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Aim

The aim of this study was to compare attitude of the last-year nursing and medical students studying at Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran about spiritual care

Background

The spirituality is a complex and multidimensional concepts including cognitive, behavioral and experimental aspects. For promoting spiritual care we have to consider the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of the human. The studies showed that many patients believe that spirituality plays an important role in their life they believe there is a positive relationship between their recovery and religious and spiritual aspects. Many patients expect health care personnel consider these factors

Method

A descriptive comparative design was used to conduct the study. “Spiritual care perspective scale” (SCPS) was completed by 110 nursing and 220 medical students. Data were analysed by SPSS.

Findings

Based on the findings, 56% of nursing students and 51.8% of medical students have positive attitude on the spiritual care of patients. There was no statistically significant difference between attitudes of the two groups of students. Nursing students had more favorable attitude about existing a superior force or transcendental existence influencing spiritual health. Medical students had more favorable attitudes about considering spiritual care as part of the caring performance.

Conclusion

Paying more attention to the spirituality and spiritual care in educational programs for those who provide health services seems to be necessary for educational planning authorities. It is required to improve culturally in the field of principles of beliefs and religion and their education among the young and educated people. It is necessary to improve the culture of religious believes through education among students.

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Aim. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the eight-week concurrent training on quality of life in patients with myocardial infarction. Background. Myocardial infarction is a major cause of mortality around the world. Myocardial infarction affects patient's quality of life significantly, and it is important to find modalities to reduce harmful effects of the disease. Method. A randomized clinical trial was conducted. Thirty patients referred to Taleghani hospital, located in Tehran, Iran were recruited and randomly assigned to either experimental (n=15) or control group (n=15). Patients in experimental group trained three times a week for eight weeks in cardiac rehabilitation department of Taleghani hospital. Quality of life was evaluated before and after training by SF-36 questionnaire. In order to analyze the data, SPSS version 18 was used. Findings. The results showed that when compared with control group, the quality of life in experimental group has increased significantly. Conclusion. According to the findings, it seems that eight weeks of concurrent training can improve quality of life in patients with myocardial infarction.

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Heart failure is one of the major causes of mortality in developed countries. Usually before heart failure, remodeling occurs to adapt to myocardial wall stress changes or pressure caused by external stimuli. Cardiac remodeling encompass many of the changes associated with the development of heart failure, like genome expression changes, and cellular, molecular and interstitial changes, that causes a change in size, shape and function of the heart after damage. Cardiac remodeling shows the capacity of heart to response and adaptation to a variety of stimuli. The ultimate goal of cardiac remodeling is adaptation to and properly reducing the increased wall stress, and maintaining or even increasing cardiac function. In general, cardiac remodeling is divided into two categories: physiological and pathological, each have different causes and consequences.

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Abstract

Aim.The aim of the study was to determine the relationship between prodromal symptoms and referring time in patients with myocardial infarction in cardiac care unit of Rafsanjan Imam Ali-ibnAbi-Talib hospital in 2012.

Background.There is little information about how people respond to prodromal symptoms of myocardial infarction and how fast they refer to medical centers.

Method.In a cross-sectional study, 175 patients with acute myocardial infarction were recruited. For data collection, lasting about seven months, a questionnaire consisting of demographic data, risk factors for heart disease, prodromal symptoms, referring time and causesof delay was used. Questionnaires were completed by the researcher with bedside interview with patient and using medical records. Data were analyzed in SPSS version 18 using descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, frequency distribution and percentage) and inferential statistics (Chi-square test and Pearson coefficient).

Findings.The majority of patients were male (76.6%) and middle-aged (53.1). Of 175 patients, 132 (75.4%) had experienced warning sign, two weeks before the cardiac event and 43 (24.6%) had experienced no symptoms. Also, 51  patients (38.6%) had referred the physician office, clinic or hospital after experiencing warning signs. The time duration of patients arrival to hospital ranged from 15 minutes to 1500 minutes. There was a statistically significant correlations between prodromal symptoms and referring time in patients with myocardial infarction (p=0.007). Findings showed that the average total referring time was 206.94 minutes.

Conclusion. Recognizing prodromal symptoms leads to earlier seeking treatment in patients with myocardial infarction. Education for increasing public awareness of warning symptoms, especially for those with family history and risk of cardiovascular disease seems to be an appropriate strategy.