• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.53-60
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• 2016

Purpose: This study was to compare the effects of early ambulation to usual care of late ambulation in patients with transarterial chemoembolization on back pain, discomfort, and puncture site complications. Methods: A nonequivalent control pretest-posttest design was used. Total 40 patients were recruited from a gastrointestinal unit of an urban general hospital in Seoul, South Korea. The experimental group began to ambulate after 4 hours of bed rest with a compression bandage after receiving transarterial chemoembolization. The control group stayed in bed with a compression bandage overnight. Results: Back pain was not significantly different between the two group. The experimental group reported significantly lower discomfort than the control group. There was no incidence of bleeding complications on puncture site between two groups. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that early ambulation with four hours of bed rest after femoral sheet removal did not cause bleeding complications compared to the usual care and even decreased patients' level of discomfort due to bed rest. Repetitive research on the effect of short bed rest is warranted for its clinical utilization.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.177-186
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• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of this descriptive study was to investigate the application of physical restraints in ICUs of a university hospital. Method: Data were collected from August 1 to October 1 2009, using a recording tool from Electric Nursing Records and an observation tool for physical restraints and related factors. Frequency, percentage, and paired t-test with the SPSS/WIN 16.0 program were used to analyze the data. Results: The application rate for physical restraints in 5 ICUs was 34.3%, the highest application rate was 48.4% in the neurosurgical ICU. The mean frequency for physical restraint application per patient was 1.14, and the mean hours of restraint application per incident was 113.01 hours. The most common complications of physical restraints were bruising and edema. Conclusion: Many ICU nurses use physical restraints when caring for patients who are at high risk for falls, including patients have high levels of acuity, decreased level of consciousness or increased irritability. When physical restraints are applied, patients show resistance against the use resulting in side effects of bruising and edema. Therefore, nurses should observe changes in restrain sites, perform nursing interventions to prevent complications, and minimize the use of physical restraints.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.665-678
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• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop sleeve-type restraints and to compare the sleeve-type and conventional wrist restraints. Methods: Forty four pairs of intensive care unit (ICU) patients and their families participated in the experiment. The nurses applied sleeve-type restraints to the patients in the experimental group, and wrist restraints to the control group. The trained research assistant measured ROMs, skin temperature, edema, and skin lesions of both upper extremities (UEs) before, 24, 48, and 72 hours after the restraints applied. The emotional response of family was measured 72 hours after the restraints applied. Thirty one ICU nurses evaluated the efficiency of both types of restraints. Results: Compared to the control group, changes of ROMs, edema, and skin abrasions on both U/Es of the experimental group indicated a significant difference in physical side effects. The emotional response scores of the experimental group were significantly lower than those of the control group. The mean efficiency scores for the sleeve-type restraints were significantly higher than those for the wrist restraints. Conclusion: The results indicate that the sleeve-type restraints are better than wrist restraints with respect to physical side effects, emotional responses of family members, and application efficiency.

• 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.4
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• pp.383-392
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• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess critical care nurses' perception, knowledge, and nursing practices regarding enteral nutrition. Methods: A descriptive study was conducted with 187 nurse participants who worked in one of the eight medical and surgical intensive care units (ICUs) from four hospitals in Korea. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. Results: Although critical care nurses' perception toward enteral nutrition was high, knowledge was relatively low. The overall perception and knowledge of the nurses did not differ significantly between medical ICU and surgical ICU nurses. Perception of their own knowledge, in particular, 'nutritional goal' was lower for medical ICU nurses compared to surgical ICU nurses. Nurses also had limited knowledge about the significance of enteral nutrition, confirmation of feeding tube location, and nutritional requirements for ICU patients. They inadequately performed the following: changing the feeding tube every 24 hours, inspecting nostrils daily, and adjusting feeding schedule if feeding was stopped. Conclusion: Our results indicate that ICU nurses need up-to-date information about enteral nutrition. Based on the improved perception and knowledge, nursing practice activities with regard to enteral nutrition should be emphasized to enable nurses to provide optimal nutrition for ICU patients.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.36-45
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• 2019

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to identify status and characteristics of patients who have been readmitted to ICU, and to analyze risk factors associated with the readmission to ICU within 48hours. Method: Data were collected from patient's electronic medical reports from one hospital in B city. Participants were 2,937 patients aged 18 years old or older admitted to the ICU. Data were analyzed using odd ratios (ORs) from multivariate logistic regressions. Results: 2.2% of the 2,937 patients were early readmitted to ICU. Risk factors for early readmission to ICU were existence of respiratory disease, use of mechanical ventilator, and duration of hospitalization (longer). Conclusion: The assessment on the respiratory system of the patient who will be discharged from the ICU was identified as an important nursing activity. Therefore, the respiratory system management and education should be actively conducted. In addition, early ICU readmission may be prevented and decreased if a link was built to share the information on patient condition between the ICU and general wards.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.66-76
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• 2016

