• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.106-116
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• 2014

Purpose: In this paper issues and challenges of the workforce policy for nursing were explored and appropriate policy responses identified. Results: Many countries, including South Korea, are facing a shortage of nurses. In South Korea, the number of practicing registered nurses is about half the average for Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries. The shortage of nurses is not necessarily a shortage of individuals with nursing qualifications but also includes complex issues, such as lack of well-educated nurses, shortage of nurses willing to work, and geographical imbalances of nurses. The present nurse workforce policies are to increase number of nursing schools, to reduce the length of training, and to replace nurses with nursing assistants. However, the findings of many studies have shown that these attempts resulted in a worsening of patient outcomes and increasingly low quality of care. Conclusion: The findings in this study indicate that nurse workforce policy should have a multi-faceted approach in order to address the many factors affecting nurse shortages.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.67-75
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• 2004

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the current management status and the policy issues of visiting nursing programs at public health center in urban area. Method: A questionnaire surveys was conducted on all public health nurses in 25 health centers in Seoul. Result: The major results were as follows: The characteristics of the visiting nurse showed that the average age was 41.1 years, and total nursing experience was 122 months. Their visiting nursing experience was only 30 months. The recipients of visiting nursing services consisted of 60.1% females, and 32.5% of the recipients were over 65 years. The major health problems of the recipients were hypertension, diabetes mellitus, arthritis and psychiatric problems. The visiting frequency was an average of 5.4 times per day, and 357 families were managed per visiting nurse. The major problems of visiting nursing programs were the shortages of visiting nurse manpower. The most important related policy issue was being in charge of a workload, which was not related to the visiting nursing services. Conclusion: By analyzing work for visiting nurses and identifying weak points, this research can present recommendations to be practically used as baseline data for establishing policy in relation to vitalizing visiting nursing programs.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.185-194
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• 2011

Purpose: Global shortages in nursing and strong demand for nursing services provided Korean nurses with more overseas employment opportunities, especially in the developed countries such as the United States and Canada. The purpose of this study was to explore the ageing experiences of the Korean nurses dispatched to Germany in the 1960s and 1970s. Methods: The researcher interviewed 10 Korean nurses living in four cities in Germany. Interviews were performed twice in January and July, 2010, and the data, in the form of field notes and interview transcripts, were analyzed using the Agar's (1980) ethnographic method. Results: The ageing experiences of the participants can be summarized into three theme stages: coming upon old age, reluctantly realizing getting old, and finally accepting being old. The first stage is characterized by 'wiring money to homeland all throughout youth', second 'still feeling like a stranger anywhere', and finally 'burying homeland in heart'. Conclusion: The research findings not only suggest crucial materials for training prospective nurses overseas for their successful settlement, but also shed lights on related problems and solutions with ageing experience in overseas employment.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.467-476
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• 2021

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to understand the social perceptions of nurses in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak through analysis of media articles. Methods: Among the media articles reported from January 1st to September 30th, 2020, those containing the keywords '[corona or Wuhan pneumonia or covid] and [nurse or nursing]' are extracted. After the selection process, the text mining and topic modeling are performed on 454 media articles using textom version 4.5. Results: Frequency Top 30 keywords include 'Nurse', 'Corona', 'Isolation', 'Support', 'Shortage', 'Protective Clothing', and so on. Keywords that ranked high in Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF) values are 'Daegu', 'President', 'Gwangju', 'manpower', and so on. As a result of the topic analysis, 10 topics are derived, such as 'Local infection', 'Dispatch of personnel', 'Message for thanks', and 'Delivery of one's heart'. Conclusion: Nurses are both the contributors and victims of COVID-19 prevention. The government and the nurses' community should make efforts to improve poor working conditions and manpower shortages.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.108-117
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• 2013

Purpose: To analyze trends in salaries for registered nurses when compared with salaries for elementary school teachers from 2002 to 2009 and identify salary gaps of nurses according to workplace size and geographic location. Methods: Data were obtained from the Occupational Employment Statistics collected by the Korea Employment Information Services each year from 2002 to 2009. The study sample consisted of 2,281 registered nurses and 2,578 elementary school teachers. Linear multiple regression analyses were conducted to analyze salary trends and differences. Results: Elementary school teachers had higher monthly salaries than nurses with a baccalaureate degree after adjusting for years of work. Salary differences increased significantly by 40,000 won every year (p<.001). Nurses working in large facilities in Seoul had the highest salaries, whereas those in small/medium, non-Seoul facilities had the lowest salaries consistently over time. Salary differences between the two groups increased by 47,000 won every year (p=.001); salary differences between nurses in large, non-Seoul facilities and those in small/medium, non-Seoul facilities also increased by 40,000 won annually (p=.001). Conclusion: Geographical imbalances in the nurse workforce and nurse shortages in small/medium, non-capital facilities could be reduced by increasing the salary of nurses working in those facilities.

