Cardiovascular Nursing Journal

Prevalence and causes of fever at intensive care unit and its association with demographic characteristics

Golrokh Moridi

Aim. The aim of this study was to determine prevalence and causes of fever in hospitalized

patients at intensive care unit (ICU) and its associations with the demographic characteristics .

Background. Fever is a common problem. About 70% of hospitalized patients in the ICU have

fever, which can lead to increased mortality rate in them.

Method. This descriptive analytical study was conducted on 110 patients in the Intensive Care

Units of Sanandaj educational hospitals who had no fever on arrival in the ICU and had a higher

temperature than the 38.3°C, after 24 hours. Data were collected from March to July 2008 by a

standard questionnaire which completed and coded by the researcher. The data were analyzed by

using SPSS software.

Finding. The findings showed that the infectious causes of fever were respectively infections

caused by catheter (38.02%), ventilator associated pneumonia (34.5%) and complications caused

by wounds infections (14.5%) also the majority of non-infectious causes of fever were due to

aspiration pneumonia (29.1%). The Chi-square test showed statistically significant correlations

of age (P<0.01), duration of hospitalization (P<0.05) and the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) of

patients (P <0.01) with fever.

Conclusion: Fever incidence in the ICU patients is a relatively common complication. In this

study, the frequency of this complication is similar or even lower than studies done in other areas

and indicates that, despite of lower health care facilities in the study area, the principles of infection

control and patient care has been considered.

The effect of cardiac rehabilitation on hemodynamic parameters in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery

Saeed Siavoshi

Aim. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of cardiac rehabilitation on hemodynamic parameters

in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG).

Background. Nowadays, CABG is common to treat complications of cardiovascular disease in many

patients.

Method. This clinical trial study was conducted on 50 patients after CABG. The patients were selected

based on objective and with regard to the inclusion criteria. Rehabilitation program was conducted for 24

sessions. Data were collected by demographic questionnaire and hemodynamic parameters checklist at the

beginning of rehabilitation, 12th session and 24th session of cardiac rehabilitation. The data were analyzed

by using Chi-square, RMANOVA tests and SPSS software.

Findings. The groups in terms of demographic variables were not significantly different with each other.

The findings showed statistically significant differences in variables such as systolic blood pressure, pulse

rate and arterial hemoglobin saturation. There were significant differences in these variables between the

first and the last sessions (session 24), also between the first session and during the rehabilitation (session

12). There was a significant difference between the 12th and the end of rehabilitation (session 24) in the

diastolic blood pressure (p=0.045), but no significant differences in other hemodynamic parameters were

seen.

Conclusion. The results indicate a relative improvement in some hemodynamic parameters with cardiac

rehabilitation intervention therefore, it is necessary to pay more attention to the cardiac rehabilitation.

The relationship between knowledge and family members’ performance in confront with patient's heart attack

Marhamat Farhaninia

Aim. The aim of this study was to determine the family members’ performance in confront with

patient's heart attack and its relationship with their knowledge in this filed.

Background. Heart attack is one of the most common, serious and fatal diseases. It is growing

rapidly worldwide and is the most leading cause of mortality. The performance of people who

deal with the heart attack patients in the early minutes, is important in prognosis of disease and

his/her life and death .

Method. This correlational descriptive study was conducted on 300 family members of

patients with heart attacks who hospitalized in teaching hospitals of Iran University of Medical

Sciences. Data were collected by a questionnaire and continuous sampling. Validity of

questionnaire was confirmed by content validity and its reliability were confirmed by test-retest

and by internal consistency ( 0.92).

Findings. The findings showed that there was good level of knowledge, but poor performance

of the subjects in confront with patient's heart attack. There was statisticaly significant

correlations between performance and the knowledge (p=0.004), but no significant correlations

between performance and the knowledge with level of education, age and gender.

Conclusion. Despite of good level of knowledge in target community, none of them have good

performance in the confront with heart attack patients therefore it is recommended to educate

the public on how to deal with heart attack patients and to perform more studies in this field

in order to offer appropriate strategies to promote the knowledge and performance of family

members and individuals in society.

