PURPOSE: This study was done to identify the relationship of emergency department(ED) nurse's job characteristics, organizational commitment and turnover intention. METHOD: This study was conducted through a survey of 171 nurses from ED in nine general hospitals of B and U cities. The data were collected by self-report questionnaires and analyzed with the SPSS WIN 17.0 program using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient and stepwise multiple regression. RESULTS: The mean score for job characteristics was 3.37. Job characteristics according to position, number days night duty, and monthly income showed significant differences. Turnover intention according to age, total career, and monthly income showed significant differences. A significant positive correlation was found between job characteristics and organizational commitment. Significant negative correlations were found between job characteristics and turnover intention, organizational commitment and turnover intention were found. The significant factors influencing turnover intention were organizational commitment, monthly income, and total career, which explained 27.6% of the variance. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that nurse managers should analyze the reasons for high turnover intention, focusing on the main factors affecting turnover intention and consider solutions for decreasing turnover intention.
Emergencies ; Emergency Nursing ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Intention ; Job Application ; Nurse Administrators ; Personnel Loyalty ; Personnel Turnover ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to establish the standards for duty of Medical Care Client Managers and analyze the extent of accomplishment, importance, and difficulty according to the standards. METHODS: The draft for duty of Medical Care Client Managers was formed by the method of developing a curriculum (DACUM) and data were collected from 185 Medical Aid Client Managers in 234 areas to evaluate the actual frequency of accomplishment, importance and difficulty in comparison with the standards for duties. RESULTS: The standard duty draft for Medical Care Client Manager is composed of five separate groups of duties and thirty five tasks. The five duties are Case Management, Extension Approval, External Cause of Injury, Duplicate Claims and Other Administrations. Seven Tasks are allocated to each duty such as Case Management, Extension Approval and External Cause of Injury. Five tasks are allocated to 'Duplicate Claims' duty and nine tasks are allocated to 'Other Administrations' duty. CONCLUSION: From the results of analysis for duties, it was apprehensive about overburdened responsibilities and carelessness in professional duties. It was necessary to establish specific guidelines for duties because of redundent application or regional variation in frequency of accomplishing other administrative duties. It was necessary to relieve a regional disparity of business charge and also was necessary to propose an alternative plan to relieve the overburdened responsibilities.
Case Management ; Commerce ; Curriculum ; Fees and Charges ; Health Personnel ; Humans ; Job Description

Today, the majority of men with newly diagnosed prostate cancer will present with low-risk features of the disease. Because prostate cancer often takes an insidious course, it is debated whether the majority of these men require radical treatment and the accompanying derangement of quality of life domains imposed by surgery, radiation, and hormonal therapy. Investigators have identified various selection criteria for "insignificant disease," or that which can be monitored for disease progression while safely delaying radical treatment. In addition to the ideal definition of low risk, a lack of randomized trials comparing the various options for treatment in this group of men poses a great challenge for urologists. Early outcomes from active surveillance cohorts support its use in carefully selected men with low-risk disease features, but frequent monitoring is required. Patient selection and disease monitoring methods will require refinement that will likely be accomplished through the increased use of biomarkers and specialized imaging techniques.
Biomarkers ; Cohort Studies ; Disease Management ; Disease Progression ; Humans ; Male ; Patient Selection ; Prostate ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; Quality of Life ; Research Personnel

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of strategies to promote reporting of errors on nurses' attitude to reporting errors, organizational culture related to patient safety, intention to report and reporting rate in hospital nurses. METHODS: A nonequivalent control group non-synchronized design was used for this study. The program was developed and then administered to the experimental group for 12 weeks. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, chi-square-test, t-test, and ANCOVA with the SPSS 12.0 program. RESULTS: After the intervention, the experimental group showed significantly higher scores for nurses' attitude to reporting errors (experimental: 20.73 vs control: 20.52, F=5.483, p=.021) and reporting rate (experimental: 3.40 vs control: 1.33, F=1998.083, p<.001). There was no significant difference in some categories for organizational culture and intention to report. CONCLUSION: The study findings indicate that strategies that promote reporting of errors play an important role in producing positive attitudes to reporting errors and improving behavior of reporting. Further advanced strategies for reporting errors that can lead to improved patient safety should be developed and applied in a broad range of hospitals.
Adult ; Attitude of Health Personnel ; Humans ; Internet ; Medical Errors/*nursing/prevention & control ; Nursing Staff, Hospital/organization & administration/*psychology ; Organizational Culture ; Patient Care ; Program Evaluation ; Questionnaires ; Risk Management ; Young Adult

