PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to set up a Nursing Core Competencies required for staff nurses and to set up Objectives for Nursing Clinical Education based on the Nursing Core Competencies. The objectives in this study are to be achieved ultimately through clinical practice because it is a common avenue of work and the basic objective regardless of the education system and curriculum. METHOD: A nursing Core Competencies were established by literature review and verified by 15 experts. Nursing Clinical Education Objectives were established by literature review and analysis, and a survey for validity using a five point Likert scale was given to 257 nursing professors, 503 head-nurses, 509 staff nurses who had less than 3 years clinical experience in 34 general hospitals and 738 senior student nurses from 81 nursing colleges. RESULT: Nine nursing core competencies were set up. In addition 39 Objectives for each of the nursing clinical core competencies were set up. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, this study will contribute to professional nursing education to provide comprehensive nursing care by applying knowledge to nursing practice to achieve the Nursing Core Competency as a professional nurse.
*Clinical Competence ; Education, Nursing/methods/*standards ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Nurse Clinicians/*education ; Nursing Assessment/methods ; Nursing Education Research ; Nursing Staff/*education ; Nursing, Supervisory ; Schools, Nursing ; Students, Nursing

INTRODUCTIONVentilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is a common risk among critically ill ventilated patients. This study aimed to investigate the effects of nurse-led education on: (a) knowledge of and compliance with ventilator care bundle (VCB) practices among intensive care unit (ICU) nurses; and (b) reduction in the rates of VAP post intervention.

METHODSA quasi-experimental design with pretest-posttest evaluation and observation was used to investigate nurses' knowledge of and compliance with VCB practices, and the incidence of VAP. The study was conducted among 71 nurses, and the intervention involved structured education on VAP and its prevention using VCB in an ICU setting. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

RESULTSNurse-led education significantly increased nurses' knowledge of (t[70] = -36.19; p < 0.001) and compliance with (t[65] = -21.41; p < 0.001) VCB practices. The incidence of VAP, which was 39 per 1,000 ventilator days during the two-month period before intervention, dropped to 15 per 1,000 ventilator days during the two-month period following intervention.

CONCLUSIONOur findings show that nurse-led education on VAP and VCB significantly increased knowledge of and compliance with VCB practices among ICU nurses, and was associated with a reduction in the incidence of VAP among intubated and mechanically ventilated ICU patients. Inclusion of recent knowledge and evidence-based VCB guidelines for VAP prevention when educating anaesthetists, nurses, physiotherapists and other healthcare providers in the critical care setting is recommended.

Adult ; Clinical Competence ; Critical Care ; methods ; standards ; Critical Illness ; Education, Nursing ; Education, Nursing, Continuing ; methods ; Female ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units ; standards ; statistics & numerical data ; Male ; Nursing ; standards ; Pneumonia, Ventilator-Associated ; prevention & control ; Respiration, Artificial ; standards ; Ventilators, Mechanical ; standards ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: The study was done to investigate physical assessment skills used by, and educational needs of, advanced practice nurses (APNs) and nurse specialists in Korea. METHODS: A total of 123 APNs and nurse specialists working in five major hospitals in Seoul were surveyed from July 15 to August 20, 2007. RESULTS: Fourteen skills out of 126 items were reported as being performed on a regular basis by participants. The majority of these skills involved general observation. Forty-six skills were rarely used. Some participants showed a lack of confidence in certain assessment skills, such as in doing a rectal or pelvic exam, and the use of some assessment equipment. Over 90% of participants required in-depth education on health assessment provided by specialists or nursing professional organizations. CONCLUSION: More educational opportunities in physical assessment should be provided including education programs based on the nurses' skill levels and needs. This effort will help to increase confidence of APNs and nurse specialists in physical assessment skills, ultimately resulting in better nursing outcomes.
Adult ; *Clinical Competence ; Education, Nursing, Continuing ; Female ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nurse's Role ; Nurses/*standards ; Nursing Assessment ; Physical Examination/methods/*nursing ; Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of teaching method using Standardized Patients (SPs) on nursing competence, self-directed learning readiness, and problem solving ability-focusing on subcutaneous insulin injection. METHODS: This research was a nonequivalent control group non-synchronized post-test design. The subjects consisted of 62 junior nursing students at E University. Scenarios to train SPs and checklists to evaluate the students' competence were developed by our research team. The experimental group (n=31) participated in the teaching class using SPs. The control group (n=31) received traditional practice education. The collected data were analyzed with descriptive analysis, chi-square/Fisher's exact test, t-test, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and Cronbach's alpha using SPSS WIN 14.0 Program. RESULTS: The mean scores of competence, self-directed learning readiness, and problem solving were significantly higher in the experimental group than the control group. CONCLUSION: As confirmed by this research findings, the teaching method using SPs was more effective than the traditional method to improve junior nursing students' competence, self-directed learning readiness, and problem solving. Therefore, It is necessary to develop a various of scenarios and to testify their effectiveness.
*Clinical Competence ; *Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate ; Female ; Humans ; *Injections, Subcutaneous ; Insulin/administration & dosage ; Learning ; *Problem Solving ; Program Evaluation ; Students, Nursing/psychology ; Teaching/*methods/standards ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare the feeling state guided imagery(FSGI) and end state guided imagery(ESGI) on stress and performance of an intramuscular injection of nursing students. METHOD: The design was a time series with a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest study. Data was collected from the 23 rd to the 25th of Nov. 2004. The subjects of this study were 40 female sophomores (21 for the ESGI, 19 for the FSGI). The instruments used in this study were the Visual Analogue Scale for Stress and the Nursing Skill Performance Check-list on Intramuscular Injection developed by the researchers(10 items). Guided imagery was provided through audiotapes for 8 minutes. A pretest was given before applying the guided imagery, posttest 1 was performed after the intervention, posttest 2 was performed before the intramuscular injection and then evaluation of the performance of the intramuscular injection was done. Data was analyzed using t-test, and Repeated Measures ANOVA. RESULT: The level of stress for those who received the ESGI and FEGI was not significant and the level of the nursing skill performance for those who received the ESGI was significantly higher than that of students who received the FEGI. CONCLUSION: The use of ESGI has an effect on learning psychomotor nursing skills and further research is needed on stress.
Adult ; Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate ; Humans ; *Imagery (Psychotherapy) ; Injections, Intramuscular/*psychology ; Stress, Psychological/*prevention & control ; Students, Nursing/*psychology ; Task Performance and Analysis ; Teaching/methods/standards