• Journal of Korean Academic Society of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.137-145
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• 2020

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the training system and current status of home health nurses and to examine ways to retain sufficient number of advanced practice nurses (APNs) in the home health nursing field. Methods: This study analyzed the adequacy of the supply of home health nurse by reviewing the existing research literature and statistical data. Results: Discussions on how to revitalize the home care business have been ongoing since the beginning of 2001. However, despite home health nurses being oversupplied, discussions on the adequacy of supply have always been excluded from the focus of revitalization. The recent expansion of the home care business has resulted in a shortage of workforce, which can be inked not only to the continuous reduction of the designated quota of programs but also to the regional imbalance of educational institutions. The serious imbalance between supply and demand has caused fears that the home care business would drastically reduce. Conclusion: It is necessary to not only increase designated quotas for APNs programs but also integrate those programs of the similar curricula, thus lowering supply shortages in home health nurses.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Rural Health Nursing
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.57-71
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• 2023

Purpose: This study aims to provide primary data for policy alternatives by identifying the problem of the nursing workforce shortage. Methods: For quantitative data, 446 questionnaires were analyzed. The mean and standard deviation were used for content description. ANOVA analysis and Scheffe? test were used to compare the differences according to the hospital level. For qualitative data, 1:1 in-depth and group interviews were conducted for six participants. Results: The factors nurses prioritized when choosing a workplace were salary, commuting distance, and work-life balance. Clinical nurses cited low wages, heavy workloads, and burnout as the most considerable difficulties in performing their duties. Factors influencing nurse's turnover intention were low wages, unmanageable workload, and rotation to unwanted departments in that order. New nurses tend not to apply to small-medium-sized hospitals, experienced nurses in their 30s-40s leave hospitals due to childcare and shift work difficulties, and nurses in their 50s and older tend to move to nursing homes rather than acute hospital settings. Conclusion: In this study, wage and workload were mentioned as the most critical factors in nurses' workplace selection, job performance difficulties, and turnover intention, so it is necessary to pay attention to this aspect when improving treatment for nurses.

• Korean journal of health promotion
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.184-193
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• 2018

Background: Despite increasing the number of newly licensed nurses across Korea, shortages caused by geographical imbalances remains a significant concern. Therefore, understanding nursing students' attitudes to working and living, factors influencing where they first choose to work after graduation is useful in formulating appropriate interventions to retain nurses in regional areas. Methods: A total of 329 senior nursing students from areas outside Metropolitan Seoul completed self-report questionnaires. Data were analyzed using t-test, chi-square test and multiple logistic regression analysis. Results: Of the respondents, 57.8% reported that they planned to work in the region in which their school was located. The three factors ranked as having the greatest influence on their decision to work in non-metropolitan regions were: the cost of living, housing costs, and the proximity to family. Enjoyable aspects of rural life contributed positively to students' intentions to work in non-metropolitan regions, whereas isolation and socialization problems negatively affected their intentions to work in such areas. Conclusions: Greater consideration should be given to improving working conditions and housing environments in non-metropolitan regions.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.121-132
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• 1973

