PURPOSE: This study was done to examine how medication contamination in a single-dose glass ampule is affected by minute glass flakes generated in different methods of cutting the ampule. METHOD: Sixty medicationcontaining glass ampules were randomly assigned to two groups. The number of glass flakes, resulting from two different cutting methods (with cotton and without cotton), were counted under the microscope. Contamination was evaluated by extracted the medication with a syringe and culturing it in E. coli, coliform, and aerobic bacteria culture media. Result: Fewer glass flakes were found in the ampules when the ampule was cut with cotton. The use of cotton, however, did not significantly change the degree of drug contamination. CONCLUSION: Although minute glass flakes generated in the ampule cutting operation did not significantly contaminate the medication and the use of cotton decreased the number of glass flakes in the ampules, glass flakes injected into the blood and tissues of the patient remain a risk factor. Therefore, pre-filled syringes or syringes with filters would be alternative methods and safeguards against the possible injection of glass flakes generated while cutting the ampule.
Bacteria, Aerobic ; Culture Media ; Drug Contamination ; Glass ; Humans ; Risk Factors ; Syringes

PURPOSE: This study was done to determine how a hospital life guidance movie enhanced the understanding of hospital life by elderly in-patients. METHOD: A non-equivalent control group post-test design was used for the study. The experimental group watched a movie on guidance for hospital life while an in-patient control group read corresponding guidance booklets. The understanding and satisfaction from the respective programs for the two groups were surveyed with a questionnaire. The data were analyzed using SPSS. RESULTS: The group which watched the movie had a better understanding of hospital life than the group which read the booklets. The patients who watched the movie also expressed more satisfaction with their guide program than the patients who only read the booklets. Understanding of hospital life had relevance to satisfaction with the given program. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggests that a movie on hospital life provides better guidance which helps the prospective patients understand and adapt better to their hospital life. Therefore, this type of movie is considered to be an effective medium to provide guidance to elderly in-patients.
Aged ; Humans ; Pamphlets ; Patient Admission ; Patient Education as Topic ; Questionnaires

OBJECTIVE: The accuracy of analytical results of blood and urine heavy metals came out to the main issue on occupational health from late eighties. The discrepancy of the results for same samples from different laboratories made the diagnosis for occupational diseases be unreliable. Therefore, a quality control program for analysis of samples taken from workplace had been introduced in Korea since 1992. This study aims to show the quality control program f'or analysis of blood and urine samples and its proficient rates from 1992 to 1999 and to know how they have been being used in occupational health. METHODS: The quality control program runs twice a year with mandatory items of blood lead and urine hippuvic acid and voluntary items of blood cadmium and manganese and urine mandellic acid and methyl hippuric acid. Participant laboratories are receiving three levels for each items and two out of three samples have to be qualified for being a proficient laboratory for the item. The acceptable range of blood lead and urine hippuric acid is +/-15% and that of the others is within 3 SD(standard deviation) from the reference values. RESULTS: The proficient rates of blood lead and urine hippuric acid was 89%, 90%, repectively, however those of the other voluntary items have been from 51% to 62%. The proficient rates of urine mercury and urine N-methylformamide(NMF), which are introduced since 1999, were very poor. Urine hippuric acid and blood lead were analyzed frequently for the purpose of biological monitoring conducting by special health examination organizations. Urine and blood manganese and urine metabolites of trichloroethylene, urine phenol, methylhippuric acid and cadmium were followed. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, the quality control program for biological monitoring has dramatically improve the ability of analysing blood and urine samples and eventually contributes to diagnose occupational diseases and to prevent occupational poisoning. However, some biological monitoring data, such as urine manganese, mercury and NMF, have been still reported from laboratories that were not accepted as a proficient laboratory.
Cadmium ; Diagnosis ; Environmental Monitoring ; Korea ; Manganese ; Metals, Heavy ; Occupational Diseases ; Occupational Health ; Phenol ; Poisoning ; Quality Control ; Reference Values ; Trichloroethylene

No abstract available.

