The Journal of Middle East and North Africa Sciences

9-15

Authors: Huda Anshasi; Muayyad Ahmad

Dyspnea is a distressing symptom of terminal cancer patients. Lack of an appropriate assessment tool for dyspnea disturbs the establishment of proper management. The purpose of this study was to develop a reliable and valid measure which assesses the multidimensional nature of dyspnea among patient with advanced stage of cancer. The tool was administered by the principal investigator to the participants. The developed dyspnea scale contains 12 items under three domains; these domains are ‘Physical triggers’, ‘psychological triggers’, and ‘environmental triggers.’ It is recommended to apply the tool in with different types of advanced cancer disease for more psychometric confirmation.

38-44

Authors: Wasike C. Kituni

Teaching of oral literature in Kiswahili is an issue that has put teachers, students, scholars, and all the stakeholders in general on their toes. This issue has been a challenge to all stakeholders because the teaching of oral literature in Kiswahili for several decades in this country was neither given the prominence it deserves in the educational curriculum nor in book publishing. There was a need to carry out this study to determine the level of preparedness among teachers of Kiswahili. The target population involved all teachers that have undergone professional training. Data in this study was gathered through classroom observation, interview, and questionnaire and document analysis. From the data that was analyzed, it was revealed that majority of the teachers were not prepared well in colleges, universities and even in the field to teach oral literature in Kiswahili.

50-60

Authors: Briliya Rajabel Devadas

Background: Nursing started in the United Arab Emirates with the arrival of expatriate nurses in the later part of the nineteen century, but fifty years on though, nursing education in the country is still in its infancy, and currently only 3% of the local population are taking up the profession as a career choice in the country. Objective: Being an inaugural study in the UAE, in the Abu Dhabi Emirate, and within nursing education, the objective of this study was to create a profile of existing Emirati Nursing student characteristics, with a view of identifying specific sub-groups within the population that could later be the focus of customized recruitment and retention strategies. Design: The research design used was quantitative with an exploratory descriptive design, using a convenient sampling technique. Data for this study was collected from students studying at a College of Health sciences in the Abu Dhabi Emirate. This college is the only one currently offering baccalaureate degree Health Science related programs in Nursing, in the Emirate. Therefore, the subjects of the questionnaire data collection method included all Emirati pre-entry, undergraduate and bridging students studying in the nursing program (n=140), at the college, during the period of the study. Findings: The pre-entry, undergraduate and bridging Emirati students in the College of Health Sciences are mostly traditional, with respect to being female (100%) and being between the ages of 18 – 24 (88.6%), but are also nontraditional in terms of some of them following a different educational pathway into the program (25%), for example an art major in high school, not studying in their native Arabic language, and being a first generation college student. Conclusions: The study findings are relevant for Emirati student recruitment and retention practices in the nursing program in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi today. This was the first study to investigate pre-entry, undergraduate and bridging Emirati student profiles in the College of Health Sciences and in the nursing program. Non-traditional students are an essential component in contributing to the growth of the profession, and support measures including recruitment campaigns need to be in place to recruit and retain this vulnerable subset of the nursing population.

70-77

Authors: Mohammad Taheri; Amir Hossein Hamidian; Manoochehr Khazaee; Arash Ketabforoush Badri; Saeed Ketabforoush Badri; Aria Khazaee

Hospital wastes because of the presence of hazardous, toxic and pathogenic agents has a particular sensitivity in many countries. Proper management of medical wastes is a very important role in the control of environmental pollution. In this study management of hospital wastes in all hospitals affiliated to Tabriz University of Medical Sciences with the goal of providing comprehensive and appropriate information for planning and improvement of health services in the future were studied. Information obtained through questionnaires, visits, interviews and weighing waste from hospitals during the years 2010-2011. In investigated hospitals were 2283 active beds that per capita waste generation was calculated 3.79 kg per bed per day. According to cluster analysis, hospitals in terms of waste production, were divided into four groups. Comparison of the staffing of hospitals with criterion announced by the research section of medical places of Iran housing company showed that some hospitals are facing with a shortage of services that can be effective in the management of hospital wastes. All hospitals have used the autoclave for disinfecting wastes. The average waste generation rate was calculated 2.75 kg regular and home-quasi, 0.128 kg sharp, 0.875 kg infectious-medical-chemical and 0.043 kg pathological. Finally, management of hospital wastes in studied hospitals was almost acceptable, but at some stage needed more attention.