Objective. This study aims to determine time and motion in the operating room in emergent, urgent and scheduled cesarean section surgeries among pregnant COVID-19 patients. Methodology. A time and motion performance evaluation study was done by computing the following parameters: pre-induction time, pre-incision time, opening time, closing time, for both decision-to-delivery interval (DDI) and overall operative time. Results. During the study period, emergent DDI average was 2 hours and 38 minutes, emergent overall operative time was 1 hour and 31 minutes, urgent DDI average was 3 hours and 51 minutes, and urgent overall operative time of 1 hour and 57 minutes. However, in both urgent and emergent cases, the recommended DDI of 30 minutes, and the average duration of 44.3 minutes for CS were not feasible. Conclusion. The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected the provision of surgical obstetric care and OR utilization. Due to the new safety protocol for healthcare workers and patients, there was a significant delay in DDI and overall operative time. The causes were preparation, anesthesia factors or obstetrician factors. Identifying modifiable obstacles may improve the DDI, overall operative time, and the quality of maternal and child birth care during this pandemic.
Pregnancy ; Female ; Cesarean Section ; Time and Motion Studies ; COVID-19 ; Time Perception ; Motion

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to construct and test a structural equation model on nursing work outcomes based on Youssef and Luthans' positive psychological capital and integrated conceptual framework of work performance.METHODS: This study used a structured questionnaire administered to 340 nurses. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.RESULTS: Positive psychological capital showed indirect and direct effects on job satisfaction, retention intention, organizational citizenship behavior, and nursing performance. While, the nursing work environment had direct and indirect effects on job satisfaction and nursing performance, it only had indirect effects on intention to work and organizational citizenship behavior. Additionally, a mediating effect on retention intention and organizational citizenship behavior was found between job satisfaction and nursing performance variables.CONCLUSION: The nursing organization needs to build a supportive work environment and reinforce positive psychological capital to improve nursing performance. Additionally, it needs to actively manage the necessary parameters involved in the stages of job satisfaction, retention intention, nursing performance, and organizational citizenship behavior of nurses. The findings propose the continuous management of nursing personnel based on nurses' attitude outcome, behavioral intention, behavioral outcome, and stage of role performance.
Attitude of Health Personnel ; Intention ; Job Satisfaction ; Negotiating ; Nursing ; Psychology, Industrial ; Task Performance and Analysis ; Work Performance

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on neurological and functional recovery in patients with central cord syndrome (CCS) involving the upper extremities between the treated and non-treated sides of the treated group and whether the outcomes are comparable to that of the untreated control group. METHODS: Nineteen CCS patients were treated with high-frequency (20 Hz) rTMS over the motor cortex for 5 days. The stimulation side was randomly selected, and all the subjects received conventional occupational therapy during the rTMS-treatment period. Twenty CCS patients who did not receive rTMS were considered as controls. Clinical assessments, including those by the International Standard for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury, the Jebsen-Taylor Hand Function Test, and the O'Connor Finger Dexterity Test were performed initially and followed up for 1 month after rTMS treatment or 5 weeks after initial assessments. RESULTS: The motor scores for upper extremities were increased and the number of improved cases was greater for the treated side in rTMS-treated patients than for the non-treated side in rTMS-treated patients or controls. The improved cases for writing time and score measured on the Jebsen-Taylor Hand Function Test were also significantly greater in number on the rTMS-treated side compared with the non-treated side and controls. There were no adverse effects during rTMS therapy or the follow-up period. CONCLUSION: The results of the application of high-frequency rTMS treatment to CCS patients suggest that rTMS can enhance the motor recovery and functional fine motor task performance of the upper extremities in such individuals.
Central Cord Syndrome ; Classification ; Fingers ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hand ; Humans ; Motor Cortex ; Occupational Therapy ; Spinal Cord Injuries ; Task Performance and Analysis ; Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ; Upper Extremity ; Writing

