Seyvan Sobhani; Sara Tabanfar; Isa Mohammadi Zeidi; Mohammad Sharif Hosseini
Abstract
Background: High mental workload can negatively affect nurses’ mental and physical health, quality of life, and workability. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the relationship between mental workload and the workability among nurses.Methods: Using the multi-stage sampling method, ...
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Background: High mental workload can negatively affect nurses’ mental and physical health, quality of life, and workability. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the relationship between mental workload and the workability among nurses.Methods: Using the multi-stage sampling method, the researchers selected 142 nurses working in Qazvin hospitals in Covid-19 patient care units to participate in a cross-sectional descriptive study. Data collection tools included a demographic information questionnaire, the NASA Workload Index, and Workability Index. Data were analyzed by independent t-test, Pearson correlation coefficient, and ANOVA in SPSS software.Results: The mean age of participants was 31.3±6.1 years, and the work experience mean was 7.6±5.8 years. The results showed a high mental workload (80.4±13.4) and moderate workability (31.8±7.3). The number of nurses’ shifts per month was negatively correlated with workability (P=0.032). ICU nurses had the highest mental workload score and the lowest workability score. Also, workability there was a significant negative correlation between mental workability and workload (r=-0.579 & P<0.001).Conclusion: A reverse correlation was observed between mental workload and workability. To improve the performance and mental health of nurses, frequent training programs and management interventions should be practiced.
Ehsan Gharehchahi; Fatemeh Dehghani; Ata Rafiee; Marzieh Jamalidoust; Mohammad Hoseini
Abstract
Background: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an immensely transmissible viral infectious disease caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This study aimed to assess the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in the indoor air, on the surfaces, and on the fomites of a COVID-19 referral ...
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Background: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an immensely transmissible viral infectious disease caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This study aimed to assess the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in the indoor air, on the surfaces, and on the fomites of a COVID-19 referral hospital in Shiraz, Iran.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, indoor air sampling was conducted utilizing a standard midget impinger containing 15 ml of viral transfer medium (VTM) equipped with a sampling pump with a flow rate of 10 L min-1 for 60 minutes. Surfaces and fomites were sampled using sterile polyester swabs. The realtime reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) was utilized to detect SARS-CoV-2.Results: The RNA of SARS-CoV-2 was detected in about 41.2% indoor air and 32% swab samples. Four out of the six (66.7%) indoor air samples up to a distance of 2 meters from the patient’s bed in intensive care units (ICU-1, ICU-3), accident and emergency (A&E-2), and negative pressure rooms were positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA. All air samples within 2 to 5 meters of the patient’s bed were negative.Conclusion: This study’s results did not support the airborne SARS-CoV-2 transmission; However, it showed contamination of surfaces and fomites in the studied hospital’s wards.
Rita Rezaee; Sahar Zare; Fatemeh Niknam; Ali Akbari; Mohammad Shirdeli; Farshad Falahati; Saeed Aghajani
Abstract
Background: A variety of clinical and administrative employees form a complicated communication network which makes various conflicts and contradictions possible in hospitals. This highlights the significant impact of internal communication in directing healthcare centers as one of the manager’s ...
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Background: A variety of clinical and administrative employees form a complicated communication network which makes various conflicts and contradictions possible in hospitals. This highlights the significant impact of internal communication in directing healthcare centers as one of the manager’s duties. Although improving hospital management is key to improvement of the healthcare delivery, few studies have been conducted to address internal communication as one of the main management tasks in hospitals. The current study aimed to determine the contributing factors influencing internal communication based on hospital managers and healthcare personnel’s points of view. Methods: A qualitative study utilizing a content analysis approach was performed. A purposive sampling method was recruited and twenty hospital managers and healthcare staff in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences participated in the study. Semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions were conducted. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis by MAXQDA version 10. Results: Eight managers and twelve healthcare staff including eleven male and nine female subjects participated in the study. Three main themes were discerned: namely “personal factors”, “technical factors”, and “organizational and structural factors”. The participants placed the most emphasis on leadership and new technologies as the influential subthemes. Conclusion: Many factors can affect internal communication, some of which depend mostly on managers to be applied effectively in the hospitals and some on healthcare staff. The identified factors help the managers and staff to recognize how their internal communication can be impressed by these factors and how they can create effective internal communications.
Fakhradin Ghasemi; Taleb Askaripoor; Hamed Aghaei
Abstract
Background: Needlestick and sharps injuries (NSIs) are a major issue in healthcare settings and should be properly managed. As a type of occupational accident, NSIs are rooted in many causes, including poor safety climate. The current study was conducted to find links among safety climate, safety performance, ...
