Background: Death anxiety and obsession are human tensions that routinely present in nursing. The sense of humor is also associated with obsession and anxiety. Objectives: Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the level of death anxiety, death obsession, and sense of humor among nurses working in medical-surgical wards and intensive care units in Iran. This is a descriptive-analytical study. Methods: The research population comprised 240 nurses working in intensive care units and medical-surgical departments in Kerman. The research instrument was composed of a demographic questionnaire, death obsession scale (DOS), Templer death anxiety scale (TDAS), and humor styles questionnaire (HSQ). Results:The mean scores of nurse's death anxiety in intensive care units and medical-surgical wards were 7.46 ± 3.43 and 5.46 ± 2.84, respectively. The mean scores of death obsession in intensive care units and medical-surgical wards were 30.47 ± 11.17 and 26.38 ± 11.67, respectively. The mean scores of the sense of humor in the two groups were 117.37 ± 21.31 and 109.56 ± 23.47, respectively. The mean scores of death anxiety, death obsession, and sense of humor among nurses were significantly higher in intensive care units than in medical-surgical wards (P < 0.05). Conclusions: It is necessary to determine the sources of death anxiety and obsession and strengthen the sense of humor in nurses to provide better healthcare.

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Objective The present study examined the extent to which social support (SS) availability and satisfaction could predict the extent of caregiver burden (CB) among mothers of children with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL). Method The study was a cross-sectional, descriptive-correlative study. It was conducted on a sample of 117 mothers whose children were undergoing treatment in a public hospital in Bam, Iran. The Norbeck Social Support Scale and the Caregiver Burden Scale were used to measuring study variables. The data were analyzed using Pearson's correlations, t-tests, ANOVAs, and linear regressions. Results Significant correlations were observed between CB and SS availability (r = −0.499, p < 0.001), SS satisfaction (r = −0.543, p < 0.001), the age of the child with cancer (r = −0.22, p = 0.01), and duration of treatment (r = 0.336, p < 0.001). Married mothers experienced less CB than those that were widowed or divorced. Within the regression equation, SS satisfaction, SS availability, marital status, and duration of treatment were the predictors of CB. Significance of results Based on the results of the current study, mothers who have less SS, especially those who are single mothers, with younger children, and who have taken care of their child for an extended duration should be given special attention. Furthermore, it appears that there are distinct cultural variations amongst Iranian mothers which suggest that culture may impact upon SS availability. Results also suggest a need for interventions that enhance nurses' ability to provide support to caregivers and the broader family unit as a whole. Nurses in cancer care need to have psychological competencies to help family members of cancer patients especially mothers and more so those that are single mothers. As integral members of the patient care experience, nurses may be uniquely positioned to provide this needed psychosocial support.

Background:Nurses are among the most important groups engaged in casualty support, regardless of the cause, and they are one of the largest care groups involved in disasters. Consequently, these workers should gain proper support and skills to enable effective, timely, responsible and ethical emergency responses.Objectives:In this study, we investigated the needs of nurses for proper casualty support in disasters, to facilitate better planning for disaster management.Materials and Methods:This was a qualitative content analysis study. Interviews were performed with 23 nurses, at educational hospitals and the Faculty of Nursing at Kerman Medical University, who had a minimum of five years working experience and assisted in an earthquake disaster. Intensity and snowball sampling were performed. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews. Interviews were transcribed and coded into main themes and subthemes.Results:Four major themes emerged from the data; 1) psychological support, 2) appropriate clinical skills education, 3) appropriate disaster management, supervision and programming, and 4) the establishment of ready for action groups and emergency sites. The participants’ comments highlighted the necessity of training nurses for special skills including emotion management, triage and crush syndrome, and to support nurses' families, provide security, and act according to predefined programs in disasters.Conclusions:There are a wide range of requirements for disaster aid. Proper aid worker selection, frequent and continuous administration of workshops and drills, and cooperation and alignment of different governmental and private organizations are among the suggested initiatives.

