Influence of MTHFR gene variations on perceived stress modification: Preliminary results of NURSE study

Endocrinology and metabolism research institute educational achievements on diabetes at a glance: conventional review and Scientometrics

Purpose

Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Institute (EMRI) in 25th anniversary prompt to highlight the educational activities on capacity building and research in prevention and education of diabetes field. In recent decades, this academic institute arranges for opportunities to catch new ways to encounter non-communicable diseases especially diabetes to advantage both diabetes health care providers and people with diabetes. This review aims to overview the educational activities of EMRI on diabetes.

Methods

In this conventional review and Scientometrics, the studies affiliated with EMRI on diabetes education were explored in Scopus, PubMed, Google Scholar, and SID, without any restriction on time and language. All papers published up to 2020 were analyzed and visualized with the VOS viewer Software program.

Results

Total number of 12 documents retrieved from various databases. Patient education, diabetes type 2, health, and self-care are the most frequent keywords in the published paper. Several perspectives of diabetes education have been addressed in two main categories include public and patient education and professional education.

Conclusion

It is notable that, the national strategic planning to establish courses and produce materials and programs to empower health care providers and patients with diabetes and families. According to the strategic plan, further research and infrastructures are required for various aspects of diabetes prevention and education.

Association between perceived stress and cardio-metabolic risk factors: preliminary results of NURSE (Nursing Unacquainted Related Stress Etiologies) study

Objective

Stress is known as a conventional risk factor of cardiovascular disease. Nurses work in stressful environment and could be one of the target populations to be assessed for cardio metabolic risk factor. This study aimed to identify the association between perceived stress and cardio-metabolic risk factors in nurses who are prone for various metabolic diseases.

Method

In this cross-sectional study, nurses from five different educational hospitals of Tehran University of Medical Science attended the study. A self-administered questionnaire as well as Perceived Stress scale were completed. All anthropometric indices and blood pressure were measured. After 10-12 hours of fasting, venous blood samples were taken and level of total cholesterol, triglyceride, high-density and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, fasting blood sugar and insulin level were determined. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 16 and a p value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results

In total 273 nurses were recruited in this study. The mean age of participants was 35.01 ± 0.399 years old. The mean of perceived stress was 15.55 ± 5.04 with the minimum of 3 and maximum of 30. There was no significant association between perceived stress and cardio-metabolic risk factors. Results showed that there was a negative association between perceived stress and insulin level only in nurses who worked rotationally (β = - 0.195, p = 0.048). This association remained significant after adjustment for age and sex (β = - 0.181, P = 0.041).

Conclusion

Finding of the current study showed that negative association between perceived stress and insulin level and there is no significant association between stress and cardio-metabolic risk factors in nurses.

Diabetic Foot scientific activities in Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Institute

Introduction

Diabetic Foot (DF) as a common complication of Diabetes should be intensive intervention for prevention, management and rehabilitation. In this regard, Diabetes Research Center of Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Institute (EMRI) of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) considered DF as a priority research area to investigate multidimensional aspects of DF care. We are intended to summarize DF research studies affiliated to the EMRI for over the last two decades.

Methods

Three Electronic databases including Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus were searched until January 2020 to find articles about DF published affiliated to EMRI. The main concepts of search strategies were "diabetes", "Foot". 115 documents retrieved from these databases which screened for inclusion and exclusion criteria. The visualization of the network of co-authorship of authors and co-occurrence of keywords was illustrated and documents were analyzed for content according to the Main areas of DF Research studies.

Result

64 related documents including original articles, reviews, letters, notes, and book chapter have included to this study. According to the objectives of the retrieved studies, DF documents and research studies categorized in the two main groups including DF prevention, classification and risk stratification in addition management of DF.

Conclusion

Despite conducted research and educational activities in DF prevention and management, the following topics would be considered as well: effective offloading treatment, correcting the nutritional status for improving wound healing and novel educational strategies for diabetic foot multi-disciplinary team.

Influence of nursing staff working hours on stress levels during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional online survey

Background

Working as a nurse means being able to provide high-quality care 24/7. Studies have shown that the average number of working hours per week is a significant predictor of stress and that the severity of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has increased the nurses’ stress levels.

Objective

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of the nursing staff’s working hours during the COVID-19 pandemic on the perceived level of stress.

Method

We carried out an online cross-sectional survey and measured the stress level with the perceived stress scale.

Results

Most of the nurses experienced a moderate level of stress. We identified a statistically significant association between increased numbers of working hours per week and the nurses’ perceived stress level. In addition, 15% of the nurses who had worked more than 40 h reported experiencing a high level of stress.

Conclusion

These results reflect the negative consequences of prolonged working hours. For this reason, a (inter)national discussion is needed on the topic of restricting the working hours of healthcare workers during such pandemics. This discussion can improve the health and safety of healthcare workers, patients and members of the general population.

