Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Medical Staff, Hospital ; statistics & numerical data ; Middle Aged ; Nursing Staff, Hospital ; statistics & numerical data ; Sports ; statistics & numerical data

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to compare statistical methods to control response bias in nursing activity surveys. METHODS: Data were collected at a medical unit of a general hospital. The number of nursing activities and consumed activity time were measured using self-report questionnaires. Descriptive statistics were used to identify general characteristics of the units. Average, Z-standardization, gamma regression, finite mixture model, and stochastic frontier model were adopted to estimate true activity time controlling for response bias. RESULTS: The nursing activity time data were highly skewed and had non-normal distributions. Among the 4 different methods, only gamma regression and stochastic frontier model controlled response bias effectively and the estimated total nursing activity time did not exceeded total work time. However, in gamma regression, estimated total nursing activity time was too small to use in real clinical settings. Thus stochastic frontier model was the most appropriate method to control response bias when compared with the other methods. CONCLUSION: According to these results, we recommend the use of a stochastic frontier model to estimate true nursing activity time when using self-report surveys.
Adult ; Female ; Humans ; *Models, Statistical ; Nursing Staff, Hospital/*statistics & numerical data ; Questionnaires ; Task Performance and Analysis ; Time Factors

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to understand and describe the hospital workers' experience related to the hospital evaluation program implemented in Korea between 2004 and 2009. METHODS: During 2010, data were collected using focus group interviews. Four focus group interviews were held with a total of 28 hospital workers participating. All interviews were recorded and transcribed as they were spoken, and data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: Nine themes emerged from the analysis: 1) Positive change in the necessity of the evaluation; 2) Improvement in the hospital system, facilities, and human resources; 3) Unity through cooperation among departments; 4) Nursing work overload; 5) Lack of physicians' awareness and responsibilities; 6) Unfair and unrealistic evaluation items; 7) Lack of credibility of the outcome; 8) Shifting responsibility for negative outcomes to the workers; 9) Lack of pragmatic utility. CONCLUSION: The results of the study demonstrate that the hospital evaluation program played a key role in improving some work environments and communication among departments. At the same time, they show various negative themes resulting from the context of very authoritarian hospital systems and a connection-oriented society in Korea.
Adult ; Attitude of Health Personnel ; Female ; Focus Groups ; Hospitals/*standards/*statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; Interviews as Topic ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nursing Staff, Hospital/*statistics & numerical data ; Qualitative Research ; Tape Recording

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to propose and test a predictive model that could explain and predict Korean nurses' turnover intentions. METHODS: A survey using a structured questionnaire was conducted with 445 nurses in Korea. Six instruments were used in this model. The data were analyzed using SPSS 15.0 and Amos 7.0 program. RESULTS: Based on the constructed model, organizational commitment, and burnout were found to have a significant direct effect on turnover intention of nurses. In addition, factors such as empowerment, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment were found to indirectly affect turnover intention of nurse. The final modified model yielded chi2=402.30, p<.001), chi2/df=2.94, RMSEA=0.07, RMR=0.03, GFI=0.90, AGF=0.87, NFI=0.88, CFI=0.92 and good fit indices. CONCLUSION: This structural equational model is a comprehensive theoretical model that explains the related factors and their relationship with turnover intention in Korean nurses. Findings from this study can be used to design appropriate strategies to further decrease the nurses' turnover intention in Korea.
Adult ; Burnout, Professional ; Female ; Humans ; Job Satisfaction ; Male ; *Models, Theoretical ; *Nursing Staff, Hospital/psychology/statistics & numerical data ; Personnel Turnover/*statistics & numerical data ; Power (Psychology) ; Questionnaires ; Stress, Psychological

PURPOSE: This study was to describe nurses' research activities, perceptions and performances of evidence-based practice and barriers to the use of research evidence in nursing practice in Korea. METHOD: A cross-sectional survey design was used. A questionnaire, except for Barriers Scale, was developed for the study. Data was collected from a convenient sample of 437 registered nurses working at research and education oriented university hospitals. RESULT: Nurses' research-related activities were relatively low compared to previous studies. Also perceptions and performances of evidence based nursing practice were low. Preferred informational resources for clinical decision making were identified as ward manuals/clinical guidelines, manager/senior nurses, and literature/research. The major barriers to research utilization were a lack of implication for practice along with inadequate facilitation to implement research evidence and difficulty understanding research written in English. Priorities of barriers factor were Administrator, Communication, Adopter, and Research. CONCLUSION: The findings provide directions for future training, education, and managerial policy to achieve successful evidence based nursing practice.
Adult ; *Attitude of Health Personnel ; *Diffusion of Innovation ; Evidence-Based Medicine ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Middle Aged ; *Nursing Research/statistics & numerical data ; *Nursing Staff, Hospital ; Questionnaires