PURPOSE: To analyze the job of nursing unit managers working at women's hospital, using DACUM (developing a curriculum), DACUM is a method for analyzing job-focused competency. METHODS: This study involved a descriptive survey. A DACUM workshop was held to define women's hospital nursing unit managers' role and identify their duties and tasks. For the workshop, a committee was formed consisting of 5 women's hospital nursing unit managers. Finally, after validation, the developed contents were made into a survey asking about nursing unit manager's duties and tasks. RESULTS: Sixteen duties and 83 tasks were identified on the DACUM chart. The importance, difficulty, and frequency of the tasks were ranked in terms of A, B, and C, with A being the highest degree. Eight tasks received A's all in importance, difficulty, and frequency of performance. The 8 tasks were: ‘taking over’, ‘taking care of seriously ill patients on handover’, ‘ward rounding’, ‘analyzing and resolving demands identified during handover and patient tour’, ‘reporting patient status during rounding’, ‘promoting breast-feeding’, ‘uterine contraction, and training for breast-feeding’. The duty with the biggest determinant coefficient (DC) was ‘patients complaint management’ (DC=7.09). Based on tasks, the one with the biggest DC was ‘solving patient and patient guardian's complaints’ (DC=7.53), followed by ‘making infection control guidelines’ (DC=7.5). CONCLUSION: When expanding the nursing staff of the hospital, women's hospitals nursing unit managers also need to use administrative functions as intermediaries to focus on the operation management of the entire hospital rather than direct nursing to suit their role.
Education ; Hospitals, Maternity ; Humans ; Infection Control ; Methods ; Nursing Staff ; Nursing ; Nursing, Supervisory ; Task Performance and Analysis

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate whether birth experience affects short-term memory (1,2-back task) by examining parturient and non-parturient women. METHODS: A total of 31 women were enrolled in this study, of which 16 were parturient women who had given birth within the past 2 years (mean age: 33.9±2.2 years) and 15 were non-parturient (mean age: 31.4±2.1 years). The mean age did not significantly differ between the two groups, so the effects of age were eliminated. To match the level of education between the two groups, college graduation was an inclusion criterion. A 1,2-back task consisting of six alphabets from A–F was created using the SuperLab software. For each task, there were 100 stimuli (alphabets) and 30 answers. The participants practiced the task prior to the main experiment to ensure that they adequately understood the procedure. RESULTS: The correct answer rates in the 1-back and 2-back tasks were 93.56±22.23% and 76.89±21.98%, respectively, in the non-parturient group and 95±10.04% and 80.83±13.67%, respectively, in the parturient group. The reaction time in the 1-back and 2-back tasks were 650.57±173.77 ms and 736.77±138.35 ms, respectively, in the non-parturient group and 621.91±81.90 ms and 737.5±195.99 ms, respectively, in the parturient group. There were no significant differences in the answer rates between the two groups, suggesting that parturition did not have a significant impact on the 1,2-back task performance. CONCLUSION: Birth experience does not significantly impair cognitive function. However, the findings of this pilot study are not highly reliable because of the limitations of the small sample size, degree of load, various types of working memory, and impact of hormones.
Cognition ; Education ; Female ; Humans ; Memory, Short-Term ; Parturition ; Pilot Projects ; Pregnancy ; Reaction Time ; Sample Size ; Task Performance and Analysis

PURPOSE: The robotic system for surgery was introduced to gastric cancer surgery in the early 2000s to overcome the shortcomings of laparoscopic surgery. The more recently introduced da Vinci Xi® system offers benefits allowing four-quadrant access, greater range of motion, and easier docking through an overhead boom rotation with laser targeting. We aimed to identify whether the Xi® system provides actual advantages over the Si® system in gastrectomy for gastric cancer by comparing the operative outcomes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed all patients who underwent robotic gastrectomy as treatment for gastric cancer from March 2016 to March 2017. Patients' demographic data, perioperative information, and operative and pathological outcomes were collected and analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 109 patients were included in the Xi® group and 179 in the Si® group. Demographic characteristics were similar in both groups. The mean operative time was 229.9 minutes in the Xi® group and 223.7 minutes in the Si® group. The mean estimated blood loss was 72.7 mL in the Xi® group and 62.1 mL in the Si® group. No patient in the Xi® group was converted to open or laparoscopy, while 3 patients in the Si® group were converted, 2 to open surgery and 1 to laparoscopy, this difference was not statistically significant. Bowel function was resumed 3 days after surgery, while soft diet was initiated 4 days after surgery. CONCLUSIONS: We found no difference in surgical outcomes after robotic gastrectomy for gastric cancer between the da Vinci Xi® and da Vinci Si® procedures.
Diet ; Gastrectomy ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Operative Time ; Range of Motion, Articular ; Retrospective Studies ; Stomach Neoplasms

