PURPOSE: Cancer is the most frequent cause of death in Korea. Cancer screening can save lives through early detection. This study was to investigate major cancer screening rates and the reasons for not having been screening. METHOD: 210 participants of registered nurses from 5 general hospitals in Busan, Korea were completed a structured self-administered questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics with SPSS WIN 10.0. Results: The cancer screening rates of the subjects were 53.8% in Pap smear test for cervical cancer, 41.0% in gastroendoscopy for stomach cancer, 15.7% in mammograpy for breast cancer, and 3.8% in colonoscopy. And the higher proportions of having regular screening were 9,5% in Pap smear test and 2.9% in gastroendoscopy. The primary reason related to not having a screening test was 'seems to be healthy'. CONCLUSION: The findings showed the necessity of recognizing and educating Korean nurses to have a regular cancer screening for their health management.
Breast Neoplasms ; Busan* ; Cause of Death ; Colonoscopy ; Early Detection of Cancer* ; Hospitals, General* ; Korea ; Mass Screening ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms

No abstract available.
Aneurysm* ; Arteriovenous Fistula* ; Hypertension, Renovascular* ; Renal Artery*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the degree of the gender role identity and quality of life of women applying hormone replacement therapy with hysterectomy and to identify the relation among these variables.The purpose of this study was to investigate the degree of the gender role identity and quality of life of women applying hormone replacement therapy with hysterectomy and to identify the relation among these variables. METHODS: The subjects were 121 outpatients applying hormone replacement therapy with hysterectomy at a university hospital in Busan province. The data were collected using self-reported questionnaire and medical record, from September to October 2008. RESULTS: There were statistically significant differences in the degree of quality of life according to the age, educational level, occupation, family economic status, Body Mass Index (BMI), menopause state, duration to restarting intercourse from hysterectomy, discomfort from intercourse, satisfaction from intercourse and duration, sources, and formulation of hormone replacement therapy (HRT). The femininity identity group occupied the largest proportion (31.4%), and then the masculinity identity group (28.1%), the undifferentiated identity group (26.4%), and finally the androgyny identity group (14.1%). There was a positive correlation between femininity and quality of life (r=.276, p=.002). CONCLUSION: These results indicate that HRT helps the women's sense of loss caused by hysterectomy to be reduced, the postmenopausal symptom after hysterectomy to be relieved and the quality of life to be improved.
Body Mass Index ; Female ; Femininity ; Gender Identity ; Hormone Replacement Therapy ; Humans ; Hysterectomy ; Masculinity ; Medical Records ; Menopause ; Occupations ; Outpatients ; Quality of Life ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: To provide practical data for bioethics education, we identified correlations between recognition of good death, attitude towards withdrawal of meaningless life-sustaining treatment, and attitude towards euthanasia in nurses. METHODS: Using convenience sampling, we recruited 218 nurses who had at least six-month work experience in one of the six general hospitals with 500 or more beds in Seoul, Busan, and Gyeongsang province. All participants understood the purpose of the study and agreed to take part in the study. The research tools used included the Concept of Good Death Measure (CoGD), the measurement tool for attitudes towards withdrawal of meaningless life-sustaining treatment (WoMLST), and the measurement tool for attitudes towards euthanasia. Data were analyzed using an Independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson's correlation coefficient using SPSS 21 for Windows. RESULTS: Nurses had normal levels on CoGD, WoMLST, and attitudes towards euthanasia. Nurses' CoGD, WoMLST, and euthanasia scores significantly differed depending on their education level, working period, and the importance of religion to them. A negative correlation was found between the CoGD and WoMLST scores, and WoMLST and euthanasia scores were positively correlated. CONCLUSION: Nurses should be trained to deal with ethical issues that may arise while caring for terminal patients. It is necessary for nurses to understand the concepts related to CoGD, WoMLST, and euthanasia, and to promote bioethics education with focus on decision-making and problem-solving ability in ethically conflicting situations.
Bioethics ; Busan ; Education ; Ethics ; Euthanasia* ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Medical Futility ; Seoul

PURPOSE: The aimof this phenomenological study was to qualitatively classify the experience of spouses caring for patients with schizophrenia. METHODS: Data were gathered using 2 hour in-depth, unstructured interviews with nine spouses of patients with schizophrenia. The data collection period was 2012 to 2013. Colaizzi's phenomenological method was used to analyze the resulting data. RESULTS: Five clusters of themes were identified. These were termed according to the experiences described by the spouses, as: suffering fromfalling into the abyss of despair; deepening heartbreak, clouds of misery hanging over one's family; possibly of losing the bond between familymembers; getting over one's hurt and stepping forward to the future. Participants experienced many burdens while caring for their spouse, however, they showed the ability to overcome difficulties positively and actively. CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicate that the spouse of a patient with schizophrenia experiences multiple sources of distress, and suggests a process to overcoming them. Recommendations include helping nurses be aware of the sufferings of both the patient and the spouse and to plan and provide for psychological interventions, such as stressmanagement programs and informational support on social welfare programs.
Data Collection ; Humans ; Methods ; Qualitative Research ; Schizophrenia* ; Social Welfare ; Spouses*

