The use of mobile applications in chronic disease management has grown significantly over the past decade. When properly designed, these apps provide a convenient, safe, high-quality service to patients. In this study, a health management app was developed, and its usability among patients with diabetes mellitus was examined. A convenience sample of 136 patients, referred to two academic centers from December 2016 to July 2017, was enrolled. Upon completion of informed consent, the participants were asked to install the app on their smartphone. Two weeks later, they were required to complete a postapplication usability questionnaire, comprising 21 questions classified into six domains. The response rate was 89%. The highest scores were given for “ease of use and learnability”; the lowest-scored domains were “interaction quality” and “reliability.” Urban residents, participants with lower educational qualifications, and retirees were significantly more satisfied with the app. Overall, patients with diabetes mellitus perceived the app as useful for disease management. However, the overall usability of health apps is expected to improve when a multidisciplinary team (health professionals, computer engineers, art designers) is involved in the development process.

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Introduction:In view of the fact that motivation is linked directly to the learning process and educational achievement, this study endeavored to identify strategies to improve students' educational achievement motivation at Guilan University of Medical Sciences. Methods: To conduct this descriptive-analytical study, 368 students from Guilan University of Medical Sciences were selected using simple random sampling from 2013-2014. All of the Guilan University of Medical Sciences' students met the general eligibility criteria except guest students. The questionnaire included five domains of economic, socio-cultural, educational, geo-regional, and personality factors in educational achievement motivation. Through using descriptive and inferential statistics (Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests), the compiled data were analyzed at the significance level of 0.05. Results: Data analysis revealed that socio-cultural factors have the maximum score (64.14 ± 9.92) and geo-regional factors have the minimum score (19.01±3.63) on the participants' educational achievement motivation. What is more, a significant difference was revealed between educational field and educational effective factors as well as educational level and educational effective factors (p<0.011, p<0.004, respectively). Conclusion: Given that the socio-cultural factors had the maximum score on the students' educational achievement motivation, it is recommended that university officials take these factors into account, and attempt to plan to provide appropriate strategies to enhance their students' motivation, specifically their educational achievement motivation. Abstract Article infoArticle Type:Original Research

Introduction: Bruising is one of the most common adverse events following administration of enoxaparin sodium, which can lead to unpleasant consequences such as reduced access to various sites for injection, joint complaints, and reduced satisfaction of patients from the treatment and care provided. Therefore, in order to find ways to reduce this complication, the aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of local combined cold-hot application on bruising caused by subcutaneous injection of enoxaparin sodium. Methods: This randomized controlled trial was conducted from July to December 2018. 74 patients hospitalized in Poursina Hospital in Rasht were selected according to inclusion criteria and assigned to intervention group 1 (37 persons) and intervention group 2 (37 persons) by randomized block design. In each intervention group, the left side of the abdomen was treated as control (without intervention) and the right side was treated with cold pack (intervention group 1) or cold-hot pack (intervention group 2). Data collection was done by two-part tools, including individual and clinical data, and related records of bruising. Evaluation of the incidence and severity of bruising was performed at 24, 48, 72 hours after the first injection. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 22 using descriptive and inferential statistics (Independity Test, Friedman, Wilcoxon, Mann-Whitney, Kolmogorosimerno). Results: The majority of research samples were men (79.7%). The mean age of the patients was 21 ± 48 years. The mean and standard deviation of bruising in intervention group 1 at 24, 48 and 72 hours after injection was 24.44±1.09, 4.49±1.04 and 4.35±1.14, respectively. The mean and standard deviation of bruising in intervention group 2 at 24, 48 and 72 hours after injection was 1.65±0.63, 1.49±0.65, and 0.88±0.43, respectively. Differences in bruising size were statistically significant (P<0.001). Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that use of local cold-hot pack compared to cold pack is more effective regarding the size of bruising in place of enoxaparin sodium injection, which is clinically important.