Burcu Bayrak Kahraman

The impact of abdominal massage administered to intubated and enterally fed patients on the development of ventilator-associated pneumonia: A randomized controlled study

BACKGROUND Enteral nutrition is one of the major risk factors for ventilator-associated pneumonia. Abdominal massage is assumed to prevent the development of ventilator-associated pneumonia by reducing residual gastric volume. OBJECTIVES To identify the effect of abdominal massage administered to critically ill patients with mechanical ventilation and continuous enteral feeding on the development of ventilator-associated pneumonia. DESIGN A randomized controlled design was used in this study. SETTING This study was performed in a critical care unit of a university hospital in Turkey. PARTICIPANTS The sample of the study consisted of a total of 32 patients, selected randomly to receive abdominal massage (n=16) and a control group (n=16). The stratified randomization was used in this study. Patients were stratified according to age and gender. METHODS A fifteen-minute abdominal massage was administered to the patients in the intervention group twice daily. No intervention was administered to the patients in the control group. RESULTS At the end of monitoring days a reduction, compared to the control patients, was identified. The amount of gastric residual volume and abdominal circumference measurement of the patients in the intervention group had decreased. This reduction was found to be significant in the statistical analysis (p<0.05). Also, although not reaching the statistical significance level, ventilator-associated pneumonia decreased in the intervention group with a ratio of 6.3% compared to the control group (31.3%) (p>0.05). CONCLUSION This study revealed that abdominal massage administered to intubated and enterally fed patients reduced gastric residual volume and abdominal distension. In addition, a decrease in the ratio of ventilator-associated pneumonia was determined.

Factors Affecting Health-Promoting Behaviors in Nursing Students at a University in Turkey.

This descriptive study was carried out to determine factors affecting health-promoting behaviors in nursing students. The sample consisted of 245 students. A questionnaire about factors affecting lifestyle behavior and the Health Promotion Lifestyle Profile Scale-II were used to collect data from 245 nursing students during the spring semester of the 2012-2013 academic year. A significant difference was found between students with and without diagnosed health problems in terms of their mean scores on the Health Promotion Lifestyle Profile Scale-II subscales of health responsibility, spiritual growth, and interpersonal relations, as well as their total mean scores (p < .05). The exercise, nutrition, spiritual growth, and stress management subscale scores of those students regularly going for health checks were determined to be significantly higher than those of the students who did not obtain regular health checks. Students’ healthy lifestyle behaviors were generally found to be at the medium level. This study provides evidence of the need for interventions to help nurses in Turkey.

Relationship among health-related quality of life, depression and awareness of home care services in elderly patients

The present descriptive study was carried out to determine the relationship between health‐related quality of life, depression and awareness of home care services among elderly patients.

The Role of Nurses in Cardıac Rehabilitation

Kardiyovasküler hastalıklar Dünya’da ve ülkemizde birinci ölüm nedenidir. Kardiyovasküler hastalıklara bağlı morbidite ve mortalite oranını azaltmak amacıyla kardiyak rehabilitasyon programları uygulanmaktadır. Bu derlemede kardiyovasküler hastalığı olan bireylere yaşadığı toplumda fiziksel, sosyal ve ruhsal açıdan iyilik hali ve aktif bir yaşam sağlayan kardiyak rehabilitasyon programı, fazları, bileşenleri, basamakları, rehabilitasyon ekibi ve hemşirenin rolü üzerinde durulmuştur.