Erbil Journal of Nursing and Midwifery

Patient Satisfaction with the Quality of Nursing Care in Public and Private Hospitals in Erbil City

2024-05-19T15:47:16+00:00

Background and Objectives: Patient satisfaction is an essential parameter in assessing the quality of care and healthcare facility performance and the most important competitive advantage of the government and private hospitals. The study aims to investigate patients’ satisfaction regarding the quality of nursing care in both public and private hospitals.

Methods: A quantitative, comparative study was conducted among 330 patients (165 from public hospitals and 165 from private hospitals) in Erbil City from October 2023 to February 2024. Data were collected through structured interviews using a standardized questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics via the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences.

Results: Among the 330 patients surveyed, the majority were aged 18 to 39 years (55.8%), predominantly female (65.5%) and married (75.2%). Notably, 50.3% had been hospitalized over four times in public hospitals. Patients reported their health status as fair (38.8% before hospitalization), with 64.2% transferred from other facilities. In private hospitals, 100% of patients had single occupancy in their rooms. Satisfaction scores for nursing care were significantly higher in private hospitals compared to public ones (p < 0.001). Significant associations were observed between sociodemographic factors and nursing care satisfaction (p < 0.001), with gender showing no significant association (p = 0.819).

Conclusions: The study concludes that patients in private hospitals exhibit strong satisfaction with the quality of nursing care compared to those in public hospitals. This highlights the importance of addressing disparities in nursing care quality between hospital types to enhance overall patient satisfaction and healthcare outcomes.

Assessing the Performance of Statistical Tools for Postoperative Nursing Care Quality of Patients with Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy in Teaching Hospitals at Erbil City

2024-03-31T19:19:06+00:00

Background and Objectives: Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy is a minimally invasive surgery for or conducting gallbladder removal, providing faster recovery times and fewer complications compared to conventional open surgery. This study aims to evaluate and compare the standard of post-operative nursing care provided to patients who undergo Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy procedures in surgical units at teaching hospitals and understand statistical tools' performance in evaluating care quality.

Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study design, involving fifty nurses via non-probability (purposive) sampling technique, who had been working in the surgical unit. The data were collected through the use of the observational checklist, which consisted of two parts; the first part includes information about the socio-demographic characteristics of respondents, and the second part is about the assessment of Postoperative nurses' care items consisting of five main domains. The data were collected from October -2023 to February -2024 after approval of the proposal by the Ethical Committee, using statistical tools to analyze the data.

Result: The finding of the study showed that most study items responding to the questionnaire showed significant differences and that there is insufficient provision of high-quality postoperative nurse interventions for patients undergoing Laparoscopic cholecystectomy at surgical wards at Erbil City teaching hospitals.

Conclusion: This study concludes that several demographic factors, such as age, marital status, and level of education, among nursing staff significantly correlate with the quality of nursing care provided in surgical wards. Despite their educational background, many nurses lacked adequate professional skills and training in postoperative nursing interventions for care.

Effect of Body Mass Index, Caffeine Consumption and Physical Activity on in vitro Fertilization Outcome in Erbil City/Iraq

2022-10-26T10:37:04+00:00

Background and Objective: Several factors influence the success of in vitro fertilization. In recent years, there has been a lot of focus on how lifestyle factors like body weight, physical activity levels, cigarette smoking, alcohol, and caffeine consumption affect In vitro fertilization (IVF) outcome (biochemical pregnancy). The term "biochemical pregnancy" is defined as a pregnancy that can only be determined by the presence of serum levels of the hormone Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin (HCG). This study aimed to assess the effect of women's lifestyle factors, such as body mass index, caffeine consumption, and physical activity, on the outcome of In vitro fertilization (biochemical pregnancy).

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was conducted from September 2021 to September 2022.A convenience sampling technique was used among 110 women in total who consented to take part in this study, but because 10 of them cancelled (IVF) treatment before embryo transfer or oocyte retrieval, were excluded from analysis, only 100 infertile women undergoing (IVF) were included in the analysis in the Maternity Teaching Hospital's (in vitro fertilization center) and some private hospitals in Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq. The women in the study ranged in age from 20 to 45, were undergoing IVF.

Result: (44%) of infertile women had a successful biochemical pregnancy (positive beta hCG test). The majority (74%) of the study sample consumed caffeinated beverages. Results showed a significant difference between caffeine consumption and IVF outcome (biochemical pregnancy) (P=0.01), but there was no statistically significant difference between body mass index (BMI), and physical activity (vigorous, moderate) with IVF outcome (biochemical pregnancy). Only walking showed a significant difference with IVF outcome (biochemical pregnancy) (P=0.017).

Conclusion: Increased caffeine consumption is a significant factor that can affect IVF outcome.

Nurses’ Knowledge and Practice of Body Mechanic Techniques at Emergency Teaching Hospitals in Erbil City/Kurdistan region – Iraq

2022-10-18T19:41:29+00:00

Background and Objectives: Body mechanics is a term that indicates a coordinated effort between the neurological and musculoskeletal systems to maintain balance, posture, and body alignment in daily activities, which is essential for efficient bodily functioning. The study aimed to assess nurses’ knowledge and practice regarding mechanical body movement at emergency hospitals in Erbil City.

