• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.372-389
• /
• 1995

The frequency with which administration of chemotherapy for gynecological cancer treatment is used has increased along with the use of surgery and radiotherapy Among the various side effects of chemotherapy, stomatitis causes a problem of function and sensation in the oral cavity. This oral discomfort can be categorized into two components ; perceived oral symptoms and observed oral symptoms. If the oral problem continues, it may cause infection, bleeding and nutritional deficiencies. As a result of this condition, compliance with the treatment process can be affected as well as the prognosis for the cancer patients. But as the oral discorrfort usually appears after chemotherapy, it is often not reported to the health care personnel as a patient problem. Without problem identification of the oral discomfort and ability to assess the problem, effective intervention cannot be planned. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify the pattern and the degree of oral discomfort due to cancer chemotherapy and thus to provide data for identification of the patient problem and for nursing assessment. The design of this study was a longitudinal de-scriptive study The subjects were in - patients who received chemotherapy under the diagnosis of gynecological cancer between Mar. 15, 1994 and May 15, 1994 at a general hospital in Seoul, Korea. The number of subjects was 64 and they were divided into two groups, one of 41 (A : 5FU & Neoplatin), the other of 23(B : Neoplatin, Cytoxan, Adriamycin), according to the treatment regimen. The data were collected for 24 days using self-re-port instruments. The instruments were the 「Perceived Oral Symptom Assessment Tool」 and 「Observed Oral Symptom Assessment Tool」 developed by this researcher. Data were analyzed using the SPSS-PC program, ANOVA, t-test, paired t-test and the Pearson Correlation Coefficient were applied. The results of this study are as follows : 1. In A regimen the peak time for perceived oral symptom scores was the fifth day after chemotherapy, and the tenth day for observed oral symptom scores. Both of the problems started on first day of chemotherapy and were not resolved completely until the 24th day after treatment. 2. In B regimen, the peak time for perceived oral symptom scores was on the seventh day after chemotherapy, and the eighth day for observed oral symptom scores. It was noted that perceived oral symptom scores were higher than observed oral symptom scores consistently for 24 days. Both also started on first day of chemotherapy, and were not resolved completely until the 24th day after chemotherapy. 3. There were no differences statistically in perceived oral symptom scores between A and B regimen. The loss of appetite and xerostomia caused the most severe discomfort in both of these two groups. 4. The were no differences statistically in observed oral symptom scores between the A and B regi moil. In the A regimen, the highest observed symptom scores were the lips, gingiva, tongue and buccal membrane in that order. But in the B regimen, the highest observed symptom scores were tongue, lips, buccal membrane and gingiva in that order. 5. In A regimen, the patients who had gingival edema and dentures had significantly higher perceived oral symptom scores. And those who had gingival edema and bleeding, foul odor and aphthous stomatitis had significantly higher observed oral symptom scores. 6. In B regimen, the patients who had the experience of stomatitis in the last course of chemotherapy had significantly higher perceived oral symptom scores. Those who had gingival edema had significantly higher observed oral symptom scores. 7. In the A regimen there was no correlation between lab values for lymphocytes and albumin with perceived oral symptom scores and observed oral symptom scores. In the B regimen, there was a significant negative correlation between lymphocytes and albumin with the observed oral symptom scores, but not between perceived oral symptom scores and lymphocytes and albumin values. In conclusion, the nurse should expect that the patient undergoing chemotherapy will complain severely about subjective discomfort and before objective physical change is observed. Also the patients who have chronic oral problems such as dentures, gingival edema and bleeding, foul odor, aphthous stomatitis will complain of severe oral discomfort due to chemotherapy.

• Proceedings of the ESK Conference
• /
• 1997.04a
• /
• pp.100-106
• /
• 1997

The purpose of this study is to measure perceived joint discomfort in the seated and standing position, and to provide a ranking system of joint discomfort measured in this study. Seven male subjects with no history of musculo-skeletal disorders participated in the experiment. Their physical characteristics were: age -$27.6 {\pm}1.8$ years, stature -$171.0 {\pm}5.5cm$, and body weight -$66.4{\pm}9.3kg$. The results showed that perceived joint discomfort was different depending on the human body joints involved in motion and their movement directions, which imply that the human body motions should be classified intoseveral distinct classes that need to be assigned different weights of postural stress. In the seated postion, the hip movement was the most stressful, the back was the second, and the shoulder was the third. Similarly, in standing postures, the hip was given the highest ranking, followed by the back, and the wrist.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.447-455
• /
• 1998

It is important to identify and evaluate poor working postures properly to prevent work-related musculoskeletal disorders. The purpose of this study is to develope a new upper body micropostural classification scheme for analyzing postural stress in industry. Most of the existing postural classification schemes were based either on the literature, or on simple biomechanical principles, or on a subjective ranking system. The scheme suggested in this study was based on perceived joint discomfort measured through experiment, in which nineteen subjects participated and the magnitude estimation method was employed to obtain subjects' joint discomfort. Also, the criteria for evaluating postural stress of working postures were presented for practitioners of health and safety to be able to redesign working methods and workplaces, which was based on maximum holding time by Miedema and other people. It is expected that the scheme developed in this study could be used as a valuable tool when evaluating working postures.

