• Health Policy and Management
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.297-314
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• 2012

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to analyze the trend of the number of nursing staffs and skill mix and to assess the effectiveness of hospital nurse expansion policies in Korea. Methods : The trend of the number of nursing staffs and skill mix were analyzed using time series data, which composed of yearly series data from 1975 to 2009. The impact of hospital nurse expansion policies was estimated by autoregressive integrated moving average(ARIMA) intervention model. Results : The number of general hospital and hospital nurses per 100 beds was decreased in late 1980s and late 1990s due to rapid growth of beds. As a result of the number of nurse aids per 100 beds decreased, skill mix became high in general hospital but nurse ratio among hospital nursing staffs was about 50%. Expansion of new nurse and revised differentiated inpatient fee were only effective in expansion of hospital nursing staffs. But they had no effect in general hospitals. Conclusion : In Korea, a few policies related to expansion of hospital nurses have an effect on increasing the number of hospital nurse. Nevertheless, level of hospital nursing staffs is inferior to that of general hospital.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.440-447
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• 2008

Purpose: This study was to identify the factors affecting utilization of clinical nurses' hospital information system. Method: Using a convenient sampling, 450 nurses from 9 secondary or tertiary university hospitals in B metropolitan city were selected. Results: The extent that nurses utilize the hospital information system was 3.22 point on average. The hospital information system utilization was positively correlated with personal information utilization skill, information-oriented education, attitude toward computer, and support of the chief manager, while as negatively correlated with the organizational atmosphere. The causal factors of influencing on the hospital information system utilization were personal information technology, education experience of the hospital information system, age, attitude toward computers, education level and support of the chief manager. The total eigenvalue of the variables was 38%. The major variables of influencing on the hospital information system utilization were the personal information technology and education experience of the hospital information system. Conclusions: Thus, nurse managers should provide training courses to improve personal information technology of nurses, and consistently promote them so that nurses can readily apply the hospital information system which have been recently introduced in various ways and thus improve the efficiency of nursing.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.568-579
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• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to understand and describe the hospital workers' experience related to the hospital evaluation program implemented in Korea between 2004 and 2009. Methods: During 2010, data were collected using focus group interviews. Four focus group interviews were held with a total of 28 hospital workers participating. All interviews were recorded and transcribed as they were spoken, and data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Nine themes emerged from the analysis: 1) Positive change in the necessity of the evaluation; 2) Improvement in the hospital system, facilities, and human resources; 3) Unity through cooperation among departments; 4) Nursing work overload; 5) Lack of physicians' awareness and responsibilities; 6) Unfair and unrealistic evaluation items; 7) Lack of credibility of the outcome; 8) Shifting responsibility for negative outcomes to the workers; 9) Lack of pragmatic utility. Conclusion: The results of the study demonstrate that the hospital evaluation program played a key role in improving some work environments and communication among departments. At the same time, they show various negative themes resulting from the context of very authoritarian hospital systems and a connection-oriented society in Korea.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.245-254
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• 2018

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess nurses' evidence-based practice (EBP) beliefs and competencies, and organizational supports to develop EBP. Methods: A descriptive study was conducted using a survey of clinical nurses at a tertiary hospital in South Korea. Results: The survey was distributed to a total of 1,413 nurses and was completed by 1,318 nurses. There were significant differences in the EBP beliefs and competencies, and the perception of organizational supports among nurses at different educational levels. The EBP beliefs, EBP competencies, and organizational supports had a positive correlation with each other. EBP competencies were the highest in nurses with less than 3-years of clinical experience, and the perception of organization supports were the highest in nurses with more than 10-years of clinical experience. Conclusion: The findings suggest that educational programs, training, and organizational supports are recommended for facilitating successful EBP among nurses.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.170-177
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• 2018

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine effectiveness of 12-hour shifts for nurses compared to 8-hour shifts for the variables: Work-Life Balance, fatigue and work errors. Methods: In 2014, an opportunity to choose a 12-hour shift duty was given to a group of 8-hour shift nurses. In 2016, two years after this change, this study was done to compare the two groups. Data were collected using questionnaires. Data were sampled by a matching method with propensity score matching (PSM). The participants were 128 nurses: 64 nurses on 12-hour shifts and 64 nurses on 8-hour shifts. The comparison was analyzed using $x^2$ test, t-test. Results: The nurses on 12-hour shifts showed higher scores for Work-Life Balance (3.37) than the groups on 8-hour shifts (2.99)(p=.018) whereas were no statistical differences between the groups for fatigue (p=.132) or work errors (p=.703). Conclusion: The Work-Life Balance scores for nurses who chose the 12-hour shift shows an enhancement without an increase in fatigue or work errors.

