[Efficiency of staff development program and its relationship with nurse's profesional competency]

Introduction: skilled nurses are needed to achieve health promotion strategies, so operation and assessment via staff development program is essential

Objective: the purpose of this study was to evaluate staff development program through west Mazandaran hospital nurses and its relationship with the level of their professional competency

Methods: this study was descriptive - correlations in 205 nurses from general ward who were selected by cluster sampling. Data was collected by two questionnaires for competency level and staff development programs. Face and content validity was approved and reliability of the instrument was assessed by the internal consistency. Analysis of variance and chi-square tests were used to analyze data

Results: the majority of samples reported their competent level as ideal [75/6%], and the effectiveness of the program estimated as average [80/5%]. variance analysis of data showed there are no significant difference in the mean scores of survey instrument staff development, among the nurses with varying levels of competence [p =0/4, df =2]

Conclusion: organizations spend enormous amounts of money to improve development programs. If these programs loss their effectiveness, it is time consuming and will damage the economy. These results could be useful for nursing organization and executives

[ survey of unsafe acts as the risk factors of accidents in using taxis for intercity travelling in Tehran]

Car accidents as global concern are expanding in developing countries. Since the majority of taxi traffic accidents are not caused by travelers and are concerned to taxi drivers, other vehicles on the street and people in pavements, aim of this study was survey unsafe acts of taxi drivers as big group of occupational drivers. Due to an approximate discipline in working of linear taxi drivers than others, especially in terms of hours and duration of daily work, were selected for this study. Drivers' Unsafe Acts checklist with 30 given act were prepared and completed by trained personnel as a passenger in the taxi. Data analysis was performed by SPSS software version 18 and used t-test and spearman correlation coefficient. Results showed that most of linear taxi drivers of Tehran city [57.2%] have the cheapest domestic production car [pride and Paykan]. The frequency of total unsafe acts of linear taxi of Tehran city was about 52.5% and more than 46% of drivers unsafe acts were frequency more than 80%. About 50% of taxi drivers did not wear seat belt and the most of them [95.6%] did not pay attention to wearing seat belt of their passengers. Kilometer display 35.4% of taxi drivers in this study have failure and this issue is so important in drivers' perceptual judgment. According to result of current study the frequency of taxi drivers' unsafe act are very high and thus, effective interventions program for promotion of safety attitude and control taxi drivers' unsafe act is necessary.

[Interventional ergonomic study to correct and improve working postures and decrease discomfort in assembly workers of an electronic industry]

Musculoskeletal disorders [MSDs] are a major cause of time loss, costs and work force injuries in the workplace. Awkward working posture is a main risk factor for developing MSDs. This study was conducted among assembly workers of an electronic industry with the objective of implementing an interventional ergonomic program to reduce postural stress on neck and trunk and to minimize awkward working postures. This interventional study was conducted on 81 assembly workers of an electronic industry. Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire was used to determine prevalence of MSDs. Numeric rating scale was applied to evaluate body discomfort before and after the intervention [using a magnification lenses to improve visibility of the parts]. Statistical analysis including independent t-test was performed using SPSS [version 16] software. The results showed that MSDs occurred among assembly workers at high rate in neck, lower back, and shoulder/upper arm regions [more than 75%]. After intervention, significant discomfort decrement was observed in neck, shoulder/upper arm, lower back, elbows and lower arm regions together with the whole body [p<0.05]. More than 90% of the assemblers reported that using the magnification lenses facilitated assembly operation and was comfortable. After the intervention, 89% of the workers evaluated working conditions better as compared with that of before the intervention. It was indicated that using magnification lenses reduced discomfort in different body regions as well as the whole body. It could, therefore be expected that its application of magnification lenses would decrease MSDs of different body regions in long term. Findings showed assemblers satisfaction when using the lenses as well as effectiveness of the lenses application in manufacturing process.

[A survey of critical care nurses' perceptions of barriers to research utilization, and its relation to some demographic variables]

Introduction: To bridge the gap between scientific evidence and patient care, an in-depth understanding of the barriers is needed. The purpose of this study was to identify barriers of research utilization from the point of view of Zanjan registered and critical care unit's nurses

Methods: Data were collected using the Funk s Evidence Based Practice Barriers Scale. Based on statistics formula sample of study was 64 graduate nurses employed in critical care units of Zanjan Educational Hospitals. Descriptive and inferential statistics [Friedman, Kruskal-wallis, Mann-Whitney U-test] were employed to analyze the data

Results: According to the research results, the first three main barriers to research utilization identified by the respondents were: "Insufficient facilities", "Lack of time to read research", and "Insufficient time on the job to implement new ideas". Nevertheless, no statistically significant difference was found between the demographic variables such as sex, work years, level of education, and position, based on the general scale means

Conclusion: It is highly recommended that the educational hospitals systems need to change for preparation nurses with sufficient facilities and time to read and implement new finding

