Cancer Pain Management Among Oncology Nurses: Knowledge, Attitude, Related Factors, and Clinical Recommendations: a Systematic Review.

The current study evaluated the oncology nurse's knowledge, attitude, related factors of cancer-related pain management (CPM), and clinical recommendations for improving knowledge and attitude. In this systematic review, international databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Web of science (WOS), Science Direct, and Scopus) were searched for relevant studies published in English language from March 30, 2000 to March 30, 2018. The quality of the studies was evaluated using the Hoy instrument. Out of 888 initial studies, 12 studies performed on 3574 participants were included in the final stage of the review. Based on the results, most studies indicated that nurses had a poor (n = 4) or moderate (n = 4) knowledge of CPM. The lowest and the highest knowledge levels were 28.5% and 75%, respectively. According to most studies, nurses had a fair (average) (n = 4) or negative (n = 3) attitude toward CPM. The important factors related to the nurses' knowledge of CPM included previous pain-related education programs (n = 7) and having work experience with cancer patients (n = 4). The most important barrier was the deficit in staff's knowledge of pain (n = 2). The important clinical recommendations for improving nurses' levels of knowledge included the implementation of educational programs (n = 9), training programs (n = 3) on CPM and including CPM topics in nursing curricula (n = 5). This systematic review showed that most nurses had poor knowledge of CPM and a fair attitude toward CPM, indicating the importance of considering the barriers to knowledge, strengthening the positive relevant factors, and using clinical recommendations based on clinical guidelines such as including CPM topics in nursing curricula and implementing educational programs on CPM to improve the knowledge, attitude, and skills of oncology nurses. The results of the present study could be used by policymakers to provide care for cancer patients and manage their pain.

Effect of aromatherapy interventions on hemodialysis complications: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Aromatherapy, a CAM therapy, is a natural way of treating the mind, body and soul of individuals. The purpose of this study was to systematically review the literature to determine the effect of aromatherapy on hemodialysis complications. METHODS: In this systematic review, international (PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science, CINHAL, EMBASE and Scopus) and national databases (SID and Magiran) were searched from inception of the databases to 30 December 2017. RESULTS: The results showed that aromatherapy reduced some of the complications of hemodialysis, including anxiety, fatigue, pruritus, pain of arteriovenous fistula puncture, sleep quality, depression, stress and headache. In one case, it improved the quality of life of hemodialysis patients. CONCLUSION: Considering the complications and heavy costs of managing complications in patients undergoing hemodialysis, it appears that aromatherapy can be used as an inexpensive, fast-acting and effective treatment to reduce complications in hemodialysis patients.

Health-related quality of life of Iranian breast cancer patients: a meta-analysis and systematic review.

PURPOSE: Quality of life is the most important psychological factor affecting breast cancer patients. This study aimed to examine the health related quality of life of breast cancer patients in Iran. METHODS: International (PubMed, Web of science, Scopus and Google scholar) and national (SID, Magiran) databases were searched for related studies to September 2017. The quality of the articles was evaluated using the Hoy tool. RESULTS: Out of 232 initial studies, 18 studies performed on 2263 people were included in the final stage of the study. Based on the EORTC-QLQ-C30 and random effect method, the pooled mean score of quality of life in 1073 people was 57.88 (95% CI 48.26-67.41, I2 = 97.90%) and the pooled mean score of quality of life based on WHOQOL-BREF in 357 people was 66.79 (95% CI 45.96-87.62, I2 = 99.50%). CONCLUSION: According to the results of the study, a moderate level of quality of life in women with breast cancer was indicated. Therefore, the use of multidimensional approaches can improve their quality of life.