Methods: The study was carried out at the West, East Emergencies and Emergency Management Center (EMC) in Erbil City -Kurdistan Region, Iraq. A non-probability convenient sample of 300 nurses at all emergencies in Erbil city was selected. A special questionnaire was prepared by an extensive literature review and opinion experts. The questionnaires consist of two parts, the nurses’ knowledge questionnaire, which consists of 25 items, and the observation checklist to evaluate practice, which consists of 35 items. The reliability of the questionnaire was determined the performance of the pilot study. Data analysis was performed by using SPSS "vesion26" (Frequency, Percentage, and Chi-square test).

Results: The highest percentage of overall knowledge scores was poor (71.7%) and the highest percentage of overall practice scores were fair, (86%). The result showed significant associations and high significant associations between gender, level of education (Diploma in nursing), and knowledge. Also, the result showed a very high significant association between extra jobs and practice.

Conclusions: The study concluded that the total means score of knowledge was better than practice about body mechanics techniques. Those results revealed nurses' need for an education program to improve their knowledge and practice.

Knowledge and Attitude regarding the Family Planning among Spouses in Sub-Urban Primary Health Care Centres in Erbil Province

2022-11-27T18:02:45+00:00

Background and Objectives: Family Planning refers to couples who make educated choices about having children, such as timing their pregnancies and limiting the number of children that they will have via contraceptive techniques.
Objective of the Study: To assess couples' knowledge and attitudes about family planning and its association with their sociodemographic characteristics.

Methods: A quantitative, cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire which consisted of socio-demographic characteristics, couple’s knowledge (17 questions), and couple’s attitude (18 questions) among 288 couples in primary health care centers sub-urban Erbil province from September 2021 to December 2022, met the exclusion criteria for pregnant who refused participation and inclusion criteria in reproductive age 15-49, married women with their partner and who use contraceptives. The data were analyzed with the statistical package for the social science version 26.

Results: Most of the spouses were in the age group 25–34 years old. The sources of infor-mation about family planning methods for husbands were 56.3% from social media, and the wives 54.9% from family. Most of the husbands are 51.4%. Their overall knowledge regarding family planning methods was fair. There was an association between the husbands’ occupation and knowledge of family planning methods (P-value=0.044). The highest proportions of the study sample (66%) of the husband and (63.2%) of wives preferred oral contraceptive pills as the best method for family planning.

Conclusion: The overall knowledge of the husbands was fair (acceptable), while the wives had good knowledge. There was a correlation between the husband's knowledge and the wife's attitude towards family planning methods based on sociodemographic characteristics, but there was no correlation between the husbands' knowledge and the wives' knowledge.

Effectiveness of a Health Education Program on Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Patients’ Knowledge in Surgical Specialty Hospital-Cardiac Center in Erbil City

2023-03-01T14:18:54+00:00

Background and objective: Coronary Artery Bypass Graft is considered an important surgical procedure, and due to the lack of sufficient knowledge in CABG patients, it is necessary and vital to carry out interventions to improve the knowledge of patients. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine the effect of a health education program on patients' knowledge.

Methods: This study is a quasi-experimental conducted between 2021 and 2023. The population of the study sample consisted of patients who were admitted to the cardiac center hospital in Erbil city. The samples were divided into two groups by random allocation, each group of 100 people. Data collection was based on a researcher-made questionnaire including three socio-demographic, medical data of patients with CABG and knowledge related to CABG. The intervention consisted of 6 sessions, which included 2 sessions of general training for patients, and 4 sessions of training including physiological aspects, self-concept, reciprocal relations and the fulfillment of obligations.

Results: The mean age in the control group is 56.63±9.74 and in the intervention group is 54.32±11.123. After the intervention, the mean knowledge score in the General Information, Risk Factor, Complication, Diagnosis, and Management of Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting sections showed a significant increase among patients in the intervention group compared to the control group (P≤0.001).

Results: The results showed that the mean overall awareness score in the intervention group at the beginning of the study is lower than the average awareness score after the intervention, and this mean difference is significant (P≤0.001). The mean overall knowledge score in the intervention group has a significant difference compared to the control group (0.001).

Conclusion: Considering the important effects of the educational program on increasing knowledge about various aspects of coronary artery bypass graft, educational programs should be given more attention.

Assessment of Mother’s Information and Practice, and Factors Associated Infantile Colic in Erbil City

2022-09-26T08:45:37+00:00

Background and objectives: An excessive crying of unknown cause, the most common presentation to the primary health sector in early life, known as infantile colic, affects more than 20% of infants. Parents must deal with the terrible situation to resolve it spontaneously after the first three to four months of life. The study aimed to assess the mothers’ information and practices about infantile colic in Erbil city.