The purposes of this study were to investigate the current status of contracted hospital food services and to find out the difference in accordance with the number of beds in hospitals. Thirty six hospitals having more than 100beds in Seoul, Inchon and Kyungkido were the subjects of this study. Data was collected through surveys. The survey was conducted during March and April in 2002. The Questionnaires were mailed to the 36 directors of dietetic departments of the hospitals and 36 managers of contracting patient food services. Statistical analysis was completed using SPSS Win(11.0) for descriptive analysis and t-test. The results of the study are summerized as follows; I. Hospital perspective : The range covered by contract food service was 63.3% and 36.7% in hospital food services, and medical nutrition services. The patient and employee food services were in 83.3%, and patient food services were in 6.7%. The methods selecting contractors are general, limited, selected and competitive biddings, and private contracts. The responsibility for supervision of contract food services was the dietetic department (51.7%) in most cases. Hospitals having personnel responsible for contracting affairs were in 75.9% of the cases and 24.1% did not have personnel. The biggest reason for contracting was facilitation of personnel management. The most important criteria on selecting food services contractors was the professionality of the contractor. II. Contractor's perspective : The cost per meal in the year 2001 was composed of 1,905 won for food cost, 1,081 won for labor cost, 222 won for expenses, 114 won for VAT, 14 won for rent and 146 won for miscellaneous or controllable expense, representing 109 won loss per meal. The profit-and-loss contract cost is higher than the fee-contract cost. The ratios of food cost, labor cost and expenses are higher and the ratios of miscellaneous or controllable expense, VAT, rent and profit are lower in hospitals with more than 400 beds compared with those less than 400 beds. However, no significant differences are present between these two groups of hospitals. The actual contract period was 2.2 years upon initial contract and 1.2 years upon renewal. The initial investment cost was 53 million won and the cost of renovation and repair was 8.5 million won. Significant differences were present between two groups of hospitals. The conditions of employment and number of personnel hired by contractors for contract patient food services were significantly different according to the number of beds.
Competitive Bidding ; Employment ; Food Service, Hospital* ; Food Services ; Gyeonggi-do ; Humans ; Incheon ; Investments ; Meals ; Organization and Administration ; Personnel Management ; Postal Service ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Seoul

The purposes of this study were to investigate the current status of contracted hospital food services and to find out the difference in accordance with the number of beds in hospitals. Thirty six hospitals having more than 100beds in Seoul, Inchon and Kyungkido were the subjects of this study. Data was collected through surveys. The survey was conducted during March and April in 2002. The Questionnaires were mailed to the 36 directors of dietetic departments of the hospitals and 36 managers of contracting patient food services. Statistical analysis was completed using SPSS Win(11.0) for descriptive analysis and t-test. The results of the study are summerized as follows; I. Hospital perspective : The range covered by contract food service was 63.3% and 36.7% in hospital food services, and medical nutrition services. The patient and employee food services were in 83.3%, and patient food services were in 6.7%. The methods selecting contractors are general, limited, selected and competitive biddings, and private contracts. The responsibility for supervision of contract food services was the dietetic department (51.7%) in most cases. Hospitals having personnel responsible for contracting affairs were in 75.9% of the cases and 24.1% did not have personnel. The biggest reason for contracting was facilitation of personnel management. The most important criteria on selecting food services contractors was the professionality of the contractor. II. Contractor's perspective : The cost per meal in the year 2001 was composed of 1,905 won for food cost, 1,081 won for labor cost, 222 won for expenses, 114 won for VAT, 14 won for rent and 146 won for miscellaneous or controllable expense, representing 109 won loss per meal. The profit-and-loss contract cost is higher than the fee-contract cost. The ratios of food cost, labor cost and expenses are higher and the ratios of miscellaneous or controllable expense, VAT, rent and profit are lower in hospitals with more than 400 beds compared with those less than 400 beds. However, no significant differences are present between these two groups of hospitals. The actual contract period was 2.2 years upon initial contract and 1.2 years upon renewal. The initial investment cost was 53 million won and the cost of renovation and repair was 8.5 million won. Significant differences were present between two groups of hospitals. The conditions of employment and number of personnel hired by contractors for contract patient food services were significantly different according to the number of beds.
Competitive Bidding ; Employment ; Food Service, Hospital* ; Food Services ; Gyeonggi-do ; Humans ; Incheon ; Investments ; Meals ; Organization and Administration ; Personnel Management ; Postal Service ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Seoul

