PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify degrees of fatigue and influencing factors for fatigue in cancer patients. METHOD: Data was collected by questionnaires from 115 cancer patients at 3 hospitals in Seoul. The research instruments utilized in this study were fatigue, physical symptoms, depression, family support, and health promoting behaviors. Data was analyzed using the pearson correlation, t-test, ANOVA, and stepwise multiple regression with SPSS/WIN 12.0. RESULT: The mean score of fatigue for cancer patients was 12.90(range: 6-36). Fatigue for cancer patients according to age group and weight change showed a significant difference. Fatigue for cancer patients showed a significantly positive correlation to physical symptoms and depression. There was a negative correlation between family support and health promoting behaviors. The significant factors influencing fatigue for cancer patients were physical symptoms, health promoting behaviors, depression, and age group, which explained about 45.9%. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that symptoms and depression management, nursing interventions and practices for providing health promoting behaviors according to age are needed to manage the fatigue in cancer patients.
Adult ; Aged ; Analysis of Variance ; Attitude to Health ; Demography ; Fatigue/*etiology ; Female ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Models, Nursing ; Neoplasms/*complications/nursing ; Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of incivility experienced by clinical nurses on their job stress, and to identify the moderating effects of self-efficacy on the relationship between job stress and incivility. METHODS: A structured self-report questionnaire was used to measure job stress, incivility and self-efficacy. Data were collected from 140 nurses currently working in three general hospitals of more than 300 beds. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, ANOVA, Scheffé test, Pearson correlation coefficient, hierarchical multiple linear regression with the SPSS Version 19.0 program. RESULTS: Incivility from supervisors, patients and patients' families showed a significant effect on job stress and self-efficacy had an effect on incivility from patients and patients' families and also incivility from doctors and job stress. These variables have total explanatory power of 46.6% on job stress. CONCLUSION: The results indicate a need to recognize the seriousness and damage of incivility in order to reduce hospital nurses' job stress and to awaken nurses to the relationship of stress and incivility and establish institutional programs to combat incivility. Moreover, there is also a need to improve self-efficacy on the ward through hospital education and coaching.
Education ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Linear Models

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of a home based exercise program for patients with stomach cancer who were undergoing oral chemotherapy. METHODS: The home-based exercise program was developed from the study findings of Winningham (1990) and data from the Korea Athletic Promotion Association (2007). The home-based exercise program consisted of 8 weeks of individual exercise education and exercise adherence strategy. Participants were 24 patients with stomach cancer who were undergoing oral chemotherapy following surgery in 2007 or 2008 at a university hospital in Seoul. Patients were randomly assigned to either the experimental group (11) or control group (13). The effects of the home-based exercise program were measured by level of cancer related fatigue, NK cell ratio, anxiety, and quality of life. Data were analyzed using SPSS/WIN 13.0 version. RESULTS: The degree of cancer related fatigue and anxiety in the experimental group decreased compared to the control group. The NK cell ratio and the degree of quality of life of experimental group increased while that of the control group decreased. CONCLUSION: This study result indicate the importance of exercise and provide empirical evidence for continuation of safe exercise for patients with cancer during their chemotherapy.
Administration, Oral ; Adult ; Aged ; Antineoplastic Agents/*therapeutic use ; Anxiety ; *Exercise Therapy ; Fatigue ; Female ; Humans ; Killer Cells, Natural/immunology/metabolism ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Program Evaluation ; Quality of Life ; Stomach Neoplasms/*drug therapy/surgery ; Treatment Outcome

