The nature and pre-disposing factors of workplace violence: A qualitative study of how violence is experienced by ED personnel.

BACKGROUND: Workplace violence against emergency department (ED) personnel, especially nurses, is a growing global challenge, and it can have serious adverse impacts on the personnel's life and patient care. Investigating the experience of ED personnel can help healthcare authorities find the underlying factors causing violence and use proper strategies to prevent it. METHODS: In this qualitative exploratory study, data were collected using in-depth, face to face and semi-structured interviews with 20 ED personnel working in five hospitals in west Azerbaijan of Iran. The interviews were transcribed and transferred to MaxQda10 software for coding. Then, six steps conventional content analysis process proposed by Graneheim and Lundman (2004) was used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Two overarching categories of "perceived violence" and "predisposing factors of violence" were extracted from the data analysis. Perceived violence was supported by "verbal violence," "physical violence," "ethnic violence," and "sexual violence." The sub-categories of the "predisposing factors of violence included "inefficient management," "low professional competence of personnel," and " violent atmosphere." CONCLUSION: Concerning the high perceived experiences of violence in the ED, health care systems should take fundamental measures such as supporting the ED personnel, improving management, developing and implementing standard guidelines for triaging patients, conducting continuous educational courses on clinical knowledge and skills, and how to interact and communicate with clients would help prevent violence.

Conceptualizing and determining core clinical competencies in nursing students: a qualitative study.

AIM: This study aimed to conceptualize and explain the core clinical competencies of nursing students in Iran. BACKGROUND/INTRODUCTION: Despite the national and international efforts to modify nursing curricula such that the students' clinical competencies are improved, there is still a widespread concern about this issue, perhaps due to the impact of factors other than the curriculum itself, such as the lack of a clear definition for the concept of clinical competency and its main components in nursing students. METHODS: This qualitative study was conducted using conventional content analysis. The participants were selected through purposive sampling and included 14 senior students of bachelor of nursing, four nurses working in teaching hospitals and six clinical instructors. Individual semi-structured interviews were used for data collection. After recording and transcribing the interviews, content analysis was used to extract the concepts. FINDINGS: The main theme of the study was 'multidimensionality of the concept of clinical competency,' which had six main categories, namely 'adoption of and adaptation with the nursing practice,' 'nursing knowledge,' 'self-direction in clinical learning,' 'patient care skills,' 'professional ethics' and 'the development of professional behaviours.' DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: Clinical competency and its dimensions among students comprise a multidimensional concept. Having a clear and comprehensive understanding of this concept and focusing on its core axes may be the most important step in improving students' clinical competency. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING, HEALTH AND EDUCATION POLICY: Policymakers and nursing education authorities can identify the problems existing in the students' clinical competency and provide them with practical solutions for a standard professional education through a clear understanding of the concept of clinical competency and its dimensions.

Prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection among high-risk groups in Iran: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES: Determination of the true burden of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among high-risk groups relies heavily on occurrence measures such as prevalence, which are vital for implementation of preventive action plans. Nevertheless, up-to-date data on the prevalence of HCV infection remain scarce in Iran. This study aimed to review the relevant literature systematically and determine the pooled prevalence of HCV infection among high-risk groups in Iran. STUDY DESIGN: Systematic review & meta-analysis. METHODS: In 2016, electronic scientific databases including PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and local databases were searched using a detailed search strategy with language restricted to English and Farsi. The reference lists of the studies included in this review were also screened. Data were reviewed and extracted independently by two authors. A random effects model was used to estimate the pooled prevalence. Sources of heterogeneity among the studies were determined using subgroup analysis and meta-regression. RESULTS: In total, 1817 records were identified in the initial search, and 46 records were included in the meta-analysis. The overall prevalence of HCV among high-risk groups was 32.3%. The prevalence was 41.3% in injection drug users (IDUs), 22.9% in prisoners, 16.2% in drug-dependent individuals and 24.6% in drug-dependent prisoners. Subgroup and meta-regression analyses revealed that geographical location and year of publication were the probable sources of heterogeneity. CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis found a high prevalence of HCV among high-risk groups in Iran, particularly among IDUs. There is a need for prevention strategies to reduce the burden of HCV infection among high-risk groups, particularly IDUs.