Comparison of psychological well-being, hope, and health concern in leukemia patients before and after receiving stem cells

Objectives

The aim of this study was to compare psychological well-being, hope, and health concerns in leukemia patients before and after receiving stem cells.

Methods

The statistical population of the present study consisted of leukemia patients in Tehran, and the research sample was among the patients referred to the Bone Marrow Transplant Center of Shariati Hospital in Tehran, and they were placed in two experimental and control groups (15 people in each group), which were selected by purposive sampling method.

Results

To collect the data for the research, three psychological well-being questionnaires were used by Riff (2002), Schneider's Hope Scale (SHS), and Schneider's (1991) Health Concern Questionnaire (HCQ). To analyze the data in this research, according to the "pre-test-post-test design with the control group," covariance analysis was used.

Conclusion

Based on the research findings, it was concluded that receiving stem cells increases hope and psychological well-being in leukemia patients and significantly reduces health concerns.

Determining patients' satisfaction level with hospital emergency rooms in Iran: a meta-analysis

Emergency department is one of the important parts of hospitals, and patients’ satisfaction with this department significantly affects their overall satisfaction with the hospital. Therefore, evaluating patients’ satisfaction level with the emergency part has been taken into account in different studies. The purpose of this study was to systematically review all available primary studies and their results and to evaluate patients’ satisfaction level with emergency rooms of hospitals. In this study, previous documents were reviewed; to do this, national and international databases were searched electronically and related articles were extracted. Reference list of the published studies were also reviewed to increase sensitivity and to select a greater number of articles. Reviewing and studying titles and texts of the articles, repeated and unrelated cases were excluded. The remaining articles were entered into stat aver., 11 for meta-analysis. After meta-analysis, 24 articles were selected. The lowest and highest satisfaction level was 24 and 98.4% respectively. Meta-analysis results of studies showed that general evaluation of patients’ satisfaction level with emergency rooms of hospitals was 68.9% in Iran. This meta-analysis revealed that patients’ satisfaction level with performance and with the way services were presented in emergency rooms of hospitals was desirable in Iran. Concerning multifactorial nature of patients’ satisfaction, it is necessary to take this matter into regular and routine consideration.

Determining the frequency of defensive medicine among general practitioners in Southeast Iran

BACKGROUND

Defensive medicine prompts physicians not to admit high-risk patients who need intensive care. This phenomenon not only decreases the quality of healthcare services, but also wastes scarce health resources. Defensive medicine occurs in negative and positive forms. Hence, the present study aimed to determine frequency of positive and negative defensive medicine behaviors and their underlying factors among general practitioners in Southeast Iran.

METHODS

The present cross-sectional study was performed among general practitioners in Southeast Iran. 423 subjects participated in the study on a census basis and a questionnaire was used for data collection. Data analysis was carried out using descriptive and analytical statistics through SPSS 20.

RESULTS

The majority of participants were male (58.2%). The mean age of physicians was 40 ± 8.5. The frequency of positive and negative defensive medicine among general practitioners in Southeast Iran was 99.8% and 79.2% respectively. A significant relationship was observed between working experience, being informed of law suits against their colleagues, and committing defensive medicine behavior (P< 0.001).

CONCLUSION

The present study indicated high frequency of defensive medicine behavior in the Southeast Iran. So, it calls policy-makers special attention to improve the status quo.