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Introduction: Caring is the essence of nursing and medication process is an important part of nursing related interventions in the health care systems. Medical and/or nursing errors can lead to severe problems for both patients and nursing system. The purpose of this study was to investigate the ethical practice in medication process among nurses working in selected hospitals related to Tehran University of Medical Sciences.          

Materials and Method: This study is a descriptive–analytic research. Samples of the study were 305 nurses employed in adult units of selected hospitals. The research data gathering tools were a checklist and a questionnaire. Questionnaire included questions about demographic data and errors in medication process. Checklist included 17 questions related to expected behaviors regarded medication process. The researcher first completed the questionnaire and then the checklist was completed on two separate occasions at least 15 days apart. The data were analyzed using descriptive and analytic statistics such as Chi square, Fisher exact test and Pearson correlation coefficients.

Results: The majority of subjects were 26-35 years old, female and single. About half of nurses (49.6%) had undesirable performance in process of medication. Ethical practice had a significant correlation with type of ward (p=0.005), the mean number of occupied beds in a week (p=0.000), number of co-workers in the shift (p=0.001), educating (p=0.037), satisfaction with place of work (p=0.0043) and technical possibilities in the ward (p=0.029).

Conclusion: According to the results, the majority of nurses had an undesirable performance in medication process. It is suggested that managers, program planners and nursing teachers pay more attention to ethical practice in medication process in order to enhance performance of nurses in this field.

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Background & Aim: The main aim of performance appraisal is aid to staff development and increasing job motivation. Outcomes of performance appraisal consider as a determining indicators of the amount of success in achieving the mentioned aims. The aim of this study is to determine the employed nurses’ views regarding the performance appraisal&aposs outcomes and its relation with job motivation in medical-surgical wards of affiliated hospitals of Tehran University of Medical Sciences.

Methods & Materials: This investigation is a descriptive correlational study. The sample size was 120 of employed nurses in medical-surgical units in Tehran University of Medical Science that was selected by cluster sampling. The data was collected by questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, t-test and Pearson’s correlation coefficient were used for analysis.

Results: Perception of the most samples was almost positive (65%) about performance appraisal’s outcomes. They believed that the rate of the job motivation in surveyed units was low. There was a statistical significance relationship between performance improvement as one of the outcomes of the performance appraisal and job motivation (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Aiding to nurses performance improvement with using of performance appraisal was the only factor that was correlate with the job motivation in comparison with the other expectances of performance appraisal.

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  Background & Aim: The ventilator associated pneumonia is a common problem in critical care units. It is associated with increased mortality, cost and length of stay. Nurses have great role in preventing the ventilator associated pneumonia. The aim of this study was to assess nurses' performance in prevention of ventilator associated pneumonia .

  Methods & Materials: In this descriptive study, 110 nurses working in selected hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences were selected using convenience sampling method. A 32-item observational checklist was provided based on the ventilator associated pneumonia prevention guideline. The nurses' performance was observed three times. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics in the SPSS-16 . 

  Results: This study showed that the mean score of the nurses' prevention was 46.8±5.79. Most of the nurses (66.4%) had poor performance and 36.6% had relatively good performance. There were no nurses with favorable performance in the prevention of ventilator associated pneumonia. The highest score was in contact precaution (72±9.67) and the lowest score was in mouth hygiene (18.78 ± 17.4) .

  Conclusion: The majority of nurses had poor performance in prevention of ventilator associated pneumonia. More attention should be paid for planning appropriate training programs for nurses and giving adequate facilities to improve health care quality .

  

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  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 .

  

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Background & Aim: It is possible for food-related staff to be involved in transmitting covid-19 by their contact such as coughing or sneezing. Therefore, the knowledge of food-related staff about the transmission modes and prevention of covid-19 is very important. This study was conducted with the aim of investigating the awareness and performance of bakers working in Iranshahr city regarding the prevention of covid-19.
Methods & Materials: In this descriptive study, 47 bakeries in Iranshahr city were selected using stratified random sampling in 2020. Data were collected by a demographic characteristics form, a researcher-made questionnaire to measure the level of awareness (15 items), and the hygiene performance checklist (17 items). The data were analyzed by Friedman test using the SPSS software version 25 at the significance level of 0.05.
Results: Average age of the participants was 29.56±9.8. average work experience was 51.36±54, The highest percentage of education level was high school (36.2%), 64.9% were married), 89.4% were resident of Iranshahr city, and 46.8% were bread sellers. Average score of performance was 18.59±5.4 that was a little more than desirable amount (17). Average score of awareness was 25.48±2.9 that was much more than desirable amount (15).
Conclusion: Considering the importance of prevention and control of the epidemic and cutting the chain of transmission of the infection, appropriate educational interventions should be developed to improve the awareness and performance of each individual in the society, especially those who are involved in the preparation and distribution of the food products.
 

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Background & Aim: Sexual function is an important part of the health of women, and the satisfaction of basic psychological needs is among the variables related to sexual dysfunction. The self-determination theory is one of the most important motivational theories, which considers one’s internal motive the main cause of behavior, and also views three psychological needs (autonomy, relatedness, and competence) as the basis of human behavior. This study was to determine the effect of sexual consulting based on the self-determination theory on women’s sexual function.
Methods & Materials: This clinical trial was conducted on 104 married women aged 18 to 49 years referred to Mashhad health centers in two groups of intervention and control in 2019. The intervention group received five sessions of two-hour group counseling based on the constructs of self-determination theory, with intervals of one week. The data was collected using the sexual performance questionnaire and the constructs of self-determination theory (basic psychological needs) before and after the intervention. Data was analyzed using the SPSS software version 16 through independent t-test, paired t-test, Mann-Whitney and Wilcoxon tests.
Results: There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in the average score of sexual function before the intervention. However, after the intervention, the difference in the average score of sexual function between before and after the intervention was 2.76±3.02 for the intervention group and -0.25±0.73 for the control group, which showed a significant increase in the sexual function score of the intervention group compared to the control (P<0.001). Moreover, after the intervention between the intervention and control groups, a statistically significant difference was observed in the average scores of autonomy, competence and relatedness (P<0.001).
Conclusion: Providing group sexual counseling based on the self-determination theory can satisfy the basic needs relating to sexuality and improve women's sexual performance.
Clinical trial registry: IRCT20180726040602N1