PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare similarities and differences in research trends for community health nursing between Korea and Japan. METHODS: Comparison was made in terms of research design, data collection and sampling method, and key concepts from community health nursing research by literature review. We analyzed original articles from representative Journals covering community health nursing research from 2004 to 2008. RESULTS: We found that research design was quite different between the two countries. Quantitative research design was dominant in Korea, while qualitative and qualitative research designs were used equally in Japan. In particular, outcome research was found only in Korean papers. CONCLUSION: Based on the comparison, the following recommendations are suggested related to the strengths and weaknesses of research concepts and methods observed in each country. It is suggested that future collaboration should be undertaken especially to improve the diversity of research design and method. More diverse research designs should be used in both countries. Particularly in today's aged society, evidence-based research and outcome research are needed for community health nursing in both countries.
Community Health Nursing* ; Cooperative Behavior ; Data Collection ; Japan* ; Korea* ; Qualitative Research ; Research Design

We present the case of young female patient presenting with acute onset abdominal pain. Abdominopelvic CT revealed herniation through the foramen of Winslow. The patient was transferred to our hospital and underwent laparoscopic exploration. Though spontaneous reduction was detected, segmental resection of the impacted small bowel was inevitable due to ischemic change. Our case suggests that reducing the time until surgery is very important to lower the probability of bowel resection in case of small bowel herniation through the foramen of Winslow.
Abdominal Pain ; Female ; Humans ; Intestine, Small

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) bundle.METHODS: This was a retrospective study that was carried out between June 2010 and October 2015. In this study, 3,224 intubated patients were included. The VAP bundle which was applied to Group 1 patients (n=470) included head-of-bed elevation to 30 degrees, cuff pressure monitorization, prophylaxis of peptic ulcer, and prophylaxis of deep vein thrombosis. The VAP bundle for Group 2 patients (n=1,914) included all the elements of the VAP bundle for Group 1 patients and one additional element which was oral care with 0.12% chlorhexidine. The VAP bundle for Group 3 patients (n=870) added sedative interruption and assessment of readiness to extubate to the VAP bundle for Group 2.RESULTS: The numbers and incidences of VAP were significantly different among the three groups. Moreover, there were significant differences among groups in ICU length of stay and mortality.CONCLUSION: Three different VAP prevention bundles made different effects in patient outcomes.
Chlorhexidine ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infection Control ; Intensive Care Units ; Length of Stay ; Mortality ; Patient Care Bundles ; Peptic Ulcer ; Pneumonia, Ventilator-Associated ; Retrospective Studies ; Venous Thrombosis

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the factors influencing nursing work performance among clinical nurses in the hospital. Methods: This descriptive correlational study collected data from 122 clinical nurses who were working in three tertiary referral hospitals in Busan. The data were collected, using self-reported questionnaires, from September 2 to October 14, 2019. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and multiple regression using SPSS/WIN 25.0 program. Results: Nursing work performance was significantly associated with resilience, innovation oriented culture, relationship oriented culture, and hierarchy oriented culture. The factors significantly influencing nursing work performance of the participants included relationship oriented culture (β=.27, p=.015), hierarchy oriented culture (β=.25, p=.003), resilience (β=.19, p=.035), and total clinical career (β=.18, p=.030), which explained 27.3% of nursing work performance (F=8.59, p<.001). Conclusion The results indicate that there is a need to improve communication skills among multidisciplinary team members and to harmonize hierarchical and relational cultures in order to enhance nursing work performance. In addition, this study suggests developing interventions for enhancing the resilience of clinical nurses.