Background Venous cannulation is among the most stressful and painful experiences of children hospitalization. Children with thalassemia need regular blood transfusion which needs venous access each time. The quality of care and quality of life of children will be improved if appropriate methods are used to reduce pain. This study aimed to compare vapocoolant spray and music in the reduction of pain of Venous cannulation in children with thalassemia. Methods The study was a randomized controlled clinical trial with a cross-over design. Thirty-six children with thalassemia from Thalassemia Patients of Pasteur Hospital in Bam from October to December 2020 and were recruited and randomly allocated to two arms. The pain of venous cannulation (no treatment) was measured in the first blood transfusion session as control. In the second and third sessions, two arms received music and vapocoolant spray before the venous cannulation with a cross-over design. The intensity of pain was measured by a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). The change in pain scores was tested by ANOVA and Tukey post-hoc test between three measurements. Results During and after the cannulation, the pain was significantly lower in the vapocoolant measurement than in control and music (p < 0.05). There was a significant effect of vapocoolant spray during the procedure F (2, 90) = 25.604, p = 0.001. Also, there was a significant effect of vapocoolant spray after the procedure F (2, 90) = 10.087, p = 0.004). Music did not reduce the pain during cannulation (p = 0.413) and after that (p = 0.807) significantly when compared with control. Conclusions Vapocoolant was an effective method of pain reduction in the reduction of venous cannulation pain. Music was not effective in the reduction of venous cannulation pain when we compared it with controls. The pain of venous cannulation is rated as high and it can have negative effects on the children. There is a need to do more research on the methods of pain reduction of venous cannulation. Trial registration The trial is registered: IRCT20111019007844N13, 13/03/2020. Available at: https://en.irct.ir/trial/42904.

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Background and Aim:Addiction leads to many problems which may adversely affect addicted people, their families and impose health care agencies with many challenges. This study aimed to examined quality of life (QoL), social desirability and their relationship among opium addicted persons in southeast of Iran.Material and Methods:In a cross-sectional study conducted from September 2012 to January 2013, 123 addicted people were studied. Date collection tools were; checklist of demographic data, Iranian version of the 36-item short form QoL (SF-36) and Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MC-SDS).Results:While mean score of QoL was 60.4±29.5, mean score of social desirability were 14.2±3.7. Low, moderate and high levels of social desirability were observed in 4.9%, 90.2% and 4.9% of participants, respectively. Pearson’s correlation were not significant between mean score of social desirability and mean score of QoL (p=0.969, r=0.004).Conclusion:Addicted participants of present study showed a moderate level of QoL and social desirability, without any significant relationship between QoL and social desirability. Further research is suggested in addicts with social and cultural differences.

Barriers to effective enteral nutritionBackground: Patients hospitalized in intensive care units are susceptible to chronic malnutrition from changes in protein and energy metabolism in response to trauma. Therefore, nutritional support, especially enteral nutrition, is one of the most important treatment measures for these patients. However, there are several barriers in the hospitals in treating patients with enteral nutrition. This study was performed to compare the perceptions of care providers (physicians and nurses) on the barriers to enteral nutrition in intensive care units.Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive and analytic study. This study included 263 nurses and 104 physicians in the intensive care units of XXXX southeast hospitals. A questionnaire of enteral nutrition barriers in intensive care units was used. IBM SPSS ver. 19 was used to analyze data.Results: There was a significant difference between the two groups in the three subscales of intensive care units (P=0.034), dietician support (p=0.001>) and critical care provider attitudes and behavior (P=0.031). There was also a significant difference between having completed educational courses and the score of enteral nutrition barriers in the two groups (P<0.05); the people who received an educational course had a better perception of enteral nutrition barriers. Conclusions:Physicians and nurses agreed with the perception of enteral nutrition barriers, but there was a difference in their perception on some barriers. Strategies such as in-service training and increasing the knowledge and skills of physicians and nurses can reduce these differences.