Purpose: : In this study, we aimed to identify the factors affecting nurses’ competency in delirium care in an intensive care unit at a tertiary general hospital. Methods: : The participants were 149 nurses in the intensive care unit. Collected data were analyzed using independent t-tests, ANOVA, Sheffé test, Pearson correlations coefficients, and multiple regressions using the SPSS 28.0 program. Results: : The factors that significantly influenced the participants’ competency in delirium care were delirium nursing confidence (β=.44, p ＜.001) and intensive care unit clinical career (β=.25, p =.002). These factors explained 32.5% of the total variance outcomes regarding the competency in delirium care (F=12.87, p ＜.001). Conclusion : The study results indicated that the higher the confidence in delirium care and the more extensive intensive care unit experience, the higher the competency in delirium care. Moreover, these results suggested that various policy strategies should be implemented to enable intensive care unit nurses to work for a long time and to develop educational programs to increase confidence in delirium care.

Purpose: : This study aims to explore nursing activities after the decision to discontinue life-sustaining treatment, awareness of a good death, and perception of life-sustaining treatment decisions among nurses in intensive care units (ICUs) at tertiary general hospitals. Methods: : Participants were 173 nurses working in two tertiary general hospitals. The data were collected using structured questionnaires and analyzed using an independent t-test, paired t-test, one-way ANOVA, Scheffé’s test, and Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Results: : Participants were 173 nurses working in two tertiary hospitals. The nursing activity increase was the greatest in the spiritual domain, and the physical domain was where the activities decreased the most. There were significant associations between Awareness of good death (Clinical) and Perception of life-sustaining treatment decision(r=.26, p＜.001), Awareness of good death (Closure) and Perception of life-sustaining treatment decision(r=.36, p＜.001), and Awareness of good death (Personal control) and Perception of life-sustaining treatment decision(r=.49, p＜.001). Conclusion : Based on the results, systematic education programs and job training are required to improve the awareness regarding good death and perception of life-sustaining treatment decision for nurses in ICUs where discontinuing lifesustaining treatment decisions are made.

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the factors affecting the practice of medical waste management of nurses in tertiary general hospitals after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods: The participants were 154 nurses working in two tertiary general hospitals. Data were collected using structured questionnaires and analyzed using an Independent t-test, One-way ANOVA, Scheffé ́ test, Pearson correlation coefficients, and multiple regression analysis using the SPSS/WIN 27.0 program. Results: Factors significantly influencing the subject's practice of medical waste management include medical waste education(β=.18, p=.013), recognition of infection control organizational culture (β=.26, p=.007), and attitudes toward medical waste management (β=.23, p=.011). The explanatory power of these variables for medical waste management practice was 29.0% (F=7.34, p<.001). Conclusion To improve the practice of medical waste management, a strategy to provide positive attitudes toward medical waste management should be needed when developing medical waste management training programs, and various measures are necessary to make the organizational culture positive for the implementation of infection control guidelines at the organizational level.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop and verify the effectiveness of the home-based exercise program for prevention of sarcopenia in hemiplegic disorder patients. Methods: The participants consisted of 26 experimental group and 26 control group with hemiplegic disorders. The home-based exercise program to prevent sarcopenia was conducted twice a week and for six weeks from 11 January 2021 to 19 April 2021, measuring muscle mass, muscular strength, daily life movements, balance, dynamic posture control ability and quality of life. Results: The results showed the effectiveness of the home-based exercise program for hemiplegic patients.There were statistically significant differences between the control group and experimental group in patients’ muscle mass (F=8.26, p=.006), muscle strength (F=7.99,p=.007) and quality of life (F=12.19, p=.001). But, there were not statistically significant in patients’ daily life movements (F=0.33, p=.565), balance (F=0.04, p=.841) and dynamic posture control ability (F=3.48, p=.068). Conclusion In conclusion, the home-based exercise program was effective in improving muscle mass, muscle strength and quality of life in hemiplegic patients. Therefore, it is expected that the home-based exercise program developed in this study will be applied as an intervention for prevention of sarcopenia in hemiplegic patients and will be effective.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of 12 weeks of Tai Chi exercise on physical function, stress and depression in middle aged women with osteoarthritis. METHOD: The research design was a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design. Forty two participants were assigned to either the experimental group (21) or control group (21). Frequency, percentages, mean, standard deviations, chi-square-test, Wilcoxon rank sum test and repeated measured ANOVA with SPSS 12.0/PC program were used to analyzed the collected data. RESULTS: For physical function the physical fitness of the experimental group improved significantly more than the control group: Leg strength, balance, flexibility and grip strength. Difficulty of performing activity had a tendency of decrease. Stress showed a tendency of as time passed but the decrease was not significant. Depression decreased and the change was significant. CONCLUSION: The Tai Chi exercise was effective in improving physical function and reducing the stress and depression of middle aged women with osteoarthritis. Therefore the Tai Chi exercise could be used as a nursing intervention for osteoarthritis in middle aged women.
Depression ; Female ; Hand Strength ; Humans ; Leg ; Middle Aged ; Osteoarthritis ; Physical Fitness ; Pliability ; Research Design ; Tai Ji

