A Study on Change of Nurse Image After Hospitalization Experience

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This study analyzed change of nurse image after hospitalization experience. The data were collected though questionnaire survey on 87 patients, who were, for the first time, hospitalized for 5~7 days at five general hospitals in J city. The survey was performed during July 3~August 2, 2000. The nurse image was analyzed through the instrument conceived by Il-Sim Yang(1998) on the basis of four dimensions ; traditional, social, professional and personal. The collected data were processed through SPSS/WIN to examine t-test, ANOVA and paired t-test. The study results were summarized as follows ; 1. Before hospitalization, patients' score of nurse image was the highest in professional dimension, followed by personal, traditional and social in order. 2. The nurse image before hospitalization showed statistically significant differences in age(p=.009), sex(p=.027) and marital status(p=.000). 3. After hospitalization experience, the score of nurse image was the highest in personal dimension, followed by professional, traditional and social one. 4. The nurse image after hospitalization showed statistically significant differences in marital status(p=.002) only. 5. The difference of nurse image before and after hospitalization experience showed statistical significance in traditional (p=.007) and social (p=.037) dimensions. 6. The score of nurse image was improved in all dimensions after hospitalization experience. In conclusion, hospitalization experience helps improve the nurse image. Therefore, for better improvement of nurse image, it is necessary for nurses to offer their best care to hospitalized patients. In addition, efforts should be made to improve the social image of nurse, which showed lowest score.