PURPOSE: Twenty early surgical management cases of distal humerus type-C fractures were analyzed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study analyzed 20 early patients, who received surgical management of distal humerus type-C fractures, and could be followed-ups for more than one year between March of 2013 and May of 2015. The operative time, bone union time, and elbow range of motion were analyzed. The Mayo's functional score was used to evaluate their postoperative function. The primary and secondary complications of each patient immediately after each of their surgery were also reviewed. RESULTS: All patient groups achieved bone union within an average period of 16.4 weeks. Based on the Mayo functional score, 6, 10, and 4 patients scored excellent, good, and fair, respectively. The average range of motion was a flexion contracture of 14.5° with a follow-up improvement averaging 120.7°. Six patients received nine revision operations due to major and minor complications. Two patients received revision fixation from an inadequate fixating power, and another patient received an ulnar nerve transposition. Other complications included olecranon osteotomy site displacement, superficial operational site infection, and pin loosening. CONCLUSION: Distal humerus fractures of the AO-C type can cause a range of complications and has a very high rate of revision due to its difficult nature of surgical manageability. Therefore, it is imperative for a surgeon to expect various complications beforehand and a careful approach to their postoperative rehabilitation is essential.
Contracture ; Elbow ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Humerus ; Intra-Articular Fractures ; Olecranon Process ; Operative Time ; Orthopedics ; Osteotomy ; Range of Motion, Articular ; Rehabilitation ; Surgeons ; Ulnar Nerve

PURPOSE: This study aimed to identify the effect of role conflict, self-efficacy, and resilience on the nursing task performance of emergency department (ED) nurses. METHODS: Data were collected from 140 ED nurses working in 6 general hospitals, using self-reporting questionnaires. Data were analyzed using SPSS 23.0, and the analyses included descriptive statistics, a t-test, an ANOVA, the Pearson's correlation coefficient test, and a stepwise multiple regression. RESULTS: Nursing task performance differed significantly in terms of the following general characteristics of the participants: age, marital status, total clinical experience, clinical experience in the ED, and position at the hospital. Nursing task performance was positively correlated with role conflict, self-efficacy, and resilience. Self-efficacy, role conflict, clinical experience in the ED, and resilience were significant predictors of nursing performance, and they accounted for 36.9% of the variance. CONCLUSION: Self-efficacy was identified as the most significant factor affecting the nursing task performance of ED nurses. Therefore, it is necessary to develop programs to improve the self-efficacy of ED nurses.
Emergencies ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Hospitals, General ; Marital Status ; Nursing ; Task Performance and Analysis

PURPOSE: This study was performed to measure the level of nursing tasks and practice environment of nursing work (PENW) perceived by nurses working on comprehensive wards or general wards, and to investigate the relationship between these two variables. METHODS: This study was a cross-sectional survey. Participants were 97 nurses working on comprehensive or general wards of one general hospital in Gyeonggido, Korea. Data were collected from October 17 to 21, 2016 using the structured questionnaires and analyzed with SPSS/PC ver 18.0 programs. RESULTS: The scores for nursing tasks (performance, importance, and knowledge) perceived by nurses working on comprehensive wards were higher than nurses on general wards. The score for PENW perceived by nurses working on comprehensive wards was significantly higher than that of nurses on general wards. For comprehensive ward nurses, there was a relationship between nursing tasks and PENW, but no relationship was found for general ward nurses. CONCLUSION: This findings show that nurses working on comprehensive wards evaluate nursing tasks and PENW higher than nurses working on general wards indicating that nursing managers should work to raise the perception of general ward nursing tasks and PENW.
Cross-Sectional Studies ; Gyeonggi-do ; Hospitals, General ; Korea ; Nursing ; Patients' Rooms ; Task Performance and Analysis

PURPOSE: In this study, effects of positive, negative, and mixed verbal feedback were examined for accuracy of self-assessment, emotional responses, self-efficacy, and perceived quality of feedback in skill performance assessment. METHODS: Participants were a convenience sample of 104 second-year nursing students who had completed their fundamentals of nursing class. Participants were assigned randomly to a positive, a negative or a mixed feedback group. All participants completed the performance measure and then received the assigned the type of feedback from an evaluator. After delivery of feedback, they assessed their own performance using the same sheet as the evaluator and completed the survey for emotional response, self-efficacy for learning, and quality of feedback. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in accuracy of self-assessment and perceived quality of feedback among the three groups (χ²=4.74, p=.094; χ²=3.30, p=.192, respectively). The negative feedback group had significantly lower self-efficacy and positive emotions and more negative emotions than the other two groups (F=9.43, p=.009; χ²=16.29, p < .001; χ²=5.69, p=.005, respectively). CONCLUSION: Negative feedback can affect emotions and motivations for learning in nursing students and may interfere with the effectiveness of feedback, so instructors should pay more attention when providing negative feedback. Mixed feedback with an effect similar to positive feedback could be an alternative.
Education, Nursing ; Humans ; Learning ; Nursing* ; Self-Assessment* ; Students, Nursing ; Task Performance and Analysis