[Comparison of nurses and hospitalized adolescents' perceptions about importance and observance of hospitalized adolescents decision making]

Participating in decision making is an important patient's right observance of which by nurses is an essential need of hospitalized adolescents. The aim of this study was to assess and compare nurses and hospitalized adolescents' perceptions about the importance and observance of hospitalized adolescents' decision making. It was a cross sectional study, 175 nurses and 180 hospitalized ill adolescents who had inclusion criteria were selected by convenience sampling, The data were collected using two parallel self-completed questionnaires. Data were analyzed by SPSS software and using Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests. No statistically significant difference was found between nurses' and hospitalized ill adolescents' perceptions of importance and observance of hospitalized adolescents' decision making. In addition, the results showed that, from nurses' point of view, participation in care was the most important item, while adolescents believed that the presence of support person had the most importance. Both nurses and adolescents believed that the presence of support person was mostly observed. According to the findings, from perception of two groups, hospitalized adolescents' decision making is important and moderately respected. Nurses can improve quality of care by recognotion and remove shackles of observance

Comparison of critical thinking skills in nursing students of semnan and Tehran Universities of Medical Sciences

Today, the promotion of critical thinking skills should be considered as an expected outcome of BSc nursing curriculum. This study was designed to compare the critical thinking skills of nursing students of Semnan University of Medical Sciences with Tehran University of Medical Sciences. In this comparative and descriptive study, 70 and 120 of Yl and Y4 BSc nursing students of Semnan and Tehran Universities [Tehran, Iran and Shaheed Beheshti Universities] were selected respectively using stratified random sampling. The California Critical Thinking Skill Test, form B [CCTST:FB] composed of 34 multiple choice questions was used to assess the critical thinking skills in five areas of analysis, evaluation, inference, inductive and deductive reasoning. Data was then analyzed using t-test and ANOVA. The results showed that the mean and standard deviation of critical thinking scores for semnan and Tehran bachelor students were 12.34 +/- 2.45 and 10.4 +/- 2.75, respectively which were significantly different [t=1.95, p=0.002]. There was a significant difference between critical thinking skills scores of nursing students in different years of study in Semnan [F3, 0=4.28, p= 0.000], But in Tehran Universities, there was only a significant difference between critical thinking skills scores of Yl and Y4 students [t=-2.77, p=0.007]. Bachelor nursing students of Semnan University had a higher score of critical thinking skills compared to their counterparts in Tehran. There was also a significant difference between junior and senior nursing students. Results from this study and of similar works suggest that more attention should be paid to the process of education based on nurturing of critical thinking skills

[Assessing the quality of work life, productivity of nurses and their relationship]

High quality of work life is known as basic prerequisite of empowering human resources in healthcare system. Nurses' productivity plays an important role in organizations' success. Knowing the correlation between quality of work life and productivity, managers can improve staffs' productivity by promoting nurses' quality of work life. This study aimed at assessing relationships between quality of work life and productivity of nurses. This cross-sectional correlation study was conducted with a random sample of 360 nurses drawn from hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Data were gathered through self-administered questionnaires containing work quality of life questionnaire [45 questions on a likert rating scale] and productivity questionnaire [25 questions on a likert rating scale]. Both questionnaires were developed by the researchers. All statistics were computed using the SPSS software [version 13] with pearson and K square tests. Findings revealed that 31.9% of the nurses considered their productivity level, moderate. 41.9% of them reported their work quality of life at moderate level. Only 10% of them believed that their work quality of life is good. The results demonstrated statistically significant correlation between work quality of life and productivity level of nurses [r=0.357, P<0.001]. Since just 0.1 of nurses reported their productivity and quality of work life good, managers should apply the appropriate strategies to promote nurses' quality of work life and provide the ground for improving the quality of care and productivity of nurses

[ nurses' motivating factors in relation to patient training]

Patient education, one of the most important nurses responsibilities, depend on their motivation therefore, this study was performed and the purpose of the study was for determining the nurses motivating factors related to the patients education. A descriptive cross sectional research was carried out among the nurses in the hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of medical science. Sample population was 214 nurses selected by stratified and cluster sampling. Data was collected by questioner through self reporting. The data were analyzed by SPSS computer software. Descriptive statistic and chi[2] Test, Fisher Exact Test, Exact Test Mont Carlo were used. Data of motivating factors categorized in 3 levels, high, moderate, low with Lickrate scale showed that in nurses' opinion salary and payment [48%], facilities [49.5%], supervision [57.5%], have average effect on their motivation related to the patient education. Job security [68%], respect and appreciation [76%], career development [74%], work-interest [81.5%], knowledge [85.5%], professional responsibilities [90%] have much effect on their motivation related to the patient education. Statistical test showed a meaningful relation between demographic variables and motivating factors. According to the findings, Job security, respect and appreciation, career development, work-interest, knowledge, professional responsibility have much effect on the motivation for patient education