PURPOSE: This study was a descriptive research to identify the effects of communication skills, compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue on burnout among staff of long term care insurance for the elderly in National Health Insurance Services in Korea. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional design was used. The participants were 191 staffs of long-term care insurance in National Health Insurance Services. Data were collected via mail from the 24 branch offices which were randomly selected among the total of 226 centers of National Health Insurance Corporation. Stamm's professional quality of life (ProQOL) and Communication Skills Test tool were included in questionnaire to detect. SPSS/WIN 20.0 was used to conduct the descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, correlation analysis, and multiple regression. RESULTS: Compassion fatigue had a significant positive effect on burnout, while Compassion satisfaction had a negative effect on burnout. The explained variance for burnout was 69% and compassion fatigue was the most significant factor in burnout among staff of long term care insurance services. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that the factors influencing staffs' burnout are compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction, and education level. Therefore, strategies to decrease compassion fatigue and improve compassion satisfaction are needed to decrease burnout for staffs of long-term care insurance in National Health Insurance Services.
Aged* ; Burnout, Professional ; Education ; Empathy* ; Fatigue* ; Humans ; Insurance, Long-Term Care* ; Korea* ; Long-Term Care* ; National Health Programs* ; Postal Service ; Quality of Life

PURPOSE: In nursing research, studies using statistical methods are required and have increased. In this study, some statistical methods using in nursing study are summarized and appropriate usage is proposed. METHODS: Twenty-five original articles from the Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals Nursing were reviewed. Statistical methods used in the Journal of Fundamentals Nursing were classified and common errors were presented. RESULTS: Seventy-six statistical analysis were performed in the 25 studies. Among the articles, 28 cases contained errors. Most errors occurred in linear regression analysis and nonparametric analysis. CONCLUSION: When the use of statistical method is applied inappropriately, the result bring out a serious error. In order to ensure reliability and validity of study, researchers should recognize clear application and usage of statistical methods.
Linear Models ; Methods* ; Nursing Research ; Nursing* ; Reproducibility of Results

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate sexual maturation, attitudes toward sexual maturity, and body esteem in the sexual development of Korean elementary-school boys and girls. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 399 fifth and sixth graders (192 boys and 207 girls). The data were analysed with a χ2 test, t-test, and Pearson correlation coefficients. RESULTS: Among the 207 girls, 70.5% had pubic hair growth, 68.1% had breast development, and 56.0% had a menstrual period. In boys, 59.4% of the 192 subjects experienced the development of external genitalia and 52.6% had pubic hair growth. Sexual maturation was related to grade (boys, t=7.07, p=.008; girls, t=12.76, p < .001), age (t=−2.20, p=.030; t=−4.11, p < .001), height (t=−5.16, p < .001; t=−7.52, p < .001), and weight (t=−2.89, p=.004; t=−5.19, p < .001) in both boys and girls. Girls were more likely to have sexual maturity than boys (χ2=22.29, p < .001). Boys showed more positive attitudes toward sexual maturity (t=2.10, p=.036) and higher body esteem (t=2.12, p=.035) than girls. CONCLUSION: This study shows that sexual maturation, attitude toward sexual maturity, and body esteem in sexual development differ between boys and girls. The findings indicate that it is necessary to develop a tailored sex-education program according to the sex of elementary-school children.
Breast ; Child* ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Genitalia ; Hair ; Humans ; Sexual Development ; Sexual Maturation*

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus is a life threatening disease that one out of ten Korean adults aged over 30 has it. Depression of diabetes patients affects the perception on their health negatively and self-management inefficiently, and then leads to a failure in blood sugar control. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the relationships among depression, perceived barriers and self-efficacy on diabetes management in depth. METHODS: This descriptive study was undertaken to identify the mediating effects of perceived barriers on the relationship between depression and self-efficacy on diabetes management among type 2 diabetes patients. 173 patients with type 2 diabetes were recruited from an out-patient clinic of Y university hospital. Data were collected from June 26 to July 18, 2014 using a structured self-report questionnaire, and analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficients, multiple regressions, and Sobel test. RESULTS: Among173 participants, 12.1% were classified as depressed group. Self-efficacy on diabetes management was found to be significantly associated with education level and the presence of complications. Depression and perceived barriers were positively related to each other, but both were negatively related to self-efficacy on diabetes management. In addition, perceived barriers were found to mediate the relationship between depression and diabetes management self-efficacy. CONCLUSIONS: Strategic nursing interventions based on considerations of the relationship between perceived barriers and self-efficacy on diabetes management need to be provided for type 2 diabetes patients with depression.
Adult ; Blood Glucose ; Depression* ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Education ; Humans ; Negotiating* ; Nursing ; Outpatients ; Self Care