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a rehabilitation program on physical health, physiological indicators and quality of life in breast cancer mastectomy patients. METHODS: The subjects included thirty-one patients with breast cancer (17 in the experimental group and 14 in the control group). The subjects in the experimental group participated in a rehabilitation program for 10 weeks, which was composed of an exercise program, teaching, counseling and support for 2 sessions per week. RESULTS: There was a significant increase in flexion, internal rotation and external rotation but no significant increase in extension in the experimental group compared to the control group. The total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL, LDL, and CD56 in the experimental group compared to the control group was not significantly decreased after the rehabilitation program. Compared to the control group, quality of life in the experimental group was significantly improved and fatigue in that group was significantly decreased after the rehabilitation program. CONCLUSION: The 10-week rehabilitation program showed a large affirmative effect on physical health, physiological indicators and quality of life in breast cancer mastectomy patients.
Adult ; Breast Neoplasms/rehabilitation/*surgery ; Female ; Humans ; Mastectomy/psychology/*rehabilitation ; Middle Aged ; Patient Education as Topic ; Quality of Life

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to describe the use pattern of alternative therapies in middle aged women. METHOD: The subjects of this study were 530 women from 40 to 64 years of age. The data of this study was patients' records. The data was gathered from April 1st, 2004 to June 30th, 2004. Data was analyzed statistically by using the SPSS/WIN 10.0 program. RESULT: It was shown that 63.5% of the subjects have utilized one or more types of alternative therapy. The most common type of alternative therapy was dietary and nutritional therapy 38.3%, and the place of use was the home 64.1%. The most common reason was a recommendation by friends. The degree of satisfaction after the use of alternative therapy was 95.2%. Among users of alternative therapies, the most frequent responses to each question were as follows; Motive of Use- "for health maintenance and promotion." (62.7%) In the relation ship between general characteristics and utilization of alternative therapy, religion (x2=12.33, p=.02), exercise (x2=8.21, p=004), and health status (x2=14.95, p=.005) showed a significant statistical difference. CONCLUSION: We found that middle aged women used alternative therapies more frequently than other populations. Therefore, it is suggested that medical doctors or nurses verify the true effects or side-effects from the most therapies or nurses verify the true effects or side-effects from the most common complementary or alternative therapies through experiments.
Complementary Therapies ; Female ; Friends ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Ships

PURPOSE: This study was done to evaluate the effects of foot reflexology on blood pressure, serum lipids, fatigue and self-efficacy in patients with hypertension. METHODS: The research was done between June 23 and July 31, 2003 and the design was an experimental treatment design. The thirty-four participants were assigned to either an experimental group (18) or a control group (16), Foot reflexology was administered twice a week for 6 weeks to participants in the experimental group. RESULTS: There was a significant decrease in systolic blood pressure and diastolic pressure in the experimental group compared to the control group. After the foot reflexology, total cholesterol and triglyceride levels for the experimental group did not decrease significantly compared to the control group. High density lipoprotein and low density lipoprotein levels also did not decrease significantly after foot reflexology. Fatigue in the experimental group decreased significantly after foot reflexology. Self-efficacy in the experimental group did not decrease significantly after foot reflexology. CONCLUSION: The results show that foot reflexology is an effective nursing intervention to decrease systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and to treat fatigue but not serum lipids. Therefore, blood cholesterol should be further evaluated with a larger group of participants and for a longer period. Further research is necessary to evaluate and to compare effects of self-foot reflexology and foot reflexology.
Aged* ; Blood Pressure* ; Cholesterol ; Fatigue* ; Foot* ; Humans ; Hypertension* ; Lipoproteins ; Massage* ; Nursing ; Triglycerides

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to test the effect of an integrated health promotion program in middle-aged women. METHOD: The research design was a quasi experimental, one-group pretest-posttest design. Data was collected from July 1st to August 31st, 2003. One group consisted of 30 subjects. The instruments used for the study were the Self Efficacy Scale and the Health Promotion Behavior Scale developed by Park (1995), Subjective health status developed Speake (1989) and menopause-related symptoms developed by Park (1995). The data was analyzed using the SPSS WIN 10.0 program. In order to compare the effects of the pre-post synthesized health promotion program, the ed t-test was employed. RESULT: There was not a significant increase in subjective health status after the integrated health promotion program, nor was there a significant decrease in menopause-related symptoms after the synthesized health promotion program. There was a significant increase in self efficacy after the integrated health promotion program (p=.029), and there was also a significant increase in health promotion behavior after the integrated health promotion program (p=.006). CONCLUSIONS: Through an 8 week education program for health promotion, self efficacy and health promotion behavior were effectively changed in middle-aged women.
Education ; Female ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Research Design ; Self Efficacy