• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.71-79
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• 2015

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the applicability of the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) and Acute Physiology, Age, Chronic Health Evaluation III (APACHE III) to the prediction of the healthcare outcomes of intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Methods: This research was performed with 136 adult patients (age>18 years) who were admitted to the ICU between May and June 2012. Data were measured using the CCI score with a comorbidity index of 19 and the APACHE III score on the standard of the worst result with vital signs and laboratory results. Discrimination was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and area under an ROC curve (AUC). Calibration was performed using logistic regression. Results: The overall mortality was 25.7%. The mean CCI and APACHE III scores for survivors were found to be significantly lower than those of non-survivors. The AUC was 0.835 for the APACHE III score and remained high, at 0.688, for the CCI score. The rate of concordance according to the CCI and the APACHE III score was 69.1%. Conclusion: The route of admission, days in ICU, CCI, and APACHE III score are associated with an increased mortality risk in ICU patients.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2016

Purpose: To investigate the post-intensive care syndrome (PICS) and to analyze the factors affecting the quality of life (QoL) of survivors of critical illness. Methods: Subjects were 114 outpatients who had been discharged from intensive care units of a university hospital in B city, Korea. From July 30 through September 30, 2015, PICS was assessed using the Korean Montreal Cognitive Assessment, Hospital Anxiety-Depression Scale, Korean Instrumental/Activities of Daily Living (K-I/ADL) index, and handwriting transformation, while physical and mental health-related QoL was measured using the SF-12. Results: Of the subjects, 39.5% were screened for mild cognitive disorder and 23.7% experienced handwriting transformation after discharge. Multiple regression analysis revealed that restraint application, current job, time of ${\geq}36$ months after discharge, depression, anxiety, and handwriting transformation accounted for 40.9% of the physical health-related QoL, and depression, anxiety and experience of delirium accounted for 62.4% of the mental health-related QoL. Conclusions: It is necessary to make efforts to reduce restraint application in intensive care units and prevent the occurrence of delirium, with the objective of reducing PICS and improving the QoL of critical illness survivors.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.15-26
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• 2016

Purpose: The aim of this study was to identify thinking strategies in the complicated decision-making process based on real patient-based data of triage nurses in the emergency department (ED). Methods: This study used the 'think aloud' method to collect data from 8 triage nurses from one general hospital ED in South Korea. The data were analyzed with protocol analysis using thinking strategies. Results: The triage process was divided into three stages. The first stage consisted of 8 thinking strategies, including searching for information. They used intuition based on directly observed concepts for identifying a crisis. The second stage consisted of 17 thinking strategies related to the decision-making process. They assessed patients and generated a hypothesis to try to understand their health problems through analytic thinking. The third stage consisted of 10 thinking strategies, including qualifying. They considered the situation of the ED and properly triaged the patients. During the triage process, they frequently used judging the value and searching for information on 17 thinking strategies. Conclusions: Triage nurses demonstrated various connected thinking strategies for each stage. Based on our results, further studies should be done to develop a triage education program.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.27-39
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• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study lies in investigating nursing and medical staff perceptions on the importance of surgical patient safety protocol, teamwork, and patient safety culture, and how their grasp of the factors affects the degree of their performance of the protocol. Methods: A survey was conducted on 249 nurses and medical staff participating in the operating rooms of one higher general hospital in Seoul, using a 5-point scale self-reported questionnaire. Logistic regression analyses were used. Results: Operating room nurses yielded the highest scores on both the importance of the patient safety protocol and its performance. In patient safety culture, the operating medical staff yielded significantly higher scores than those of operating room nurses. Perception of the importance of the patient safety protocol and teamwork had a significant effect on the nurses' complete performance of the protocol. Conclusion: It is important to create a safety culture, where all the staff can actively and freely communicate with one another through team-based training programs. By enhancing teamwork and patient safety culture, it will be possible to establish the surgical patient safety protocol and to improve the performance of the protocol by health professionals.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.50-61
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• 2015

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop a valid tool for measuring the work environment of Korean nurses and test the validity and reliability of the instrument. Methods: This is a methodological study for developing and testing a measurement tool. The conceptual framework for the tool was formed through a literature review and in-depth interviews with clinical nurses. 260 meaningful statements were derived through this process, and 59 of the primary items were generated out of these statements. On the basis of the content validity test, 41 items were selected for the preliminary tool. A total of 350 nurses from 7 hospitals responded to the preliminary questionnaire in October 2011. Results: After the item analysis and the principal component analysis using varimax rotation methods, 11 items were deleted. Considering the conceptual framework and the scree plot, we extracted 4 factors from the final 30 items. These factors were organizational support, head nurse's leadership, support system, and relationship with coworkers, and their total variance was 54.4%. The value of Cronbach's ${\alpha}$ of the final tool was 0.92. Conclusion: The above findings revealed that the Korean Nursing Work Environment Scale (K-NWES) is an appropriate, valid, and reliable tool for evaluating the work environment of Korean nurses. Further research to perform a criterion validity test of the K-NWES is needed.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.41-49
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• 2015