Oseltamivir is an antiviral medication prescribed to prevent and treat influenza A and B. A case from a community pharmacy in Korea was reported for an adverse event associated with oseltamivir administration. A 20-month-old boy had psychiatric symptoms after receiving 2 doses of oseltamivir. Therefore, an evaluation of whether the psychiatric symptoms were caused by oseltamivir was required. To determine whether the adverse event resulted from the administrated medication or other factors, three tools were used: the Naranjo scale, the Korean causality assessment algorithm (Ver.2), and the World Health Organization-Uppsala Monitoring Center (WHO-UMC) criteria. The psychiatric symptoms occurred after oseltamivir administration, and were attenuated after oseltamivir termination. A possible cause of the psychiatric symptoms is high fever, but information on the body temperature of the patient was not sufficient. Therefore, it was unclear whether there were other nonpharmacological causes of adverse drug reaction. For these reasons, in terms of causality, the results evaluated by the three tools represented, “possible”, “probable”, and “probable/likely”, respectively.
Body Temperature ; Child ; Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions ; Fever ; Global Health ; Humans ; Infant ; Influenza, Human ; Korea ; Male ; Oseltamivir ; Pharmacies

PURPOSE: Variations in barrier- or immune response-related genes are closely related to the development of atopic dermatitis (AD). This study was designed to identify genetic variations and clinical features to predict ‘recalcitrant AD.’ METHODS: AD patients were classified as treatable and recalcitrant. Treatable AD patients showed satisfactory clinical improvement with basic and topical treatments. Recalcitrant AD patients used systemic immune-suppressants for over 4 weeks as they had not shown clinical improvement with basic and topical treatments. The frequency of gene variations in barrier- (FLG 3321delA, FLG K4022X, KLK7, SPINK 1156, SPINK 1188, SPINK 2475) and immune response- (DEFB1, KDR, IL-5RA, IL-9, and IL-12RB1a, b) related genes were compared between each AD group and the controls. RESULTS: Of all, 249 treatable AD and 32 recalcitrant AD were identified. Heterozygous mutations (Hetero) in KLK7 was more frequent in recalcitrant AD patients than treatable AD, without statistical significance. Hetero in DEFB1 was more frequent in treatable AD patients. However, no other significant genetic differences between treatable and recalcitrant AD was observed. Instead, higher initial Eczema Area Severity Index (EASI) score, serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) level, allergen specific IgE for house dust mites, and family history of atopic diseases were associated with recalcitrant AD with statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: According to our study, no genetic variation to predict recalcitrant AD was identified, suggesting that clinical manifestation, rather than genetic variations of AD patients is more likely to be an important factor in predicting the prognosis of AD. Further large-scale studies on the correlation between genetic variation and recalcitrant AD are needed.
Dermatitis, Atopic* ; Eczema ; Genetic Variation* ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin E ; Immunoglobulins ; Interleukin-9 ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Prognosis ; Pyroglyphidae

PURPOSE: To develop and test the validity and reliability of the Korean version of PES-NWI measuring nursing work environments in hospitals. METHODS: The Korean version of the PES-NWI was developed through forward-backward translation techniques, and revision based on feedback from focus groups. An internal consistency reliability and construct validity using confirmatory factor analysis were conducted using SPSS WIN (16.0) and AMOS (18.0). Survey data were collected from 733 nurses who worked in three acute care hospitals in Seoul, South Korea. RESULTS: The Korean version of PES-NWI showed reliable internal consistency with a Cronbach's alpha for the total scale of .93. Factor loadings of the 29 items on the five subscales ranged from .28 to .85. The five subscales model was validated by confirmatory factor analysis (RMR<.05, CFI>.9). CONCLUSION: The findings of this study demonstrate that the Korean version of PES-NWI has satisfactory construct validity and reliability to measure nursing work environments of hospitals in Korea.
Adult ; Female ; Health Facility Environment ; Humans ; Male ; Nursing Staff, Hospital/*psychology ; Questionnaires ; Reproducibility of Results ; Republic of Korea ; Translations ; *Workplace