Especially in NICU(Neonatal Intensive Care Unit), handwashing is an important factor in decreasing nosocomial infections due to reduced immunity, prematurity and various invasive procedures. The purpose of this study was to investigate the basic characteristics related to handwashing by NICU nurses. It was composed of three parts; questionnaire survey I (general characteristics of handwashing), questionnaire survey II(the awareness degree of handwashing importance) and actual performance. This study was performed from Oct. 8 to 14 in 1994. The results of his this study were as follows; 1. Frequency of handwashing were different by shift of working about 47.1% of the respondents. They were washing most frequently during day-shift about 75% of above. According to self evaluation to handwashing frequency, 64.7% of the respondents said their frequency of handwashing was inadequate, because of being too busy.(45.1%), bothering caused by detergent or disinfectant(17.6%), and too far from handwashing facilities(17.6%). 2. The most common handwashing agent was soap(88.2%), 52.9% of the subjects experienced adverse effects after handwashing; rough hand(44.5%), dryness(33.3%). All subjects washed their hands with running water, and 70.6% of the subjects washed upto wrist, In duration of handwashing, 52.9% of subjects washed hands 5 to 10 seconds, 29.5% of them did 11 to 15 seconds. 3. 29.4% among subjects had participated to take in the handwashing educational program. About 60% responded they would like to take the course of handwashing if possible. 4. The important nursing activities that need handwashing were changing of caring ostomy, suctioning, changing IV dressing site. On the other hand, they responded handwashing was not essential before dealing with omitus, before and after transferring machine, before changing diaper(stool). 5. Handwashing performance was 61.7%. Among seven nursing activities, suctioning(73.4%) was the highest, the next was dealing with discharge or sampling(71.1%), the lowest was bathing(34.6%). The performance was better after(70.2%) nursing activities that before(52.5%), and day(63.6%) or evening(68.3%) shift than night(56.7%).
Bandages ; Cross Infection ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Detergents ; Diagnostic Self Evaluation ; Hand Disinfection* ; Hand* ; Critical Care ; Nursing ; Ostomy ; Running ; Suction ; Wrist

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to analyze the importance, difficulty, and frequency of work (duties and tasks) done by nurses' in Outpatient Departments (OPD). METHOD: Data were collected using structured questionnaires, which included 11 duties and 92 tasks making up the OPD nurse's job. Questionnaires were completed by 286 nurses. Each duty and task was analyzed for importance, difficulty, and frequency (range 1-3). RESULTS: The mean score for importance was 2.58+/-0.29, for difficulty, 2.11+/-0.31, and for frequency, 2.18+/-0.31. OPD nurses recognized'patient education and consultation' as important and difficult. However, in practice OPD nurses reported the most frequent task as'support for medical services'. There was a significant difference in importance and difficulty of duties according to OPD nurses' university degree (F=3.693, p= .026; F=4.089, p= .018) and hospital size (F=4.274, p= .006; F=3.154, p= .025). However there were no differences in importance, difficulty, or frequency according to clinical experience in OPD. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that OPD nurses must be able to do important and difficult duties and tasks, especially patient education and consultation. To have time for these uniquely nursing tasks, OPD nurses need to delegate'preparation for medical service', and'management of facility and environment' to nonmedical health-care workers.
Health Facility Size ; Humans ; Job Description ; Outpatients ; Patient Education as Topic ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Cryopreservation is able to store the surplus pre-embryos for freezing and furthermore thawing and transfer in a subsequent cycle. Cryopreserving cells which are maintaining their viability are the very complex process. This study has been carried out in order to find the effects of cryopreservation steps, freezing media and embryonic stages on the rates of viability and development of cryopreserved mouse embryos. Female ICR mice (6~8 weeks old) were induced to superovulate by sequential intraperitoneal injection of 5 IU PMSG and 5 IU hGC 48h apart. Mouse embryos were collected according to its developmental stage after the injection of hCG. Embryos were cryopreserved not only by cryoprotectant step (1 step~ 4 step) but also in a variety of media (HTF, IVF medium, D-PBS) and cell stage. The results were as follows: There is no clear advantage in these freezing media of rapid method, but 4 cell and 8 cell of slow method (2, 3, 4 step) have advantage in D-PBS. The development of embryos according to cell stage become greater in 8 cell stage. In the treatment steps of cryopreservation, the development of embryo to blastocyst was similar among rapid method, but the development of 4 cell and 8 cell embryos to blastocyst according to slow method was better than rapid method.
Animals ; Blastocyst ; Cryopreservation* ; Culture Media* ; Embryonic Structures* ; Female ; Freezing ; Humans ; Injections, Intraperitoneal ; Mice* ; Mice, Inbred ICR