PURPOSE: This study was to examine the effects of Taping therapy on the deformed angle of the foot and pain in hallux valgus patients. METHOD: The subjects were 24 feet from 15 patients who were diagnosed withhallus valgus at the orthopedic department of K University Hospital in Seoul. Taping therapy was conducted 15 times overall during a four-week period. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and t-test. RESULT: The deformed angle of the foot of the hallus valgus patients significantly improved from 21.95(4.38) to 18.75(4.80) after Taping therapy. Pain significantly decreased from 4.73(1.56) to 3.45(2.21) after Taping therapy. CONCLUSION: The result shows that Taping therapy is effective in improving the deformed angle of the foot and in decreasing pain in the hallux valgus patients.
Adult ; Female ; Hallux Valgus/*therapy ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; *Orthotic Devices ; Pain

OBJECTIVE: This study was performed to evaluate the effect of cervical cerclage and the clinical characteristics in incompetent internal os of the cervix (IIOC). METHODS: A study was conducted on 170 patients with IIOC, 199 cases of IIOC were admitted and treated with McDonald operation or modified Shirodkar operation at department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Il Sin Christian Hospital from January 1. 1994 to December 31. 1998, of this 14 cases were follow up lost, so 185 cases were analyzed. RESULTS: 1) The incidence of IIOC was 0.43%, 1 in 233 deliveries. 2) The mean age of IIOC patients was 30.54yrs old and the most frequent age group was in 30-34yrs old group (43.78%). 3) The average number of gravida and parity before operation were 4.71 and 1.62. & the success rate of operation was low at high gravida & parity. 4) The predisposing factor was previous history of dilation & curettage (43.75%), Cx. laceration after delivery (6.49%), midtrimester termination (4.32%) etc. 5) The operation methods were McDonald operation (91.35%) and modified Shirodkar operation (8.65%) & the success rate of McDonald operation and modified Shirodkar operation were 85.80% and 87.50%. 6) The successful fetal salvage rate was 85.95% and the highest success rate was 87.50% in 14-16 weeks of gestation group. 7) The more cervix dilate, the more failure occurred. 8) The causes of operation failure were premature rupture of membrane (50.00%), preterm labor (34.62%), FDIU, anomaly, APH etc. 9) The delivery methods after operation were vaginal delivery (65.54%), cesarean delivery (34.46%). CONCLUSION: The 14-16th weeks of gestation group & no cervical dilatation have higher success rate indicating that early diagnosis and appropriate timing of operation is associated with a greater operation success rate.
Causality ; Cerclage, Cervical ; Cervix Uteri* ; Curettage ; Early Diagnosis ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gynecology ; Humans ; Incidence ; Labor Stage, First ; Lacerations ; Membranes ; Obstetric Labor, Premature ; Obstetrics ; Parity ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Trimester, Second ; Rupture

PURPOSE: This study was aimed at developing an efficient nursing method for the management of constipation by comparing the effects of abdominal meridian massage on the symptoms of constipation. METHOD: The subjects were determined by the Rome II criteria and the Constipation Assessment Scale from Aug 30 through Sep 26, 2002. They were randomly divided into two groups: one experimental group of 16, another control group of 15. Abdominal meridian massage was given to the experimental group and no massage was given to the control group. The frequency of defecation and severity of constipation by CAS were measured. The data was analyzed with the t-test, chi-square-test, and repeated measures ANOVA. RESULTS: There was a significant improvement in frequency of defecation, and severity of constipation in the experimental group compared to the control group. CONCLUSION: Abdominal meridian massage can be considered an effective nursing method for the management of constipation among CVA patients.
Middle Aged ; *Massage ; Male ; Humans ; Female ; Constipation/*nursing/therapy ; Cerebrovascular Accident ; Aged ; Acupuncture Points ; *Acupressure ; *Abdomen

