Patient safety is a new and challenging discipline in the Iranian health care industry. Among the challenges for patient safety improvement, education of medical and paramedical students is intimidating. The present study was designed to assess students’ perceptions of patient safety, and their knowledge and attitudes to patient safety education. This cross-sectional analytical study was conducted in 2012 at Urmia University of Medical Sciences, West Azerbaijan province, Iran. 134 students studying medicine, nursing, and midwifery were recruited through census for the study. A questionnaire was used for collecting data, which were then analyzed through SPSS statistical software (version 16.0), using Chi-square test, Spearman correlation coefficient, F and LSD tests. A total of 121 questionnaires were completed, and 50% of the students demonstrated good knowledge about patient safety. The relationships between students’ attitudes to patient safety and years of study, sex and course were significant (0.003, 0.001 and 0.017, respectively). F and LSD tests indicated that regarding the difference between the mean scores of perceptions of patient safety and attitudes to patient safety education, there was a significant difference among medical and nursing/midwifery students. Little knowledge of students regarding patient safety indicates the inefficiency of informal education to fill the gap; therefore, it is recommended to consider patient safety in the curriculums of all medical and paramedical sciences and formulate better policies for patient safety.

Background To improve the quality of education, many academic medical institutions are investing in the application of blended education to support new teaching and learning methods. To take necessary measures to implement the blended learning smoothly, and to achieve its goals, we aimed to identify its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) from its key users’ viewpoints. Methods A qualitative study consisting of 24 interviews with lecturers and students and document analysis was conducted at Urmia University of Medical Sciences, in Iran, in 2018. The SWOT framework was used to analyze the data. Results The most important strengths were the promotion of lecturer-student interactions, the focus on students’ learning needs and self-learning, and problem-solving skills. The supports of university executives, alignment with the national health education transformation plan, and access to the shared infrastructures of the national virtual medical science university were opportunities to facilitate its implementation. However, this endeavor had weaknesses such as bottlenecks in technical, organizational, and human resource infrastructures and lack of culture readiness. The threats envisioned for its maintenance were its dependency on the education transformation plan and the lack of an independent e-learning center for better planning and support services, lack of proper evaluation and supervision of virtual activities, and insufficiency of the privileges considered for users. Conclusions One of the important implications of this study is that different aspects surrounding blended learning might work as a double-edge sword from time to time, which requires a thorough overview. While retaining the strengths and enjoying the opportunities in such interventions, the weaknesses should be recognized and threats are faced and addressed. Therefore, if the SWOT items are considered mindfully, they can help to adopt the right implementation strategies to reap full benefits.

Introduction: Clinical education is the core component of nursing education. PhD graduated nurses who are faculty members can play a main role in clinical instruction. However, there is not clear understanding about the challenges which they may encounter for accepting their role as clinical educator. The aim of this study was to explore the challenges of role acceptance by PhD aduated nurses who are faculty members. Methods: In this qualitative exploratory study a total of 13 participants (8 PhD graduated in nursing, 3 head of departments of nursing, one educational vice chancellor of nursing school, and one nurse) were selected by purposive sampling method. Data were collected by semi-structured, face to face interview and analyzed by conventional content analysis approach developed by Graneheim and Lundman. Results: The main theme emerged from data analysis was "identity threat". This theme had five categories including expectations beyond ability, lack of staff’s rely on the performance of PhD graduated nurses, poor clinical competencies, doubtfulness, and obligation. Conclusion: PhD graduated nurses experienced some worries about their role as clinical educators and argued that they have not been prepared for their role. Therefore, policy makers and authorities of nursing schools should support PhD graduated nurses for accepting their new roles as clinical educators. Moreover, some changes in nursing PhD curriculum is needed to improve the clinical competencies of PhD graduated and prepare them for their role as a clinical educator.

Background: There are many factors associated with medication errors. These errors are mainly related to nursing care, including error in medication administration and omission. Nurses make up the largest group of health workers. Hence, quality of health care depends to a great extent to nurses. Nurses who work in hospitals with inadequate human resources and have more working hours are more likely to commit errors. This study aimed at determining the incidence of medication errors and factors affecting it according to nurses' self-report. Methods: This is a descriptive analytical study in which 100 nurses in beast hospital in Sanandaj, Iran were selected randomly from different shifts. The questionnaire consisted of 2 sections. The fi rst section consisted of 17 questions on demographic information including age, sex, type of activity, duration of service, hospital ward and location, error during the years of service, reporting or non-reporting of mistakes and type of mistake. The second part of the tool consisted of 25 items rated to 1-to-5 likert scale, which checked out medical errors in 5 domains. For ethical issues, anonymous questionnaires were distributed with bar codes. Then the data were entered into SPSS version 16 and analyzed. Results: All the participants in this study had a history of medication error in the previous year. In 12% of the cases, association between workload and medication error were too high, 22% was high, 54% was average and 6% was low. Conclusions:The results of this study showed that the most important factors affecting the incidence of errors include workplace stress, working in the intensive care units, tiredness due to work load, and inappropriate nurse physician relationship. Hence, identifi cation of these factors helps nurses to reduce errors and helps reduce other medical consequences and improve in the quality of patient care and patient safety. Regarding the importance of patient safety it is necessary to improve positive relationship between nurse managers and nursing staff. Therefore, an environment of close collaboration, in-service training for new nurses regarding medication errors, and creating a reporting system is necessary.

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Background:Using mechanical ventilation devices has unique advantages for the patient; however, it can also cause various problems. This study aimed to determine the effect of using communication boards on the ease of communication and anxiety in mechanically ventilated conscious patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs).Materials and Methods:In this quasi-experimental study, 30 conscious patients undergoing mechanical ventilation were enrolled using consecutive sampling method and assigned to experimental (n = 15) and control (n = 15) groups. The control group included patients receiving primary communication methods, whereas the experimental group included patients who used the communication board for communication. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Ease of Communication Scale (ECS) were completed for both groups. Data were analyzed using descriptive-inferential statistics.Results:Communication scores of the patients indicated that there was no significant difference between the control and experimental groups before the intervention (z = −1.77; p = 0.070). However, after the intervention, there was a significant difference in communication scores between the two groups (z = −4.69; p = 0.001). The anxiety scale scores showed a significant difference between the control and experimental groups after the intervention, and patients' anxiety had significantly decreased in the experimental group (z = −2.98; p = 0.003).Conclusions:The results showed that the use of the communication board is possible in mechanically ventilated conscious patients and may contribute to ease of communication and decrease patients' anxiety during mechanical ventilation.

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