The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of topical lavender-thymol in promoting episiotomy healing. This placebo-controlled, single-blinded, randomised clinical trial involved 60 primiparous women. REEDA score was used to evaluate the outcome of the trial. On the 7th post-partum day, women in Placebo-treated group had worse Redness, Edema, Ecchymosis, Discharge and Approximation (REEDA) score of 3.93 ± 3.65 compared with those in Lavender-thymol-treated group (2.03 ± 1.7) with significant difference (P = 0.013). Visual analogue Scale (VAS) score for pain at episiotomy in Lavender-thymol-treated group was 3.5 ± 1.9, whereas in Placebo-treated group it was 2.1 ± 2.2 (p = 0.011) for dyschezia, 3.8 ± 1.7 and 2.8 ± 1.6 in Placebo- and Lavender-thymol-treated women, respectively (p = 0.023). At 7th post-partum week, dyspareunia was more severe in Placebo-treated group compared with that in Lavender-thymol-treated group (5.3 ± 2.7 vs 2.7 ± 1.5 and p < 0.001). Topical aromatherapy using lavender-thymol was highly effective, suitable and safe for episiotomy wound care with little or no expected side effects compared with that using placebo.

Dysmenorrhea is a common cause of sickness absenteeism from both classes and work. This study investigated the effect of aromatherapy massage on a group of nursing students who are suffering of primary dysmenorrhea. A randomized blind clinical trial of crossover design was used. In the first treatment phase, group 1 (n = 48) received aromatherapy abdominal massage once daily for seven days prior to menstruation using the essential oils (cinnamon, clove, rose, and lavender in a base of almond oil). Group 2 (n = 47) received the same intervention but with placebo oil (almond oil). In the second treatment phase, the two groups switched to alternate regimen. Level and duration of pain and the amount of menstrual bleeding were evaluated at the baseline and after each treatment phase. During both treatment phases, the level and duration of menstrual pain and the amount of menstrual bleeding were significantly lower in the aromatherapy group than in the placebo group. These results suggests that aromatherapy is effective in alleviating menstrual pain, its duration and excessive menstrual bleeding. Aromatherapy can be provided as a nonpharmacological pain relief measure and as a part of nursing care given to girls suffering of dysmenorrhea, or excessive menstrual bleeding.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of simulated delivery room classes on practical achievement and satisfaction of maternity nursing students. Methods: A randomized controlled trial was carried out at the maternity lab in the faculty of nursing and labor & delivery room of Mansoura university hospital. This study comprised a convenience sample of 92 female maternity nursing students out of 196 assigned to the maternity course during the first semester of the academic year 2014-2015. They were randomly assigned to one of two groups; the simulation group received simulated delivery room classes' one week pre the conventional clinical training and the control group received only the conventional clinical training. Two tools were used for data collection: the 1 st tool was an observational checklist of 20 items that was used to evaluate the students' practical achievement and the 2 nd tool was a 5 item student's satisfaction scale that was used to evaluate the students' satisfaction with the clinical experience. Results: The students of the simulation group had a highly statistically significant higher scores than the control group (46.5 ± 4.7 versus 36.9 ± 3.6 respectively; 95% CI 11.25, 7.75 & p < .001) for the practical achievement and (21.1 ± 3.8 versus 11.2 ± 3.3 respectively; 95% CI 8.396, 11.331 & p < .001) for the students' satisfaction with the clinical training experience. Conclusions: These study results pointed out that the simulation classes is an effective training method for enhancing the students' practical achievement and satisfaction. Thus, providing the maternity students with simulated delivery room classes prior the conventional clinical training is recommended.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of subcutaneous sterile water injection at the lumbosacral region on labour back pain. Methods: A quasi-experimental, pre/post test design was utilized to carry out this trial at the Labour and Delivery room, Mansoura University Hospital, Egypt. Sixty three primiparous in spontaneous active labour, indicated a low back pain ≥ 7 on numeric pain rating scale, and expected to have spontaneous vaginal delivery were included in this study as a one study group. Participants had received 4 subcutaneous sterile water injections of 0.1 ml at the lumbosacral region for once. Using three tools data were collected; the 1st was a structured interviewing questionnaire schedule to assess the participants basic characteristics, the 2nd was the numeric pain rating scale to evaluate the baseline pain intensity changes at ten minutes, one, two and three hours post injection, while the 3rd tool was the 5-points Likert scale for mother's satisfaction with the pain relief. Results: The baseline pain score was 8 ± 0.8. It was reduced by 2.5, 3.5, 4.5, and 5 points at 10 minutes, one, two, and three hours post injection respectively. Strong satisfaction with the used method for pain relief was reported by 87.3% of the mothers, while only 3.2% were dissatisfied. Conclusions: It can be concluded that subcutaneous sterile water injection is an effective labour back pain relief method. This leading the investigators to recommend; raising the awareness of the labour and delivery nurses about this method in order to implement it in practice.

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