BACKGROUND: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is the predominant cause of hospital-acquired diarrhea. This study evaluated the sporicidal activities of several disinfectants against C. difficile spores. METHODS: We used toxigenic C. difficile strains with different ribotypes for our study. We compared the sporicidal activities of Cavicide (Metrex Research Corporation, USA), Cidex OPA (Advanced Sterilization Products, USA), 1% Rely+On Virkon (Dupont, UK), 0.25% Surfanios (Laboratoires Anios, France), sodium hypochlorite (Yuhan Clorox, Korea), and 70% ethyl alcohol (Duksan, Korea) by using dilution-neutralization method. The sporicidal activity of the disinfecting agents was considered to be the inactivation factor (IF). The IF was calculated as the log10 colony forming unit (CFU) reduction of the viable count from the initial inoculums. Disinfectants were considered to be sporicidal if they showed an IF> or =4. RESULTS: Cavicide, 70% ethyl alcohol, Rely+On Virkon, and Surfanios showed no reduction in spore counts at all exposure time. Solutions of sodium hypochlorite diluted 1:100 (> or =400 ppm available chlorine), 1:50, and 1:20 were sporicidal after 5 min, 2 min, and 30 s, respectively. Cidex OPA showed sporicidal activity after 30 min. CONCLUSION: To prevent the transmission of CDI, at least 1,000 ppm sodium hypochlorite solution should be used to disinfect the hospital environment. Contaminated endoscopes should be disinfected with Cidex OPA for more than 30 min.
Chlorophenols ; Clostridium ; Clostridium difficile ; Colony Count, Microbial ; Diarrhea ; Disinfectants ; Endoscopes ; Ethanol ; Glutaral ; Peroxides ; Ribotyping ; Sodium Hypochlorite ; Spores ; Stem Cells ; Sterilization ; Sulfuric Acids

PURPOSE: Professional quality of life is the quality one feels in relation to their work as a helper. The purpose of this study was to describe professional quality of life among emergency nurses. METHODS: A total of 15 emergency rooms were selected in three cities. Among 263 nurses working at these emergency rooms, 178 nurses consented to participate in this cross-sectional survey. Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) Scale version 5 was used to measure compassion satisfaction, burnout and secondary traumatic stress. Cluster analysis was used to classify nurses according to professional quality of life. RESULTS: The mean scores (SD) for compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress were 32.12 (5.45), 28.27 (4.28), and 28.20 (5.07), respectively. The result of cluster analysis according to standardized score of compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress yielded three clusters. Over 50% of participants showed low professional quality of life. Nurses who were included in a cluster representing low professional quality of life were younger, had shorter periods of nursing experience, and perceivedlower social support than other cluster. CONCLUSION: Education or support programs for emergency nurses are needed to enhance their professional quality of life.
Cross-Sectional Studies ; Emergencies ; Emergency Nursing ; Empathy ; Quality of Life

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore factors affecting uncertainty and general well-being based on Uncertainty in Illness Theory. METHODS: Data were collected from 125 outpatients who had received hemodialysis. The path model among four concepts, such as period of hemodialysis, social support, uncertainty, and general well-being, was tested. Tangible support, positive social interaction, affectionate, and emotional/informational support were measured as social support. Adaptation in the model was operationalized as general well-being which consisted of anxiety, depression, positive well-being, self-control, and general health. RESULTS: All paths were statistically significant at the level of alpha=.05. The significant paths were the path from period of hemodialysis to uncertainty (t=-2.86), social support to uncertainty (t=-2.01), uncertainty to general wellbeing (t=-2.85), and social support to general well-being (t=3.55). CONCLUSION: Patients who perceived low uncertainty and high social support were likely to feel well-being. Therefore, nurses should give patients appropriate information according to their needs and have meaningful interaction with patients to reduce their uncertainty and render social support.
Anxiety ; Depression ; Humans ; Interpersonal Relations ; Outpatients ; Renal Dialysis ; Uncertainty