PURPOSE: Professional nursing ethics is a living, dynamic set of standards for nurses'professional moral behavior. Furthermore, in daily clinical nursing training, nursing students are constantly confronted with decisionmaking that is moral in nature. The aim of this study was to identify the perceived ethical attitudes in the clinical training process of senior nursing students using Q-methodology to offer basic strategies for nursing ethics education and thereby improve patients'care. METHODS: Q-methodology provides a scientific method for identifying perception structures that exist within certain individuals or groups. Thirty-seven participants in a university rated 38 selected Q-statements on a scale of 1-9. The collected data were analyzed using pc-QUNAL software. RESULTS: Principal component analysis identified 3 types of ethical attitudes in nursing students in Korea. The categories were labeled Sacred-life, Science-realistic and Humane-life. Sacred-life individuals think that a life belongs to an absolute power (God), not a man, and a human life is a high and noble thing. Science-realistic individuals disagreed that allowing an induced abortion or embryo (human) duplication is unethical behavior that provokes a trend, which takes the value of a life lightly; most of them took a utilitarian position with respect to ethical decisions. Humane-life individuals exhibit a tendency toward human-centered thought with respect to ethical attitudes. CONCLUSION: This study will be of interest to educators of students of nursing and hospital nursing administrators. Also, the findings may provide the basis for the development of more appropriate strategies to improve nursing ethics education programs.
Adaptation, Psychological ; Analysis of Variance ; *Attitude of Health Personnel/ethnology ; Clinical Competence/standards ; Decision Making ; *Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate/ethics/standards ; *Ethics, Nursing/education ; Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humanism ; Humans ; Interprofessional Relations/ethics ; Korea ; Morals ; Needs Assessment ; Nursing Methodology Research/methods ; Patient Rights/ethics ; Philosophy, Nursing ; *Q-Sort ; Religion and Psychology ; Students, Nursing/*psychology ; Value of Life

PURPOSE: This study was done to investigate nurses' knowledge of, and compliance with the multidrug-resistant organism (MDRO) infection control guidelines. METHODS: A survey questionnaire was developed based on the institutional and national guidelines and was administered to a convenience sample of 306 nurses in a university hospital. RESULTS: The mean score for knowledge was 33.87 (percentage of correct answers: 82.61%). The percentages of correct answers for basic concepts, route of transmission, hand washing/protective devices and environment management were 74.27%, 94.29%, 92.90% and 75.54% respectively. The mean compliance score was 4.15 (range: 1-5). The compliance scores for education, communication, contact precaution, disinfection, surveillance culture, and hand washing were 3.29, 4.05, 4.20, 4.50, 4.40 and 4.48 respectively. Nurses indicated "lack of time (30.06%)", "lack of means (10.78%)" and "lack of knowledge (9.48%)" as reasons for noncompliance. CONCLUSION: While most educational programs have focused on hand washing or use of protective devices to prevent transmission of MDRO in acute care settings, hospital nurses' knowledge of the basic concepts of MDRO and environmental management has remained insufficient. Nurses are relatively non-compliant to the guidelines in the areas of education (staff, patient, family) and communication. Comprehensive educational programs are needed to decrease hospital infection rates and to improve the health of patients.
Adult ; Attitude of Health Personnel ; *Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial ; Female ; Guideline Adherence ; *Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Infection Control/methods/*standards ; Nursing Staff, Hospital/education/*psychology ; Practice Guidelines as Topic ; Questionnaires