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore adjustment pattern of illness process of people with hemophilia in Korea. METHOD: 23 people with hemophilia had participated for this study. The data were collected through in-depth interviews and analyzed using Strauss & Corbin's grounded theory method. RESULT: "would be free from" was emerged as a core category and it reflects that all participants wanted to be free from the constraints of the disease. The adjustment process was categorized into two stage, the 'unstable stage' and the 'stable stage'. In the process of "would be free from" four different patterns were identified: hopelessness type; appreciation type; challenge type; and transcendence type. These types were identified based on the degree of pursuing normal life and managing the disease, and social support. The most frequently occurring type was hopelessness type but the participants of this type suffered the most. The transcendence type was the most ideal type, but it occurred the least. CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicate that people with hemophilia in Korea still suffer from the disease and they need supports. The results would be useful for health care professionals in establishing education and counseling program for the people with hemophilia.
*Adaptation, Psychological ; Adult ; Aged ; *Attitude to Health ; Hemophilia A/*psychology ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Middle Aged

PURPOSE: To identify current status of university health care program. METHODS: Data and information from homepages of 309 colleges or universities in South Korea were collected. The data was analyzed by frequencies, t-test, chi2 test with SPSS Ver. 18.0. RESULTS: 117(37.9%) universities had organization of health care. Whether university had health care program or not had shown significantly depended on number of students, types of school (university or college), region, and existence of medical and nursing course. Medical course was shown as a strong predictor for facilitating university health care program limitedly focusing on diseases treatment. Health promotion programs have been operated in 15 universities, vaccination programs in 10 universities, and health screening in 20 universities. CONCLUSION: It is strongly recommended to revise the School Health Law for constructing a comprehensive university health care program consolidating health counseling and physical training.
Counseling ; Delivery of Health Care* ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Jurisprudence ; Korea ; Mass Screening ; Nursing ; School Health Services ; Vaccination

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine factors affecting the burden on employment of occupational health care providers as well as to develop strategies to reduce burden on employment of them in the middle size manufacturing enterprises. METHODS: The target population of this study was 123 managers working in the middle size manufacturing enterprises. The study questionnaires were selected, as theories and literature suggested, for explaining employment burden, general characteristics of participants and occupational health providers, general characteristics of companies, evaluation of occupational health provider's role and burden score. RESULTS: The mean of employment burden score of manager was 2.2. There was a significant difference in the employment burden scores, manager's age and education, and occupational health provider's age, type of work, certification, and employment status. Also there was a negative relationship between employment burden scores and occupational health provider's role scores (need, role, satisfaction, and benefit). In the results of the standard multiple regression analysis, manager's need scores on occupational health providers were significant predictors of the employment burden scores. CONCLUSION: It is necessary to change the manager's perception to promote employment of occupational health providers.
Certification ; Delivery of Health Care ; Employment ; Health Personnel ; Health Services Needs and Demand ; Humans ; Occupational Health ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Objective: To investigate the effect of sensory-based feeding treatment for toddlers with food refusal compared with only providing nutrition education. Methods: Thirty-two toddlers with food refusal were randomly assigned to an intervention group or the control group. Toddlers in the intervention group received the sensory-based feeding intervention and the duration was for 1 hour for 5 days per week for 4 weeks, and then 1 hour, once a week for 8 weeks. Subjects in both the intervention and control groups received nutritional education once every 4 weeks for 12 weeks. The participants were evaluated at their entry into the study and 12 weeks later based on height, weight, behavior at mealtime using the Behavioral Pediatrics Feeding Assessment Scale (BPFAS), and sensory processing ability using the Infant/Toddler Sensory Profile. Results: Sixteen toddlers were included in each group. Two subjects in the intervention group and four toddlers in the control group were excluded from the final analysis. Significant improvements in child or parent subscales of the BPFAS were observed in the intervention group. In contrast, there were no significant improvements in any BPFAS scores in the control group. Conclusion Sensory-based feeding intervention was effective for improving mealtime behavior in toddlers with food refusal. Therefore, a sensory-based feeding intervention could be considered as an intervention approach to address feeding disorders in toddlers.