• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.134-143
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• 2022

Purpose: The study aimed to understand the delirium experience of intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Methods: We performed a qualitative study using Colaizzi's phenomenological method. Eleven patients, who experienced delirium according to the Confusion Assessment Method for ICU, participated after transferring to general wards from the ICU. Individual in-depth semi-structured interviews ranging from 30 minutes to 2 hours in length were conducted between November 2018 and August 2019. Results: Nine themes and four theme clusters emerged. The four theme clusters were: 1) "Overwhelmed by fear," which describes the experience of a patient close to death and the feeling of difficulty in understanding disorganized thinking; 2) "Anxious about not understanding the situation," which means that patients' sense of time and space were disordered in the ICU; 3) "Being deserted," which indicates the feeling of being separated from others and yourself; and 4) "Resistance to protect my dignity," which indicates that the dignity and autonomy of an individual in the patient's position at the ICU, are ignored. Conclusion: Nursing interventions are needed that would enable patients to maintain orientation and self-esteem in the ICU. In addition, healthcare providers need to provide information about the unfamiliar environment in the ICU in advance.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.172-183
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• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the subjective experience of life-sustaining treatment care among nurses in intensive care units. Method: A phenomenology was used for the study. Data were collected from October to December, 2015 using open-ended questions during in-depth interviews. Participants were nurses working in intensive care units and were contacted through purposive techniques. Eight nurses participated in this study. Results: Four categories emerged from the analysis using Colaizzi's method: (a) difficulties due to life-sustaining treatment care, (b) dilemma of extension or cessation of life-sustaining treatment, (c) repressed feelings and emotional exhaustion, and (d) forming values for life-sustaining treatment from nursing experience. Conclusion: Provision of clearer guidelines on life-sustaining treatment which reflect a family-oriented culture is important for nurses in ICU and will promote nurses involvement in the decision-making process of life-sustaining treatment of patients.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.1-13
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• 2021

Purpose : This study aims to provide basic data for effective nursing interventions and improvement of nurses' work by exploring their work experiences in single-room-structured intensive care units (ICU) through focus group interviews. Methods : Data were collected through two focus group discussions conducted from March to November 2020 with 13 ICU nurses. Interviews were audio-recorded and analyzed thematically by investigators. Results : Through content analysis, 15 sub-categories and 6 categories were formed. Two themes, "positive experiences patients care in an independent space" and "difficulties in nursing work according to space separation of patients" emerged. There are positive aspects of single-room-structured ICUs, but it was found that practicing nurses had difficulties and required specialized nursing competencies. Therefore, efforts to reduce the burden of nurses in single-room-structured ICUs are necessary. Conclusion : The limitation of this study is that it was conducted in a single hospital because single-room-structured intensive care units are uncommon in Korea. However, this study is of great significance as a basis for establishing guidelines on the efforts required from nurses, hospitals, and governments single-room-structured ICUs in the future.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.58-68
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• 2022

Purpose : This study aimed to provide basic data for developing strategies to improve the nursing performance of nurses working in the intensive care unit by identifying the degree of their communication ability, job satisfaction, organization commitment, and nursing performance, and the relation between each of these variables in the intensive care unit by examining the factors affecting nursing performance. Methods : The participants comprised of 150 nurses working in the intensive care unit in two advanced general hospitals. Data were collected using structured questionnaires and analyzed using a t-test, ANOVA, the Scheffé test, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and multiple regression analysis using the SPSS/WIN 25.0 program. Results : Nursing performance of the participants was positively correlated with communication ability (r=.64, p<.001), job satisfaction (r=.26, p<.001), and organization commitment (r=.29, p<.001). Factors significantly influencing the participants' nursing performance included academic background (𝛽=.16, p=.032) and communication ability (𝛽=.50, p<.001). The explanatory power of these variables for nursing performance was recorded at 49.9% (F=19.04, p<.001). Conclusion : The use of various programs in the hospital and the development of effective communication ability with medical staff and other departments among nurses will help improve nursing performance, cooperation with other departments, and patient care.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.14-28
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to calculate the total daily nursing workload and the optimum number of nurses per intensive care unit (ICU) based on the nursing intensity and the direct nursing time per inpatient using the patient classification. Methods: Two ICUs at one general hospital were investigated. To calculate the nursing intensity, patient classification according to the nursing needs was conducted for 10 days in each unit during September 2018. We performed patient classifications for a total of 167 patient-days in the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) and 86 patient-days in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU). The total number of person-days for nurses who responded to the Nursing Time survey was 151 for MICU and 85 for SICU. In each unit, direct and non-direct nursing hours, nursing intensity score, and direct nursing hours were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, and average calculated using Microsoft Excel. The amount of nursing workload and the optimum number of nurses were calculated according to the formula developed by the authors. Findings: For the MICU, the average direct nursing time per patient was 5.59 hours for Group 1, 6.98 hours for Group 2, and 9.28 hours for Group 3. For the SICU, the average direct nursing time per patient was 5.43 hours for Group 1, 7.21 hours for Group 2, 9.75 hours for Group 3, and 12.82 hours for Group 4. Practical Implications: This study confirmed that the appropriate number of nurses was not secured in the nursing unit of this study, and that leisure time such as meal time during nursing work hours was not properly guaranteed. The findings suggest that to create working environments where nurses can serve for extended periods of time without compromising their professional standards, hospitals should secure an appropriate number of nurses.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.13-22
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• 2015

