Simintaj Sharififar; Maryam Moradi; Milad Ahmadi Marzaleh
Volume 23, Issue 5 , 2021
Abstract
Background: The illness caused by the novel coronavirus is an emerging disease, and for this reason, the international community is encountered with its unknown nature, such as clinical features, treatments, and long-term complications. Experience suggests that humans are affected by the psychological ...
Read More
Background: The illness caused by the novel coronavirus is an emerging disease, and for this reason, the international community is encountered with its unknown nature, such as clinical features, treatments, and long-term complications. Experience suggests that humans are affected by the psychological and social effects of epidemics and pandemics of infectious diseases. Accordingly, it is a new experience to care for patients with this disease that has to be more explored. The present study aimed to detect the challenges with which nurses are faced in the process of caring for patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Iran using a qualitative method.
Methods: This qualitative study utilized in-depth semi-structured interviews with 19 key informants selected via targeted sampling. The obtained data were analyzed by thematic analysis to identify the challenges to which the nurses have encountered in the process of caring for patients with COVID-19 in Iran.
Results: Challenges of the nurses in the caring process for patients with COVID-19 are listed in five categories of stress and psychological issues, equipment-related challenges, increased events of errors, medication and treatment problems, and hospital management. It should be mentioned that at the same time, 35 other subcategories were also identified in this study.
Conclusion: Since nurses are at the forefront in fighting the COVID-19, there must be plans to increase their preparedness. Deficiencies in health systems, including equipment, medicine, and personal protective gear should also be addressed so that nurses can better respond to these incidents. Psychological and mental support is a key component of the nurses appropriate response; therefore, along with nurses' responses, individuals, groups, and family psychological supports should be facilitated to increase performance and effectiveness in response to COVID-19.
Hassan Araghizadeh; Mahmoudreza Peyravi; Simintaj Sharififar; Milad Ahmadi Marzaleh
Volume 22, Issue 1 , 2020
Abstract
Background: A large number of natural disasters, including floods and earthquakes, occur in Iran annually. Recognition of the factors influencing the civil-military coordination in natural disasters is amongst the prerequisites in disaster management. Experts perspectives towards coordination in ...
Read More
Background: A large number of natural disasters, including floods and earthquakes, occur in Iran annually. Recognition of the factors influencing the civil-military coordination in natural disasters is amongst the prerequisites in disaster management. Experts perspectives towards coordination in these disasters can also be indicative of the importance of this subject. Given the fact that no studies have been carried out regarding the relationship between the civil and military forces in the aftermath of natural disasters in Iran, these factors can be recognized according to individuals and experts viewpoints.
Objectives: The present study aimed at extracting the factors influencing the civil-military coordination in the course of natural disasters in Iran through interviewing experts in 2019.
Methods: The present qualitative research was conducted through semi-structured and in-depth interviews with 20 key informants who were selected via snowball, convenience, and purposive sampling methods. A session was also held with the presence of the panel of experts. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis in order to extract the factors influencing the civil-military coordination in natural disasters in Iran.
Results: The factors influencing the coordination between the military and civil organizations were categorized into personnel, stuff, and system issues (structure). In addition, 33 subcategories were also identified. The specialists emphasized that holding instructional courses and regular and periodic exercises could enhance coordination in response to disasters.
Conclusions: The present study showed that coordination between civil and military organizations in the management of natural disasters in Iran is faced with many challenges that should be overcome and reduced through providing organizational, political, and structural supports. Recognition of the factors influencing coordination can be effective in line with the correct management of natural disasters. Furthermore, organizations can be made readier for taking better measures in disasters according to the extracted factors. In order to provide a proper response to natural disasters, all coordination components should be elevated simultaneously and coherently.