Traditionally, cancer treatment has focused on the stages of the disease; however, recent studies have highlighted the importance of considering the overall health status of patients in the prognosis of cancer. Loss of skeletal muscle, known as sarcopenia, has been found to significantly affect outcomes in many different types of cancers, including colorectal cancer. In this review, we discuss the guidelines for diagnosing sarcopenia, with a specific focus on CT-based assessments. Many groups worldwide, including those in Europe and Asia, have introduced their own diagnostic guidelines for sarcopenia. Seemingly similar yet subtle discrepancies, particularly in the cutoff values used, limit the use of these guidelines in the general population, warranting a more universal guideline. Although CT-based measurements, such as skeletal muscle index and radiodensity, have shown promise in predicting outcomes, the lack of standardized values in these measurements hinders their universal adoption. To overcome these limitations, innovative approaches are being developed to assess changes in muscle mass trajectories and introduce new indices, such as skeletal and appendicular muscle gauges. Additionally, machine learning models have shown superior performance in predicting sarcopenic status, providing an alternative to CT-based diagnosis, particularly after surgery. CT has tremendous benefits and a significant role in visually as well as quantitatively retrieving information on patient body composition. In order to compensate for the limitation of standard cutoff value, 3-dimensional analysis of the CT, artificial intelligence-based body composition analysis, as well as machine learning algorithms for data interpretation and analysis have been proposed and are being utilized. In conclusion, despite the varying definitions of sarcopenia, CT-based measurements coupled with machine-learning models are promising for evaluating patients with cancer. Standardization efforts can improve diagnostic accuracy, reduce the reliance on CT examinations, and make sarcopenia assessments more accessible in clinical settings.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to develop a job description for healthcare managers of metabolic syndrome management programs using task analysis. METHODS: Exploratory research was performed by using the Developing a Curriculum method, the Intervention Wheel model, and focus group discussions. Subsequently, we conducted a survey of 215 healthcare workers from 25 community health centers to verify that the job description we created was accurate. RESULTS: We defined the role of healthcare managers. Next, we elucidated the tasks of healthcare managers and performed needs analysis to examine the frequency, importance, and difficulty of each of their duties. Finally, we verified that our job description was accurate. Based on the 8 duties, 30 tasks, and 44 task elements assigned to healthcare managers, we found that the healthcare managers functioned both as team coordinators responsible for providing multidisciplinary health services and nurse specialists providing health promotion services. In terms of importance and difficulty of tasks performed by the healthcare managers, which were measured using a determinant coefficient, the highest-ranked task was planning social marketing (15.4), while the lowest-ranked task was managing human resources (9.9). CONCLUSION: A job description for healthcare managers may provide basic data essential for the development of a job training program for healthcare managers working in community health promotion programs.
*Administrative Personnel ; Adult ; Attitude of Health Personnel ; Community Health Centers/*manpower ; Focus Groups ; Humans ; Job Description/*standards ; Metabolic Syndrome X/*therapy ; Middle Aged ; Republic of Korea ; Task Performance and Analysis ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: Analyses of risk factors associated with surgical site infections (SSIs) after laparoscopic appendectomy (LA) have been limited. Especially, the association of an underweight body mass index (BMI) with SSIs has not been clearly defined. This study aimed to identify the impact of underweight BMI in predicting SSIs after LA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The records of a total of 101 consecutive patients aged > or =16 years who underwent LA by a single surgeon between March 2011 and December 2012 were retrieved from a prospectively collected database. The rate of SSIs was compared among the underweight, normal and overweight and obese groups. Also, univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify the factors associated with SSIs. RESULTS: The overall rate of SSIs was 12.8%. The superficial incisional SSI rate was highest in the underweight group (44.4% in the underweight group, 11.0% in the normal group, and 0% in the overweight and obese group, p=0.006). In univariate analysis, open conversion and being underweight were determined to be risk factors for SSIs. Underweight BMI was also found to be a significant predictor for SSIs in multivariate analysis (odds ratio, 10.0; 95% confidence interval, 2.0-49.5; p=0.005). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated underweight BMI as being associated with SSIs after LA. Surgeons should be more cautious to prevent SSIs in patients that are underweight when performing LA.
Adult ; Aged ; Appendectomy/*adverse effects ; Appendicitis/*surgery ; *Body Mass Index ; Body Weight ; Female ; Humans ; *Laparoscopy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multivariate Analysis ; Obesity/complications ; Odds Ratio ; Prospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Surgical Wound Infection/*etiology ; Thinness/*complications ; Treatment Outcome

