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Introduction: The reported 12 months prevalence of low back pain in nurses ranges from 43% to 76%. In most researches physical factors were only a part of high prevalence of low back pain in nurses. This study was conducted to determine the association between occupational stress and low back pain in nurses. Materials and Methods: In this case-control study, 80 nurses as case group and 80 nurses as control group were selected via convenience sampling. Case group were defined as those subjects who had experienced low back pain in the last 12 months. Control group were defined as those subjects who had not experienced low back pain in the last 12 months. A questionnaire was used for data collection which consistsed of 3 sections: demographic information, history of low back pain and occupational stress. Data was analyzed using paired T, Mann-Whitney, and Chi-square tests, correlation coefficient and one way ANOVA Results: Results indicated that, there was an association between low back pain and occupational stress (p<0/01).Also an association existed between low back pain and working hours per month (p<0/05). Statistical tests showed no significant difference between the two groups in terms of age, gender, marital status, number of childbirth, number of pregnancy, smoking, sport, work shift, number of years spent in the hospital (nursing experience). Conclusion: Results indicated that occupational stress in case group was more than control group. Since there was not any significant difference between other factors and low back pain, it can be concluded that there is an association between low back pain and occupational stress.

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Introduction: Urinary tract infection is one of the most common nosocomial infections that mainly occur after instrumentation in urinary tract, particularly after urinary catheterization. This study was conducted to assess disinfection's effects of meatus and urinary catheter with 10% Povidone Iodine ointment on incidence of bacteriuria in hospitalized patients of neurological unit of Shohadaye Tajrish hospital in iran. Methods and Materials: This study , is a randomized clinical trail which is done on Seventy stroke's patients that were catheterized by urologic expert's selected on convenience sampling and randomly divided to tow groups (Experimental group: 35 patients, Control group: 35 patients). In the experimental group, meatus and catheter drainage tube junction were disinfected daily and spigot was disinfected tow times a day by PVP10% ointment. In the control group the cares were done by normal saline. In days: 2,5,8,11,14 a urine sample was sent to lab for culture. The maximum period of study was 14 days. Results: Incidence of bacteriuria in experimental and control groups were 20% and 42.9%, respectively. Relative risk was 2.14. In patients with positive urine cultures: puri was 85.7% in experimental group and 86.6% in control group. Clinical symptoms of UTI were seen in 28.6% in experimental group and 33.3% in control group. Conclusion: This study showed that application of povidone-iodine 10% ointment for disinfection meatus and catheter drainage tube junction is effective to prevent catheter-associated urinary tract infection in male patients.

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Background: There are not appropriate research about use of saline lock for obtaining blood samples and intravenous drug or fluids. The purpose of this study was compared the biochemistry values obtained by venipuncture and saline lock after intermittent administration of solution and medication. Methods and Materials: This quasi-experimental prospective study was done on 63 patients who were admitted in Cardiac ward Amir-Kabir educational hospital. The sampling method was convenience. A tourniquet was tied above the saline lock, the first 0.5 ml of blood withdrawn was discarded, then 5 ml blood was obtained. Simultaneously, 5 ml sample was drawn from the opposite arm. The samples were analyzed for FBS, Chol, TG, HDL, LDL, BUN, Cr, Na, K, CPK & LDH. Results: 53.9% participants were male. Mean of age was 63.52±12.63 years. There were no significant differences in mean of biochemistry values in blood obtained by venipunctures saline locks (p>0.06). Conclusion: Nurses can use saline lock after intermittent intravenous drugs and fluids, in order to determine blood sample for evaluating blood biochemistry value. This method relieve pain, due to blood sampling.

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Abstract Background: One of the most important effective factors on students’ learning is their learning style. This study was done to determine learning styles of students in Arak University of Medical Sciences in 2008. Materials and Methods: In a descriptive cross sectional study, 241 first semester students in Arak University of Medical Sciences were selected by census sampling method. The data gathering tool was a questionnaire containing demographic questions and Kolb's learning style questionnaire. Results: The most students learning style was assimilating (58.1%), Converging (25.31%), diverging (10.37%) and accommodating styles (6.22%) were followed. In all fields the most prevalent learning style was assimilating, too. The majority of operating room (56.2%), battle health with disease (57.9%), environment health (53.6%), nursing (43.9%), medical (72.4%), laboratory science (73.1%), midwifery (64.3%) and anesthesia students (65%) were this style. Conclusion: Considering the assimilator and converging learning styles among students, it is recommended to use lecture and self learning, visual methods, diagrams, teacher’s handouts, and face to face learning methods. Also, communication skills of medical science students must be supported, because, assimilating and converging have less interest to communicate with others.