No abstract available.

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*

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

No abstract available.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the work environment related to the handling and administration of antineoplastic drugs in the members of the Korean Oncology Nursing Society.METHODS: The study was carried out from October 2018 to November 2018. The self-reported surveys included questions on the work environment, experience and concerns from occupational exposure, safe activities of antineoplastic drugs and use of personal protective equipment (PPE), hand hygiene, and type of PPE (e.g., gown, gloves, and mask).RESULTS: A total of 125 participants from 41 organizations were surveyed. The nurses were mostly educated on safe management of antineoplastic drugs (95.2%) and concerned about health threats caused by occupational exposure (7.23±2.14 out of 10). In addition, harmful activities were found, with gown use being the lowest when handling antineoplastic drugs.CONCLUSION: This study supports that appropriate staffing, equipment, and facilities, mandatory education, and establishment of policies are very important in creating a safe work environment for handling antineoplastic drugs.
Antineoplastic Agents ; Education ; Hand Hygiene ; Occupational Exposure ; Oncology Nursing ; Personal Protective Equipment ; Safety Management

Among patients scheduled for elective surgery at the Kyung Hee University Hospital, 15 patients undergoing open thoracotomy were selected. Two different ventilatory modes were employed and compared to the one-lung ventilation(control). First, 10 cmH2O of continuous positive airway pressure was applied to the unventilated lung while patients were under one lung ventilation with 50% oxygen(CPAP 10 cmH2O). Second, 10 cmH2O of positive end expiratory pressure to the ventilated lung and 10 cmH2O of continuous positive airway pressure to the unventilated lung were applied while patients were under one lung ventilation with 50% oxygen(CPAP/PEEP). Arterial oxygen tension, alveolar-arterial oxygen difference (A-aDO2) and intrapulmonary shunt fraction of two different ventilatory modes were observed and compared to control group, and CPAP/PEEP group to CPAP 10 cmHO group. The RESULTs were as followed: 1) Mean PaO2 in CPAP 10 cmH2O and CPAP/PEEP were 138+/-42 mmHg and 177+/-44 mmHg, respectively, and were significantly increased as compared to 100+/-29 mmHg of control group(P<0.05). Comparing the PaO2 of CPAP 10 cmH2O and CPAP/PEEP, there was statistically significant increase in CPAP/PEEP(P<0.05). 2) A-aDO2 in CPAP 10 cmH2O and CPAP/PEEP were 175+/-43 mmHg and 131+42 mmHg, respectively, and were significantly decreased as compared to 213+/-32 mmHg of control group(P<0.05). Shunt percentages(Qsp/QT) were measured as 23.7+/-5.8% in control group, 18.3+/-6.0% in CPAP 10 cmH2O, 13.0+/-4.3% in CPAP/PEEP. Shunt percentages of CPAP 10 cmH2O and CPAP/PEEP were decreased significantly as compared to the control group(P<0.05). Comparing the A-a DO2 and the shunt percentages of CPAP 10 cmH2O and CPAP/PEEP, there was statistically significant decrease in CPAP/PEEP(P<0.05). Based on the above RESULTs, the application of appropriate continuous positive airway pressure to the unventilated lung and 10 cmH2O of positive end expiratory pressure to the ventilated lung during one lung ventilation is thought to be more effective than only continuous positive airway pressure to the unventilated lung in preventing hypoxemia.
Anoxia ; Continuous Positive Airway Pressure ; Humans ; Lung ; One-Lung Ventilation* ; Oxygen* ; Positive-Pressure Respiration ; Thoracotomy

