• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.10-20
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• 2017

Purposes: This study analyzed activities for improvement of quality of care in nursing units to identify group-level success factors of quality improving efforts. Methodology/Approach: Research subjects were 31 general wards of C university hospital, which has 1,200 beds. Data were collected through survey and focus group interview. The mean value of nurses in a ward was converted to unit-level variable value of the ward. The SPSS 24.0 version was used to analyse the data. The units were classified into two groups, high performing and low performing, by the subjective level of quality improvement performance. Findings: The main findings are as follows: 1. The high performing groups participated more in education related to quality improvement and showed more quality improvement cases in progress than that of their counterpart. 2. The high performing group's nurses show more positive perception and attitude on quality improvement activities, and they have positive assessment on the necessity, effect, satisfaction about the quality improvement activities. 3. Middle managers' ability, attitude, motivation, and effective communication across members of the ward played pivotal roles in boosting the quality improvement activities of wards.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.11-20
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• 2013

Purpose: This study to describe experiences of nurses who work in intensive care units (ICUs) where they frequently encounter patients with attempted suicide by drug ingestion. Methods: Data were collected by 2 focus group interviews with 9 ICU nurses. The interview were recorded and transcribed, and data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: The results of data analysis, five themes were drawn: 'Confusion about for the attempted suicidal patient care', 'Helplessness for dying with attempted suicidal patients', 'Guilty for insufficient care', 'Ambivalence for the attempted suicidal patients', 'Recognition of need for professional approach'. Conclusion: The results of this study help us to understand patients who attempted suicide through the ICU nurses' experience. It would be useful to develop effective education programs for ICU nurses to preventive strategies for patients who are high risk of recurrence of suicidal crisis situation.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.167-176
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• 2004

Background: Electromagnetic fields (EMF) are ubiquitous in modern society including medical field. As the technology of medical instruments and telecommunications has developed rapidly, it has influenced on our lives in many ways. Modern medical practice requires high quality medical equipments, which have a great deal of electromagnetic interference and susceptibility. The purpose of this study were to evaluate electromagnetic condition under usual clinical condition and to suggest a practical guideline in general hospital. Materials and Methods: The actual state of the electromagnetic interference in the medical field was studied under usual clinical conditions including operating rooms, intensive care units, magnetic resonance imaging unit, and hyperthermia unit. Results: There was considerable noise as a result of electromagnetic fields from medical equipments including electrosurgical units and hyperthermia unit, and cellular phones, which could induce serious functional derangements of functioning medical devices. Conclusion: It will be necessary to evaluate the individual electromagnetic situations under various medical conditions and to define a limited zone for cellular phone as well as reposition medical equipments to secure a safer medical practice and to minimize electromagnetic interference.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.147-153
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• 2008

Purpose: Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has become a major clinical problem and one of the major nosocomial pathogen worldwide. The aim of the study was to investigate the epidemiological characteristics of genotypes of MRSA isolated in the A-hospital ICU. Methods: In the period between December 2007 and May 2008, MRSA was isolated from ICU patients and its surrounding environment. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was conducted for the detection of MRSA gene. The incidence of MRSA in the clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus was examined by using a multiplex PCR. The spa gene of Staphylococcus aureus encodes protein A and is used for typing of MRSA. We used sequence typing of the spa gene repeat region to study the epidemiology of MRSA at a hospital. Results: Two different genotypes of MRSA were identified with 90 isolated from the patients and its surrounding environments in the ICU. Conclusion: This study may contribute to the development of effective strategies for preventing nosocomial infections. Genotyping may have more general application for the study of MRSA epidemic outbreak in hospital and community infection.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.64-72
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• 2017

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the distributions of nurse staffing grades and to report changes in staffing grades in general wards and adult and neonatal intensive care units(ICUs) by hospital type and location. Methods: Data collected from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service were analyzed. Nurse staffing was categorized from grades 1 to 6 or 7 for general wards, 1 to 9 for adult ICUs, and 1 to 4 for neonatal ICUs based on the nurse-to-bed ratio. Results: The staffing grade for the general wards improved during 2008-2016 in 69.8% of the tertiary hospitals, 58.5% of the general hospitals, and 31.7% of the non-general hospitals. The adult ICUs at tertiary hospitals exhibited a greater improvement in staffing grades (48.8%) than did those of general hospitals (44.2%) during 2008-2015. Tertiary hospitals in non-capital regions showed a greater improvement than those in the capital region. The majority of neonatal ICUs (67.1%) had no change in the staffing grade during 2008-2015. Conclusion: Improvements in nurse staffing differed by hospital type and location. Government policies to improve nurse staffing in non-tertiary hospitals and those in non-capital regions are required to reduce variations in nurse staffing.

