PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to verify the effects of the Qigong training program on the anxiety and labor pains of primipara. METHOD: The research subjects were a total of 60 primipara who consulted a doctor regularly concerning their antenatal care. Among them, 30 people were the experimental group, and the other 30 people were the control group, and were selected as homogeneous with the experimental group. The degree of anxiety and labor pains were measured by State-Trait Anxiety Inventory(STAI) and Graphic Rating Scale(GRS). SPSS WIN 11.0 was used for data analysis. Obstetric and general characteristics between experimental and control groups, and a homogeneity test of state and trait anxiety were done by both X2 test and t-test. The hypothesis testing was analyzed by ANCOVA with a covariate of pretest value. RESULT: The first hypothesis, 'Primipara who join the Qigong training program have lower anxiety than those who do not join' was supported (F=28.8, p<.000). The second hypothesis, 'Primipara who join the Qigong training program have lower labor pain than those who do not join' was unsupported. CONCLUSION: It was verified that the Qigong training program was effective in alleviating anxiety; however it did not have any effect on relieving labor pain, so more in-depth research is needed later on.
Anxiety* ; Education* ; Female ; Humans ; Labor Pain* ; Pregnancy ; Qigong* ; Research Subjects ; Statistics as Topic

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a six week self-help empowerment strategy program on the empowerment status, pain intensity, physical function, joint flexibility and depression status in rheumatoid arthritis patients. METHOD: The subjects of the study consisted of a convenience sample thirteen rheumatoid arthritis patients. Data was collected from July to November, 2001. All patient received a self-help empowerment strategy program, once a week for six weeks. RESULT: After receiving the self-help empowerment strategy program, the empowerment status increased significantly, the pain intensity and the depression score decreased significantly and the level of physical function significantly improved but the flexibilities of shoulders, knees and ankles were not significantly changed. CONCLUSION: Further studies need to be done to determine the feasibility of implementing empowerment strategy and its possibility as an effective intervention program for decreasing pain intensity and depression score and improving the physical function.
Ankle ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid* ; Depression ; Humans ; Knee ; Power (Psychology)* ; Range of Motion, Articular ; Self-Help Groups ; Shoulder

Urine discoloration occurs in the intensive care unit (ICU) due to many causes such as medications, metabolic disorders, and infections. Propofol is advocated as one of the first line sedatives in the ICU, but it is not well known to the intensivists that propofol can induce urine color change. We experienced two cases of green urine after propofol infusion. Propofol should be warranted as the cause of urine discoloration during ICU stay.
Hypnotics and Sedatives ; Intensive Care Units* ; Propofol*

PURPOSE: The study purposes were to construct and test structural equation modeling on the causal relationship of community residents' perceived quality of care, image, and role performance with satisfaction, intention to (re)visit and intention to recommend hospital. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 3,900 community residents from 39 district public hospitals. The questionnaire was designed to collected information on personal characteristics and community awareness of public hospitals. Community awareness consisted of 6 factors and 18 items. The data were collected utilizing call-interview by a survey company. Research data were collected via questionnaires and analyzed using SPSS version 20.0 and AMOS version 20.0. RESULTS: Model fit indices for the hypothetical model were suitable for the recommended level: chi2=796.40 (df=79, p <.001), GFI=.93, AGFI=.90, RMSR=.08, NFI=.94. Quality of care, image, and role performance explained 68.1% of variance in community awareness. Total effect of quality of care process factors on satisfaction (path coefficients=3.67), intention to (re)visit (path coefficients=2.67) and intention to recommend hospital (coefficients=2.45) were higher than other factors. CONCLUSION: Findings show that public hospitals have to make an effort to improve community image through the provision of quality care, and excellent role performance. Support for these activities is available from both Central and Local Governments.
Adult ; Aged ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Hospitals, Public ; Humans ; Intention ; Interviews as Topic ; Male ; Middle Aged ; *Perception ; *Personal Satisfaction ; *Quality of Health Care ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Young Adult

No abstract available.