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to identify risk factors in hospitalized children, and to develop and validate a fall-risk assessment tool for hospitalized children. METHODS: A retrospective chart review was performed at one university children's hospital, and an analysis was done of the characteristics of all patients who fell during a 44-month period (n=48). These patients were compared with another 149 hospitalized children who did not fall. RESULTS: Significant predictors of falls as identified in a multivariate logistic regression analyses were age of less than 3 years old, neurological diagnosis including epilepsy, children's dependency of ADL, physical developmental delay, multiple usage of fall-risk-increasing drugs. The respective odds ratios ranged from 2.4 to 7.1 with 95% confidence interval (p<0.05). Accordingly, defining patients with either 5 risk factors as fall-prone hospitalized children provided a sensitivity of 93.6% and specificity of 16.2%. CONCLUSION: The results show that this tool has an acceptable level of sensitivity to assess the risk factors of fall in hospitalized children even though the specificity was low, suggesting that this tool may enable nurses to predict the risk level of childhood falls, and develop preventive strategies against pediatric falls in children's units.
Accidental Falls ; Activities of Daily Living ; Child ; Child, Hospitalized* ; Diagnosis ; Epilepsy ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Odds Ratio ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Sensitivity and Specificity

BACKGROUND: We developed a new disposable anaerobic culture system, namely, the Quick anaero-system, for easy culturing of obligate anaerobes. METHODS: Our system consists of 3 components: 1) new disposable anaerobic gas pack, 2) disposable culture-envelope and sealer, and 3) reusable stainless plate rack with mesh containing 10 g of palladium catalyst pellets. To evaluate the efficiency of our system, we used 12 anaerobic bacteria. We prepared 2 sets of ten-fold serial dilutions of the 12 anaerobes, and inoculated these samples on Luria-Bertani (LB) broth and LB blood agar plate (LB-BAP) (BD Diagnostic Systems, USA). Each set was incubated in the Quick anaero-system (DAS Tech, Korea) and BBL GasPak jar with BD GasPak EZ Anaerobe Container System (BD Diagnostic Systems) at 35-37degrees C for 48 hr. The minimal inoculum size showing visible growth of 12 anaerobes when incubated in both the systems was compared. RESULTS: The minimal inoculum size showing visible growth for 2 out of the 12 anaerobes in the LB broth and 9 out of the 12 anaerobes on LB-BAP was lower for the Quick anaero-system than in the BD GasPak EZ Anaerobe Container System. The mean time (+/-SD) required to achieve absolute anaerobic conditions of the Quick anaero-system was 17 min and 56 sec (+/-3 min and 25 sec). CONCLUSIONS: The Quick anaero-system is a simple and effective method of culturing obligate anaerobes, and its performance is superior to that of the BD GasPak EZ Anaerobe Container System.
Bacteria, Anaerobic/*growth &development ; Bacteriological Techniques/instrumentation/methods ; Culture Media/chemistry ; Gases/chemistry ; Palladium/chemistry ; Reagent Kits, Diagnostic

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to understand the coping experience of nursing students in clinical practice. METHODS: In-depth interview was done with semi-structured questionnaire on 32 nursing students taking clinical practice. Data was analyzed through the grounded theory. RESULTS: Core category of coping experience of nursing students was ‘trying to be a meaningful presence’ while clinical practice. Students' coping strategies were ‘overcoming inexperience’, ‘receiving the recognition from the clinical instructors’, and ‘governing mind and body’. Helping components for their coping behaviors were ‘support from people’, ‘personal experience before clinical practice’, ‘dynamics with partners’. Through the coping experience during clinical practice, nursing students became mature and confirmed their identities as student nurses. CONCLUSION: Nursing students taking clinical practice tried to be a meaningful presence.
Adaptation, Psychological ; Grounded Theory ; Humans ; Nursing* ; Students, Nursing*

No abstract available.
Congenital Hypothyroidism* ; Diagnosis* ; Prognosis*

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the validity and reliability of the Korean version of the self-efficacy for managing chronic disease 6-item scale (SECD-6-K). Methods: The English version of the Self-Efficacy for Managing Chronic Disease 6-item Scale first underwent forward and backward translation procedures. The SECD-6-K was then used to collect data from 350 adults diagnosed with chronic diseases. Content, construct, convergent, discriminant, and criterion validity were all evaluated. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s α. SPSS 25.0 and the data were analyzed using AMOS 26.0 software. Results: The SECD-6-K consists of six items in two domains: disease management and health behavior. The results for construct, convergent, and discriminant validity were good. Exploratory factor analysis produced eigen values between 2.27 and 3.28, with factors total explained cumulative variance of 91.1%. Confirmatory factor analysis supported goodness of fit and reliability for the modified SECD-6-K model. The criterion validity also showed significant correlation with both the Patient Health Questionnaire and 12-item Short-Form Health Survey version 2. Finally, reliability was found to be excellent. Conclusion This study identified the high reliability and validity of SECD-6-K. The SECD-6-K is an appropriate tool for determining Korean patients’ self-efficacy in managing their chronic conditions. Therefore, this scale may be used in clinical settings as well as in educational and research settings.