Purpose: We explored emergency nurses’ experiences of coping with moral distress. Methods: A qualitative research design was used. We conducted in-depth interviews with 11 nurses working at a regional emergency medical center in South Korea. Data were analyzed using conventional content analysis. Results: The main theme of nurses’ coping with moral distress was “a passive emotion-based response.” We also extracted three categories of coping strategies: “uncritical adaptation to anguished situation,” “self-justification for not acting,” and “flight from ethical decision making.” Conclusion Nurses coped with moral distress in a passive and emotional way, possibly because of perceived incompetence and compliance to an organizational hierarchy. The findings imply that effective approaches to addressing moral distress in emergency nurses are needed at the individual and organizational levels.

We did clinical analysis on the macular circulatory state in 34 patients(34 eyes)who were diagnosed to have branch retinal vein occlusion and followed for over 6 months. After dividing them into two groups according to their occlusion sites, we evaluated the differences of foveal capillary ring state and size of macular ischemic area between the ones who had vein occlusion in their first retinal branches and the others in their second and the rest retinal branches. We were unable to find any differences between them. However, we could find statistical correlation between their visual acuities in acute stage of the disease and macular circulatory states even though we could not find any differences between their final visual acuities or degree of their visual improvement and circulatory states during follow up period.
Capillaries ; Follow-Up Studies ; Retinal Vein Occlusion ; Retinaldehyde ; Veins ; Visual Acuity

Anthors have evaluated postoperative visual outcome and complications on 60 high myopic patients who had underwent extracapsular cataract extraction (ECCE) with or without posterior chamber intraocular lens (PC IOL) implantation, retrospectively. The average axial length of eyeballs of patients underwent only ECCE and ECCE with PC IOL were 30.7 mm and 27.04 mm, respectively. Corrected visual acuity was improved in 56 eyes (91.5%) after cataract sugery. 19 eyes (63.6%) out of 30 aphakia and 11 eyes(36.2%) out of 30 pseudophakia showed better than 20/40 and this difference was statistically significant (p< 0.05). Posterior capsular opacity and cystoid macular edema (CME) were founf in 7 eyes (23.3%) and in 2 eyes (6.6%) of 30 aphakia, while those were in 2 eyes (6.6%) and 1 eye (3.3.%) of 30 pseudophakia, respectively. However, these complications did not decrease a visual acuity and there was no retinal detachment in both aphakia and pseudophakia, with these resuls, it was founf that the clinical results of ECCE with PC IOL was more effective in visual improvement and prevention of posterior capsular opacity than only ECCE for high myopic patients.
Aphakia* ; Cataract Extraction ; Cataract* ; Humans ; Lenses, Intraocular ; Macular Edema ; Myopia* ; Pseudophakia* ; Retinal Detachment ; Retrospective Studies ; Visual Acuity

A retrospective study was designed to compare postoperative effect in 45 cases of patients of bicanaliculoplasty with lower canaliculoplasty. The 30 of 45 cases received bicanalicular stent and the 15 cases had lower canaliculoplasty using Mini-Monoka(r) (lower canaliculoplasty).The age ranged from 5 to 67 years (mean: 37.1 years).Thirty-two patients were men and 6 patients were women.After follow-up period of 6 to 12 month (mean 8.6 month), 27 cases (90%)of bicanaliculoplasty and 9 cases (60%)of lower canaliculoplasty became recanalized well. Postoperative complications included granuloma of the punctum in both cases (6 cases of bicanaliculoplasty, 3 case of lower canaliculoplasty)and loss of tube (3 case of bicanaliculoplasty, 6 case of lower canaliculoplasty). When both upper and lower canalicula were injuried, better result was seen in the method of lower canaliculoplasty using Mini-Monoka(r) than that of bicanaliculoplasty using bicanalicular stent. Both bicanalicular stent and Mini-Monoka(r) were good for canaliculoplasty.
Follow-Up Studies ; Granuloma ; Humans ; Lacerations* ; Male ; Postoperative Complications ; Retrospective Studies ; Stents*

OBJECTIVES: To examine the association of subjective depressive symptoms and cognitive dysfunction in patients with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). METHODS: 36 patients with mTBI without structural abnormality in the brain imaging study were recruited. Participants were subdivided into two groups by a cutoff score of 70T in the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Cognitive functions including intelligence, memory, and executive function were significantly lower in the <70T group compared to the > or =70T group. In addition, BDI scores were negatively correlated with performances in most of the neuropsychological tests. RESULTS: Patients group who scored 70T or more in the BDI showed significantly lower scores in most items of the neuropsychological tests. CONCLUSION: High subjective depression is associated with low neuropsychological performance in mTBI.
Brain Injuries ; Depression ; Executive Function ; Humans ; Intelligence ; Memory ; Neuroimaging

Aged ; Dyslipidemias ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Liver ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Male ; Rosuvastatin Calcium ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use