No abstract available.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify factors that affect reality shock in new nurses. METHODS: Participants were 216 newly graduated nurses with less than 1 year experience in 5 university and 10 general hospitals in Busan, Ulsan and Gyeongnam, A self-report questionnaire was completed by the nurses between November 18 and December 25, 2013. Data were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA and hierarchial multiple regression analysis with the SPSS/WIN 21.0 Program. RESULTS: Average scores for work environment and environmental reality shock were 2.63+/-0.33 and 2.66+/-0.43 points respectively. Regression analysis showed that with the nurses' demographic and work characteristics controlled, work environment explained 4.2% of the reality shock. Factors significantly affecting reality shock included nurses' changing residence because of job (beta=.21, p=.001), whether they were able to work on the unit of their choice (beta=-.13, p=.031) and whether they had a choice in days off (beta=-.14, p=.038). CONCLUSION: When these factors are considered, reduction in nurses' reality shock requires improvement in work environment, placing new nurses in a department of their choice and allowing them a choice in off-duty days. These measures would also help achieve organizational goals and develop the new nurses as professional nurses.
Busan ; Hospitals, General ; Organizational Objectives ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Shock* ; Ulsan

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of the unit-level nurse practice environment on nurse turnover intention in the small and medium sized hospitals. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a questionnaire survey with 308 nurses in 38 nursing units of 6 small and medium sized hospitals, having over 200 beds and under 300 beds and located in B metropolitan city. Data were collected from July 20 to August 10, 2011. Data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression. RESULTS: The mean turnover intention in nurses of small and medium sized hospitals was 3.52+/-0.53. Factors affecting turnover intention in the nurses included age, work unit, monthly income, number of night-duties, work hours per day and unit-level nurse practice environment. The unit-level nurse practice environment accounted for 15% of turnover intention when other variables were controlled. CONCLUSION: The results of the study indicate that nurse turnover intention is associated with the nurse practice environment at the unit level. Small and medium sized hospitals can improve nurse retention and lower turnover intention by changing the nurse practice environment of unit, such as creating better support services and nurse participation in hospital affairs.
Cross-Sectional Studies ; Hospital Units ; Intention ; Professional Practice ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Retention (Psychology)

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore ways to define the concept of health inequality. METHODS: The concept analysis process by Walker and Avant was used to clarify the meaning of health inequality. RESULTS: Defining attributes of health inequality included differences in health status between individuals or groups, infringement of fundamental rights to health, unfair use of medical services, and social discrimination. The antecedents of health inequality included differences in demographic characteristics (age, gender, education, occupation, residential location), limitations in accessibility to health care, and social exclusion. Consequences of health inequality were increased costs for medical care, decreased health-related quality of life, and lack of ability to cope with health problems resulting in crisis situations, increases in morbidity and mortality, and shortening of life span. The concept was clarified through presentation of model, borderline, related, and contrary cases. CONCLUSION: Results of this study can be used to guide the direction of future studies through concept analysis in which conceptual attributes in the context of health inequality are examined. Also, based on the result of this study, development of standardized tools to measure health inequality is recommended as well as development of educational programs to reduce health inequalities.
Delivery of Health Care ; Education ; Human Rights ; Mortality ; Occupations ; Quality of Life ; Social Discrimination ; Socioeconomic Factors*

It is well known that a physician's personal characteristic affects his practice pattern. Furthermore, a physician's specialty has powerful influences on his practice pattern. However, despite the fact specialization has received the most attention for its influence on physician's service behavior, few studies have been conducted on the variations of contents and volume of physician's services. This study has intended to identify factors influencing the practice variations according to various physician characteristics. There are some other evidences that medical care providers are different in using of health services and resources in Korea. Four physician characteristics were selected for the analysis, two demographical factors, age and sex, and two practice factors, place of practice and medical specialty. Also, three indicators of service amount(total amount of insurance claim bill, number of visits per case, number of prescriptions per case) were selected. From the pool of insurance claims for ambulatory care received by the Korean National Federation of Medical Insurance(NFMI), 84,898 cases were randomly sampled. In the meantime using physician database of NFMI, 613 general practitioners(GP), 107 regular family physicians(FP), 483 'grandfather' family physicians(GFP), and 1,157 specialist practitioners(SP) were randomly sampled. Their different practice contents were compared concerning the specialty, age groups, sex, and practice sites(urban-rural). Specialist physicians tend to provide more costly care than do generalists. General practitioners and family physicians usually make fewer following visits and prescriptions. Age is also the important factor in determining the amount of services, which is highest at the physician's age group of 40's. Female doctors and urban practitioners use much more resources than their counterparts respectively. Research findings suggest that physician's characteristics particularly the specialty can affect practice patterns and resource utilizations. Other characteristics such as age and sex are not controllable but physician's specialty is relatively easily controllable during the entire phases of policy implementation. This is all the more true in the individual's initial decision of his specialty. Specialization therefore should receive policymaker's attention for its potential influence on medical care utilization and health care expenditure.
Age Factors ; Ambulatory Care ; Delivery of Health Care ; Female ; General Practitioners ; Health Expenditures ; Health Services ; Humans ; Insurance ; Korea ; Physicians, Family ; Prescriptions ; Specialization