Methodology: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 60 mothers who attended treatment and routine follow-ups in the outpatients of primary health care centers in Erbil city. The data was collected from the 1st of June to the 30th of November 2022, through direct interviews (face-to-face) using a questioner checklist. The data were analyzed by using SPSS (24 version) to analyze the data inferentially (frequency and percentage) and to find out the association between dependent and independent variables, the Chi-square was used to identify the factors behind their practice and knowledge of the linear regression test was used.

Results: According to the study's findings, the majority (70%) of the sample were within average gestational ages (37 or more weeks). The highest percentages (70%) were within 2 months of age. There was a very highly significant association between the infant’s ages, period of crying, residency, and mother’s levels of information about the baby’s crying; also, there was a significant association between the mode of feeding and levels of the mother’s practice about infantile colic. Linear regression found that demographic variables explain a significant amount of the variance in the mothers` information. The analysis shows that infant age and period of crying were significantly associated with the mothers` information; it was found that demographic variables explain a significant amount of the variance in the mothers` practice......

Unveiling the Veil of Mortality: Investigating the Multifaceted Causes and Consequences of Sudden Deaths through Post-Mortem Perspectives in Erbil City

2024-04-05T11:56:00+00:00

Background and Objective: Percutaneous sudden death is still a great concern to humankind since it still affects a large population across the globe and has many causes and risk factors. This paper looks at the various contributing factors to Sudden Deaths in Erbil, Iraq, focusing on examining gender differences and family predisposition.

Methodology: Using proper and extensive research methods, this research afforded data from fifty different persons of different ages. The assessment comprised sex, age, cause of death, previous comorbidity, and family anamneses in addition to qualitative and quantitative semesters with relatives and time-sequential analysis of risk factors.

Results: Mores findings show that smoking and alcohol use are influential risks because of their correlation with health risks at a statistical level. As for stress, obesity and poor sleep do not have very sharp relations, while poverty and lack of risk factors are statistically insignificant, which could mean that they are only correlated at all but could be coincidental. Most observable gaps are on gender: unfortunately, male gender is more vulnerable and affected by lifestyle diseases more than their female counterparts. Using the obtained results of the analysis, it becomes possible to state that myocardial infarction and atherosclerosis are quite frequent health issues, which are predominantly observed during the night and related to family tendencies.

Conclusion: The findings of this research also stress on the importance of smoking and gender differences related to sudden death that demand more careful consideration of the public health approaches, including genetic testing, modification in lifestyle and modification of the environment and so on. It demonstrates the relation between the rates of sudden death and myocardial infarction and atherosclerosis at night and the necessity for further study of circadian rhythm. Emphasis is placed on the position of forensic experts to establish the causes of death,....

Knowledge and Attitude of People about Vaccination of Corona Virus Disease in Erbil City

2022-12-11T17:04:24+00:00

Background and Objective: Vaccine are an effective way to protect people against many infectious diseases. A variety of vaccines have been accepted against Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and offered all over the world. Having a good level of knowledge and individual attitude regarding vaccination can have an impact on vaccinating against Covid-19. Therefore, the study aimed to investigate the knowledge and attitudes about Covid-19 vaccinations in Erbil City.

Methods: Community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in different areas in Erbil city. A non-probability (convenience) sample was selected for 400 participants from November 1, 2021 to November 1, 2022. The survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire containing informed consent along with three sections (socio-demographic, knowledge, and attitude). Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics and Chi-squire to determine the level of knowledge and attitude regarding Covid-19 vaccination.

Results: 60.8% of participants had an excellent knowledge regarding the Covid-19 vaccine; education level, income status, and previously being infected with Covid-19 were significantly associated with a high level of knowledge. The majority (58.5%) of participants had a positive attitude toward the Covid-19 vaccine. Having a history of Covid-19 and income status were significantly associated with a positive attitude regarding the Covid-19 vaccine.

Conclusion: Despite the high level of knowledge and positive attitude regarding Covid-19 vaccination, there is still misunderstanding and hesitancy about the Covid-19 vaccine, the ministry of health must distribute and promote more health education and programs regarding Covid-19 vaccination.

Impact of an Educational Program on Quality of Life among Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis in Akre/ Iraqi Kurdistan Region

2024-07-07T09:15:25+00:00

Background and Objective: Chronic kidney diseases is an international public health issue, and it has a rising extent, occurrence and significant treatment expenditures. The guidance is a crucial step in raising the standard of dialysis care and improving the results of quality of life for end- stage renal disease patients. Therefore, the study's objectives were to establish, implement, and evaluate the impact of the educational program on hemodialysis patients' quality of life at the study site.

Methods: A quasi-experimental research study was conducted at the Urology Center's hemodialysis units at Golan General Hospital in Akre. Data were collected from 30 adult dialysis patients who were undergoing dialysis regularly.

Results: According to the current study, patients' overall mean quality of life scores increased in many aspects of quality of life (physical, psychological and social) with a statistically significant difference shortly after the program's introduction. This increased level was marginally reduced after a month of program implementation.

Conclusion: The overall quality of life of the patients who underwent the intervention saw an improvement in score, all metrics relating to quality of life and health were significantly improved by the educational program.