PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to analyze the trends in qualitative research articles that from 2004 to 2013 in the Journal of Korean Academy of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing and to raise issues for the evolution of qualitative research. METHODS: Descriptive statistics and qualitative evaluation were used in analysis of fifty qualitative studies. The focus was on research methodology and techniques to establish validity of the study. RESULTS: Most frequently used methodological orientation was phenomenology (48.0%) and the analytic method was Colaizzi's. Nearly two-thirds of studies focused on general population or psychiatric patients dwelling in community settings. There were no comments on validity in fifteen studies, and in the rest of studies, the description about the techniques to enhance the validity of study were not elaborated. CONCLUSION: Although qualitative studies in health care environment have increased recently, the proportion of qualitative studies compared with quantitative studies was relatively low in the Journal of Korean Academy of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. In order to make qualitative studies useful to nursing research, practice, administration and education, authors employing qualitative research methods should exert efforts to enhance validity of studies.
Delivery of Health Care ; Education ; Evaluation Studies as Topic ; Humans ; Mental Health* ; Nursing Research ; Nursing* ; Psychiatric Nursing ; Qualitative Research* ; Research Design

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to analysis the manuscripts rejected for publication in the Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration during the last three years six months (2012~2015 Jun). METHODS: Seventy eight rejected manuscripts were analyzed focusing on manuscripts characteristics, such as rejection rates, year of submission, occupation of first author and corresponding author, number of authors, funding, thesis or dissertation, article type, study participants, number of reviews prior to rejection, and 3rd reviewer. Also reviewers' quantitative evaluation scores and subjective comments were analyzed. Reviewers' subjective comments were analyzed using content analysis methodology. RESULTS: The mean rate for manuscript rejection was 28.9% and for quantitative research, qualitative research, and review papers the quantitative evaluation scores were 2.54+/-0.70, 2.39+/-0.69, and 2.39+/-0.69 out of 5 points, respectively. The most frequent subjective comment on rejected manuscripts was 'lack of rationale for research need'. CONCLUSION: In this study the characteristics and the reasons for rejecting manuscripts were identified. These findings can be used in developing effective strategies for researchers, reviewers and editors to improve the quality of research and research reviews of nursing administration research.
Evaluation Studies as Topic ; Financial Management ; Manuscripts as Topic ; Nursing Administration Research ; Nursing Research ; Nursing* ; Occupations ; Peer Review ; Publications ; Qualitative Research

PURPOSE: This study was designed to develop Nursing Service Quality Indicators(NSQIs) in nursing homes that would lead to an appropriate evaluation and improvement of nursing service quality. METHODS: The preliminary NSQIs were developed through literature reviews and analysis of existing quality indicators. A content validity testing was done twice by using a panel of experts who were from academia and the clinical areas. The final NSQIs were confirmed and applied in three nursing homes to test feasibility. RESULTS: The preliminary NSQIs had 4 domains and 31 indicators. Two content validity testings were performed. The indicators scoring over .80 CVI for each testing were selected and modified by experts' opinions. The final NSQIs consisted of7 domains and 33 indicators. They were applied in three nursing homes and it was revealed that all the indicators were applicable. CONCLUSION: In this study, it is shown that this new 'Nursing Service Quality Indicators in Nursing Homes' is suitable for a holistic evaluation of nursing service quality of elderly patients in nursing homes. This NSQIs will be able to provide a basis for establishing nursing care standards and improving the nursing care quality in nursing homes.
Humans ; Nursing Evaluation Research ; Nursing Homes/*standards ; Nursing Services/*standards ; *Quality Indicators, Health Care ; Reproducibility of Results

