Background & Aim: Decreasing mechanical ventilation and early extubation after cardiac surgery are the important scientific subjects that their clinical and financial benefits had been demonstrated. There are some variables that are associated with extubation time so, determination of them will help nurses to plan appropriate care aimed at doing an early and safe extubation.

Methods & Materials: The purpose of this descriptive-analytic study was to determine whether any preoperative variable had a significant effect on extubation time after CABG. The research was conducted in one of hospitals in Tehran city. In this retrospective study, data were collected by reviewing of files of eligible patients who were undergoing CABG from December 2003 to March 2005. 93 files reviewed by convenience sampling method. Collecting data tool was a checklist consists of three parts: 1) demographic characteristics 2) health and disease history 3) physiologic status. Samples divided into two groups: early and delayed extubation (>6h). Data analysis was performed by descriptive methods, chi square, fisher exact test and regression analysis.

Results: Mean and standard deviation of duration time of intubation was 7.19±3.00 with range of 3-18.25 hours in all samples. Totally 43% of subjects extubated in ≤6h and 57% of them in >6h. Age was the only preoperative variable that was found to be statistically significant to extubation time (p=0.01).

Conclusion: According to our findings age is associated with postoperative intubation time after CABG. It means older patients need to be under long mechanical ventilation. So, nurses should make a decision on extubation in older patients, carefully.

Background & Aim: Modification of unhealthy life style is a preventive method in cardiovascular diseases. It seems that education which results in enhancing knowledge would improve the life style. For developing effective educational plans, it is required to evaluate the knowledge and performance of the patients. So, this study aimed to determine the relationship between the teachers&apos preventive behaviors and their knowledge on cardiovascular risk factors.  

Methods & Materials: This cross-sectional study was conducted in five zones of Ministry of Education in Tehran. Seven hundred and three teachers participated in the study. Multi-stage sampling was used to gather data using a self-report questionnaire consisted of demographic characteristics, risk factors of CAD, and related modifiable behaviors. Data were analyzed using Pearson coefficient test to determine correlations.

Results: The results showed that the majority of participants (67%) had good knowledge on cardiovascular risk factors with the mean scores of 15.20±2.63 out of 20. Stress was found to be the most recognized risk factor (95.3%). Knowledge about diabetes (61.2%) and gender (17.6%) were in the lowest level. Regarding prevention, just 27.7% of the participants reported healthy nutrition. Some of the patients (35.6%) exercised regularly and majority of them (77.7%) were not active or passive smokers. Pearson coefficient did not find any significant relationship between knowledge level and preventive behaviors among teachers.

Conclusion: According to our findings, teachers&apos knowledge level on cardiovascular risk factors was good but it did not result in healthy practice. Therefore, providing effective educational programs about healthy life style can improve their daily life practices, as well as it can affect the knowledge and practice of their students about prevention of CAD.

Background & Aim: Postoperative nausea is a common problem after general anesthesia, especially in ambulatory surgery. In ocular surgeries including strabismus surgery, intraocular pressure increase may lead to eye damage. Drug therapy has various side effects. The purpose of this study was to evaluate acupressure on nausea in patients undergoing strabismus surgery.

Methods & Materials: In this double-blinded clinical trial, 60 patients undergoing strabismus surgery were allocated into intervention and control groups. In the intervention group, a sea-band was placed on the P6 point of patients&apos wrists 30 minutes before induction of anesthesia. In the control group, the sea-band was placed in the opposite position of the patients&apos wrists. Data were collected during six hours after surgery in the recovery room. Data were analyzed using Chi square, t-test, and Mann-Whitney tests.

Results: There were no differences in demographic and surgical characteristics between the two groups at baseline. The intensity of nausea in the recovery room (P=0.002) and six hours after surgery (P<0.001) were significantly less in the intervention group than the control group.

Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, acupressure decreases post operative nausea. Acupressure is a simple, noninvasive and cost- effective intervention which can be applied by nurses to prevent post operative nausea.

Background & Objective: Hospitalization of patients in the intensive care unit of open heart surgery (ICUOH) is often stressful for patients&apos family carers. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the informational support on anxiety among families of patients undergone open heart surgery.

Methods & Materials: In this double-group randomized clinical trial, 64 family carers of patients undergone open heart surgery were selected using convenience sampling method and were randomly allocated into two intervention or control groups. The informational support consistedof  holding the ICU orientation tours and educational sessions, and providing educational pamphlets and booklets. The members of the control group received routin information. The anxiety of the family carers was measured using the trait Spielberger anxiety questionnaire before surgery and in the day of discharge from the ICU. Independent and paired t-tests were used to analyze the data.

Results: According to the findings, there were no significant difference between the two groups regarding demographic charachteristics. At the baseline, the mean of anxiety scores were 47.9±11.5 and 49.2±11.5 in the control and intervetion groups, respectively. The anxiety scores diminished in both groups after the surgery, however, the difference was not statistically significant between the two groups (P=0.18).

Conclusion: For effective control of anxiety among family members of patients, both informational support and other supportive techniques such as psychological support and meeting other family needs should be considered.

  Background & Aim: The central venous pressure measurement is a common and important care provided by nurses in intensive units. The measurement should be according to the pre-defined standards. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of using a checklist in measuring central venous pressure by nurses .

  Methods & Materials: This was a nonequivalent group design on 70 nurses working in ICUs. T he quality of measurement of central venous pressure by recruited nurses were measured via direct observation in the control (n=35) and experiment (n=35) groups. The intervention group nurses were recommended to use a performance checklist in each measurement of central venous pressure for one month. At the end of the intervention, the performances of both groups were evaluated through observation. Collected data were analyzed using the Chi-squared test, paired and independent test in the SPSS-17 . 

  Results: At b aseline, the mean scores in both groups were not statistically significant (P=0.7) The mean performance score of the control group at the beginning and one month later were 7.64±2.33 and 7.65±2.28, respectively (P=0.6). In the experiment group, the mean performance score was 7.85±2.29 before the intervention and 9.28±3.16 after the intervention (P=0.001). T he difference between the scores before and after the intervention were significant (P=0.001) in the intervention group .

  Conclusion: Using checklist by critical care nurses could enhance their performances in measurement of central venous pressure. This method can be used as an accessible, inexpensive, and simple method to improve quality of nursing practices .

  Background & Aim: Virtual education can be delivered via different routes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of interactive and non-interactive virtual educations about brain death and organ transplantation on knowledge and satisfaction of education among intensive care nurses .

  Methods & Materials: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on intensive care nurses of hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2014 . Participants were selected through a convenient sampling method and were assigned into two groups with 32 participants in each. The first group participated in an interactive electronic education while the second group received a non-interactive education about brain death and organ transplantation . Knowledge of both groups was measured before and after the education. The satisfaction of participants with the course was measured using a questionnaire. The scores were compared within and between groups using the paired and independent t-test, respectively . 

  Results: The knowledge of both groups increased significantly after the intervention (P<0.001) however, there was no significant difference between the mean scores of the two groups after the education (P<0.05). The s atisfaction with the course was significantly higher in the interactive education group (P=0.04) .

  Conclusion: B oth interactive and non-interactive electronic educations increased the knowledge of nurses. The nurses were more satisfied with the interactive education. Further studies are recommended .