BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to investigate nurses' clinical competence and its relationship with perception of and compliance with standard precautions. METHODS: From January 12 to January 20, 2011, a total of 134 nurses working at a university hospital in Gyeonggi province completed a structured questionnaire on clinical competence and perception of and compliance with standard precautions. The data were analyzed with independent t-test, one-way analysis of variance, and Pearson's correlation analysis. RESULTS: The mean score for clinical competence was 3.53, and showed significant differences according to age, gender, education level, marital status, monthly income, and years of experience. The mean scores for perception of and compliance with standard precautions were 4.67 and 4.00 respectively. Perception of standard precautions showed a significant difference according to years of experience. There were significant positive correlations among clinical competence and perception (r=0.234, P=0.007), clinical competence and compliance (r=0.363, P<0.001), and perception and compliance (r=0.406, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: To improve nurses' compliance with standard precautions educational and administrative policies to improve clinical competence should be considered.
Clinical Competence ; Compliance ; Infection Control ; Marital Status

No abstract available.
Arnold-Chiari Malformation* ; Diagnosis* ; Prenatal Diagnosis* ; Ultrasonography*

No abstract available.

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to examine the factors associated with work related injuries of nurses in small and medium sized hospitals. Method: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with nurses in eight hospitals from October 2007 to January 2008. A questionnaire was designed to collect information on nurses' work related injuries, and individual and job related characteristics. The response rate was 65.1%. Data from 294 nurses were analyzed. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to determine factors associated with work related injuries. Result: Of the 294 nurses, 19.1% (n=56) responded as having at least one injury during their job performance. The logistic regression analysis revealed that the significant factors influencing work related injuries were job satisfaction, stress recognition, and hospital's location. Nurses with a higher job satisfaction were less likely to experience work related injuries (OR=0.58). Nurses with a higher stress recognition (OR=2.57) and those working at hospitals in metropolitan cities (OR=3.28) were more likely to experience work related injuries. CONCLUSIONS: The result of this study indicated that a substantial proportion of nurses in small and medium sized hospitals had experienced injuries related to nursing job. Interventions to prevent work related injuries among nurses should take into account the job satisfaction, stress recognition, and hospital characteristics.
Cross-Sectional Studies ; Job Satisfaction ; Logistic Models ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of hand acupuncture therapy on sleep quality by means of a sleep questionnaire, polysomnography and a cerebral blood flow test in 30~59 year old adults. METHODS: The study was a sham controlled design. Twenty-two adults were assigned to the pellet stimulating group (11) or sham group (11). The pellet stimulating group received hand acupuncture therapy using New Seoam Press Pellets number 1 for 4 weeks. On the other hand, the sham group used the same Adhesive tape in terms of shape, size and quality as New Seoam Press Pellets number 1 for 4 weeks. A Transcranial Doppler Ultrasonography and Carotid Duplex Ultrasonography examination were used for evaluating cerebral blood flow. Data was analyzed using the SPSS 12.0 version program with Chi2-test, Fisher's exact test and Mann Whitney U-test. RESULTS: In the pellet stimulating group, subjective sleep quality significantly improved more than that of the sham group. Among the sleep indices of the polysomnography, total sleep time and sleep latency of the sham group significantly improved. The cerebral blood flow test didn't show any differences. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that hand acupuncture therapy is effective for subjective sleep improvement only, not polysomnographical sleep indices and cerebral blood flow.
*Acupuncture Therapy ; Adult ; *Cerebrovascular Circulation ; Demography ; Female ; Hand/*physiology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Polysomnography ; Research Design ; Sleep Disorders/*therapy ; Sleep Stages ; Ultrasonography, Doppler, Transcranial

OBJECTIVES: The hospital standardized mortality ratio (HSMR) has been widely used because it allows for robust risk adjustment using administrative data and is important for improving the quality of patient care. METHODS: All inpatients discharged from hospitals with more than 700 beds (66 hospitals) in 2008 were eligible for inclusion. Using the claims data, 29 most responsible diagnosis (MRDx), accounting for 80% of all inpatient deaths among these hospitals, were identified, and inpatients with those MRDx were selected. The final study population included 703 571 inpatients including 27 718 (3.9% of all inpatients) in-hospital deaths. Using logistic regression, risk-adjusted models for predicting in-hospital mortality were created for each MRDx. The HSMR of individual hospitals was calculated for each MRDx using the model coefficients. The models included age, gender, income level, urgency of admission, diagnosis codes, disease-specific risk factors, and comorbidities. The Elixhauser comorbidity index was used to adjust for comorbidities. RESULTS: For 26 out of 29 MRDx, the c-statistics of these mortality prediction models were higher than 0.8 indicating excellent discriminative power. The HSMR greatly varied across hospitals and disease groups. The academic status of the hospital was the only factor significantly associated with the HSMR. CONCLUSIONS: We found a large variation in HSMR among hospitals; therefore, efforts to reduce these variations including continuous monitoring and regular disclosure of the HSMR are required.
*Hospital Mortality ; Hospitals/*statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Outcome Assessment (Health Care)/standards ; Quality of Health Care/standards ; Republic of Korea