[Make nursing practice visible through nursing science in times of COVID-19]

Die Pflegepraxis steht durch die COVID-19-Pandemie vor enormen Herausforderungen. Dennoch war die Pflegewissenschaft als Sprachrohr für die Praxis im öffentlichen Diskurs rund um die COVID-19-Pandemie kaum aktiv vertreten. Dementsprechend stellt sich die Frage, welche Projekte mit Fokus auf Pflege und COVID-19 an österreichischen Hochschulen durchgeführt wurden. Insgesamt wurden 6 Projekte mittels Schneeballverfahren identifiziert. Eine Studie zeigte, dass eine erhöhte Tragedauer von Masken mit einem erhöhten Stresslevel der Pflegepersonen zusammenhängt. Ein weiteres Studienergebnis zeigte, dass 50 % der Laien, Masken fehlerhaft benutzten. Individuelle Erfahrungen, getroffene Maßnahmen und Lösungsansätze aus der Sicht der Pflegepersonen hinsichtlich ethischer Herausforderungen in Pflegeheimen wurden in einem weiteren Projekt erhoben. Durch diese und andere Projekte ergreift die Pflegewissenschaft mit ihren Erkenntnissen als Sprachrohr für Pflegekräfte die Initiative und bringt sich in den COVID-19-Diskurs ein. Die Erkenntnisse aus den Projekten können zukünftig als Basis für politische Entscheidungen genutzt werden.

Diabetic foot care course: a quasi-experimental study on E-learning versus interactive workshop

Background

Nurses, as multidisciplinary Diabetic Foot Care (DFC) team members, need to be trained in DF prevention and management. Regarding the increasing use of e-learning educational courses as the new learning strategy with potential benefits among health care providers, this study attempted to evaluate the educational effects of an e-learning course on DFC compared to that of an interactive workshop in the related knowledge attainment.

Methods

This was a quasi-experimental study compared two non-randomized groups consisting of nurses who attended an e-learning course (intervention group) and a face-to-face interactive workshop (control group) on DFC using a pre- and post-test design. The eligible nurses enrolled by convenience sampling. All five e-modules on DF prevention and care were the same for both groups. A P value of <0.05 was considered as significant.

Results

The study findings indicated that both e-learning course and interactive workshop increased DFC knowledge among nurses. There is a significant difference between the learning level (after training) in the intervention and control groups (P < 0.01).

Conclusions

The findings suggest that the e-learning course of DF could be as effective as conventional educational methods. However, considering the time, cost savings and providing an opportunity to learn anytime and anywhere, of the e-learning course, it is recommend for the future and required that more health care providers be trained to use of distance learning.

[Nursing care during the COVID-19 pandemic - a particular challenge]

Problemstellung

Pflegequalität ist eines der wichtigsten Themen in der heutigen pflegerischen Versorgung. Die COVID-19 Pandemie stellt professionell Pflegende vor große Herausforderungen. Bislang gibt es jedoch kaum Daten zur pflegerischen Situation in Gesundheitseinrichtungen während der COVID-19 Pandemie.

Ziel

Daher war das Ziel dieser Studie, die Pflegequalität während der COVID-19 Pandemie darzustellen. Der Fokus dabei liegt auf den vorhandenen strukturellen Gegebenheiten (Strukturebene), den durchgeführten Maßnahmen (Prozessebene) und dem wahrgenommenen Stress der Pflegepersonen (Ergebnisebene).

Methode

Es wurde eine Querschnittstudie mithilfe eines elektronischen Fragebogens in verschiedenen Gesundheitseinrichtungen durchgeführt. Der Fragebogen inkludiert allgemeine Fragen sowie solche zu Struktur-, Prozess- und Ergebnisindikatoren.

Resultate

Es nahmen 2605 Pflegepersonen aus verschiedenen österreichischen Gesundheitseinrichtungen an der Umfrage teil. Die Studie zeigte, dass es häufig Leitfäden und Schulungen zur Schutzmaßnahmen gab. Eine ausreichende Anzahl an Mund-Nasen-Schutz (MNS) gaben knapp zwei Drittel der Personen an, wobei die Tragedauer jedoch bei der Hälfte der Pflegepersonen über acht Stunden lag. Die Studie zeigte ebenso, dass Pflegepersonen häufig persönliche (z. B. Tragen von MNS) und allgemeine Schutzmaßnahmen (z. B. Händehygiene) durchführten. Knapp zwei Drittel der Pflegepersonen litten unter mäßigem bis hohem Stress.

Schlussfolgerung

Um gut auf eine mögliche zweite Welle der COVID-19 Pandemie oder andere Pandemien vorbereitet zu sein, sollen Gesundheitseinrichtungen frühzeitig mit adäquaten und ausreichenden persönlichen Schutzmaterialien ausgestattet werden. Zudem sollten allen Pflegepersonen, die in solch außergewöhnlichen Belastungssituationen arbeiten, psychosoziale Entlastungsprogramme angeboten werden. Dadurch kann eine qualitativ hochwertige Pflege sichergestellt werden.

A multidisciplinary team approach in Iranian diabetic foot research group

Diabetic Foot (DF) as a common complication of Diabetes needs to intensive intervention for prevention, management and rehabilitation. In this regard, the Iranian Diabetic Foot Research Group (IDFRG) of Diabetes Research Center of Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Institute (EMRI) of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) with multi-disciplinary approach have begun its activity since 2014. The aim of this paper is introducing the IDFRG in four main categories including Education, Research, Knowledge Translation and Clinical Care. According to the strategic plan, Future activities would be considered as five following areas: National Diabetic Foot Research Network (NDFRN) Establishment, Podiatrist Curriculum Development, Iranian Diabetic Foot Registry System (IDFRS) Launch, DF guideline Implementation and last but not least DF Ward Establishment.