Gulsah Kose

The effect of low back pain on the daily activities of patients with lumbar disc herniation: a Turkish military hospital experience.

ABSTRACT This study was performed to assess disability on daily living activities, which developed secondary to low back pain, in patients with lumbar disc herniation and treated either conservatively or surgically. The study was performed between November 2008 and June 2009. Visual analogue scale (VAS) was used to measure the intensity of pain, and the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) was used to assess the disability of the patients on daily living activities. Of the 112 patients, 55 were women and 57 were men. The mean age was 39.68 years for the conservative treatment group and 46.46 years the for surgical treatment group. In the pretreatment period, the patients who were selected for surgical treatment had higher VAS score and ODI than did the patients who were selected for conservative treatment. The disability areas that were reported in the pretreatment period were walking, sleeping, standing, and traveling for the surgical treatment group and self-care, sitting, and social life areas for the conservative treatment group. When the ODI and VAS score of the patients were statistically compared at the third month of posttreatment period, the scores were significantly low in the surgical treatment group. The disability areas that were reported at the third month of posttreatment period were weight lifting, self-care, and walking for the surgical treatment group and social life, sleeping, sitting, and standing for the conservative treatment group. This study found that patients with low back pain experience physical disabilities due to pain. Their daily living activities are affected by these disabilities and the intensity of pain affects the level of disability. Knowledge of the disability areas caused by low back pain plays an important role in the determination of nursing care and content of the education which will be offered to the patients. The use of scale on the patient’s care is important to form a common language in nursing and to obtain evidence-based data related to the patients.

Effect of head and body positioning on cerebral blood flow velocity in patients who underwent cranial surgery

AIM AND OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of head and neck positions on the cerebral blood flow velocity by transcranial Doppler ultrasound in patients who underwent cranial surgery. BACKGROUND Inappropriate head elevation and body positioning in patients who undergo cranial surgery may affect cerebral blood flow and cerebral perfusion pressure. DESIGNED: Experimental clinical study. METHOD Our sample consisted of 38 patients who underwent cranial surgery between October 2009 and May 2010. The measurments of mean cerebral blood flow velocity were taken by the transcranial Doppler ultrasound through the temporal window. The mean cerebral blood flow velocity of the patients was measured in supine position with 0° and 30° head elevations, right and left lateral positions, right and left lateral positions with head flexion and extension. The measurements were taken before surgery and within 72 hours after surgery. RESULTS The mean cerebral blood flow velocity of the middle cerebral arteries was increased in head elevations from 0° to 30°, in right and lateral positions with 30° head elevations, but the velocity was decreased in head flexion and extension positions in preoperative and postoperative periods. DISCUSSION Head and body positioning, which is one of the nursing care activities, may affect intracranial pressure and cerebral perfusion pressure. Our results are similar with those of previous studies, which showed that head elevation did not affect the cerebral blood flow velocity. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE By the results of this study, the head elevation of the patients, who underwent cranial surgery, should be 30° during the nursing care to provide optimum cerebral blood flow. Right and left lateral positioning is safe and recommended for these patients if there is no medical contraindication.

Reliability and Validity of the Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist in Turkish.

PURPOSE The aim was to investigate and evaluate validity and reliability of the Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist (ICDSC) in Turkey. METHODS A cross-sectional study design was used. Fifty-nine patients in an intensive care unit for longer than 24 hr were included in this study. RESULTS Cronbachs alpha coefficient indicated that the ICDSC was a reliable test with high internal consistency (specialist nurse min: 0.720, max: 0.855; primary nurse min: 0.728, max: 0.830). The sensitivity and specificity were high. CONCLUSION The findings showed that the sensitivity and specificity of the ICDSC are high for Turkish patients. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE The ICDSC provides fast and effective evaluations of the patients for delirium. So, ICDSC may be easily integrated into routine nursing practice.

The effects of music on the cardiac resuscitation education of nursing students

PURPOSE The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of music on the appropriate performance of the rate and depth of chest compression for nursing students. METHODS This randomized controlled study was conducted in the School of Nursing in Turkey between November 2014 and January 2015. The studys participants were second-year nursing school students with no previous formal cardiac resuscitation training (n=77). Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups: an intervention group with music and a control group without music. During practical training, the intervention group performed chest compressions with music. The outcomes of this study were collected twice. The first evaluation was conducted one day after CPR education, and the second evaluation was conducted six weeks after the initial training. RESULTS The first evaluation shows that the participants in the intervention group had an average rate of 107.33±7.29 chest compressions per minute, whereas the rate for the control group was 121.47±12.91. The second evaluation shows that the rates of chest compression for the intervention and control groups were 106.24±8.72 and 100.71±9.54, respectively. CONCLUSION The results of this study show that a musical piece enables students to remember the ideal rhythm for chest compression. Performing chest compression with music can easily be integrated into CPR education because it does not require additional technology and is cheap.

A comparison between the effectiveness of full outline of unresponsiveness and glasgow coma score at neurosurgical intensive care unit patients

AIM To evaluate the effectiveness and the use of Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) and Full Outline of Unresponsiveness (FOUR) score by nurses in the follow-up and evaluation of patients admitted to the neurosurgical intensive care unit for cranial surgery or head trauma. MATERIAL and METHODS The study was performed at a neurosurgical intensive care unit. Sample size was determined as 47 patients (a= 0.05, power= 0.95). The correlation coefficient less than 0.5 was accepted as weak. In the first 24 hours, Karnofsky Performance Scale was applied and the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) Score calculated for patients who were admitted to the intensive care unit for cranial surgery or head trauma. Also FOUR and GCS were applied by two different nurses twice a day. Intraclass Correlation Coefficient, Pearson Correlation and Cronbach?s Alpha Security Index analyses were used to evaluate the data. RESULTS Concordance was above 0.810 and correlation was above 0.837 between GCS and FOUR score evaluation results of nurses. Correlation of two different evaluation at every shift for GCS was 0.887, and for FOUR was 0.827 and above. Karnofsky Performance Scale correlation with FOUR and GCS scores of patients at admission and discharge from the intensive care unit was 0.709 and above. The correlation between APACHE II and FOUR was 0.851; between APACHE II and GCS 0.853. There was no difference between the evaluations of two scores and two nurses statistically. CONCLUSION Concordance between nurses was found high both for GCS and FOUR. The FOUR score is as effective as GCS on the follow-up of patients who are managed in the neurosurgical intensive care units.

Validity and reliability analysis of the planned behavior theory scale related to the testicular self-examination in a Turkish context

ABSTRACT Objective: This study aimed to determine the validity and reliability levels of the Planned Behavior Theory Scale as related to a testicular self-examination. Methods: The study was carried out in a health-profession higher-education school in Ankara, Turkey, from April to June 2012. The study participants comprised 215 male students. Study data were collected by using a questionnaire, a planned behavior theory scale related to testicular self-examination, and Champion’s Health Belief Model Scale (CHBMS). Results: The sub-dimensions of the planned behavior theory scale, namely those of intention, attitude, subjective norms and self-efficacy, were found to have Cronbach’s alpha values of between 0.81 and 0.89. Exploratory factor analysis showed that items of the scale had five factors that accounted for 75% of the variance. Of these, the sub-dimension of intention was found to have the highest level of contribution. A significant correlation was found between the sub-dimensions of the testicular self-examination planned behavior theory scale and those of CHBMS (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The findings suggest that the Turkish version of the testicular self-examination Planned Behavior Theory Scale is a valid and reliable measurement for Turkish society.