Purpose: This study identified the current status and perception of intensive care unit nurses' handover. Methods: A cross sectional descriptive survey was employed. The population included nurse managers and staff nurses who worked in intensive care units in hospitals with more than 500 beds and excluded nursing homes, psychiatric hospitals, and military hospitals. Results: Of the nurses, 61.7% were satisfied with the current handover method, 68.36% had no handover-related guidelines, and 83.2% of them perceived that the handover was important for patients' safety. The most frequent cause for errors related to handover was that the "nursing workload is heavy." The nurses perceived that their handover was informative ($5.62{\pm}0.79$) and efficient ($5.04{\pm}0.98$). The variables associated with their perception of the handover were the level of satisfaction with the current handover method, existence of handover guidelines, and importance of handover for patient safety. Conclusion: The development of standardized handover guidelines, especially for intensive care units, is necessary to reduce handover time and errors and to improve handover quality for patients'safety and high standards of nursing care.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.1-11
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• 2022

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to not only examine the importance and performance status of patient safety nursing activities in the intensive care unit but also to understand nurses' educational needs in this respect. Methods : In this descriptive study, 196 nurses working in the intensive care units of university hospitals located at B City and G Province were enrolled. They completed the Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) questionnaire, and the data were statistically analyzed. Results : Mean±standard deviation item scores of importance and performance of patient safety nursing activities were 4.75±0.33 and 4.48±0.38, respectively. In the IPA results, a total of 10 items were included in the second quadrant, including 1 item related to 'transfer,' 1 to 'infection,' and 1 to 'firefighting surveillance.' As the second quadrant contains the high-importance, low-performance items, these 10 items resemble the nurses' educational needs that should be prioritized. Conclusion : The results of this study can be used as a basis for the development of nursing educational programs for patient safety in the intensive care unit.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.15-24
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• 2006

Purpose: This study was done to define nursing behavior in neonatal intensive care units so as to estimate resource-based relative value-. Method: Participating in this study were 292 nurses in neonatal intensive care units. The study surveyed physical and mental labor, stress and time involved in nursing work. Tool used in this study was a nursing labor per relative value tool. For analyzes, the relative value of each nursing behavior was calculated, where the mean value of the three components, labor intensity and component-by-component explanatory power were in percentage terms. Results: 1. Nursing behaviors in neonatal intensive care unit were classified and defined at three levels: 5 main domains, 17 mid-domains, and 42 small domains. 2. The per component explanatory power of intensity involved in nursing labor showed physical effort to be 32.45%, mental 32.86%, and stress 34.69%. 3. The reliability of nursing labor factors was very strong, Cronbach's alpha value of 0.96. Conclusion: In this research, which is a first in defining nursing behavior in neonatal intensive care units, individual nursing behavior were broken down using resource-based relative value for nursing cost, and each nursing behavior was successfully translated to a numerical value.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.13-25
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• 2016

Purpose: This study was conducted to identify changes in limb circumferences among patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) and related factors. Methods: We conducted a prospective observational study with 27 patients from 3 ICUs at a university hospital located in B city of Korea, from September 1 to October 30, 2015. The circumferences of the left and right upper arms, thighs, and lower legs were measured on the first, third, fifth, and seventh days of ICU admission. Information on the related factors was collected from the medical records. The data were analyzed using a linear mixed model method. Results: The limbs circumferences significantly reduced from day 3, and the changes continued till day 7. These changes were related to the gender of the subjects, restraints application, use of steroids, and continuous renal replacement therapy. Conclusions: Based on the above results, it can be concluded that ICU-acquired weakness begins before the third day of admission. Thus, early mobilization protocols for ICU patients need to be developed and implemented in order to improve long-term outcomes.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.56-70
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• 2017

Purpose: This study was conducted to identify ICU nurses' knowledge of the five moments of hand hygiene and the ambiguity of these moments when demonstrating hand hygiene. Methods: The subjects were 200 intensive care unit nurses at a university hospital. Data was collected using self-report questionnaires, translated according to the instructions of training films developed by WHO, and analyzed using descriptive statistics and ranking tests. Results: The highest number of correct answers was regarding the moment before contact with a patient and the lowest was regarding the moment after contact with a patient. The rate of providing wrong answers regarding required moments of hand hygiene was high. Conclusion: The study identified ICU nurses' knowledge of specific moments of hand hygiene; they had difficulty differentiating between the moments that happened simultaneously, i.e. after touching a patient, and that patient's surroundings, and there was ambiguity concerning patient areas and medical treatment areas. It was concluded that it is necessary to educate nurses regarding both required and unrequired moments of hand hygiene and to ensure that they can distinguish between these moments.