PURPOSE: This study was done to explore communication between nurses during preceptorship. METHODS: A qualitative study, using content analysis was conducted. Semistructured interviews were held with 10 nurses working in urban hospitals. RESULTS: A total of 226 significant statements were selected from the data and classified into 4 categories and 23 subcategories. Communication experiences of new nurses' own performance were responses to reproach - acceptance and apology, and unresponsiveness due to feeling small and uncomfortable; responses to questions - misanswer; responses to directions - unconditional acceptance. Communication experiences of new nurses' performance by nurse preceptors were kindness, stigmatization, talking behind one's back, criticism and reproach, impolite words, and emotional expression. Communication experiences of nurse preceptors's own performance were directives, sympathy, reproach, unkindness, authoritative strictness, and nonverbal expression: being cold, and lessening of tension. Communication experiences of nurse preceptors' performance by new nurses were response to criticism - recognition and apology for mistakes, evasion of responsibility, and excuses; responses to explanations-active acceptance, and difficulty with communication due to lack of comprehension. CONCLUSION: These results provide deep understanding of nurses' communication during preceptorship and should help in developing comprehensive education programs for preceptor nurses and new nurses.
Comprehension ; Education ; Hospitals, Urban ; Preceptorship* ; Qualitative Research ; Stereotyping

PURPOSE: Although the two or three-postoperative doses of prophylactic antibiotics are recommended, the tendency for surgeons to prolong the administration of prophylactic antibiotics after colorectal surgery is a well-known fact. The aim of this study was to assess the prophylactic efficacy of two or three-doses of prophylactic antibiotics over a 24 hour period after elective colorectal surgery. METHODS: We reviewed the surgical complications in 69 patients who underwent elective colorectal surgery from April to Jun, 2006. All patients had preoperative mechanical bowel cleansing performed. As antibiotic prophylaxis, oral metronidazole was administered 2~3 times on the day before surgery and second generation cephalosporin were administered intravenously 30 minutes before surgical incision. After surgery, second generation cephalosporin, aminoglycoside and metronidazole were given to all the patients, at 2~3 doses for 24 hours. Wound conditions were checked on alternate days during the hospital stay and the patients were followed up for at least 30 days after discharge. RESULTS: In 69 patients, the diseases were cancer in 64 cases (92.8%). The procedures were anterior resection or lower anterior resection in 38 cases (55.1%), hemicoloectomy in 16 cases (23.2%), segmental resection in 9 cases, and abdomino-perineal resection or Hartmann's procedure in 6 cases. The wound complications were wound seroma in 3 cases (4.3%), wound dehiscence in 3 cases (4.3%) and anastomotic leakage in 1 case (1.4%). CONCLUSION: The wound complication rate was not high after antibiotic prophylaxis for 24 hours in patients who underwent elective colorectal surgery. Further studies are required to establish appropriate guidelines for antibiotic prophylaxis after elective colorectal surgery.
Anastomotic Leak ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Antibiotic Prophylaxis ; Colorectal Surgery ; Humans ; Length of Stay ; Metronidazole ; Seroma

Mesenteric cysts are rare intra-abdominal tumors. Mesenteric cysts are usually asymptomatic and are incidentally detected during physical or radiological examination. Although uncommon, complications such as infection, bleeding, torsion, rupture and intestinal obstruction cause an acute abdomen. Spontaneous infection is a very rare complication. We present a case of infected mesenteric cysts in the ascending colon, which caused an acute abdomen. A 26-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with acute abdominal pain. She had a painful mass in the right abdomen on physical examination. Abdominal computed tomography showed a hypodense cystic mass with septation at the mesenteric region of the ascending colon. A laparotomy revealed two cystic tumors at the mesenteric region of the ascending colon. She underwent a right hemicolectomy. The two cysts were filled with a yellowish turbid fluid. The walls of both two cysts were lined with a thin fibrotic membrane without any epithelial cell. They were diagnosed as psuedocysts with E. coli infection. Mesenferic cysts may cause life-threatening complications. Mesenteric cyst, even if it is asymptomatic and was diagnosed incidentally, should be removed completely.
Abdomen ; Abdomen, Acute ; Abdominal Pain ; Adult ; Colon, Ascending ; Epithelial Cells ; Female ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Intestinal Obstruction ; Laparotomy ; Membranes ; Mesenteric Cyst ; Physical Examination ; Rupture