• Kidney Research and Clinical Practice
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.111-116
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• 2017

The Korean Society of Nephrology participated in the task force team consisting of government authorities and civilian experts to prevent and control the spread of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in 2015. The Korean Society of Nephrology MERS Task Force Team took an immediate action and drafted 'the clinical recommendation for hemodialysis facilities' to follow when the first and the only confirmed case was reported in the hemodialysis unit. Owing to the dedicated support from medical doctors, dialysis nurses, and related medical companies, we could prevent further transmission of MERS infection successfully in hemodialysis units. This special report describes the experience of infection control during MERS outbreak in 2015 and summarizes the contents of 'the clinical practice guideline for hemodialysis facilities dealing with MERS patients' built upon our previous experience.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.39-50
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• 2010

Purpose: The study was done to examine the development and effects of horticulture therapy on quality of sleep and immune function in patients in hospice units. Methods: The participants in this study were hospice patients in D hospital in D city. Thirty hospice patients were assigned to the experimental group, thirty to the control group. Data were collected from April 29 to July 26, 2009. The horticulture therapy program consisted of indoor and outdoor horticultural activities. The horticulture therapy was conducted for 30 minutes, 6 times a week for 3 weeks (a total 18 times). Measures were quality of sleep, and immune function by serum T-cell, NK-cell count. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square test and t-test with SPSS/WIN 13.0 version. Results: Patients in the experimental group receiving horticulture therapy had a significant difference in changes in the quality of sleep compared to the control group. There were also a significant difference in changes in the immune function (serum T cell and serum NK cell) between the experimental group and control group. Conclusion: The study results indicate that horticulture therapy developed for hospice patients is an effective, palliative intervention program to improve the quality of sleep and immune function of hospice patients.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.1-14
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• 2012

Purpose: This study was aimed to describe ethical dilemmas and types of coping behaviors among nurses who worked in intensive care units (ICUs). Methods: Data were collected by 2 focus group interviews with 12 ICU nurses in an academic affiliated hospital in Seoul, Korea. All interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed, and data were analyzed by modified qualitative content analysis. Results: Three themes emerged from the focus group interviews: "Respect for Persons (2 contents)", "Beneficence (13 contents)", "Justice (1 content)". Coping behaviors against the dilemmas were consultations with the doctors or colleagues, acceptance, guilt, reflection, forgetting, endurance, and frustration. Conclusion: The results of this study help us to understand ethical dilemmas that nurses experienced in ICUs and their coping behaviors. It would be useful to develop education programs for nurses in ICUs to support coping strategies for ethical dilemmas.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.21-28
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• 2013

Purpose: General hospital in korea is getting large-scaled, specialized and upgraded. So, nursing unit of race track type has been advanced along with a spatial organization, building equipment and environmental approach. This study is to search the guidelines for renovation of nursing unit with race track type in the case of K university hospital in Daejeon. Methods: 9 cases of recently opened general hospital has been analyzed for spatial and environmental design solution. Questionnaires and interviews about user needs of nursing staff, patient and visitors, have been conducted for a nursing care system and facility of nursing units in K university hospital. Results: The user needs are represented as followings. Center core public zone in each floor plan and center core nursing station and supporting areas in nursing unit are good for an adjacency and separation of spatial organization. Toilet of group patient room is necessary to equip for easy, safe and infective aspects, and so toilet install will decrease the patient number and increase the nursing care service. Hall type of station front is good for visibility and observation. It is appropriate to renovate into south facing group patient room for privacy, enough space for nursing care facility and supporting area, enough width of door to move portable medical equipment, room for medical doctor and practical student, noise absorbing of day room. Implications: Upgrading the nursing care service and facility equipment is necessary to reflect the user needs and cooperate with hospital management.

• Acute and Critical Care
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.238-245
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• 2018

Background: Infection by multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens leads to poor patient outcomes in intensive care units (ICUs). Contact precautions are necessary to reduce the transmission of MDR pathogens. However, the importance of the surrounding environment is not well known. We studied the effects of ICU relocation on MDR respiratory pathogen detection rates and patient outcomes. Methods: Patients admitted to the ICU before and after the relocation were retrospectively analyzed. Baseline patient characteristics, types of respiratory pathogens detected, antibiotics used, and patient outcomes were measured. Results: A total of 463 adult patients admitted to the ICU, 4 months before and after the relocation, were included. Of them, 234 were admitted to the ICU before the relocation and 229 afterward. Baseline characteristics, including age, sex, and underlying comorbidities, did not differ between the two groups. After the relocation, the incidence rate of MDR respiratory pathogen detection decreased from 90.0 to 68.8 cases per 1,000 patient-days, but that difference was statistically insignificant. The use of colistin was significantly reduced from 53.5 days (95% confidence interval [CI], 20.3 to 86.7 days) to 18.7 days (95% CI, 5.6 to 31.7 days). Furthermore, the duration of hospital stay was significantly reduced from a median of 29 days (interquartile range [IQR], 14 to 50 days) to 21 days (IQR, 11 to 39 days). Conclusions: Incidence rates of MDR respiratory pathogen detection were not significantly different before and after ICU relocation. However, ICU relocation could be helpful in reducing the use of antibiotics against MDR pathogens and improving patient outcomes.