• The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.150-162
• /
• 1997

The purpose of this study is to examine hospital noise level and discomfort due to noise. The subjects were 156 patients from University hospital in Taegu. The data was collected from April 10 to May 14, 1997. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS program using percentage, paired t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson Correlation Coefficient. The results were as follows ; The mean score of noise level was 1.62. There was no statistically significant difference in noise level between day and night. Patients perceived higher noise in the categories of conversation of visitors, conversation of care providers, noise of air conditioners, and the conversation of nearby patients than others during the day. Patients perceived higher noise in the categories of noise of air conditioners, conversation of visitors, conversation of care providers, and telephone ringing than others during the night. There were no statistically significant differences in noise level among the 4 wards during the day or night. Discomfort was due to the forementioned noise, categories of high scores were sleep disturbed, irritated, not so bad or not noisy, and noisy. To avoid noise, the subjects coped by putting on a quilt, going out, sleeping, opening or closing the window or door, and plugging ears. These results indicated that hospital noise have a negative influence on patients' health. So noise levels should be reduced in hospitals.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.223-231
• /
• 2002

Recently, work-related musculoskeletal disorders(WMSDs) have rapidly increased and have been a major issue in the field of industrial safety. Of several physical risk factors for WMSDs, which include postures, vibration, repetitive work, speed or acceleration of movements, etc., awkward postures have been known as one of the major causes of WMSDs. For reducing the potential for injury as a result of postures, cost effective quantification of the magnitude for physical exposure to poor working postures is important and needed. To do this, several postural classification schemes have been developed and used in industrial sites. It is known that perceived discomfort for joint motions and muscle strength for females were much less than those for males. However, the existing postural classification schemes were developed without considering these gender effects. This study aims to develop a new postural classification scheme for female workers, based on the perceived discomfort for joint motions. The result showed that there was significant difference between the schemes for female and male. It was also found that when compared with OWAS, RULA and REBA, postural load was quantified more precisely with the developed scheme. It is recommended that different schemes according to gender of workers involved in work be used in order to accurately evaluate postural load of work postures.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.276-286
• /
• 2005

Purpose: The study is to investigate the effects of tea tree oil gargling on oral cavity micro-organism growth and on the perceived discomfort of patients receiving chemotherapy. Methods: A nonequivalent control group non-synchronized design was used to determine the effects of tea tree oil gargling on oral cavity for 20 second after using it for one week, twice a day. The sample consisted of two groups of patients receiving chemotherapy : 19 patients in experimental and 20 patients in control group. The instruments used in the study were Oral Assessment Guide(OAG), a measure of perceived symptoms on oral cavity, and a test of oral mucosal micro-organism culture. The data were analyzed using chi-square test, repeated measure of ANOVA, and Pearson correlation coefficient. Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups in micro-organism culture test of oral mucosa. The experimental group showed a lower number and fewer kinds of micro-organisms than the control group. Conclusion: It is considered that use of tea tree oil is effective in infection control of the oral cavity.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.81-93
• /
• 2002

This study aims to provide joint angles of comfort for females, based on the psychophysical scaling method. Ten female subjects participated in the experiment for measuring perceived discomfort for varying joint motions. The subjects were instructed to maintain given joint motions for a minute, and to rate their perceived discomfort for the motions during a minute's rest by using the free modulus method of the magnitude estimation. Joint angles of comfort were calculated from the regression equations based on the experimental results, in which levels of joint motions were used as independent variables and perceived discomforts as dependent variables. The results showed that joint angles of comfort for the joint motions investigated were much smaller than full range of motions for corresponding joint motions. The ratios of joint angle of comfort to its range motion for the hip were found to be smallest of all joint motions dealt with in this study, and those for the neck were the largest. In addition, comfortable joint angles for females were much smaller than those for males. It is recommended that when designing or evaluating workplaces ergonomically, different comfortable joint angles should be applied according to workers' or population's gender.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
• /
• v.21 no.B
• /
• pp.265-272
• /
• 2001

The human arm is modeled by three rigid bodies(the upper arm, the forearm and the hand)with seven degree of freedom(three in the shoulder, two in the elbow and two in the wrist). The objective of this work is to present a method to determine the three-dimensional kinematics of the human elbow joint using a magnetic tracking device. Euler angle were used to determine the elbow flexion-extension, and the pronation-supination. The elbow motion for the various driving conditions is measured through the driving test using a simulator. Discomfort levels of elbow joint motions were obtained as discomfort functions, which were based on subjects' perceived discomfort level estimated by magnitude estimation. The results showed that the discomfort posture of elbow joint motions occurred in the driving motion.

• KIEAE Journal
• /
• v.7 no.5
• /
• pp.29-34
• /
• 2007

Discomfort glare from windows is an important issue in window and daylighting design. This study aims to investigate the effect of luminance difference between the lower and the upper part of a large glare source. Experiments were conducted using a luminous body divided into two parts, the upper part and the lower part. The degree of discomfort glare from the luminous body was examined. The result shows that the part with lower luminance is perceived as a glare source when the part has higher luminance then the background luminance. The degree of discomfort glare was estimated for the experimental conditions, and compared to the observations. The estimation was made using two methods: one summed the glare sensation for each section, and the other used the average luminance of the whole luminous body. The result of the comparison shows that the method using the average luminance has approximate values to the observations. Consequently, the use of the average luminance was proposed for evaluation of discomfort glare from non-uniform large glare sources.

• Proceedings of the ESK Conference
• /
• 2004.10a
• /
• pp.1-1
• /
• 2004