effect of telephone counseling and education on breast cancer screening in family caregivers of breast cancer patients

Background: Breast cancer is the most common form of malignancy among females. Family history is a key risk factor for breast cancer. Breast cancer screening practices are vital in patients with family history of breast cancer. Telephone counseling and education may be appropriate for improved breast cancer screening. This study was done to determine family caregiver patients' knowledge of risk factors for breast cancer and practice of breast cancer screening and also to assess the effect of telephone counseling and education on mammography screening

Methods: This study was a community-based trial. The participants of the study were 90 caregivers who were randomly divided into an experimental group, telephone counseling and education, and a control group. The intervention group received counseling and education phone calls. A three-section questionnaire was responded and filled out through telephone interviews with the participants. The collected data were analyzed with SPSS18, using descriptive and inferential statistics

Results: The results showed that 88.9% of the participants did not know when to do breast self-exam [BSE]. Mammography was performed by the participants before and after the telephone counseling in intervention group [P<0.00], which were 13.3% and 77.8% respectively]. Moreover, the major cause of failure to participate in mammography was lack of enough knowledge in 73.3% of the participants

Conclusion: This study concluded that knowledge and practice on breast cancer screening in family caregiver of breast cancer patients was low. Telephone counseling and educating may provide a suitable technique for earlier detection of breast cancer in family caregivers of breast cancer patients and it can influence the decision making regarding mammography screening among 40-year-old or older women

Study of respecting patients rights from nurses point of view employed in Yazd hospitals

Respecting patient's rights are those factors that they expect from health centers. It means that the patients regardless to their age, sex, race, and other differences have some rights such as: knowing, selecting, being respected, confidentiality, territoriality and receiving efficient care and objection. Nurses duty also is to respect patient, rights. This is a cross-sectional study which is done in order to determine the nurse's level of respect for the patient's rights. This study carried out on 280 nurses was selected through stratified randomized sampling. Data was collected via a questionnaire about demographic information and patient's rights situations for measured level of respect, which is Analized via SPSS soft ware. The result showed moderate respect for patient's rights. In more than half of cases [9.78 +/- 2.60] The result indicated a meaningful different between respect for patient's rights and work [p=0.006]. Results show that patient's rights regarding the importance of matter is at medium level which isn's satisfactory and to increase. These recipients of health care it is necessary to do some measures such as: approval of laws related to patient's and nurses rights and creation sanctions in order to observe better and qualified patient's care

Serum C-reactive protein level in COPD patients and normal population

Serum C-Reactive Protein [CRP] is increased in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD]. It is used as a predictive factor for extra-pulmonary complications determining the prognosis of disease. It has not yet been defined whether this increase is due to the disease itself or is accompanied by ischemic heart disease and cigarette smoking. Thus, we decided to measure the serum CRP level in COPD patients without ischemic heart disease and also in healthy subjects by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA] and then we evaluated its relation with cigarette smoking, severity of dyspnea, exacerbation episodes, severity of disease and use of inhaled steroids. A comparative-descriptive study was performed on 45 stable COPD patients in 2006. All understudy patients were males. The exclusion criteria included ischemic heart disease and other causes of CRP increase. The control group consisted of 45 healthy men. The samples were selected consecutively. The serum CRP was measured by ELISA [high sensitive]. Data were analyzed by SPSS software version 13. Mann-Whitney test showed significant difference between serum CRP levels of COPD patients without ischemic heart disease [52.49 ng/ml] and healthy subjects [28.51 ng/ml] [p=0.01]. There was a significant difference between the serum CRP level and the severity of dyspnea in COPD patients [p=0.04]. No significant difference was detected between CRP level and the severity of disease, exacerbation episodes and use of inhaled steroids. Moreover, there was no significant difference between serum CRP and cigarette smoking in COPD patients and healthy subjects. The results showed that COPD itself can increase the serum CRP without ischemic heart disease and cigarette smoking. Since CRP is known as a systemic inflammatory marker and a major factor causing extrapulmonary complications, we hope this marker be applied for follow-up of patients, evaluation of treatment methods and their efficacy

Quality of life and related factors in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD] is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and is probable to be the third cause of death in the world in 2020. COPD is a highly prevalent, irreversible, and disabling disease with no definite cure which will stay with the patient for life affecting physical, mental and socioeconomic status as well as the quality of life. Therefore, creation of a positive perception of health and preserving the quality of life in these patients are of utmost importance and should be an essential goal in treatment and care of these patients. To reach this goal, first, the quality of life in these patients should be evaluated to assess the effects of mental, social and physical aspects of the disease on the life style of these patients. A descriptive case series study was undertaken. The understudy population comprised 80 COPD patients which were selected consecutively. They all filled out the standard respiratory disease questionnaire including: 1] Demographic specifications 2] the St George's Respiratory Questionnaire [SGRQ, includes symptoms, activities, and impact]. To collect the data, COPD patients who met the inclusion criteria were selected and questionnaires were filled through interviewing or selfreporting in 20 minutes. The questionnaire was scored from 0 to 100 points. The lower score indicated the better life quality and the higher score indicated deterioration. The collected data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel and SPSS 11.5 software. Mean and standard deviation of the SGRQ total score in understudy patients were 58.31 +/- 16.14 [63.09 +/- 19.52 for symptoms, 76.35 +/- 17.65 for activities and 46.41 +/- 17.79 for impact parts]. There were no significant differences between the SGRQ total score and sex, age, occupation and level of education. One sided variance analysis and Pearson's correlation coefficient demonstrated a significant difference between the total score and duration of disease [p=0.01], stages of disease [p=0.02] and also the causes of COPD [p=0.02]. Regarding the stages of disease, a significant difference was found between stages 2, 3 and 4 respectively according to SGRQ total score [p=0.02, P=0.04]. A significant difference was also seen between smoking and a combination of factors regarding the causes of the disease [p=0.02]. According to our study results, quality of life in COPD patients was moderate to low and this would deteriorate with duration of the disease and its severity. Also, high-risk occupations in addition to cigarette smoking deteriorate the quality of life considerably