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of nursing record education on the knowledge and performance of nursing record of nurses at small- and medium-sized hospitals. Methods: The participants were 62 nurses working in two small- and medium-sized hospitals. Thirty-two nurses comprised the experimental group, and 30 nurses comprised the control group. Nursing record education was provided for the experimental group. Data were analyzed by x2-test and t-test analysis using the IBM SPSS statistics 25.0 Program. Results: After education, the knowledge (t=2.43, p=.019), performance (t=2.19, p=.033) and behavior scores (t=2.42, p=.018) on nursing record were significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group. Based on this result, nursing record education is an effective intervention to improve nurses’ knowledge and performance in writing nursing records in small- and medium-sized hospitals. Conclusion We suggest the development of a systematic and standardized education program on nursing record including its legal aspects, for nurses in small- and medium-sized hospitals. The results of this study can be used as basic data for developing a nursing record education program for small- and medium-sized hospitals.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of nursing record education on the knowledge and performance of nursing record of nurses at small- and medium-sized hospitals. Methods: The participants were 62 nurses working in two small- and medium-sized hospitals. Thirty-two nurses comprised the experimental group, and 30 nurses comprised the control group. Nursing record education was provided for the experimental group. Data were analyzed by x2-test and t-test analysis using the IBM SPSS statistics 25.0 Program. Results: After education, the knowledge (t=2.43, p=.019), performance (t=2.19, p=.033) and behavior scores (t=2.42, p=.018) on nursing record were significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group. Based on this result, nursing record education is an effective intervention to improve nurses’ knowledge and performance in writing nursing records in small- and medium-sized hospitals. Conclusion We suggest the development of a systematic and standardized education program on nursing record including its legal aspects, for nurses in small- and medium-sized hospitals. The results of this study can be used as basic data for developing a nursing record education program for small- and medium-sized hospitals.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this descriptive study was to investigate the pattern of physical restraints used in ICUs and to identify influencing factors of application and removal of restraints. METHOD: The subjects of this study were 90 restrained patients out of 215 patients over 6 years old who were admitted to 6 ICUs in SMC during a 2 weeks period. The data was collected through a questionnaire of characte-ristics, guidelines and nursing care of restraint uses. The data were analyzed by non-parametric statistic with the use of the SAS program. RESULTS: The restraints were applied to 31.4% of subjects. Mean time of physical restraint was 36.76 55.7 hours. There were significant difference with mean time and frequency according to duty shift. GCS, restless behavior and discomfort factors, medical devices, and life sustaining devices had significant relation with application of restraints. In addition, the mean time of restraints used were related significantly with GCS, restless behavior, and discomfort factors. CONCLUSION: The used of restraints were dependent on mainly the nurses' decision. Thus ICU nurses have to develop the guidelines to applying restraints and removal of restraints in regard to patients rights and ethics. Continuous monitoring and evaluation of application of the restraints is essential in professional nursing.
Child ; Ethics ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units ; Nursing ; Nursing Care ; Patient Rights ; Restraint, Physical* ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to develop a patient classification system based on nursing care intensity for patients with acute stroke-related symptoms and verify its validity and reliability. METHODS: Data were collected between November, 2013 and February, 2014. The verification for content validity of the patient classification system was conducted by a group of seven professionals. Both interrater reliability and concurrent validity were verified at stroke units in tertiary hospitals. RESULTS: The intensive nursing care for acute stroke patients consisted of 14 classified domains and 56 classified contents by adding 'neurological assessment and observation' and 'respiratory care': 'hygiene', 'nutrition', 'elimination', 'mobility and exercise', 'education or counselling', 'emotional support', 'communication', 'treatment and examination', 'medication', 'assessment and observation', 'neurological assessment and observation', 'respiratory care', 'coordination between departments', and 'discharge or transfer care'. Each domain was classified into four levels such as Class I, Class II, Class III, and ClassIV. CONCLUSION: The results show that this patient classification system has satisfactory validity for content and concurrent and verified reliability and can be used to accurately estimate the demand for nursing care for patients in stroke units.
Classification* ; Humans ; Nursing Care ; Nursing* ; Reproducibility of Results ; Stroke* ; Tertiary Care Centers

