litter

The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the composition and quantity of municipal solid waste has become a serious environmental concern[1].For example,the change in the quantity of medical waste has been one of the definitive consequences of the pandemic.In the pre-pandemic period.

Development of the Japanese Medication Adherence Scale and Verification of Its Reliability and Validity in Hypertensive Patients

A 32-Item Japanese Medication Adherence Scale had been developed as a tool for evaluating the medication-taking behavior of hypertensive patients and predicting therapeutic efficacy, and an Internet survey of 990 hypertensive patients throughout Japan was performed. As a result, factor 1 “Expectation of pharmacological efficacy” (9 items), factor 2 “Motivation to be self-controlled in taking medication” (6 items), and factor 3 “Negative feelings about taking medication” (4 items) were identified, comprising a total of 19 items. The scale was highly reliable. Because it proved capable of discriminating between the 2 groups with different medication-taking status and blood pressure, its validity had also been confirmed.

Effects of lavender and Citrus aurantium on pain of conscious intensive care unit patients: A parallel randomized placebo-controlled trial

Background: Conscious patients admitted to intensive care units(ICUs) suffer from pain for various reasons, which can affect their recovery process.Objective: The present study compared the effects of aromatherapy with Citrus aurantium and lavender essential oils against placebo for reducing pain in conscious intensive care patients.Design, setting, participants and interventions: This study was a parallel randomized placebo-controlled trial. The ICUs of two educational hospitals in Kerman in Southeastern Iran were the study setting.One hundred and fifty conscious intensive care patients were randomly divided into three groups using a stratified block randomization method. Two groups received aromatherapy with essential oils: one with lavender and the other with C. aurantium;these patients received a 30-minute therapy session using their assigned essential oil on the second day of their intensive care stay. The placebo group used 5 drops of normal saline instead of essential oil during their session.Main outcome measures: Patient’s pain was assessed using a visual analog scale before the aromatherapy intervention, as well as immediately after and one and three hours after intervention.Results: The mean pain score of the lavender group was 40.01 before the aromatherapy intervention and fell to 39.40, 30.60 and 23.68 immediately after the intervention, and at hour one and three postintervention, respectively. The mean pain score of the C. aurantium group was 45.48 before the intervention and was reduced to 32.34 at three hours after the intervention. The mean pain of the placebo group decreased from 42.80 before the intervention to 35.20 at three hours after the intervention. Pain scores of all groups decreased during the study(P < 0.001). The mean pain of the lavender group was significantly lower than that of the placebo group at three hours after the intervention.Conclusion: The results of this study showed that aromatherapy with lavender essential oil reduced pain in conscious ICU patients. Our data could not justify the use of C. aurantium for reducing pain in this population.

Developing a Scale for Measuring Uncertainty in Patients with Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysms Undergoing Endovascular Coiling

A measure called the Uncertainty in Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysm Patients Undergoing Endovascular Coiling Scale (UUIACS) was developed and its validity and reliability were examined. The 49 questions that comprised the original draft of the UUIACS were created based on interview data. Based on data from 172 participants, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted. As a result of exploratory factor analysis, the UUIACS e retained 17 items and extracted four factors (“Lack of decision-making cues”, “Lack of information and complexity of information interpretation”, “The ambiguous nature of the disease”, and “The unpredictable living with UIA”). All of the UUIACS items showed adequate internal consistency. Between the UUIAC scale and the Universal Uncertainty in Illness Scale (UUIS), the Health Locus of Control (HLC) scale, and the SF-36v2&reg (Japanese version), positive correlations were found between the UUIACS and UUIS, and the HLC scale at a 1% significance level indicating concurrent validity. According to confirmatory factor analysis, the UUIACS had an acceptable goodness of fit. Given these findings, the UUIACS was judged to have satisfied the criteria for use in a clinical setting, although further investigation was required.

Comparative efficacy of honey 12.5% and chlorhexidine 0.2% mouthwashes on the oropharyngeal bacterial colonization in mechanically-ventilated patients: a randomized controlled trial

OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy of honey mouthwash 12.5% and chlorhexidine solution 0.2%to reduce the rate of oropharyngeal bacterial colonization in mechanically-ventilated patients.METHODS: This study was a randomized, single blind, phase Ⅲ controlled clinical trial. Sixty patients newly admitted to internal and trauma Intensive Care Units of the two educational hospitals of Sanandaj city affiliated with Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences were selected by convenience sampling and allocated to two groups of 30 patients using random blocks design. In each group,the mouthwash was applied twice a day for four consecutive days. Swab samples were taken from the mouth and throat of all patients three times a day(pre-intervention, two days, and four days after the intervention) and then the samples were transferred onto the blood agar and eosin methylene blue(EMB) culture plates and investigated for bacterial growth and colonization after 24-48 h.RESULTS: The findings showed that oropharyngeal colonization was not significantly different between the two groups, pre-intervention, two days,and four days after the intervention(P > 0.05). Rinsing with honey mouthwash 12.5% led to the inhibition of Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa on the fourth day of the intervention in all samples.CONCLUSION: None of the studied solutions contributed to the reduction of oropharyngeal bacterial colonization. It seems that the growth inhibition of Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa by the honey 12.5% mouthwash in mechanically-ventilated patients need further investigation.

Use of complementary and alternative medicine in general population during COVID-19 outbreak: A survey in Iran

Objective: Some epidemic diseases such as coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) have caused many physical, psychological, and social challenges, despite the existence of treatment strategies. Many people are looking for complementary and alternative medicine(CAM) to prevent such diseases. The present study was performed to determine how some types of CAM were being used during the COVID-19 epidemic in Iran.Methods: The present study had a cross-sectional descriptive correlational design. All Iranian residents above 17 years old were eligible to participate in the study. A total of 782 participants completed a demographic information questionnaire, a questionnaire about their use of CAMs and a questionnaire about their satisfaction with the CAMs they used. Web-based sampling was conducted from 20 April 2020 to 20 August 2020.Results: Of the participants, 84% used at least one type of CAM during the COVID-19 outbreak. The most used CAMs were dietary supplements(61.3%), prayer(57.9%), and herbal medicines(48.8%). The majority of the participants(50%–66%) have used CAMs to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 or to reduce anxiety caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. CAM use was associated with sex, having children, place of residence, COVID-19 status, and source of gathering information about CAM(P < 0.05). All 32 participants who had been infected with COVID-19 used at least one type of CAM for treatment or alleviation of the disease symptoms.Conclusion: During the COVID-19 outbreak, some types of CAM, particularly nutritional supplements,medicinal herbs, and prayer, were commonly used to prevent COVID-19 and reduce pandemic-related anxiety.