OBJECTIVE: Several studies have reported that ethnic differences influence psychiatric diagnoses. Some previous studies reported that African Americans and Hispanics are diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum disorders more frequently than Caucasians, and that Caucasians are more likely to be diagnosed with affective disorders than other ethnic groups. We sought to identify associations between sociodemographic factors and psychiatric diagnosis. METHODS: We retrospectively examined the medical records of all psychiatric inpatients (ages over 18 years) treated at Kern county mental hospital (n=2,051) between July 2003 and March 2007 for demographic, clinical information, and discharge diagnoses. RESULTS: African American and Hispanic males were more frequently diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum disorders than Caucasians, whereas Caucasian females were more frequently diagnosed with affective disorders than females in the other ethnic groups, suggesting that patient ethnicity and gender may influence clinical diagnoses. Demographic variables, that is, a lower education, failure of marriage, homelessness, and low quality insurance, were found to be significantly associated with a diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum disorders after adjusting for clinical variables. And, the presence of a family psychiatric history, failure of marriage, not-homelessness, and quality insurance were found to be associated with a diagnosis of affective disorders. CONCLUSION: Our results show that these demographic factors, including ethnicity, have effects on diagnoses in psychiatric inpatients. Furthermore, these variables may help prediction of psychiatric diagnoses.
African Americans ; Demography ; Ethnic Groups ; Female ; Hispanic Americans ; Homeless Persons ; Hospitals, Psychiatric ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Insurance ; Male ; Marriage ; Medical Records ; Mental Disorders ; Mood Disorders ; Retrospective Studies ; Schizophrenia

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to investigate the safety of nursing students during fundamentals of nursing practicum in Korea. METHODS: This study used a descriptive design. A total of 106 nursing instructors teaching fundamentals of nursing longer than one year participated in this study. Data were collected using self-report questionnaires from July 24 to August 28, 2018. The questionnaires consisted of general characteristics, characteristics of fundamentals of nursing course, physical and emotional safety issues during fundamentals of nursing practicum, and obtaining an informed consent prior to practicum. RESULTS: The average number of physical safety accidents during practicum of fundamentals of nursing in the past 5 years was 1.12±2.44. The most common safety accident was punctured wound. The mean score of the participants' stress on physical safety accidents was 3.53±1.12 out of 5. The average number of emotional safety accidents of fundamentals of nursing practicum in the past 5 years was 1.05±2.72. The mean score of stress on emotional safety accident was 3.00±1.09 out of 5. We found that 47.2% of the participants obtained an oral consent or a written consent for safety of fundamentals of nursing practicum. CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicate that it is necessary to establish safety strategies for fundamentals of nursing practicum for nursing students.
Human Body ; Humans ; Informed Consent ; Korea ; Nursing ; Students, Nursing ; Wounds and Injuries

Purpose: This study was done to investigate the experience of physical and emotional safety in nursing students during fundamentals of nursing practicum. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from March to September 2019. A total of 553 nursing students, who had completed fundamental nursing laboratories, participated in this study. Data were collected using self-report questionnaires which included questions about general characteristics, physical and emotional safety during fundamental nursing laboratories along with an informed consent given prior to the practicum. Results: Of the students, 26 experienced physical safety accidents, and 18 reported emotional safety accidents. Students' mean stress score for physical safety was 1.95, and the mean score for emotional safety was 1.92. Of the students, more than 59.1% agreed to volunteer as practice models in certain nursing procedures’ training. Of the students, 55.8% were satisfied with using their bodies to train fundamental nursing skills. 61.8% of students reported that informed consent was obtained during the nursing laboratory, and 88.6% of students thought that informed consent needs to be obtained. Conclusion To prevent safety accidents during the fundamentals of nursing practicum and systematically manage accidents, standardized safety guidelines for nursing practicum should be developed. Establishing various training strategies using advanced models or simulators to increase education efficiency and satisfaction is necessary.

Background: The advancement of treatment with direct-acting antiviral (DAA) agents has improved the cure rate of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection close to 100%. The aim of our study was to assess the real-world effectiveness and safety of DAA regimens for the treatment of patients with chronic HCV genotype 2. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of patients treated with sofosbuvir plus ribavirin (SOF + RBV) or glecaprevir/pibrentasvir (G/P) for chronic HCV genotype 2 infection at seven university hospitals in the Korean southeast region. Results: SOF + RBV therapy produced an 89% and 98.3% sustained virologic response 12 week (SVR12) after treatment completion in the full analysis set and per-protocol set, respectively, and the corresponding values for G/P therapy were 89.5% and 99.2%, respectively. The difference between the treatments was probably because 6.2% (59/953) of patients in the SOF + RBV group did not complete the treatment and 9.8% (14/143) in the G/P group did not test HCV RNA after treatment completion. Adverse events (A/Es) were reported in 59.7% (569/953) and 25.9% (37/143) of the SOF + RBV and G/P groups, respectively. In the SOF + RBV group, 12 (1.26%) patients discontinued treatment owing to A/Es, whereas no patients discontinued treatment because of A/Es in the G/P group. Conclusion In both treatment groups, SVR was high when treatment was completed.However, there was a high dropout rate in the SOF + RBV group, and the dropout analysis showed that these were patients with liver cirrhosis (LC; 43/285, 15.1%), especially those with decompensated LC (12/32, 37.5%). Therefore, an early initiation of antiviral therapy is recommended for a successful outcome before liver function declines. Furthermore, patients with decompensated LC who are considered candidates for SOF + RBV treatment should be carefully monitored to ensure that their treatment is completed, especially those with low hemoglobin and high alanine transaminase.

Background: The advancement of treatment with direct-acting antiviral (DAA) agents has improved the cure rate of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection close to 100%. The aim of our study was to assess the real-world effectiveness and safety of DAA regimens for the treatment of patients with chronic HCV genotype 2. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of patients treated with sofosbuvir plus ribavirin (SOF + RBV) or glecaprevir/pibrentasvir (G/P) for chronic HCV genotype 2 infection at seven university hospitals in the Korean southeast region. Results: SOF + RBV therapy produced an 89% and 98.3% sustained virologic response 12 week (SVR12) after treatment completion in the full analysis set and per-protocol set, respectively, and the corresponding values for G/P therapy were 89.5% and 99.2%, respectively. The difference between the treatments was probably because 6.2% (59/953) of patients in the SOF + RBV group did not complete the treatment and 9.8% (14/143) in the G/P group did not test HCV RNA after treatment completion. Adverse events (A/Es) were reported in 59.7% (569/953) and 25.9% (37/143) of the SOF + RBV and G/P groups, respectively. In the SOF + RBV group, 12 (1.26%) patients discontinued treatment owing to A/Es, whereas no patients discontinued treatment because of A/Es in the G/P group. Conclusion In both treatment groups, SVR was high when treatment was completed.However, there was a high dropout rate in the SOF + RBV group, and the dropout analysis showed that these were patients with liver cirrhosis (LC; 43/285, 15.1%), especially those with decompensated LC (12/32, 37.5%). Therefore, an early initiation of antiviral therapy is recommended for a successful outcome before liver function declines. Furthermore, patients with decompensated LC who are considered candidates for SOF + RBV treatment should be carefully monitored to ensure that their treatment is completed, especially those with low hemoglobin and high alanine transaminase.