Introduction : Nursing as a profession is gelling wide acceptance today, especially among independent -minded women with necessary physical, mental and academic qualifications. This is particularly true of "comprehensive nursing", which requires to total dedication on the part if the nurse herself-physical, mental and sociocultural. Such comprehensive approach is like-wise called for in the institutional training of professional nurses. Undergraduate nursing courses nowadays place an increasing emphasis on the microscopic approach of training a nurse as an intelligent and well-balanced human being with an optimum degree of cultural sophistication. Greater attention then ever before is now paid to close observation of the individual traits and aptitude of nursing students, so as to permit full development of individual capabilities, interests and propensities within the concept of "comprehensive human education. " Purpose of study 1. To determine the degree of understanding of the part of nursing students of the various aspects of the subject taught in undergraduate nursing course. 2. To determine the motivation of nursing students in choosing the profession and possible subsequent change or attitude and outlook in the course of under graduated studies, as a means of presenting a new practical approach in nursing training based on the concept of "comprehensive human education. " Problems of study 1. The environments of nursing training will impinge on individual nursing students with different psychological impacts from lower to upper classes of under graduated studies. 2. Educational environments will have varying psychological impacts on students: a. Difference in religious faith among students. b. Difference in campus environments. c. Difference in domestic (family) circumstances. d. Difference in innate capabilities of students, 3. The understanding and attitude of individual nursing students towards the science of nursing will Have a close correlation with their respective motivations in choosing-nursing as a profession, and will also be closely influenced by the peculiarities of the subject taught, tile campus environments, etc, Delimitations of the study 1. Two universities offering 4-year nursing courses were selected. Due to the limited number of potential subjects, the optimum conditions of sample collection could not be fulfilled. 2. Subjects were confined to two classes in each university (sophomores and seniors) but without regard to the ages or scholastic achievements of individual students. 3. The conclusions derived from this study should be limited in application to the subject groups covered by the present study: they should not in any event be extended or applied to other groups. Procedures 1. Subjects: 40 nursing students each from the sophomore and senior classes of the "Y" and "K" universities situated in Seoul, aggregating 160 students altogether. 2. Instruments: Use has been made of questionnaires on (1) family backgrounds and (2) general information concerning. 3. Statistical Method: The findings of the present survey have been subjected to critical analysis as to the means, percentages, Cgi squares (X), standard deviations and the significance of the difference in means. Findings 1. Nursing students have chosen their subject of study with a confident outlook towards their future in society. 2. Horsing students have the necessary abilities to complete the prescribed courses of study. 3. The campus life of nursing students has been judged as very constructive, not with-standing certain in adequacies in the available educational facilities and the shortages of teaching staff. 4. The achievement levels of nursing trainees varied greatly according to their respective educational environments as well as their school years. 5. Clear and definite distinctions were discernible between the two universities as regards certain aspects of this survey, while no signifiant difference was observed in other: a. Sophomores and seniors in both universities gave nearly identical answers to questions concerning (1) motivation in choosing nursing as a profession, and (2) the way of spending leisure hours. b. Both universities revealed similar respective differences between sophomores and seniors as regards the abilities of fulfilling academic requirements ill the basic subjects. c. Educational environments have been found to be somewhat superior in the "Y"university to those of the "K" university, particularly as regard general campus and dormitory conditions. d. The high degree of dissatisfaction with the faculty, found in both universities, was considered to be a consequence of the universal phenomenon of "brain drain" and the relative neglect of the "comprehensive approach"in education.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.228-249
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• 2018

In 2015, the population of elderly people in Thailand was 16% of the total population and is predicted to be over 20% by 2021 and nearly 28% by 2031. The increase of the elderly population in Thailand has also increased the proportion of dependent elderly people, and caring for them poses many challenges for both families and the government. This descriptive method research aimed to survey the health status of dependent older people in the rural community of Lampang province in northern Thailand. The participants consisted of 62 older people and 62 primary family caregivers from Hong Ha Health Promoting Hospital, Lampang, Thailand (totaling 124 people). The researchers assessed the health status of older people and their activities of daily living (ADL). In addition, researchers assessed the health status and stress of caregivers. All the participants were interviewed about their experiences with caregiving. The results showed that most of the older respondents were female with an average age of 78.15 years. Based on the ADL assessment, 50 of the 62 older persons were homebound while the rest were bedridden. The majority of older people had chronic or long-term conditions that required hospitalization from time to time. Their frequent health problems included oral disorders such as tooth decay or caries/gum disease/no teeth, reduced sight, psychological disorders, knee pain and risk of falling, low BMI, risk of malnutrition, and urinary leakage and incontinence (58.06%, 66.13%, 62.90%, 70.97%, 38.71%, 66.13%, and 37.10%, respectively). Usual care provided by the family members included personal hygiene care, food preparation and feeding, medication management, housekeeping and organizing necessary equipment, supply of needed equipment, prevention of falls, helping with travel for medical checkups and treatment, and providing companionship. Families experienced shortages of medical supplies, daily use equipment, lack of employment, inadequate income, and difficulty accessing health care services due to lack of transportation. Some caregivers experienced caregiving stress related to a lack of social interactions as well as routine caregiving activities. Families need different types of support in order to promote the well-being of older people and caregivers. This highlights the need for a community participation model for the care of older people in order to reflect sustainable long-term outcomes.