[Nursing students'initial clinical experiences]

Identification of nursing students' initial clinical experiences helps instructors and educational planners to acquire a more accurate insight about students' unique experiences and to assist them during this journey more effectively. This study aimed to investigate the nursing students' initial clinical experiences. In this qualitative research, qualitative content analysis performed on 340 narratives and journals of junior nursing students on their daily clinical experience selected using goal oriented sampling method. Narratives and journals were written by 46 [32 female and 14 male] junior students of Fatemeh [PBUH] Nursing and Midwifery School in Shiraz, during October 2008 to February 2009. The initial clinical experiences were emerged in 3 themes and 7 categories. The main themes were: Professional socialization [with 3 categories as: professional identity, professional belonging, and learning professional concepts and skills], personal growth [with two categories as: the lesson of life and spiritual growth], and internal reflection [with 2 categories as: satisfaction and intrinsic challenges]. The findings reflect the importance of considering students' unique experiences; supporting them during professional socialization, empowering their personal growth, enhancing their professional belonging and satisfaction, and preventing the occurrence of intrinsic challenges by preparing them to encounter clinical settings. Reflection on clinical experiences through writing journals and narratives and prospective qualitative studies are also recommended

[Relationship between night work and nurses' anthropometric indices]

Night work could cause various disturbances in physiological, social and familial function because of changes in biological rhythms. Obesity which is associated with the increased risk of some disorders is considered as a possible adverse effect of night work in some studies. This study aims to determine the relationship between night work and anthropometric indices among nurses. This descriptive, cross- sectional study was conducted on 325 female nurses working in selected hospitals affiliated with Shiraz University of Medical Sciences with mean age of 27.78 +/- 4.92 who were recruited using simple random sampling method. The instruments were standard measuring tape, standard weighing scale and a researcher made questionnaire. Anthropometric indices included Body Mass Index [BMI] and Waist to Hip Ratio [WHR]. Night work was defined as the number of night shifts during last month and the number of years of night working. Statistical analysis was done using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient and partial correlation using SPSS-PC [v. 11.0]. The findings revealed that 70.7% of subjects had BMI of 18.5-24.99 and 51.4% had WHR of 7.5-8.49. There was no statistical significant association between anthropometric indices and shift work duration or the number of night shifts per month, after omitting the effect of age. The results would not provide enough evidence for the relationship between night work and obesity or overweight. Longitudinal studies with comparison groups, studies on different night work schedules and on male nurses are also recommended