Effect of Hypericum perforatum L. compared with metronidazole in bacterial vaginosis:a double-blind randomized trial

Objective:To compare effect of Hypericum perforatum(H.perforatum) vaginal gel with metronidazole on bacterial vaginosis(BV) in terms of initial response to treatment and preventing recurrence(primary outcomes) and also patient complaints(secondary outcomes).Methods:In this double-blind,double dummy trial,married women aged 18-49 with BV were randomized into two groups and administered 5 g of 3%H.perforatum and placebo of metronidazole(n=82),or 5 g of 0.75%metronidazole and placebo of H.peiforatum(n=80)vaginally for 5 d.Amsel criteria were used for diagnosis and assessing cure and recurrence of BV.The comparisons was done using Chi-square,Fisher's exact and logistic regression.Results:At 10-12 d.cure rate was 82%in the H.perforatum and 85%in metronidazole group(risk ratio 0.9.95%confidence interval 0.6 to 1.3).Among the cured women,recurrence rate was 9%in the H.perforatum and 13%in the metronidazole group at the 30-35 d visit(risk ratio 0.8,95%confidence interval 0.4 to 1.3),There was no statistically significant difference between the groups regarding any patient complaints,except itching which was less in H.perforatum group(5%vs.16%,P=0.018 at the first and 13%vs.43%,P<0.001 at the second follow-up).No significant adverse event was reported at any groups.Conclusions:H.peiforatum could be a good option for treatment of BV.However,further studies arc needed for its public use.

Competency-based curriculum education in mental health nursing

Introduction: The essential problems in providing quality and safety services to patients, rapid changes in health care settings as well as information technology require educational revision. Competency-based curriculum focuses on set of skills that students should achieve. This study reviewed characteristics of competency-based curriculum in psychiatric nursing. Methods: A literature review about a competency-based curriculum in psychiatric mental health nursing was carried out by searching databases including Iran Medex, Iran Doc, and Pub Med with key words such as competency-based education, competency-based curriculum, and competency-based curriculum in psychiatric mental health nursing. No time limitation was considered. Results: Results revealed that over 30 literatures have been done about nursing curriculum, but just several studies were done regarding competency-based curriculum and just a few about competency-based curriculum in psychiatric mental health nursing. Conclusion: Competency-based curriculum development is one of the essential steps to facilitate teaching-learning process. The revision of curriculum may decrease theory-practice gap and pave the way for graduates to have essential competences for their roles.