BACKGROUND: Sharps waste is a special kind of health care waste that needs to undergo certain processes before its final disposal. These processes are guided by international policies, national laws and memoranda, the implementation of which is under the jurisdiction of certain agencies.
OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to document the health care sector's adherence to proper waste management practices, especially for hazardous sharps waste. It specifically documented the adherence to government regulations of six tertiary hospitals in the Manila and Pasay City areas. The study was undertaken to identify if these six hospitals adhere to the guidelines set by the World Health Organization as adapted by the Department of Health (DOH) and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). The first specific objective is to document if these hospitals are complying with the documentary requirements of such regulations as required by law. The second specific objective is to document the presence of facilities and resources in the hospital that will ensure proper implementation of regulations regarding sharps waste disposal.
METHODS: The study was conducted in six tertiary hospitals, three of which are government/public and three are private hospitals. An observation checklist was constructed to identify in a detailed manner if the said hospitals were adhering to the standards set by the government. This checklist was validated by photographs for documentation. Specific areas, people and equipment of interest were earmarked for observation. Nurses stations and the laboratory for example, were singled out due to the high volume of sharps waste produced and temporarily stored in these areas. Chart reviews were also done to check if permits and policies were in place to oversee proper hospital waste management. Results. The study showed that all six hospitals were not strictly adhering to all the prescribed requirements by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Health.
CONCLUSION: Even with rules and policies in place, it has been documented that all of the study hospitals have not been adhering to documentary requirements. Furthermore, the facilities and resources needed for waste management in the hospital are not available. Recommendation: The responsible agencies should closely monitor the sharps waste management practices of hospitals to ensure safety and protect the health of health care workers, patients, their companions and visitors.

Checklist ; Government ; Government Regulation ; Hazardous Waste ; Health Care Sector ; Health Personnel ; Hospital Administration ; Hospitals, Private ; Natural Resources ; Nursing Stations ; Philippines ; Tertiary Care Centers ; Waste Management ; ;

PURPOSE: This study was to determine the mediator or moderator role of empowerment in the relationship between the head nurse's transformational leadership and organizational commitment as perceived by staff nurses. METHODS: Data was collected from 451 nurses in a tertiary hospital located in B city by means of structured questionnaires. Data was analyzed with descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation coefficient and hierarchial multiple regression using the SPSS program. RESULTS: Empowerment showed mediating effects between the head nurse's transformational leadership and organizational commitment as perceived by staff nurses. However, empowerment did not show moderating effects. CONCLUSION: Nurses' perception of empowerment, the head nurse's transformational leadership and organizational commitment have a strong relationship. This finding suggests the importance of empowering nurses to increase organizational commitment.
Adult ; Decision Making, Organizational ; Female ; Humans ; *Leadership ; Nurse Administrators/organization & administration/*psychology ; Nursing Administration Research ; Nursing Staff, Hospital/organization & administration/*psychology ; Personnel Loyalty ; Questionnaires

Integrative Medicine ; Personnel Management

PURPOSE: This study identified the influence of hotel workers' emotional labor and social support on their intentions to change jobs. METHODS: Study participants were 437 workers from seven hotels in Korea who consented to the survey. Among them, insufficient responses from 21 participants were excluded, as well as 107 responses from workers with workloads of under one hour of face to face work. Thus, 309 hotel workers were included in the final analysis. A multivariate regression analysis was used to identify factors influencing the hotel workers' intention to change jobs. RESULTS: The intention to change jobs was high when external behavior was shown, and workers who received social support from a superior exhibited low intention of changing jobs. CONCLUSION: The study results show that the most influential variables of turnover intention are external behavior and the support of a superior. It is therefore important to educate managers on personnel management methods for reducing external behaviors so that the rate of job changes by hotel workers can be reduced. It is also necessary to prepare and manage measures for strengthening the support system by workplace superiors.
Intention ; Korea ; Personnel Management