Background and Purpose: Ethical climate is hinged upon organizational culture, rules, and policies; nurses' perception of this concept varies according to the ward they are working on and the new rules of the treatment system. This can exert adverse impact on their care method and performance. Thus, this study aimed to determine nurses' perceptions of the ethical climate governing the hospital environment. Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted on 168 nurses working in a teaching hospital. The data were collected through census method, using a demographic form and Olson's Hospital Ethical Climate Survey (HECS). For data analysis, descriptive (percentage, frequency, mean, and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (independent t-test and ANOVA for the establishment of the relationship between ethical climate and demographic factors, as well as Friedman's test for ranking the factor) were used. Results: Mean ethical climate scores of nurses for managers, hospital, physicians, patients, and colleagues factors were 3.87±0.71, 3.39±0.68, 3.00±0.67, 3.68±0.57, and 3.82±0.54, respectively. The total mean score of ethical climate was 3.5±0.51. The comparison among the mentioned factors indicated that managers (P=0.000) factor acquired the highest score. In addition, organizational ethical climate did not show any significant association with gender, marital status, education level, working shift, and employment status, whereas there was a statistically significant relationship between job title and income (P=0.000). Conclusion: The highest score of ethical climate belonged to managers/ factor, while the minimum score was related to physicians. Regarding the role of ethical climate in the improvement of nurses' performance, planning for enhancing the ethical climate seems to be mandatory.

Background:Considering the controversial results of previous reports on awareness of bill of patients’ rights in different regions, as well as the fact that no report is available on the awareness of patients of their rights in teaching hospitals of Sari, we conducted the present study.Materials and Methods:This is a cross-sectional Study conducted in teaching hospitals of Sari in 2011. The study population consisted of 336 patients recruited from 4 hospitals affiliated with Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences in Sari, through calculating the selection quota of each hospital. Data were collected through face-to-face interview on discharge, using a two-section questionnaire based on the bill of patient rights and with verified reliability and validity. Data analysis was accomplished on SPSS soft- ware version 10.Results:55.4% of patients were women and 44.6% were men. The patients’ mean age was 40.93 ± 15.04 years and the mean length of stay was 4.6 ± 3.34 days. Most patients had elementary education (36%) or were illiterate (25%). The majority (63.4%) had not seen the bill of patients’ rights. 58.9% had poor knowledge, 12% had intermediate knowledge, and 29.1% had good knowledge. As for the articles of the bill, the poorest awareness correlated to the 9th article (the right to participate or refrain from participating in research). We found a significant relationship between awareness of the bill, and the patient’s education, seeing the bill, and age (p<0.0005).Conclusion:The results of the present study indicate that patients are not sufficiently aware of their rights, and this problem requires comprehensive planning to be resolved.

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Background:One of the important diseases in neonatal period is sepsis. Clinical sign and symptoms in addition to lab tests are the most important way to accurate diagnosis and prevention of mortality. This study was conducted with the aim of determining the most clinical sign and symptoms which leading to diagnosis of sepsis.Materials and Methods:This is a descriptive cross-sectional study. The medical records of patients hospitalized in hospitals of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences during 2011-2012 were reviewed. Variables were age, sex, birth and admission weight, clinical sign and symptoms, methods of delivery, admission and discharge condition, discharge status, the time elapsed between showing the symptom and admission to hospital, gestational age and the result of cultures. The data were recorded in a checklist and analyzed with SPSS and descriptive statistics.Results:finding showed that 120 patients discharged during period of study with diagnosis of sepsis. Discharged status of 27 (%22/5) were expired. Median age was 1 day with 8 hours SD, length of stay were 12±1 days, gestational age was 34±3 weeks and median birth weight was 2477±977 grams. The median time elapsed between showing the symptom and admission to hospital was 38±31 hours. Blood culture in 10 (%8/3) and urine culture in 8 (%7/6) patients were positive. None of patients have positive lumbar puncture culture. The frequent sign and symptpms in patients were respiratory distress, poor feeding and lethargy.Conclusion:Early diagnosis of neonatal sepsis is not possible only by specific laboratory exams. Clinical sign and symptoms can help us to prediction and diagnosis of neonatal sepsis. Results of this research revealed that it is not clear which one of manifestations was started first or the second because of medical history sheets don’t show this process.

Background and Purpose:The thesis provides an opportunity for the students to conduct a study and thus to get ready for future research cases. Medical students have faced numerous challenges for their thesis including the selection of the subject, the study approval, equipment and supplies shortage and etc. We have conducted the present study to determine the attitude of medical interns towards the challenges they encounter when performing their thesis study in Mazandran Medial Sciences University in 2010.Methods: This is a descriptive study on 96 medical interns of Medical School. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire about demographic characteristics, the students' status, thesis and their attitude towards challenges they encountered when conducting it.Results: 40.6% of the medical interns in our study confirmed the necessity of thesis for general medicine program. The students (44.8% of the study units) agreed with the thesis being necessary for a general medicine program; it is best to offer it during the final 2-3 years of the program. The most important challenges were lengthy bureaucratic procedure and lack of organization among different levels of decision-making in order to approve the thesis. 34.4% of the students relatively believed that the supervising and consulting professors spend enough time on guiding and supervising the students. Conclusions:It is necessary to reconsider the onset, the approval procedure, as well as the regular supervision of its progress.