PURPOSE: The purposes of this study were to identify the factors influencing service quality in nursing homes, and to develop an evaluation instrument for service quality. METHODS: A three-phase process was employed for the study. 1) The important factors to evaluate the service quality in nursing homes were identified through a literature review, panel discussion and focus group interview, 2) the evaluation instrument was developed, and 3) validity and reliability of the study instrument were tested by factor analysis, Pearson correlation coefficient, Cronbach's alpha and Cohen's Kappa. RESULTS: Factor analysis showed that the factors influencing service quality in nursing homes were healthcare, diet/assistance, therapy, environment and staff. To improve objectivity of the instrument, quantitative as well as qualitative evaluation approaches were adopted. The study instrument was developed with 30 items and showed acceptable construct validity. The criterion-related validity was a Pearson correlation coefficient of .85 in 151 care facilities. The internal consistency was Cronbach's alpha=.95. CONCLUSION: The instrument has acceptable validity and a high degree of reliability. Staff in nursing homes can continuously improve and manage their services using the results of the evaluation instrument.
Humans ; Interviews as Topic ; Nursing Evaluation Research ; *Nursing Homes/standards ; Program Development ; Quality of Health Care/*standards ; Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument of task performance evaluation for clinical nurses, thus testing the validity and the reliability of the scale. METHOD: Data was collected from 84 Head Nurses and 255 General Nurses. A conceptual framework, composed of 4 factors of meaning in task performance evaluation, was identified through review of the relevant literature. A total of 78 items were developed and were used on a five-point likert scale. Through factor analysis, items whose factor loading was below 0.50 were deleted, thus 35 items remained. To test the validity and reliability of the instrument, the SPSS 11.0 windows program was used. RESULT: The results of the factor analysis indicated that 4 factors were classified and the cumulative percent of variance was 67.54%. The results of the reliability test indicated that Cronbach's coefficient of the total 35 items was over 0.9176. The results of the factor analysis indicated that factor loadings of all items was over 0.50. Conclusively, the validity and the reliability of the scale were proven. CONCLUSION: This study was identified as a tool with a high degree of reliability and validity.
*Task Performance and Analysis ; *Nursing Evaluation Research ; Nursing/*standards ; Middle Aged ; Korea ; Humans ; Female ; Adult

Cost effectiveness is a recent and newly emerging approach in nursing evaluation studies. Nursing is in a unique position among health care providers to respond to these efforts and is ready to provide evidence of its cost-effectiveness because nurses has long advocated a holistic view of patient care, that means, nurses are unique position to identify the full range of costs and effects. The cumulative evidence showed that nurses provided cost-effective care that substituted for physician services in many situations and new and important services in long-term care and nursing homes. The purpose of this article is to review, critique, and synthesize research on the cost-effectiveness of nursing care from the research methodology perspective. Two major problems are apparent from this review. First, there is no uniform approach to identifying and valuing resources used in producing nursing intervention options. Second, although it is not difficult to find reports of cost savings, the cost to effect ratio was not used to evaluate the relationship between the cost and effects of alternative options. Based on my analysis, the nursing CEA literature seemed to have huge variation in methods, so that it is not easy to compare the CEA methods among studies. There are still such methodological problems as we found in the literature review. Many of the studies reviewed here would have profited from improved designs. Therefore, future cost-effectiveness analyses should include methodological progress in the context of nursing area application such as the definition and quantification of multi-attribute effectiveness measures, employment of sensitivity analysis, a concept of discount. Nurse and nurse researchers should consider cost-effectiveness questions when addressing other research questions. Because these efforts are forcing policy makers to consider the economics of nursing, nurses should demonstrate and document the value of nursing as compared to other uses of society's health care resources.
Administrative Personnel ; Cost Savings ; Cost-Benefit Analysis ; Delivery of Health Care ; Employment ; Evaluation Studies as Topic ; Health Personnel ; Humans ; Long-Term Care ; Nursing Care ; Nursing Evaluation Research ; Nursing Homes ; Nursing Research* ; Nursing* ; Patient Care ; Research Design

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to develop a performance measurement scale for nurses in the hospital setting and to test the reliability and validity of the scale. METHODS: This study was conducted in three phases including an application of conceptual framework, development of scale items, and test of validity and reliability of the scale. In order to test validity and reliability, data was collected from 1,966 nurses who work in twenty eight hospitals nation-wide. The data was analyzed by the SAS 8.0 program using descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and reliability coefficients. RESULTS: The Performance measurement scale consisted of 4 factors which included competency, attitude, willingness to improve, and application of nursing process, and a total of 17 items. The Four factors explained 63.45% of the total variance, and Cronbach's alpha of the scale was .92. CONCLUSION: The performance measurement scale developed by this study is a reliable and valid instrument that is utilized effectively to evaluate the performance of hospital nurses. Furthermore, it could be used as a steping stone to assess educational needs of nurses, develop professionalism among nurses, and improve quality of nursing care in the hospital setting.
Adult ; *Employee Performance Appraisal ; Female ; Humans ; Models, Nursing ; *Nursing Evaluation Research ; Nursing Staff, Hospital/*standards ; Reproducibility of Results ; Task Performance and Analysis