PURPOSE: To identify age, gender, medication, seasons and place of fall, and areas of the fractures from the fall among the hospitalized elderly patients in order to provide the basic data for future fall prevention program for the elderly. METHODS: This study was conducted for 106 elderly patients admitted into a university hospital by fractures from the fall during the period from January 1, 1999 to December 31, 1999. Data on the age, gender, medication, season and place of the fall, areas of the fracture were collected based on their medical records. RESULT: The age range of the subjects were from 60 to 96 years old. The subjects were aged between 60-69 years old 49(46.2%), between 70-79 years old 31(29.2%), between 80-89 years old 24(22.6%), and over 90 years old 2(1.9%). Male patients comprised was 34(28.3%), while female patients comprised 76(71.7%). The fall occurred in Winter most frequently 34(32%). The place of the fall included room 81(76.4%), streets 13(12.3%), bathroom 6(5.7%), stair 4(3.8%), and mountain 2(1.9%). Twenty-two subjects (20.8%) had medication regularly, while 84 subjects (79.2%) had no medication. The areas of the fracture from the fall included upper extremities 20(18.9%) and lower extremities 86(81.1%). Radius fracture (7.5%) was the area where the fracture occurred most frequently in upper extremities and femur fracture (52.8%) was the area where the fracture occurred most frequently in lower extremities. A significant difference was found in the fracture area by age, season and place of the fall (p<.05). No significant difference was found in the fracture area by gender and medication. In all age groups, seasons and places of the fall, occurrence of fracture in lower extremity was significantly higher than that in upper extremity.
Aged* ; Aged, 80 and over ; Female ; Femur ; Humans ; Lower Extremity ; Male ; Medical Records ; Radius Fractures ; Seasons ; Upper Extremity

This study was alone to identify the meaning and the essence of the menopause experience by means of the Colaizzi's phenomenological method. The participants were eight women, 48-60 years old, who were experiencing perimenopause or postmenopause. They were selected using a theoretical sampling technique. Data were collected through in-depth interviews from April 6 to May 20, 1999. The interviews took from 40 to 90 minutes. Interviews were tape- recorded and analyzed using the constant comparative method. Significant statements from data were extracted. From these formulated meanings, 18 themes, 8 clusters of themes and 3 catagories were constructed. Final descriptions were found to be valid through the interviewee validation process. Essential themes of the menopausal experience which emerged were "coming of change", "inclined to deny the in mind", and "adapted life". Menopause, as coming of change was the turning point in the women's life cycle acompaning changes, in body and mind and marital life changes. Especially, the unpredictable menopausal changes were an opportunity to hide the fact of menopause and not to talk with anybody. Such a phenomenon reflected on the psychological attributes of menopausal woman such as an inclination to deny in the mind. Their experiences of menopause as adapted life were generally regarded as signalling the end of fertility and were interpreted as a natural developmental process that indicates a life transition. In conclusion, participants depicted the menopause as a natural stage in the life cycle. In order to help women have a positive life change and self accomplishment, nurses need to understand the essential themes of the menopausal experience. Thus, the importance of an open approach in eliciting the phenomena of menopause cannot be overemphasized. In conclusion, the results of this study suggest that exercise program is one of the effective interventions to improve the self-efficacy and also to lower the fatigue in the sample of female college students.
Climacteric ; Fatigue ; Female ; Fertility ; Humans ; Life Cycle Stages ; Menopause ; Perimenopause ; Postmenopause

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of preclinical clinical performance examination (CPX) on nursing students' confidence in their nursing skills and critical thinking competence. METHODS: The design of this research was one-group pretest-posttest, and the participants were 112 nursing students. The preclinical CPX consisted of a clinical examination, patient-nurse relationship, oral test of related knowledge, written test of the nursing process, and debriefing using comprehensive scenarios based on real patient cases. The confidence of nursing skills consisted of an 8-item NRS and the critical thinking competence consisted of a 12-item 4-point scale developed by researchers and measured in both the pretest and posttest. The collected data were analyzed using paired t-tests, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation coefficients. RESULTS: The score for confidence in nursing skills (t=10.60, p<.001) and that for critical thinking competence (t=7.03, p<.001) increased significantly after preclinical CPX. CONCLUSION: This study showed that preclinical CPX was effective in improving nursing students' confidence in their nursing skills and critical thinking competence. Therefore, preclinical CPX is expected to be utilized in nursing practice education. Additional studies including those on control groups are recommended to compare differences between the preclinical CPX group and control group.
Education ; Humans ; Mental Competency* ; Nursing Process ; Nursing* ; Students, Nursing ; Thinking*