Jorjani Biomedicine Journal

Background & Objective: Pregnant or lactating women and children are the two population group most vulnerable to nutritional deficiencies. The aim of this study was to review the nutritional status of lactating women, as one of the main loops of the chain of effective factors on health of the generation and society, assessing the supportive nutrition programs in Iran and to provide solutions in this regard. Method: This review was conducted in April 2014. All related articles on the databases of IranMedex, SID (Scientific Information database) and PubMed were investigated with no time limit. After reviewing the abstracts, 15 Persian articles and 13 English articles were fully reviewed. Results: The results of the few available studies on the nutritional status of lactating women indicate deficiencies or inappropriate nutritional patterns among lactating women. Although in formulation of nutritional strategies, pregnant or lactating women and children often receive equal attention, women are practically the target of nutrition and health programs to improve the growth of the fetus and little attention have been paid to their health and nutritional needs. Nutrition of lactating women have been forgotten and solely focus on prenatal nutrition of women means ignoring the more fundamental nutritional problem in women throughout their lives. Conclusion: Implementing a holistic approach to health and nutrition of women instead of the traditional approach, which focuses solely on a particular period of life, leads to health promotion and ensuring the health of women and the next generation.

Background and Objective: Obtaining the means of promoting nursing care quality have been always considered by nursing managers. The present study was conducted to determine the relationship between nursing care quality and patients satisfaction in the hospitals affiliated to Zahedan University of Medical Sciences in 2014.

Methods: The present cross-sectional study was accomplished on 68 employed nurses and 204 patients during a 4 month random sampling time interval. Three patients per nurse who had utilized at least 72 hours of nursing cares and were about to discharge at the time of research were chosen. Data collection tolls were the standardized questionnaires including nursing care quality measurement tool (Quality patient care scale: QUALPAC) and Patient Satisfaction Instrument (PSI). The data were analyzed using Chi-square, One-Way ANOVA and Pearson correlation coefficient tests.

Results: The average age of the nurses and patients were respectively 30.8±4.9 and 37.9±10.7. The average score for QUALPAC was 61.3±12.5 and the quality of care was desirable in 55% of cases. Moreover, the average score for the satisfaction of patients was 71.8±10.9 and the patients expressed an intermediate satisfaction in 61 percent of cases. There was a positive significant correlation between the nursing care and patient satisfaction (P=0001).

Conclusion: It seems as if the health care system can provide the satisfaction of patients by enhancing nursing care quality or to employing more skilled nurses.