Purpose: This study was conducted to examine the relationship between lateral position change and sternal complications after cardiac surgery through median sternotomy. Methods: This study was a retrospective descriptive case-control study, involving 241 patients who underwent cardiac surgery through median sternotomy. Data from October 2011 to September 2014 were collected. Results: Sternal complications (i.e. dehiscence, sternal instability, mediastinitis) developed in 33 patients (13.7%). Primary symptoms of complications were discharge and erythema, and the mean time difference from surgery to appearance of symptoms was 15 days (range, 1-138 days). The factors associated with sternal complications were cancer comorbidity (${\chi}^2=5.22$, p=.039), internal mammary artery procedure (${\chi}^2=4.16$, p=.041), and duration of extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation (p=.033). Position change was not related to incidence of sternal complications (${\chi}^2=0.14$, p=.704). Pressure ulcers appeared in 63 patients (26.1%). Mean time difference from surgery until occurrence of ulcers was 6.7 hours (range, 0-323.0 hours), but position change was started from 132.4 hours (range, 27.1-503.2 hours) after intensive care unit admission. Conclusions: These results provide baseline data to create a standard position change and activity protocol for patients after median sternotomy. Furthermore, the study could help clinical practitioners establish evidence-based nursing practices.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.395-406
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze nurse staffing according to patients' acuity and dependency by measuring nursing hours. Methods: The study sample included patients who visited the adult emergency departments (EDs) of three tertiary referral hospitals and nurses who worked on shifts for 48 hours from October 24 to 26, 2019. Hourly patient census and nurse staffing were analyzed. Patient acuity was measured using the Korean Triage and Acuity Scale (KTAS), ranging from Level 1 (highest) to Level 5 (lowest). Patient dependency was measured using six items (e.g., clinical attention and communication) and classified into four groups. Nursing activities were observed every 10 minutes and nursing hours per patient and nurse staffing were analyzed according to acuity and dependency. Results: Nurse-to-patient ratio ranged from 1:1.8 to 1:4.2 during the 48 hours of observation. The average work hours of nurses, excluding breaks and meals, was 8.57 hours; 42.5% of which was spent providing direct care. Higher acuity and dependency were associated with higher nursing hours and staffing level. Patients with KTAS Level 1 were provided 74.3 minutes per hour, 5.02 times higher than Level 5 (14.8 minutes). Patients in the highest dependency group were provided 87.4 minutes per hour, 5.75 times higher than the lowest group (15.2 minutes). Newly arrived patients received more nursing hours than continuously stayed patients within the same KTAS Levels. Conclusion: Large variations were found in hourly patient census, acuity, and dependency. Nurse staffing in EDs should be determined based on patient acuity and dependency.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.628-636
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• 2016

Purpose: This study examined the effects of a program designed to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) on VAP rate and endotracheal colonization. The program focused on aspiration prevention and oral care. Methods: A nonequivalent control group post-test only design was utilized. One hundred patients admitted to a medical intensive care unit (MICU) or coronary care unit (CCU) were assigned to either a experimental group (n=50) or a control group (n=50). The participants were selected 48 hours following an endotracheal intubation. VAP prevention program given to the experimental group includes keeping the head of the bed to $30^{\circ}{\sim}45^{\circ}$ high, maintaining continuous endotracheal cuff pressure at 25 cm $H_2O$, performing endotracheal suction before change position, and providing oral care with 0.1% chlorhexidine every four hours. The control group received usual care. Data were analyzed using t-test, $x^2$ test, Mantel-Haenszel $x^2$ and Cox proportional harzard regression model. Results: The experimental group showed a lower VAP rate than the control group although the difference was not statistically significant ($x^2=0.79$, p=.375). The experimental group showed lower colonization in tracheal secretion than the control group ($x^2=14.59$, p<.001). Conclusion: Results showed that a VAP prevention program is effective in reducing colonization of tracheal secretion. Therefore, VAP prevention programs are recommended as an ICU nursing intervention.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.78-87
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• 2010

Purpose: This study was designed to evaluate the effects of an educational program on pregnancy and delivery including pregnancy related knowledge, newborn care knowledge, and postpartum care self-efficacy for married immigrant women. Methods: A nonequivalent control group quasi-experimental design was used. The educational program was developed by though an educational need assessment of married immigrant women and an expert opinion. The program was provided for 3 weeks, once a week for two hours. The data were analyzed with SPSS program using Kolmogorov-Smirnov, $X^2$-test, Fisher's exact test, and t-test. Results: The program significantly improved pregnancy related knowledge, newborn care knowledge, and postpartum care self-efficacy for the married immigrant women who participated in the program compared to the women who did not. Conclusion: The results indicate that the educational program has an affirmative effect on pregnancy related knowledge, knowledge of newborn care, and postpartum care self-efficacy in these women. It is suggested, therefore, that the educational program be used to every married immigrant woman at the public health centers or delivery clinics help them to adjust to the childbearing and childrearing experience and this will ultimately enhance the quality of family life of married immigrant women in Korea.