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Background: Needlestick and sharps injuries (NSIs) are a major issue in healthcare settings and should be properly managed. As a type of occupational accident, NSIs are rooted in many causes, including poor safety climate. The current study was conducted to find links among safety climate, safety performance, and NSIs.
Methods: The study was cross-sectional and all data were collected in 2020. The sample was composed of 221 nurses. Two dimensions of safety performance and six dimensions of safety climate alongside the experience of NSIs in the last year were investigated using validated questionnaires. The path analysis model was built and tested using Mplus software package.
Results: The path analysis model was acceptable in terms of goodness-of-fit metrics. The model supported the mediating role of safety performance on the relationship between safety climate and NSIs. Among safety climate dimensions, safety training had the highest relationship with safety performance dimensions, followed by attitude toward error reporting and cumulative fatigue. Safety participation had a stronger effect on NSIs than safety compliance.
Conclusion: As all safety climate dimensions were significantly correlated with safety performance dimensions and NSIs, promoting safety climate can be effective in improving safety performance and preventing NSIs among nurses.
Ali Ojaghi; Ebrahim Fataei; Siamak Gharibi Asl; Ali Akbar Imani
Abstract
Background: The aim of this study was to provide a suitable system for disposal of hospital waste and design and construction of a safe device for infectious waste using a combination of chemical and mechanical methods.
Methods: This research is a laboratory study and based on the existing problems, ...
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Background: The aim of this study was to provide a suitable system for disposal of hospital waste and design and construction of a safe device for infectious waste using a combination of chemical and mechanical methods.
Methods: This research is a laboratory study and based on the existing problems, design and construction of a decontamination device for hospital infectious waste was performed by combination of chemical and mechanical methods in a closed reactor. To determine the appropriate mixture of different compounds of sodium hydroxide with lime and sodium carbonate with lime, three treatments were selected and used.
Results: The results of this study showed that the decontamination waste device by chemical and mechanical methods was effective in eliminating 98% of bacterial, fungal, and viral contaminants. The results showed that the neutralization rate for total bacterial contamination of the coliform, pathogenic viruses, Escherichia, Bacillus subtilis, Salmonella, and Shigella using a 30% ratio was related to the chemical composition of lime and sodium hydroxide, lime and sodium carbonate, respectively. In the designed device, the best temperature, humidity and pH conditions were determined to be 15°C, 45% and 12.8, respectively.
Conclusion: The results of the decontaminated waste tests revealed that the simultaneous application of physical and chemical methods can be used as a safe and suitable alternative in infectious waste disposal systems.
Mohammad Reza Samaei; Majid Nozari; Marziyeh Ansari Shiri; Mehdi Mokhtari; Asghar Ghasemi; Reza Rezaei Javanmardi
Volume 5, Issue 2 , April 2017, , Pages 44-50
Abstract
Background:Discharge of raw or treated wastewater containing linear alkyl benzene sulfonate (LAS) into the environment causes significant public health and environmental problems. The purpose of this study was the treatment of hospital wastewater using an intermittent cycle extended aeration system (ICEAS).Methods:Experiments ...
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Background:Discharge of raw or treated wastewater containing linear alkyl benzene sulfonate (LAS) into the environment causes significant public health and environmental problems. The purpose of this study was the treatment of hospital wastewater using an intermittent cycle extended aeration system (ICEAS).Methods:Experiments were carried out on Yazd Shohaday-e-Kargar hospital wastewater treatment system and samples were collected in a 2 month period from the influent and effluent of the system. The used pilot study carried out consisted of two zones: pre-react and main react zones. They were divided using a baffle wall. Firstly, wastewater enters a pre-react zone and then through the opening at the bottom of the baffle wall it enters the main react zone. The cycle time and flow rate for the system were considered 6 h and 2 L/h, respectively. Then, the necessary tests were performed on the system’s influent and effluent.Results:The removal of BOD5, COD, and LAS by ICEAS were 94.54%, 92.97%, and 84.99%, respectively. The averages of SVI, F/M, MLSS and MLVSS in the system were 113 mL/g, 0.086 Kg.BOD5/Kg.MLSS.d, 4327 mg/L and 3172 mg/L, respectively.Conclusions:This work showed the excellent efficiency of ICEAS to effectively remove BOD5, COD, and LAS from hospital wastewater. The results of this research can help to manage wastewater treatment in hospitals.