PURPOSE: This study was to describe nurses' research activities, perceptions and performances of evidence-based practice and barriers to the use of research evidence in nursing practice in Korea. METHOD: A cross-sectional survey design was used. A questionnaire, except for Barriers Scale, was developed for the study. Data was collected from a convenient sample of 437 registered nurses working at research and education oriented university hospitals. RESULT: Nurses' research-related activities were relatively low compared to previous studies. Also perceptions and performances of evidence based nursing practice were low. Preferred informational resources for clinical decision making were identified as ward manuals/clinical guidelines, manager/senior nurses, and literature/research. The major barriers to research utilization were a lack of implication for practice along with inadequate facilitation to implement research evidence and difficulty understanding research written in English. Priorities of barriers factor were Administrator, Communication, Adopter, and Research. CONCLUSION: The findings provide directions for future training, education, and managerial policy to achieve successful evidence based nursing practice.
Adult ; *Attitude of Health Personnel ; *Diffusion of Innovation ; Evidence-Based Medicine ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Middle Aged ; *Nursing Research/statistics & numerical data ; *Nursing Staff, Hospital ; Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to test the turnover intention model for chief nurse officers in general hospitals. The variables for the study included job stress, social support, job satisfaction, and organization commitment. METHODS: A predictive, non-experimental design was used with a sample of 144 chief nurse officers from 144 general hospitals. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires and analyzed using SPSS, AMOS program. RESULTS: The overall fitness of the hypothetical model to the data was good (chi2=16.80, p=.052, GFI=.96, AGFI=.90, NFI=.97, CFI=.99). Job stress, social support, job satisfaction, and organization commitment explained 59.0% of the variance in turnover intention by chief nurse officers. Both organization commitment and social support directly influenced turnover intention for chief nurse officers, and job stress and job satisfaction indirectly influenced turnover intention. CONCLUSION: The results imply that chief nurse officers in hospitals need social support and management of job stress to increase job satisfaction and organization commitment, and lower turnover intention.
Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Job Satisfaction ; Middle Aged ; *Models, Theoretical ; Nursing Staff, Hospital/*psychology ; Personnel Turnover/*statistics & numerical data ; Questionnaires ; Social Support

PURPOSE: To examine levels of teamwork and its relationships with clinical error reporting among Korean hospital nurses. METHODS: The study employed a cross-sectional survey design. We distributed a questionnaire to 674 nurses in two teaching hospitals in Korea. The questionnaire included items on teamwork and the reporting of clinical errors. We measured teamwork using the Teamwork Perceptions Questionnaire, which has five subscales including team structure, leadership, situation monitoring, mutual support, and communication. Using logistic regression analysis, we determined the relationships between teamwork and error reporting. RESULTS: The response rate was 85.5%. The mean score of teamwork was 3.5 out of 5. At the subscale level, mutual support was rated highest, while leadership was rated lowest. Of the participating nurses, 522 responded that they had experienced at least one clinical error in the last 6 months. Among those, only 53.0% responded that they always or usually reported clinical errors to their managers and/or the patient safety department. Teamwork was significantly associated with better error reporting. Specifically, nurses with a higher team communication score were more likely to report clinical errors to their managers and the patient safety department (odds ratio = 1.82, 95% confidence intervals [1.05, 3.14]). CONCLUSIONS: Teamwork was rated as moderate and was positively associated with nurses' error reporting performance. Hospital executives and nurse managers should make substantial efforts to enhance teamwork, which will contribute to encouraging the reporting of errors and improving patient safety.
Adult ; *Attitude of Health Personnel ; Clinical Competence/*statistics & numerical data ; *Cooperative Behavior ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Hospitals, Teaching ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Medical Errors/*statistics & numerical data ; Nursing Staff, Hospital/standards/*statistics & numerical data ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Young Adult

There is a lack of information on critical care in Korea. The aim of this study was to determine the current status of Korean intensive care units (ICUs), focusing on the organization, characteristics of admitted patients, and nurse and physician staffing. Critical care specialists in charge of all 105 critical care specialty training hospitals nationwide completed a questionnaire survey. Among the ICUs, 56.4% were located in or near the capital city. Only 38 ICUs (17.3%) had intensive care specialists with a 5-day work week. The average daytime nurse-to-patient ratio was 1:2.7. Elderly people > or = 65 yr of age comprised 53% of the adult patients. The most common reasons for admission to adult ICUs were respiratory insufficiency and postoperative management. Nurse and physician staffing was insufficient for the appropriate critical care in many ICUs. Staffing was worse in areas outside the capital city. Much effort, including enhanced reimbursement of critical care costs, must be made to improve the quality of critical care at the national level.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Critical Care/*organization & administration ; Hospitals ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units ; Middle Aged ; Nursing Staff, Hospital/*statistics & numerical data ; Outcome Assessment (Health Care) ; Physicians/*statistics & numerical data ; Questionnaires ; Republic of Korea

PURPOSE: This study was done to analyze variations in unit staffing and recommend policies to improve nursing staffing levels in intensive care units (ICUs). METHOD: A cross-sectional study design was used, employing survey data from the Health Insurance Review Agency conducted from June-July, 2003. Unitstaffing was measured using two indicators; bed-to-nurse (B/N) ratio (number of beds per nurse), and patient-to-nurse (P/N)ratio (number of average daily patients per nurse). Staffing levels were compared according to hospital and ICU characteristics. RESULT: A total of 414 institutions were operating 569 adult and 86 neonatal ICUs. Tertiary hospitals (n=42) had the lowest mean B/N (0.82) and P/N (0.76) ratios in adult ICUs, followed by general hospitals (B/N: 1.34, P/N: 0.97). Those ratios indicated that a nurse took care of 3 to 5 patients per shift. Neonatal ICUs had worse staffing and had greater variations in staffing ratios than adult ICUs. About 17% of adult and 26% of neonatal ICUs were staffed only by adjunct nurses who had responsibility for a general ward as well as the ICU. CONCLUSION: Stratification of nurse staffing levels and differentiation of ICU utilization fees based on staffing grades are recommended as a policy tool to improve nurse staffing in ICUs.
Analysis of Variance ; Female ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units/economics/*manpower/statistics & numerical data ; Intensive Care Units, Neonatal/economics/*manpower/statistics & numerical data ; Nursing Staff, Hospital/economics/*supply & distribution ; Personnel Staffing and Scheduling/*economics ; Workload