1 -- Original Article: Open-heart Surgery Complications Following Programmed Education and Nurses' Clinical Competence Authors Authors Mahnaz Rakhshan, Assistant Professor, Community Based Psychiatric Care Research Center, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran, Zeinab Khoshnoo, Student at Research Committee, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran, Zahra Molazem, Associate Professor, Community Based Psychiatric Care Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran, Najaf Zare, Associate Professor, Biostatic Department, Shiraz university of Medical science, Shiraz, Iran. Address for Correspondence Zahra Molazem, Community Based Psychiatric Care Research Center, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Zand Blv, Namazi Square, Shiraz, Iran. E-mail: molazem@sums.ac.ir, molazemzah@yahoo.com Citation Rakhshan M, Khoshnoo Z, Molazem Z, Zare N. Open-heart Surgery Complications Following Programmed Education and Nurses' Clinical Competence. Online J Health Allied Scs. 2016;15(4):5. Available at URL: http://www.ojhas.org/issue60/2016-4-5.html Submitted: Jul 7, 2016; Suggested Revision: July 22, 2016; Revised: July 24, 2016; Accepted: Dec 26, 2016; Published: Jan 31, 2017 Abstract: Heart surgery can lead to certain complications that, if not diagnosed and treated on time, can be fatal. In view of the fact that nurses' clinical competence affects the quality of clinical judgment, the present study aimed to explore the effect of programmed education and nurses' clinical competence on complications following open-heart surgeries. The results of the present study showed that a closer attention to regular and programmed education and informing of open-heart surgery patients, especially before surgery and at the time of discharge, along with the clinical competence of nurses in ICUs, can reduce the incidence of post-surgery complications. Since the nurses' clinical competence greatly affects their clinical judgments and quality of care, paying greater attention to the nurses' education through systematic programs and increasing the clinical competence can lead to fewer post-heart-surgery complications; this, in turn, reduces the length of stay and the ensuing costs. Key Words: Post-open-heart surgery complications, Patient education, Nurses' clinical competence. Introduction: One of the most effective methods for curing severe heart diseases is heart surgery.(1,2) Despite the education patients receive during their stay in intensive care units, it is common for them to complain of complications, which stresses the need for more accurate research.(3-8) It is important that patients who are about to undergo open- heart surgery should actively participate in their own treatment, which can help them cope with their current situation better.(9,10) Also pre-surgery education can facilitate and shorten the length of hospitalization also reducing post-surgery complications.(11-15) The provision of such programmed education that fits patients' needs is still a major challenge for health and clinical care-providers.(16,17) Accordingly, in view of the growing number of cardiovascular patients, the increasing need for heart surgeries, and the importance of paying special attention to such patients, it seems necessary that the effects of programmed and consistent education on post-surgery complications should be studied. In addition, some studies show that nurses' clinical competence affects their clinical judgment and the quality of care.(18,19) Despite the great significance of evaluating the nurses' clinical competence, few studies addressed the issue. Moreover, most of the studies (2,20-23) on patients undergoing open-heart surgery have focused on the effectiveness of a certain education or counselling approach and have not considered the role of nurses' clinical competence in the execution of interventions. Thus, in the present study on the effectiveness of programmed and consistent education in helping patients who need to have open-heart surgery, the researchers also studied the effect of the clinical competence of nurses in the intensive care units in the duration of the patients' hospitalization. The present study aimed to determine the effect of programmed education and nurses' clinical competence on post-open-heart surgery complications. Materials and Methods Participants and Procedures The present study is a clinical trial with a control and an experimental group in which data were collected in two stages: before the intervention and three weeks after the intervention. The Research samples were patients who were scheduled to undergo open-heart surgery was confirmed by a cardiologist; they had referred to Al-Zahra hospital (the main heart center in south of Iran) and were selected through convenience sampling method between September 2014 and February 2015. The sample size was determined based on previous similar studies (2) and by using the software program of Power SSC: 72 patients in each group. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- No Derivative Works 2.5 India License Online Journal of Health and Allied Sciences Peer Reviewed, Open Access, Free Online Journal Published Quarterly : Mangalore, South India : ISSN 0972-5997 Volume 15, Issue 4; Oct-Dec 2016