Background: This study translated and culturally adapted the Comfort Behavior Scale (Comfort-B) into Vietnamese using a standard protocol guided by the World Health Organization.

Methods: The Comfort-B was translated into Vietnamese and then English back-translated by independent translators. These versions were reviewed and assessed by a Vietnamese expert’s panel and an English expert’s panel. Thirty-four nurses of the Nhi Dong 1 Hospital were invited to use the Vietnamese Comfort-B to assess pain while watching five videos recorded before, during and after wound dressing replacement. The eight characteristics of the Vietnamese Comfort-B were assessed by 34 nurses. Fifteen nurses agreed to do the second assessment two weeks from the first assessment. The content validity index was used to assess the relevance and clarity of all items and the whole scale. Agreements between raters were explored using Kappa statistics. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were used to assess intra-rater and inter-rater reliability. Multi-level linear regression was used to assess changes in the Vietnamese Comfort-B before, during and after wound dressing replacement between two assessments.

Results: The Vietnamese Comfort-B was accredited by the Vietnamese expert’s panel. The English-back translated version was approved by the English expert’s panel. The nurses agreed that the Vietnamese Comfort-B can be used in clinical practice and research. Kappas of all items were ≥0.96 indicating excellent agreement between raters. Alpha coefficients of two assessments were ≥0.97 indicating excellent internal consistency. All ICCs ≥ 0.79 indicated good intra-rater and inter-rater reliability.

Conclusions: The study suggested that the Vietnamese Comfort-B can be used for future studies assessing children’s pain in the local hospital context.

The prevalence of asthma is sharply increasing in pediatric population and has become a global burden of medicine and economics. Nevertheless, evidence for the diagnostic criteria of this condition is still lacking. This condition leads to over-diagnosis of asthma in cases, especially younger children. Stridor and wheezing, pathologic signs of airway obstruction, are sometimes mistakenly identified. As a result, disorders of extra-thoracic airway obstruction may be misdiagnosed with intrathoracic diseases. An example of this confusion is that a 19-month girl admitted to our hospital with a diagnosis of uncontrolled asthma. Careful history taking, physical examinations and laboratory investigations revealed that the patient has laryngomalacia. We report this case in order to share with pediatric colleagues a valuable clinical experience in approaching children with noisy breathing.

It is well-known that hypothyroidism predisposes to weight gain and obesity, but in the synthesis process of the thyroid hormones there are several steps that can fail producing the same consequence. In this respect, almost all studies talk about the decrease in T3 levels in cases of hospitalization but none as the primary cause of obesity. Here we report a case of chronic obesity since childhood with persistent low T3 values, high deiodinase (DIO)-2 and normal reverse T3, thus proposing that low T3 syndrome is not only the result of a critical condition but could be previous to any acute disease leading to weight gain and obesity.

Objectives: Determined the effects of music on the result of non-stress test at 33 weeks of gestational ages for prenatal assessment.

Methods: The cohort design was conducted between 89 women who had regular NST (without music), and 88 women who do NST with music. These are women with a single pregnancy of 33 weeks or older who are not in the risk pregnancy group, with no signs of preterm labor.

Results: There were 178 pregnant women participating in the study. The median age of pregnant women in the study group who did not listen to music or listen to music was 30.0 ± 4.60 and 30.4 ± 4.00, respectively. The average gestational age in our study was 36.73 ± 1.64 and 36.07 ± 1.91, respectively, for with and without music group. Music increased the average number of fetal movements in the group of pregnant women listening to the music compared to the group that did not listen to music (11.13 ± 0.91 and 17.52 ± 1.63) during the NST. Music also increased the number of accelerations (5.54 ± 0.43 compared to 7.28 ± 0.47) and the resulting reactive NST in pregnant women.

Conclusion: Music increased the average number of fetal movements and the number of accelerations the group of pregnant women listening to the music compared to the group that did not listen to during the NST. Music also increased the resulting reactive NSTs in pregnant women. We can consider using music during NSTs.

Background and Objective: Chronic low back pain (CLBP) represents one of the major causes of increasing disability worldwide. Electroacupuncture with different frequencies at the Hua Tuo Jia Ji acupoints has been used to treat CLBP in patients with lumbar osteoarthritis. Basic studies demonstrate that 100 Hz or 2 Hz electroacupuncture has pain-relief effects on CLBP; however clinical evidence for choosing which frequency is still limited. Thus, our study aims to compare the effects of 100 Hz to 2 Hz electroacupuncture for CLBP on patients with lumbar osteoarthritis.

Methods: A randomized controlled trial of 124 patients with lumbar osteoarthritis at the Traditional Medicine Hospital at Ho Chi Minh City from September 2018 to July 2019. Patients were randomly allocated to either intervention group (n = 62) with 100 Hz electroacupuncture or control group (n = 62) with 2 Hz electroacupuncture at the L2-S1 Hua Tuo Jia Ji acupoints for 14 days. Du Huo Ji Sheng Tang decoction was also administered in both groups. Primary trial outcomes were QDSA score and the proportion of patients who achieved pain relief thresholds.

Results: After 14 days of treatment, QDSA score in intervention group decreased significantly compared to control group. 87% of patients in intervention group had pain relief of ≥70%, and only 45% patients in control group had such result. Lumbar flexion range of motion in 100 Hz group tended to be better than in 2 Hz group.

Conclusion: 100 Hz electroacupuncture had superior analgesic effects on lumbar osteoarthritis to 2 Hz electroacupuncture.

Introduction: Nursing handover is an important process in hospital care where information and responsibilities are transferred from one nurse to another to ensure continuity of care and safety of patients. However, evidence of the effectiveness of using standardized nursing handover approaches, particularly in resource-limited countries, is scarce. This study was conducted in order to evaluate the change in handover practice through the “I PASS the BATON” model in a university hospital in Vietnam and identify factors contributing to the effectiveness of this model.

Material and methods: We provided handover training for nurses in the Emergency Department using the “I PASS the BATON” model and evaluated their application right after the course and one month after the course.

Results: The consistency of the handover skill among participating nurses remained high one month after applying the model in the routine care at the hospital. Overall, the mean score achieved after training was high and remained unchanged after one month. However, significant and marginally significant improvement was found in some components one month after the course including the Action and Timing. In contrast, the Next component decreased over time. Evaluation of nurses’ perceptions about the model were assessed using the Health Belief Model which revealed that perceived susceptibility and seriousness were at the moderate level and significantly decreased after one month. In contrast, perceived benefits and barriers were at a high level and remained unchanged after one month.

Conclusions: The "I PASS the BATON" model was effective in improving nurses’ handover skills and practices.