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to measure the noise levels in intensive care units (ICUs) and to analyze the causes of the noise and patient perceptions of the noise. Methods: Noise levels were recorded in adult ICUs for 24 h over a week from the patients' bedside with a sound level meter. Noise sources were categorized into three groups: medical equipment, health care providers, and the environment. Noises from the environment were recorded in an empty ICUs side room. Perceptions of the noise of 125 patients admitted to the ICUs were recorded using a questionnaire. Results: The mean level of noise in the ICUs was 58.5 dBA (range: 34.2-80.2 dBA). The causes of noise higher than 70 dBA were nebulizers and infusion/syringe pumps among medical equipment, and drawer slamming, phone ringing, and stripping packages of medical fluids among environmental noises. According to the questionnaire, 64.0% of the patients responded that the ICUs were noisy and that they suffered from sleep disturbance because of the noise. Conclusion: Noise is considerably high in ICUs and is an annoying factor for the patients. Most noise sources are adjustable, and we should try to reduce noise whenever possible to make the ICUs environment more pleasant.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.11-24
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• 2015

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the experience of patients on the waiting list for kidney retransplantation. Methods: The data were collected by individual in-depth interviews of nine patients who were dialyzed after primary kidney graft dysfunction and were waiting for deceased donor kidney retransplantation. All interviews were audio-taped and transcribed, and were analyzed using a phenomenological method. Results: The findings included 5 theme clusters and 13 sub-themes. The 5 clusters were 'Diagnosed with chronic renal failure and dialysis: Broken daily life and crisis', 'Kidney transplantation: The only way to escape from dialysis', 'Kidney graft failure: Inevitable moving backward to hemodialysis', 'Self-management of re-dialysis patients: Growth through pain', and 'The waiting for kidney retransplantation: To try again in the hope of getting a new life'. Conclusion: This study provides a deep understanding of patients with dialysis who are waiting for deceased donor kidney retransplantation. On the basis of the findings of this study, health professionals can provide customized information and develop effective nursing interventions to improve the self-management of these patients.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.65-73
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• 2011

Purpose: This study was to develop and evaluate stability and effects of an early exercise program for patients with open heart surgery. Methods: The subjects of this study were 30 patients who had either a coronary bypass surgery or a valvular heart surgery at a tertiary hospital in Seoul. The data was collected by observation and measurement from October 1, 2004 to November 15, 2004. Results: The early exercise program developed for this study consisted of range of motion exercise and walking. Intensity of walking was 1~3 METs and increased progressively to daily target distance. During exercise, the subjects were monitored heart rate, blood pressure and RPE (Rating of Perceived Exertion). The mean FIM (Functional Independent Measurements) score of subjects was significantly improved after the early exercise program. However, several complaints such as dizziness or pain were also reported. Most complaints were associated with chest tube and RPE. Conclusion: The early exercise program can help to recover patients' physical activities after surgery, and can be applied to most patients. Patients' RPE, dizziness and pain was possible limitations, therefore, active pain control and prevention of accidents for patients would be needed.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.51-63
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• 2011

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the effects of extended family visiting hours in the intensive care unit (ICU). Methods: The subjects were 168 ICU patients and their family members. Two 30-minute visits a day were allowed to the control group according to current policy, while four 30-minute visits a day were allowed to the experimental group. Patients' state anxiety was measured at the first day of ICU admission, and on the third day of ICU admission patients' anxiety and family satisfaction were measured. For the infection rate, comparison was made between the experimental and control data-collecting periods. Results: The patients' state anxiety significantly decreased in the experimental group. Family satisfaction of experimental group was significantly higher than that of control group. There was no significant difference in the infection rate. Nurses positively evaluated extension of visiting hours because it could stabilize patients, reduce the number of arrangements for additional visits, and help establish trust relationship with families. Conclusion: Extended family visiting hours in the ICU reduced patients' anxiety and improved family satisfaction but had no effect on the infection rate. Extended family visiting hours in the ICU is expected to improve the quality of critical care.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.37-50
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• 2011

Purpose: This study is to evaluate the effect of abdominal breathing on postoperative pain, state anxiety, blood pressure, and heart rate of cardiac surgery patients treated in intensive care unit. Methods: A non-synchronized design of nonequivalent control group pre-post test was used. Participants were divided into an experimental group(n=22) and a control group(n=21). Just usual postoperative treatments were provided to the control group, while abdominal breathing interventions were provided to the experimental group, in addition to usual treatments. The intervention was consisted of 4 stages-introductions, breathing perception, breathing training, and closing-and it lasted twelve minutes in total. Pain, state anxiety, blood pressure and heart rate were the dependent variables of the abdominal breathing. Results: Those who carried out abdominal breathing showed a significant reduction in pain, as well as decrease of systolic blood pressure. However, it turned out to have no effect on state anxiety, diastolic blood pressure and heart rate. Conclusion: Abdominal breathing is simple and harmless and is effective for reducing postoperative pain.