The effect of first phase cardiac rehabilitation programs on anxiety and depression in acute coronary syndrome patients

Masume Zakerimoghadam

Aim. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of first phase cardiac rehabilitation

programs on anxiety and depression in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients.

Background. Anxiety and depression are psychological factors influencing the prognosis,

recovery, and adherence to treatment in patients with ACS. Cardiac rehabilitation programs are

an important part of the care plan is arranged for the majority of heart patients.

Method. This clinical trial study was conducted on 88 ACS patients with regard to the inclusion

criteria. The subjects were randomly divided to experimental (n=44) and control (n=44) groups.

The experimental group participated in four educational sessions of cardiac rehabilitation

program, which included familiarity with risk factors of heart disease, nutrition and drugs

recommendations, stress and depression reduction methods and exercises training. Information

booklet was given at the end of the sessions. Data were collected by demographic and diseaserelated

questionnaires and Persian version of Hospital Anxiety Depression Score (HADS).The

data were analyzed by SPSS software version 16.0 and descriptive and analytic statistical tests

(Independent t-test and Chi-square and Fisher's exact test).

Finding. The findings showed that there was no statistically significant relationship of

demographic and disease-related information with anxiety and depression scores before study.

There was significant statistical difference between two groups in the mean of anxiety and

depression score after intervention (P_0.0001).

Conclusion. According to the finding, the first phase cardiac rehabilitation programs is effective

in reducing anxiety and depression in ACS patients Therefore, it can be an effective way to plan

nursing care of patients with ACS.

Women's knowledge about cardiovascular disease risk factors

Aim. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge of women about cardiovascular diseases risk

factors.

Background. Prevalence of cardiovascular diseases risk factors is increasing rapidly worldwide with

development of modernity and urbanization.

Method: This cross-sectional study was performed on women with age range of 14-66 years old. The

sample size was 735 women. Convenience sampling was used to recruit the participants. Data were

collected by a researcher-made questionnaire whose validity and reliability were confirmed by content

analysis and test-retest methods. The data were analyzed by using SPSS software with appropriate

statistical tests.

Findings: The mean age of participants was 23.4± 5 years. The average body mass index of them was

21.7±3 kg/m. 50.1% of them had little information about cardiovascular diseases. The most common of

data gathering sources were radio and TV (65.3%). The most common of cardiovascular diseases risk

factors included smoking (93.2%), psychological stress (92.8%), obesity (91.2%), high blood triglyceride

(89.4%), and fatty rich food consumption (88.7%). 75.2% of participants achieved at least 50% of the mean

knowledge score. There were significant statistical correlation between knowledge score and increasing of

age and educational level and applying visual media such as TV (p=0.012, p=0.039, p=0.003 respectively).

There was no significant correlation between knowledge score and both marital and economic status.

Conclusion: It’s suggested to design educational programs according to age, gender, educational level and

culture of different groups of society in order to promote knowledge and control cardiovascular diseases

risk factors.

Assessment of cardiac intensive care nurses’ performance in using intravenous Streptokinase for patients with acute myocardial infarction patients

Neda Sayadi

Abstract

Aim. The aim of this study was to evaluate cardiac intensive care nurses’ performance in usingintravenous Streptokinase for acute myocardial infarction patients.

Background. Acute myocardial infarction is a common disease. Use of thrombolytic drug includingStreptokinase reduce mortality rate in these patients. Nurses have an important role in injectingthis drug.

Method. This descriptive study was conducted on 68 nurses who work in cardiac emergency room andcoronary care unit. Data were collected by observation check list of nurses’ performance. The data wereanalyzed by descriptive statistic and Chi-square.

Findings. The findings showed that the manner of presenting nursing care in pre- Streptokinase infusionstage was moderate in 52.9% of observations, but during the injection in 55.4% of observations and afterinjection, in 45.6% of observations was poor.

Conclusion. The care of patients was moderate and poor, therefore it is recommended to paymore attention to education of nurses about using intravenous Streptokinase for acute myocardial