PURPOSE: Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) in children needs to be elucidated in terms of clinical characteristics, natural history, the most effective treatment and prognostic factors, as the disease is very rare and its definition and classification has not reached a consensus by many physician. This study was aimed to describe the characteristics and the disease courses of Korean children with MDS, and to analyze the usefulness of prognostic scoring systems in the prediction of transformation to acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) and overall survival among subgroups. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fourteen children with MDS seen at Chonnam University Hospital and additional 59 patients identified by the review of Korean literature were evaluated to define clinical characteristics and disease courses. Kaplan-Meier (K-M) probability of leukemic transformation and overall survival were plotted. FAB subtypes, subgroups by Boumemouth Scoring System (BSS), and International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS) risk groups were compared to predict transformation to AML and overall survival. RESULTS: The median age of 14 patients was 36.5 months. The sex ratio was 3.7:1 (M: F). The frequency of FAB subtypes in Korea was similar to that of other countries except for higher proportion of RA (37%). K-M 3-yr probability of AML transformation and survival for Korean patients were 54.7%, and 49.8%, respectively. Although FAB system, BMS and IPSS were all capable of discriminating subgroups in the prediction of AML transformation and survival, they did not reach the significant level possibly due to small number of patients assigned to each subgroup. CONCLUSION: The clinical characteristics of Korean children with MDS were not different from those of other countries. This study showed the high rate of AML transformation and poor survival in children with MDS.
Child ; Classification ; Consensus ; Humans ; Jeollanam-do ; Korea ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; Myelodysplastic Syndromes* ; Natural History ; Prognosis ; Sex Ratio

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the proposed association between restless legs syndrome (RLS) and the prevalence of hypertension. METHODS: A meta-analysis was conducted based on searches of the PUBMED, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and Korean electronic databases. Cohort and cross-sectional studies reporting the incidence of hypertension in individuals with RLS were included. Dichotomous data were pooled to obtain an odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for the prevalence of hypertension in individuals with RLS. The main outcome measure of the study was prevalence of hypertension in patients with RLS compared with a control group. RESULTS: One cohort study and eight cross-sectional studies were included in the meta-analysis. Individuals with RLS had an increased prevalence of hypertension (all studies: OR=1.13, 95% CI=1.04–1.23; cross-sectional studies: OR=1.12, 95% CI=1.01–1.24). However, in subgroup analyses controlling for cardiovascular risk factors, such as diabetes mellitus and dyslipidemia, the differences in the prevalence of hypertension between RLS and control patients were no longer significant. CONCLUSION: Patients with RLS may have a higher prevalence of hypertension, according to a pooled analysis, but the results remain to be confirmed in well-designed prospective studies.
Cohort Studies ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Dyslipidemias ; Humans ; Hypertension* ; Incidence ; Odds Ratio ; Outcome Assessment (Health Care) ; Prevalence* ; Prospective Studies ; Restless Legs Syndrome* ; Risk Factors

OBJECTIVE: Dysphagia after stroke can cause a range of complications, especially aspiration pneumonia, which can be life-threatening. Therefore, rehabilitation methods to reduce aspiration in patients with dysphagia are important. This study examined the effects of neuromuscular electrical stimulation combined with saliva or dry swallowing on the swallowing function of stroke patients with dysphagia. METHODS: The participants were assigned to either the experimental group (n=9) or control group (n=8). The experimental group received neuromuscular electrical stimulation combined with saliva or dry swallowing, whereas the control group received only voluntary swallowing. Both groups received training 5 days per week for 4 weeks. The oropharyngeal swallowing function was assessed using the video fluoroscopic dysphagia scale (VDS) and penetration-aspiration scale (PAS) based on a video fluoroscopic swallowing study. RESULTS: After the intervention, the experimental group showed greater improvement in the pharyngeal phase of the VDS and PAS scores than the control group (P=0.038, 0.027, respectively). CONCLUSION: Neuromuscular electrical stimulation combined with saliva or dry swallowing improves the pharyngeal swallowing function of stroke patients with dysphagia better than saliva or dry swallowing alone.
Deglutition Disorders* ; Deglutition* ; Electric Stimulation* ; Humans ; Pneumonia, Aspiration ; Rehabilitation ; Saliva* ; Stroke*

Suprahyoid muscles play an important role in normal swallowing by providing muscle contractions involved in airway protection and upper esophageal sphincter opening. However, these muscles can be weakened by neurological disease or aging, which can result in pharyngeal dysphagia. Therefore, strengthening of the suprahyoid muscles is a clinically important treatment. In addition, it is important to know exactly how and which method is optimal. Many therapeutic exercise methods have been reported to strengthen the suprahyoid muscles, and new methods related to this have recently been reported. Therefore, this study will briefly summarize the representative traditional methods and the recently reported, relatively new methods for strengthening the suprahyoid muscles.
Aging ; Deglutition ; Deglutition Disorders ; Esophageal Sphincter, Upper ; Exercise ; Methods ; Muscle Contraction ; Muscles ; Rehabilitation