[Comparison of the effect of teaching through lecture and group discussion on nursing students' communication skills with patients]

Introduction: Teaching through group discussion is one of the student-oriented [centered] instructional methods. This study was performed to compare the effect of teaching through lecture and group discussion on nursing students' communication skills with patients in year 2008

Methods: This was a quasi experimental study performed on a population of 57 students of first [n=29] and third semester [n=28] of school of nursing and midwifery in year 2008. Students of each semester were divided into two groups of experiment and control. Two modules of medical surgical courses were taught to the students through lecture [for control group] and group discussion [experiment group]. Students' skills of communication with patients in both groups were assessed once before instruction and once again after that. Data derived from two groups was compared and students' skills of communication were inscribed using a questionnaire containing 35 phrases in Likert's original 5-point scale

Results: Mean scores of skill of communication with patients before and after instruction were as 85.1 and 85.56 respectively in lecture group which demonstrate no significant difference; Mean scores of skill of communication with patients before and after instruction were as 84.7 and 91.33 respectively in group discussion cluster which revealed a significant improvement [p<0.05]. The score of students' communication skills in two groups were similar before the instruction but students' communication skills were significantly higher in experiment group after the instruction

Conclusion: The results of this study showed that employing group discussion method helps to the development of nursing students' communication skills [areas of interactional skills and pursuing problems]. Employing active educational methods and increasing students' involvement in discussions and contestations provides them with an opportunity to develop their communicational skills

[ effect of education through workshop on nursing students' rapid and sustained learning regarding infused drug calculating skills]

Drug calculation is an essential skill for nurses. However, numerous studies have demonstrated that such a skill is weak among nursing students or even nurses. This study was designed to determine the effect of education through workshop on nursing students' rapid and sustained learning regarding infused drug calculating skills. In this semi-experimental study, 28 nursing students studying in the second semester were recruited. Data was collected using a questionnaire including demographic information and ten questions about infused drug calculating. This questionnaire was distributed before, immediately after and 3 months after the workshop. The students' mean [ +/- SD] score in pre-test was 4.23 [ +/- 2.43] and it was 18.22 [ +/- 1.33] and 14.12 [ +/- 57] in two consecutive post-tests, respectively. Comparing the mean scores revealed that the mean scores of the first and second post-tests were significantly higher than pre-test while the second post-test score was significantly less than the first one [p<0.0001]. Our results suggest that although the drug calculating workshop increased the students' drug calculating skills immediately after the education, but their knowledge significantly decreased after three months; hence it is recommended that nursing instructors evaluate students' knowledge in this regard at their entrance to the wards and conduct essential practices if needed

[Adolescent boys' lived experience of puberty: a qualitative study]

Paying attention to adolescents' health is very important, because of their increasing number and also, because adolescence is one of the most critical periods of the life. Based on the census done in year 1996 in Iran, 25% of the population was between 10 to 19 years old; almost 16 million people. A lot of physical, psychological, social and behavioral problems are rooted in adolescence. The purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences of puberty in adolescent boys. This was a qualitative study based on phenomenological method. Samples were 22 adolescents, between 15 to 19 years old, living in Arak, which were selected by purposive sampling method. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using Colaizzi method. Six themes were identified: Conflict with parents, biological changes, economical needs, educational condition, sexual concerns and spiritual matters. Results show that most of participants had extremely stressful experiences which sometimes lead to crisis. It seems that to relieve or reduce these problems, three important agents in child development; including family, school and society must play an active role