Background & Aim: Pain can detrimentally affect physical functioning, psychological well-being and social interaction. Various attitudinal factors may be associated with inadequate pain control. Hence, studies should be undertaken to gain a better understanding of association between pain control attitudes and use of analgesics and cancer pain intensity. This study aimed to determine relationship between pain control attitudes and use of analgesics and pain intensity in cancer patients with pain.

Methods & Materials: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 200 cancer patients who underwent chemotherapy or radiotherapy and experienced pain in previous 24 hours. The pain control attitudes, use of analgesics, worrisome about using analgesics and physical and psychological impacts of pain were measured using questionnaires. The cancer pain intensity was measured using the visual analogue scale. Validity and reliability of the instruments were evaluated. Data were analyzed using independent t-test and ANOVA.

Results: About 58% of patients agreed that they would wait before asking for help. Beside, the findings indicated that willing to tolerate pain and perceived control over pain were associated with the time and frequency of taking analgesic and pain intensity in previous 24 hours and last week. Also concerns about addiction to pain-relieving medications were related to the analgesic type and pain intensity within last week (P=0.03), and fear of injection was related to analgesic use and pain intensity within last week (P<0.001).

Conclusion: Many cancer patients had attitudes which could interfere with pain relieving. Suggestions are made for developing patient education programs, accessing effective cancer pain controls and decision making for cancer pain relief.

  Background & Aim: Falling is common among elderly due to changes in sensory–motor function. Falling causes physical, emotional and financial problems and decreases the quality of life in elderly. Since the causes of falling are multifactorial, multi-dimensional approaches should be considered to prevent it. This study aimed to investigate the effect of a multidimensional fall prevention program on the incidence of falling and quality of life among old people living in nursing homes.

  Methods & Materials: This before-after quasi-experimental study was conducted on 60 old people living in nursing homes who met the inclusion criteria. Multidimensional fall prevention program was focused on: 1- exercise (stretching, balance, and strength) 2-training classes for caregivers and elderly and 3-environmental modification. Data were collected before and six months after the intervention using demographic and illness form, fall frequency form and the LEIPAD questionnaire. Collected data were analyzed using the paired t-test, one-way ANOVA, Mann-Whitney and Wilcoxon tests in the SPSS-16 . 

  Results: Before and six months after the intervention, the mean frequencies of falling were 2.00 (±0.70) and 0.20 (±0.55), respectively. The mean scores of quality of life before and six months after the intervention w ere 56.48 (±10.45) and 77.43 (±10.45), respectively. Results indicated that there were statistically significant difference between the study participants before and six months after the intervention regarding falling frequency (P<0.001) and quality of life score (P<0.001).

  Conclusion: The multi-dimensional fall prevention program decreased the fall frequency and increased quality of life of participants. Health care providers, particularly nurses can use the prevention program to diminish falling incidence among elderly and improve their quality of life.

  Background & Aim: Nurses’ hands are important channels of micro-organisms transmission and hospital acquired infections. This study aimed to investigate knowledge, beliefs and practices of nurses regarding hand hygiene .

  Methods & Materials: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in 2012. All nurses (n=282) working in three hospitals of Lorestan University of Medical Sciences participated in the study. Data were gathered using a demographic form, social desirability questionnaire, and hand hygiene knowledge, belief and practice questionnaire. Data were analyzed through descriptive and statistical tests (Independent t-test, ANOVA, Pearson Coefficient) in the SPSS-PC (v.21.0). The level of significance was set at below 0.05 . 

  Results: The mean scores of nurses’ hand hygiene knowledge, beliefs and practices were 4.6±2.00, 3.8±0.40, and 4.33±0.50, respectively. Nurses washed their hands after contact with patients more often in compare with prior to contact with patient. There was a statistically positive and significant correlation between nurses’ practice in required situations and nurses’ beliefs regarding hand hygiene .

  Conclusion: According to the results, nurses’ knowledge regarding hand hygiene was low and hand hygiene practice in required situations was undesirable. Many nurses had negative and false beliefs regarding hand hygiene. Based on these results, it is necessary to plan programs to increase nurses’ knowledge, belief and practice regarding hand hygiene .