BACKGROUND: This study was conducted to evaluate the impact of the media type used for direct identification of colonies on the surveillance culture of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) by matrix assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). METHODS: CRE surveillance culture isolates were subjected to species identification using the MALDI Biotyper (Bruker Daltonics, Germany) for 2 months starting in March 2017. Four types of media were evaluated: blood agar (BA), Mueller Hinton agar (MH), MacConkey agar (Mac), and MacConkey agar containing imipenem of 1 µg/mL (IMP-Mac). CRE-like colonies on IMP-Mac and their subculture colonies on the other media were tested after overnight incubation and extended incubation for one additional day. The percent identification and score value were analyzed for each media types and incubation time when the identification was correct at the genus level. RESULTS: A total of 117 isolates were identified as 84 Klebsiella pneumoniae, 12 Escherichia coli, 9 Enterobacter cloacae, 5 Klebsiella oxytoca, 4 Enterobacter aerogenes, and 2 Raoultella ornithinolytica. The successful identification rates (SIR) for BA and MH were 98.3% and 97.4% (P=0.9), respectively, while those for Mac and IMP-Mac were 82.1% (P < 0.001) and 70.9% (P < 0.001), respectively. After extended incubation, SIRs were decreased to 96.6%, 96.6% (P=1.0), 61.5% (P < 0.001), and 58.1% (P < 0.001) on BA, MH, Mac, and IMP-Mac, respectively. The average score values were significantly lower for Mac (2.017±0.22) and IMP-Mac (1.978±0.24) than for BA (2.213±0.16) (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The low performance of the MALDI Biotyper applied directly to the colonies grown on Mac or IMP-Mac indicates that subculture on BA or MH is preferable before identification by MALDI-TOF MS.
Agar ; Enterobacter aerogenes ; Enterobacter cloacae ; Enterobacteriaceae* ; Escherichia coli ; Imipenem ; Klebsiella oxytoca ; Klebsiella pneumoniae ; Mass Spectrometry ; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization*

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Tinnitus, a common complaint of workers who are exposed to noise, can cause substantial negative effects on the quality of life of these workers. The aim of this study was to analyze the characteristics of tinnitus in patients with noise-induced hearing loss and the relationship between tinnitus and the duration of noise exposure. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Thirty-three patients with subjective tinnitus and noise-induced hearing loss were included in this study. Tinnitus questionnaire, Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) and audiological examinations were investigated according to the duration of noise exposure. RESULTS: There was a significant correlation between the tinnitus loudness and the duration of noise exposure. Patients who had longer periods of noise exposure had a louder tinnitus and higher THI score. However, there is no significant correlation between the characteristics of tinnitus and aging process. CONCLUSION: The duration of noise exposure influences the loudness and distress of tinnitus. An awareness of tinnitus should be considered as part of hearing conservation program.
Aging ; Hearing ; Hearing Loss ; Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced* ; Humans ; Methods ; Noise* ; Quality of Life ; Tinnitus*

Progressive transformation of germinal centers (PTGC) is a rarely diagnosed, benign disease of the lymph nodes that commonly manifests as chronic lymphadenopathy. PTGC may be characterized by single or multiple non-tender lymph nodes, and it commonly involves the cervical, axillary, and inguinal areas. Although PTGC is identified with concurrent lymphoma in some patients, it is not considered as a premalignant entity. Histopathologic diagnosis of PTGC is rarely made, and imaging findings have been reported in very few studies. We present a case of PTGC that occurred at the contralateral axillary lymph nodes and mimicked metastatic lymphadenopathy after breast cancer surgery. We also discuss its imaging findings.