PURPOSE: This methodological research was designed to develop performance evaluation key indicators (PEKIs) for management by objectives (MBO) and to estimate their weights for hospital nurses. METHODS: The PEKIs were developed by selecting preliminary indicators from a literature review, examining content validity and identifying their level of importance. Data were collected from November 14, 2007 to February 18, 2008. Data set for importance of indicators was obtained from 464 nurses and weights of PEKIs domain was from 453 nurses, who worked for at least 2 yr in one of three hospitals. Data were analyzed using chi-square-test, factor analysis, and the Analytical Hierarchy Process. RESULTS: Based upon Content Validity Index of .8 or above, 61 indicators were selected from the 100 preliminary indicators. Finally, 40 PEKIs were developed from the 61 indicators, and categorized into 10 domains. The highest weight of the 10 domains was customer satisfaction, which was followed by patient education, direct nursing care, profit increase, safety management, improvement of nursing quality, completeness of nursing records, enhancing competence of nurses, indirect nursing care, and cost reduction, in that order. CONCLUSION: PEKIs and their weights can be utilized for impartial evaluation and MBO for hospital nurses. Further research to verify PEKIs would lead to successful implementation of MBO.
Adult ; *Employee Performance Appraisal ; Humans ; Models, Nursing ; Nursing Evaluation Research ; Nursing Staff, Hospital/*standards ; Task Performance and Analysis

PURPOSE: This study focuses on investigating the effectiveness of simulation education on emergency management using a low-fidelity simulator as related to clinical skill performance, self-confidence, knowledge, learning satisfaction, and critical thinking disposition in new nurses. METHODS: A pre-post test experimental design of nonequivalent control group was applied. Fifty-five new nurses were recruited, 28 nurses for the experimental group and 27 nurses for the control group. A simulation education for emergency management comprising knowledge lecture, team learning, skill education, team simulation, and debriefing was developed and implemented from Feb. 14 to 27, 2015. Data were analyzed with percentage, average, and standard deviation, chi-square, and t-test using SPSS. RESULTS: The experimental group showed significantly higher knowledge (t=5.81, p<.001), clinical skill performance (t=10.08, p<.001), self-confidence (t=-6.24, p<.001), critical thinking disposition (t=2.42, p=.019), and learning satisfaction (t=4.21, p<.001) for emergency management compared with the control group who had traditional lecture education. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that a simulation education using a low-fidelity simulator is an efficient teaching method for new nurses to deepen their clinical skill performance, self-confidence, knowledge, learning satisfaction, and critical thinking disposition in learning emergency management.
Clinical Competence ; Education ; Emergencies ; Emergency Nursing ; Evaluation Studies as Topic ; Learning ; Patient Simulation ; Research Design ; Teaching ; Thinking

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to develop an e-Learning program that assists nursing students' clinical practice in operating room nursing and to examine the learning effects. METHODS: Based on content and need analysis, 9 learning modules were developed for nursing care in operating rooms and with operating equipment. To verify the effects of the program, a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design was employed. The participants in this study were 74 third-year nursing students (34 in the experimental and 40 in the control group) from a junior college in G-city, Korea, who were engaged in a one week clinical practicum in an operating unit. Frequencies, chi2-test and t-test with the SPSS program 17.0 were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Knowledge was significantly higher in the experimental group compared to the control group (p=.018). However, there was no significant difference between the two groups in self-directed learning. The experimental group had significantly higher motivation toward learning, which was examined posttest only (p=.027). CONCLUSION: These results indicate that the implementation of an e-Learning program needs to be continued as an effective educational tool, but more research on the best way to implement e-Learning in students' practicum is needed.
Adult ; Clinical Competence ; Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humans ; *Internet ; Motivation ; Nursing Education Research ; Operating Room Nursing/*education ; Program Evaluation ; Questionnaires ; Students, Nursing/*psychology ; Young Adult