OBJECTIVE: Free hand insertion of an external ventricular drain (EVD) is one of the most common emergency neurosurgical procedures, usually performed on critically ill patients. Complications such as infection and hemorrhage that accompany the placement of an EVD have been studied thoroughly, but few reports have focused on the accuracy of EVD positioning. As a result, the authors of this paper retrospectively studied the accuracy of tip positioning in the placement of an EVD. METHODS: One hundred and thirteen emergency EVDs were performed through Kocher's point during the past 3 years. All patients underwent the following procedures: at least one routine post-EVD computed tomographic (CT) scan that was retrospectively reviewed for accuracy of the EVD tip position, calculation of the Evan's index, and measurement of the intracranial length of the EVD. We divided the EVD tip position into 6 groups as follows:1) ipsilateral frontal horn of the lateral ventricle, 2) contralateral frontal horn of the lateral ventricle, 3) third ventricle, 4) body of the ipsilateral or contralateral lateral ventricle, 5) basal cisterns, or 6) brain parenchyma. Among the 6 groups, only the ipsilateral frontal horn group was considered to be the correct position for the EVD tip. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 55.6+/-15.3 years (age range, 12~90 years), and the most common indication for the EVD was supratentorial intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) (57.5%). Forty-five out of a total of 113 EVDs were placed by inexperienced neurosurgical trainees, and the remaining 68 were placed by experienced practitioners. Among 113 post-EVD CT scans, 48 EVD tips (42.5%) were in the ipsilateral frontal horn of the lateral ventricle (considered to be the correct position); 22 (19.5%) were in the third ventricle, 16 (14.1%) in the body of the ipsilateral or contralateral lateral ventricle, 14 (12.4%) in the contralateral frontal horn of the lateral ventricle, 11 (9.7%) within the brain parenchyma and 2 (1.8%) in the basal cistern. The mean estimated EVD length was 57+/-8.4mm. The mean length of EVDs that were positioned in the ipsilateral frontal horn was 55+/-4.3 mm, whereas the mean lengths of EVDs in the parenchyma and basal cistern were 64+/-14mm and 72+/-3.5mm, respectively. In addition, there was no statistically significant relationship between the surgeon's experience and the accuracy of the position of the EVD tip (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Emergency free hand placement of an EVD might be an inaccurate procedure. Further multi-institutional prospective studies are required to assess the accuracy and complications of free hand insertion of EVDs in an emergency setting. Studies are also needed on the feasibility of routine use of intra-operative neuro-navigation of other guidance tools, such as ultrasonography.
Animals ; Brain ; Cerebral Hemorrhage ; Critical Illness ; Emergencies ; Hand ; Hemorrhage ; Horns ; Humans ; Lateral Ventricles ; Neurosurgical Procedures ; Retrospective Studies ; Third Ventricle