PURPOSE: The prevalence of hepatitis A virus (HAV) in a certain community reflects that community's living standards and hygienic conditions. And the pattern of HAV infection differs over time and geography. Recently, a shift in prevalence has been observed in cases from chilhood to adulthood. We studied the HAV antibody prevalence in the general population in Busan. METHODS: From October 2004 to March 2005, total 472 subjects were tested for HAV antibodies. All samples were collected from patients in Maryknol Hospital. RESULTS: The overall seropositive rate was 22.8% (108/472). The seropositive rates were 1.7% in subjects aged 2-5 years, 1.7% in 6-10 years, 0% in 11-20 years, 40.5% in 21-30 years, 82.1% in 31- 40 years, 94.7% in 41-50 years, and 100% in subjects aged over 50 years. There was no significant gap between gender groups. CONCLUSION: As the socioeconomic conditions in Korea have improved, the HAV seropositive rate in school-aged children has dramatically decreased in the last 20 years. But, the seropositive rate of HAV didn't differ according to gender. The seropositive rate of HAV in the pediatric group was very low, which suggests the increasing possibility of clinical HAV infection in adults in the near future. Therefore, we should actively prevent the spread of hepatits A virus. In order to do that, we need to reorganize our lifestyle and personel hygiene and carry out active and passive immunization to high risk groups.
Adult* ; Antibodies ; Busan* ; Child* ; Epidemiologic Studies* ; Geography ; Hepatitis A virus* ; Hepatitis A* ; Hepatitis* ; Humans ; Hygiene ; Immunization, Passive ; Korea ; Life Style ; Prevalence ; Seroepidemiologic Studies ; Socioeconomic Factors

PURPOSE: Although outcome of the children with ALL has been improved remarkably with the multidrug chemotherapy and supportive therapy, relapse is still important cause of treatment failure. One of the mechanism related to the relapse has been reported to be multidurg resistance (MDR). To investigate the relation between the expression of MDR related MDR1 gene and cell cycle and apoptosis related genes in children with ALL, this study was conducted. METHODS: The samples were collected from 9 children with ALL (5: at presentation, 4: at relapse) diagnosed at the pediatric department of Yeungnam University Hospital. From the mononuclear cells isolated from the peripheral blood or bone marrow, mRNA was extracted and analysed by RT-PCR. Using actin as a control, relative levels of mRNA of MDR1 gene, cell cycle control protein cyclin B and MAD2 and apoptosis related BAX gene were analysed. RESULTS: The expression of MDR1 gene at the presentation and the relapse were variable and showed high correlation (Pearson correlation: 0.826) with the expression of BAX gene but low correlation with the expression of cyclin B and MAD2 gene. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that mechanism involved in relapse of ALL include mechanisms other than MDR1 gene. High correlation between the expression of MDR1 gene and BAX gene suggests that high level of BAX expression increases probability of relapse but small sample size of this study precludes definite conclusion and further study is needed.
Actins ; Apoptosis ; Bone Marrow ; Cell Cycle ; Cell Cycle Checkpoints ; Child ; Cyclin B* ; Cyclins* ; Drug Therapy ; Gene Expression* ; Humans ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma* ; Recurrence ; RNA, Messenger ; Sample Size ; Treatment Failure

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to provide fundamental materials for improving school health promotion programs by investigating school nurses' awareness of the importance, performance level, and perceived competence level of school health promotion programs in Gangwon-do. METHODS: The subjects of this study were 173 school nurses who were working in Gangwon-do. The instrument for this study was a scale for awareness of importance, performance level, and perceived competence level. Data were collected on December 15, 2007 and analyzed using SPSS 13.0 for Windows. RESULTS: The mean score of awareness of importance was 3.51 (range: 1~4). The mean score of performance level and the mean score of perceived competence level were 3.35 (range: 1~4) and 3.29 (range: 1~4), respectively. The younger school nurses were (F=4.380, p=.014), the higher their awareness of importance was. The performance level was lowest in high school nurses (F=5.013, p=.008). There were significant correlations between awareness of importance, performance level, and perceived competence level in school nurses. CONCLUSION: In order to improve the effectiveness of school health promotion programs, training and education programs for school nurses' competencies and technical support systems for school nurses should be provided.
Education ; Gangwon-do ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Mental Competency* ; School Health Services*