To establish an appropriate policy for robotic surgery in Korea, the National Evidence-based Collaborating Agency (NECA) and the Korean Society of Health Policy and Administration held a round-table conference (RTC) to gather opinions through a comprehensive discussion of scientific information in gastric cancer. The NECA RTC is a public discussion forum wherein experts from diverse fields and members of the lay public conduct in-depth discussions on a selected social issue in the health and medical field. For this study, representatives from the medical field, patient groups, industry, the press, and policy makers participated in a discussion focused on the medical and scientific evidence for the use of robotic surgery in gastric cancer. According to the RTC results, robotic surgery showed more favorable results in safety and efficacy than open surgery and it is similar to laparoscopy. When the cost-effectiveness of robotic surgery and laparoscopy is compared, robotic surgery costs are higher but there was no difference between the two of them in terms of effectiveness (pain, quality of life, complications, etc.). In order to resolve the high cost issue of the robotic surgery, a proper policy should be implemented to facilitate the development of a cost-effective model of the robotic surgery equipment. The higher cost of robotic surgery require more evidence of its safety and efficacy as well as the cost-effectiveness issues of this method. Discussions on the national insurance coverage of robotic surgery seems to be necessary in the near future.
Adenosine-5'-(N-ethylcarboxamide) ; Administrative Personnel ; Consensus* ; Health Policy ; Humans ; Insurance Coverage ; Korea ; Laparoscopy ; Quality of Life ; Stomach Neoplasms*

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relation between the presence of penetration or aspiration and the occurrence of the clinical indicators of dysphagia. The presence of penetration or aspiration is closely related to the clinical indicators of dysphagia. It is essential to understand these relationships in order to implement proper diagnosis and treatment of dysphagia. METHODS: Fifty-eight poststroke survivors were divided into two groups: patients with or without penetration or aspiration. Medical records and videofluoroscopic swallowing examinations were reviewed. The occurrence of clinical indicators of dysphagia between two groups was analyzed with Cross Tabulation and the Pearson chi-square test (p<0.05). RESULTS: Poststroke survivors with penetration or aspiration had significantly high occurrences of delayed initiation of the swallow (p=0.04) and reduced hyolaryngeal elevation (p<0.01) than those without penetration or aspiration. CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicate that delayed initiation of the swallow is a strong physiological indicator of penetration or aspiration during the oral stage of swallowing in poststroke survivors. For the pharyngeal stage of swallowing, hyoid and laryngeal elevation is a key event related to occurrence of penetration or aspiration. Clinical indicators should be investigated further to allow appropriate implementation of treatment strategies for stroke survivors.
Deglutition ; Deglutition Disorders* ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Oral Stage ; Stroke ; Survivors*

BACKGROUND: Cancer stem cells have been investigated as new targets for colorectal cancer (CRC) treatment. We recently reported that CD133+ colon cancer cells showed chemoresistance to 5-fluorouracil through increased survivin expression and proposed the survivin inhibitor YM155 as an effective therapy for colon cancer in an in vitro study. Here, we investigate the relationship between survivin and CD133 expression in surgically resected CRC to identify whether the results obtained in our in vitro study are applicable to clinical samples. METHODS: We performed immunohistochemical staining for survivin and CD133 in surgically resected tissue from 187 stage II or III CRC patients. We also comparatively analyzed apoptosis according to survivin and CD133 expression using terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate nick-end labeling. RESULTS: The results of the Mantel-Haenszel test established a linear association between nuclear survivin and CD133 expression (p = .018), although neither had prognostic significance, according to immunohistochemical expression level. No correlation was found between survivin expression and the following pathological parameters: invasion depth, lymph node metastasis, or histologic differentiation (p > .05). The mean apoptotic index in survivin+ and CD133+ tumors was higher than that in negative tumors: 5.116 ± 4.894 in survivin+ versus 4.103 ± 3.691 in survivin– (p = .044); 5.165 ± 4.961 in CD133+ versus 4.231 ± 3.812 in CD133– (p = .034). CONCLUSIONS: As observed in our in vitro study, survivin expression is significantly related to CD133 expression. Survivin may be considered as a new therapeutic target for chemoresistant CRC.
Apoptosis ; Colonic Neoplasms ; Colorectal Neoplasms* ; Deoxyuridine ; Fluorouracil ; Humans ; In Vitro Techniques ; Lymph Nodes ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neoplastic Stem Cells