PURPOSE: The purposes of this study were to develop a Minimal Insomnia Screening Scale for Korean adults (KMISS) and to evaluate psychometric properties and discriminant ability of the developed scale. METHODS: Data from a cross-sectional survey of 959 Korean adults were analyzed to develop the summated insomnia scale, which was evaluated in terms of reliability, validity, and discriminant ability by receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analysis. RESULTS: Item-total correlations ranged between .71-.79 and Cronbach's alpha was .87. Adequate validity was also evident. ROC-curve analysis showed area under ROC was .87 (95% CI: .84-.90) and identified the optimal cut-off score as < or = 20 (sensitivity, .83; specificity, .75; positive/negative predictive values, .40/.95). Using this cut-off score, the prevalence of insomnia in the study sample was 26.3% and most frequent among women and the oldest group. CONCLUSION: Data supports the psychometric properties of KMISS as a possible insomnia screening instrument. KMISS also shows promise as a convenient ultra-short screening measure of insomnia for adults and epidemiological studies in community health care settings.
Aged ; Area Under Curve ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Health Status ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prevalence ; *Psychometrics ; Quality of Life ; Questionnaires ; ROC Curve ; Republic of Korea ; Self Report ; Sex Factors ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders/*epidemiology/pathology

PURPOSE: To identify Korean versions of self-reported sleep questionnaires for cross-cultural research and practice on sleep disturbance, we searched self-reported sleep questionnaires which have been developed to measure general sleep patterns. They should be qualitative, easy to take permission, do not obligate to pay, do not need any skill or professional help for scoring and have been reported high reliability and validity. METHODS: General Sleep Disturbance Scale (GSDS), Leeds Sleep Evaluation Questionnaire (LSEQ), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were identified based on all criteria. Korean version of GSDS, LSEQ, and PSQI were developed according to the methods combined the guidelines for the process of cross-cultural adaptation of self-reported measures with decentering method. RESULTS: Three Korean versions of self-reported sleep questionnaires were suitable for epidemiological study. They are not full length and easy to read. It requires less than 10 minutes for each subject to complete as well as for researchers to score. CONCLUSION: Psychometric analysis study is necessary to evaluate the reliability and validity of those Korean versions of self-reported sleep questionnaires.
Psychometrics ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Reproducibility of Results

PURPOSE: Many studies have shown that regular exercise produces positive effects on health. The purpose of this study was to examine the differences of health-related quality of life by stage of exercise and the interaction effect of age, sex and stage of exercise. METHOD: A total of 1266 participants were interviewed with structured questionnaire. Stage of exercise was assessed with a single item and respondents were classified with respect to exercise intention and behavior. Health-related quality of life was measured with SF-36 Health Survey Questionnaire. RESULT: Health-related QOL were found to be different by stage of exercise. The subjects who were reached maintenance stage showed significantly higher scores on physical functioning, bodily pain, general health perception, mental health, role limitation due to emotional problems, social functioning, and vitality than those in preparation, contemplation, and precontemplation stage. In addition a significant interaction effect between stage of exercise and age was found on physical functioning, bodily pain, general health perception, mental health, and vitality. CONCLUSION: Perceived health-related QOL varies with stage of exercise. This finding suggests that health is related to both intention and behavior of exercise. Therefore it is important to consider cognitive-motivational and behavioral stage of change for developing exercise programs.
Adult* ; Health Surveys ; Humans ; Intention ; Mental Health ; Quality of Life* ; Social Problems ; Surveys and Questionnaires