PURPOSE: This study was done to develop a measurement tool for evaluation of continuing nursing education programs and to verify its validity for effective management and quality of education programs. METHODS: The draft of the evaluation measurement was developed from consultation with professionals, focus group interviews targeting groups of nurses, and individual interviews with education program planners. After 6 professionals examined content validity, 46 items were retained. A pilot-survey was conducted to confirm the time required to complete the questionnaire and the level of understanding of general content and each item in the questionnaire. Construct validity was verified through exploratory factor analysis of data from a survey with 44 items completed by 452 nurses and 59 education program planners. RESULTS: The final evaluation measurement for continuing nursing education programs consisted of 6 evaluation factors and 36 evaluation items. The 6 evaluation factors included identifying program goals and target groups, program planning, performance, operation and management, program outcomes, and program effectiveness. CONCLUSION: The evaluation measurement for continuing nursing education programs developed in this study is considered suitable to utilize as an evaluation measurement of the quality of continuing education programs for nurses.
Adult ; *Education, Nursing, Continuing ; Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Female ; Focus Groups ; Humans ; Interviews as Topic ; Middle Aged ; Nurses/*psychology ; Pilot Projects ; *Program Evaluation ; Questionnaires

PURPOSE: This study identifies the influences of self-directed learning ability and metacognition on clinical competence in nursing students. METHOD: The subjects consisted of 290 second and third year nursing students. The data were analyzed using t-tests, ANOVA, Scheffe's test, Pearson's correlation coefficients and multiple linear regression via SPSS Statistics version 18.0. RESULTS: On a scale of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest), the mean self-directed learning ability score of the subjects was 3.19, mean metacognition score was 3.36 and mean clinical competence score was 3.29. A positive correlation was found between clinical competence with self-directed learning ability and metacognition. The strongest predictor of clinical competence was metacognition. CONCLUSION: To improve the clinical competence of nursing students, these findings indicate that increasing metacognition ability is required.
Clinical Competence* ; Humans ; Learning* ; Linear Models ; Students, Nursing*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to contribute to the development of an efficient teaching-learningmethod by analyzing effects of writing reflective journals onmeta-cognition and problem solving ability in nursing students in education applying blended learning for fundamental nursing skills. METHODS: The research design was a one-group pretest-posttest design, done to assess changes in meta-cognition and problem solving ability. Participants were 63 nursing students taking the fundamental nursing skills course at one college in Gyeonggi Province. The course was offered from March 21 to June 3, 2016. Data were collected using pre and post tests given before and after writing of reflective journals in blended learning. Data were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, Scheffé's test and paired t-test with SPSS Statistics version 20.0. RESULTS: The results of this study show that scores formeta-cognition and problemsolving ability of these students were all above average. There was a statistically significant difference inmeta-cognition between pre and post writing of reflective journals but not for problem-solving ability. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that writing a reflective journal in blended learning is an efficient teaching-learning method to improve meta-cognition in nursing students.
Education ; Gyeonggi-do ; Humans ; Learning* ; Methods ; Nursing* ; Problem Solving* ; Research Design ; Students, Nursing* ; Writing*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to contribute to the development of efficient methods of nursing practice education by evaluating effects of core fundamental nursing skills education on self-efficacy, clinical competence and practice satisfaction in nursing students. METHOD: The research design was a one group pretest-posttest design and it was done to assess changes in self-efficacy and clinical competence from pre to the post-test which was given after the core fundamental nursing skills education was completed. Data were collected from September 5 to December 20, 2013 from 156 nursing students who were taking the 12-hours core fundamental nursing skills education at one university in Gyeonggi-do. This practicum was composed of 6 core fundamental nursing skills. RESULTS: Self-efficacy and clinical competence scores improved. There was no significant difference in self-efficacy but there was a significant difference of clinical competence. In the subscales of clinical competence, the domain of nursing skill was scored the highest. The score for practice satisfaction was also high. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that the core fundamental nursing skills education is effective in improving clinical competence and practice satisfaction in nursing students. But new strategies are needed to improve self-efficacy.
Clinical Competence* ; Education* ; Gyeonggi-do ; Humans ; Nursing* ; Personal Satisfaction ; Research Design ; Self Efficacy ; Students, Nursing*

Costello syndrome (CS) is a rare multiple congenital abnormality syndrome characterized by a typical coarse face, developmental delay, psychomotor and growth retardation, neurologic abnormalities, cardiac and cutaneous anomalies, severe feeding difficulties with postnatal growth failure, and increased risk of tumors. Since Costello first described it in 1971 and again in 1977, over 100 cases have been reported worldwide. It was recently shown that CS is a congenital condition caused by heterozygous de novo missense mutations affecting the codon for glycine 12 or 13 of the HRAS gene. We experienced three unrelated cases with coarse faces, developmental delays, short statures, macrocephaly, and redundant skin with deep palmar and plantar creases, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and atrial tachycardia, which are characteristic of CS.
Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic ; Codon ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Costello Syndrome* ; Developmental Disabilities ; Glycine ; Macrocephaly ; Maxillofacial Abnormalities ; Mutation, Missense ; Skin ; Tachycardia

PURPOSE: Hospice and palliative care services (HPC) are not commonly utilized in Korea; however, palliative care teams (PCTs) have been found to be effective at addressing the shortcomings in HPC. In this study, we attempted to outline unmet palliative care needs of terminal cancer patients and the potential benefits of PCTs as perceived by doctors in Korea. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We surveyed 474 doctors at 10 cancer-related academic conferences from June to November 2014 with a self-report questionnaire to assess their perceptions of end-of-life care needs and the expected effects of PCTs on caring for terminal cancer patients. Among those surveyed, 440 respondents who completed the entire questionnaire were analyzed. RESULTS: In all domains, fewer participants reported satisfaction with palliative care services than those reporting needs (p < 0.001). The surveyed participants also reported difficulties with a shortage of time for treatment, psychological burden, lack of knowledge regarding hospice care, lengths of stay, and palliative ward availability. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that female doctors (odds ratio [OR], 2.672; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.035 to 6.892), doctors who agreed that referring my patients to a HPC means I must give up on my patient (OR, 3.075; 95% CI, 1.324 to 7.127), and doctors who had no experience with HPC education (OR, 3.337; 95% CI, 1.600 to 7.125) were associated with higher expected effectiveness of PCT activities. CONCLUSION: The PCT activities were expected to fill the doctor’s perceived unmet HPC needs of terminal cancer patients and difficulties in communications.
Congresses as Topic ; Education ; Female ; Hospice Care ; Hospices ; Humans ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Palliative Care ; Referral and Consultation ; Surveys and Questionnaires