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to develop an e-Learning program that assists nursing students' clinical practice in operating room nursing and to examine the learning effects. METHODS: Based on content and need analysis, 9 learning modules were developed for nursing care in operating rooms and with operating equipment. To verify the effects of the program, a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design was employed. The participants in this study were 74 third-year nursing students (34 in the experimental and 40 in the control group) from a junior college in G-city, Korea, who were engaged in a one week clinical practicum in an operating unit. Frequencies, chi2-test and t-test with the SPSS program 17.0 were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Knowledge was significantly higher in the experimental group compared to the control group (p=.018). However, there was no significant difference between the two groups in self-directed learning. The experimental group had significantly higher motivation toward learning, which was examined posttest only (p=.027). CONCLUSION: These results indicate that the implementation of an e-Learning program needs to be continued as an effective educational tool, but more research on the best way to implement e-Learning in students' practicum is needed.
Adult ; Clinical Competence ; Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humans ; *Internet ; Motivation ; Nursing Education Research ; Operating Room Nursing/*education ; Program Evaluation ; Questionnaires ; Students, Nursing/*psychology ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of exercise self-efficacy and exercise benefits/barriers on doing regular exercise among elderly. METHODS: The subjects were 484 older adults who were eligible and agreed to participate in this study. Data were collected from July 27 to September 21, 2007 by face-to-face, and private interviews. The questionnaires consisted of Exercise Self-efficacy, and Exercise Benefits/Barriers. The collected data were analyzed with the SPSS 13.0 program, which was used for frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test, ANOVA, and logistic regression. RESULTS: The major findings of this study were as follows: 1) Approximately 56.8% of participants were doing regular exercise. Study participants' exercise self-efficacy mean score was 36.30, exercise benefits 2.74, and exercise barriers 2.03; 2) There was significant correlation between exercise self-efficacy and exercise benefits; 3) Significant factors influencing regular exercise were self-efficacy, exercise benefits and exercise barriers. CONCLUSION: These results suggested that nurses should emphasize exercise benefits/barriers and reinforce self-efficacy to improve regular exercise in the elderly.
Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Attitude to Health ; *Exercise ; Female ; *Health Behavior ; Humans ; Interviews as Topic ; Male ; Motivation ; Questionnaires ; Regression Analysis ; Self Care ; Self Concept ; *Self Efficacy

PURPOSE: This study was to identify the effects of the hand acupressure therapy on sleep quality and mood state of adults having insomnia. METHODS: The study was a one group pretest-posttest design. The subjects for this study were 15 insomniac adults. All the subjects were assessed for their sleep quality and mood state using PSQI(Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index) and POMS(Profile of Mood States). The pellet stimulating hand acupressure therapy was applied using New Seoam Press Pellets 1 Ho for 4 weeks. Data were analyzed by the SPSS 12.0 version program with descriptive statistics and wilcoxon signed-rank test. RESULTS: The mean total score of PSQI was 6.67 and the POMS was 6.68. There were significant decreases in subject's total PSQI score(p=.000) and in total POMS score(p=.008) after the therapy. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that pellet stimulating hand acupressure therapy is effective for sleep quality and mood state of adults having insomnia.
Acupressure ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Adult ; Hand ; Humans

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to investigate the perception of nursing students' on-site clinical experience at intensive care unit(ICU), which will help on developing fundamental tool to enhance the effect of their clinical practice. METHOD: Van Manens hermeneutic-phenomenological method has been used to analyze the data. Participants consisted of 74 third-year nursing students who performed the clinical practice at an ICU in C university hospital. The students got the group interviews and kept the clinical diaries. Data was collected from series of group interviews and contents of the students clinical diaries. RESULT: Major concerns related to students clinical practice were found as follows: [being nervous about unfamiliar machines and situations], [being frustrated about the patients], [feeling of helplessness], [being stupefied from witnessing a death], [realizing the importance of health], [realizing individual patient's precious value through family's love], [realizing the importance of treating a patient as human being], [realizing the differences between theory and practice], [modelizing two aspects of nursing: professional and personal], [readiness to become a capable nurse]. CONCLUSION: We are able to obtain in-depth understandings about the nursing students lived experience of clinical practice at the ICU. Based upon this, there is a need to develop a better nursing intervention enhance the effectiveness of the nursing students clinical practice.
Humans ; Intensive Care Units* ; Critical Care* ; Interviews as Topic ; Nursing* ; Students, Nursing