• The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.251-264
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• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to ascertain the current state of clinical nursing education at hospitals. Methods: Questionnaires were sent out to 236 hospitals which have over 300 beds. Out of these, 116 hospitals responded, and the collected data was analyzed by mean, frequency, t-test, and ANOVA test. Results: These hospitals have teaching agreements with 4.2 nursing colleges and clinical education lasts 8 months. Clinical education status regarding hospital characteristics, between a university hospital, non-university hospitals, among advanced general hospitals, general hospitals, and special hospitals showed statistical differences in colleges per hospital and nurses' degree. 37.9% of cases have no internal regulation for nursing education, and in 68.1% of cases, students' practice was limited to simple nursing care. The current primary guide for student's practice was head nurse (61.25%), and the course professor took charge of mainly the conference. The difficulties as an educational hospital are increases in work load, difficulties in teaching, excessive number of students, simultaneous practical training, complaints from patients, lack in training manpower, and stress. Conclusion: This study determined that the big hospitals are heavily burdened by nursing education and that it will be necessary to establish standards for educational hospitals to ensure higher quality education.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.409-418
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• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the costs and benefits of home nursing care services between public health centers (PHC) and private hospitals. Method: Participants were 105 patients who had received home nursing care services from a private hospital or public health center. From a societal perspective, the researcher identified the costs and benefits of the services using performance data and calculated the net benefit and benefit/cost ratio. Result: The net benefit of the home nursing care service based in the PHC was 165.9 million won and benefit/cost ratio was 2.0, while the net benefit of the home nursing care services by the private hospital was 141.1 million won and benefit/cost ratio was 1.7. Both types of programs were economically validated. Conclusion: Home nursing care services were basically efficient as the results showed a positive net benefit. A cost-benefit analysis indicated that the PHC-based home nursing care services were more efficient than that of the private hospital. With limited human resources and management standards in public health centers, results suggest the need for a more systematic management of the home nursing care service to improve the health of this vulnerable community population.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.44-55
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• 2001

Background : This study aimed at identifying the effect of the standardized protocol on lowering the incidence of the ventilator associated pneumonia(VAP). Methods : The standard protocol focusing on decreasing VAP was made and applied at 5 ICUs (Medical ICU, surgical ICU, Respiratory ICU, Neonatal ICU, Pediatric ICU) in a university affiliated tertiary hospital, from April 1, 2000 to Oct 31, 2000. The protocol involved 3 parts : hand washing, the suctioning method and ventilator circuit management. All the nursing personnel received intensive education which was consisted of lecture, video film and demonstration. 176 nurses reported the performance of handwashing pre and post intervention. And randomly selected 15 nurses were observed by charge nurse and the handwashing practice was analyzed pre and post intervention. The incidence of VAP was compared with the former year incidence. Results : The self reported frequency of hand washing increased. In the direct observation of handwashing, the frequency, time, thoroughness of hand washing during 8 hours day duty was found to be improved. The frequency was increased from 1.1 time to 4.1 times; the time was improved from 1.7 seconds to 5.7 seconds and the thoroughness of the washing practice was from 0.2 times to 3.0 times respectively (p<0.001). The incidence of VAP decreased from at a rate of 15.63 number of case per 1,000 ventilator-day (April 1~August 31, 1999) to 7.23 number of case per 1,000 ventilator-days(April 1~Oct 31, 2000)(P<0.001). Conclusion : We developed the protocols which included hand washing, the suctioning method, and ventilator circuit management. Through the implementation of the protocol, the performance of hand washing improved and the VAP incidence rate in ICU was decreased.

• The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.124-137
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• 2023

Purpose: This study's aim was to confirm the importance and performance of the clinical practice of nurses working in the general wards of a tertiary hospital and to analyze their educational needs. Methods: The study employed a descriptive research design, and a self-reported questionnaire was developed and used for nurses in a tertiary hospital. Data were collected from July 22 to July 29, 2022, analyzed by an independent t-test, paired t-test, and one-way ANOVA for the importance and performance of each clinical nursing practice according to general characteristics, and then a post hoc verification was performed by Scheffé's test. An Importance-Performance Analysis and Borich needs assessment model were used to analyze clinical nursing education needs. Results: Clinical nursing practice performance showed a significant difference according to length of total clinical career, time working in current department, and preceptor experience. According to the results of the Importance-Performance Analysis, neurological evaluation, and nursing intervention, artificial respirator and high-flow oxygen inhalation nursing, chemotherapy, emergency nursing, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation were identified as belonging to the "concentrate here" quadrant. All these items ranked in the top 10 in the Borich needs assessment model. Conclusion: Based on these results, the current education system should be reviewed, and short and long term education strategies based on educational needs should be established to strengthen the competence of nurses.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.183-195
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• 2012

Purpose: This study was performed to identify the variations of nursing care cost depending on nursing care requirement and calculate nursing care cost per one day and one care requirement point. Methods: Nursing care requirement was measured by classifying 3,855 patients according to KPCS-1(Korean Patient Classification System for nurses-1). Nursing care cost was calculated from personnel expenses and nursing care requirement. Nursing cost factors were identified by multiple regression analysis. Results: Average nursing cost per patient per day was 33,588 won, Average nursing care cost per 1 patient classification score was 3,558 won. The nursing cost per 1 patient classification score was different depending on the types and levels of the hospitals. The 4th patient classification group revealed the highest nursing care cost. Nursing cost factors included the number of beds in the hospitals, seniority, number of nurses and first grade in nurse personnel accreditation ($adj-R^2$ 74.0%. p<.05). Conclusion: Nursing care requirements expressed by patient classification scores don't directly correlate with nursing care cost. Further research is needed to evaluate validity and reliability for refining KPCS-1 and to apply variable criteria to nurse personnel accreditation.