PURPOSE: In the pediatric patients who have medically intractable epilepsy the callosotomy is useful to prevent the propagation of seizure from one hemisphere to the other. The indications of callosotomy are drop attack, life threatening primarily or secondarily generalized seizure, medically refractory mixed seizure types such as Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. In addition, the retarded children are not contraindicated. The anterior callosotomy is used to perform to control medically intractable epilepsy which is believed to have some advantages to total callosotomy. But, we propose that the anterior callosotomy does not seem to be superior to total callosotomy for the prevention of the propagation of seizure or complication. We describe a series of 21 patients with medically intractable epilepsy who underwent total callosotomy in one stage. METHODS: The diagnoses in these patients included Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, atonic seizure, infantile hemiplegia, and no obvious solitary seizure focus on chronic video/EEG monitoring to characterize seizures, electrographic activity, and postictal behaviors. Preoperatively 16 patients suffered from disabling drop attacks or intense head drop seizures which caused frequent physical injuries. Other types of seizures are 12 generalized tonic-clonic seizures, 7 complex partial seizures, 1 absence seizure, and 7 myoclonic seizures. Male:Female=14:7, Age: 2-22 years (Mean: 9.4 years). The follow-up period ranged from 0.8 to 3.8 years (median 2.4 years). Seizure outcome, parental assessment of daily function, and parental satisfaction with outcome were assessed postoperatively. RESULTS: Drop attacks disappeared completely during the entire follow-up period in 13 patients and decreased to less than 10% of baseline in five. The corpus callosum of the one patient were not completely sectioned in Diffusion Tensor Image, tractography. Other types of seizures resolved completely in 14 patients and decreased in 7. 2 patients experienced a transient disconnection syndrome, but completely resolved within four weeks. Overall daily function improved and parents were satisfied with the surgical outcome in all patients except three who experienced recurrent of drop attacks after operation. There was no sign of significant and persistent neurological deficits in any case. CONCLUSION: Results of total callosotomy in patients with medically intractable epilepsy with diffuse epileptic foci were favorable in most cases. The procedure was particularly effective against drop attacks causing physical injuries and impaired quality of life in these patients.
Child ; Corpus Callosum ; Diagnosis ; Diffusion ; Epilepsy* ; Epilepsy, Absence ; Follow-Up Studies ; Head ; Hemiplegia ; Humans ; Parents ; Quality of Life ; Seizures ; Syncope

Gachon Medical School has developed and implemented a medical ethics course entitled, "Life and Society II". The course uses dilemma discussion based on medical case studies to allow students to develop their moral reasoning ability in both clinical and hospital settings. The course was developed by the faculty of medicine during the 1998-1999 academic years. The program was designed in a four-stage process: 1) learning objectives were identified, 2) contemporary controversies and relevant ethical issues were chosen based on relevance to modern medical practice, 3) a syllabus was drafted based on the aforementioned ethical issues and teaching methods appropriate for each issue were integrated into the syllabus, and 4) tutorial manuals were produced. The course was taught to 41 second-year premedical students and evaluated by student surveys. The learning goals were identified through both a literature survey of contemporary issues in medical ethics and an in-house survey of important content to teach in a medical ethics course. The curriculum was designed based on the identification of specific learning objectives per ethical issue, selection of appropriate materials and content, organization of dilemma scenarios and formulation of questions for discussion. The course was taught using a variety of teaching formats: dilemma discussions, seminars, tutorials, lectures, assigned readings and student presentations. Positive results were obtained from the student surveys: it was discovered that most students thought that the course's learning objectives were achieved. Furthermore, of all the teaching methods employed, most of our students felt that discussing dilemmas was the most effective method for developing moral reasoning ability.
Curriculum ; Education* ; Ethics ; Ethics, Medical ; Humans ; Learning ; Lectures ; Reading ; Schools, Medical* ; Students, Premedical ; Teaching

Pre-operative chemoradiotherapy (CRT) is a preferable treatment option for patients with locally advanced rectal cancer. However, few data are available regarding pre-operative CRT for locally advanced colon cancer. Here, we describe two cases of successful treatment with pre-operative CRT and establish evidence supporting this treatment option in patients with locally advanced colon cancer. In the first case, a 65-year-old woman was diagnosed with ascending colon cancer with duodenal invasion. In the second case, a 63-year-old man was diagnosed with a colonic-duodenal fistula due to transverse colon cancer invasion. These case reports will help to establish a treatment consensus for pre-operative CRT in patients with locally advanced colon cancer.
Aged ; Chemoradiotherapy ; Colon ; Colon, Ascending ; Colon, Transverse ; Colonic Neoplasms ; Consensus ; Female ; Fistula ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Rectal Neoplasms