• Journal of East-West Nursing Research
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.151-159
• /
• 2022

Purpose: This study was conducted to identify the performance and need of professional nursing care among nurses in a neurosurgery department at a tertiary hospital. Methods: This study used a descriptive design using a questionnaire with 77-item. The participants were 58 nurses with more than 3 years of clinical experience in both the neurosurgery intensive care unit and ward at a tertiary hospital in Gangwon province. Data collection was conducted from January to February of 2021. The performance and need for each workforce were analyzed with the mean and standard deviation, and the effectiveness of the difference between the performance and the need were analyzed with a paired t-test using SAS 9.4. Results: The recognition for work performance level was in order of direct nursing activities (3.20±.54), consultation and coordination (3.18±1.15), education (2.55±.85), administration (1.92±.86), and research (1.57±.89). The recognition for need level was in order of consultation and coordination (3.95±.83), education (3.91±.87), direct nursing practice (3.83±.55), research (3.49±.87), and administration (3.45±.54). The results showed a statistically significant differences between work performance and need (p<.001). Conclusion: It is required to hire professional nursing personnel who can bridge the gap between the performance and need of professional nursing workforce in a neurosurgery department at a tertiary hospital. A professional nurse may be a good alternative.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.99-109
• /
• 2010

Purpose: This study was aimed to examine changes of hospital nurse staffing by hospital characteristics during 2008-2010. Methods: The study sample included 44 tertiary hospitals, 226 general hospitals, and 532 non-general hospitals that were operating during 2008-2010. Grade of nursing management fee was categorized from Grade 1(highest) to 6 (lowest) in tertiary hospitals, l or Grade 7 in general hospitals and non-general hospitals based on the nurse-to-bed ratio. For data analysis, ${\chi}^2$ and GEE were conducted. Results: For three years, the number of tertiary hospitals below Grade 2 were increased from 8 to 12, the number of those above Grade 4 were decreased from 15 to 6. The number of general hospitals above Grade 6 decreased from 123 to 86. Tertiary hospitals and general hospitals had more possibilities to improve nurse staffing grade than general hospital (OR 79.69, 95% CI 50.77~125.09, OR 11.25, 95% CI 8.15~15.53, respectively). Greater likelihood of improvement in grade of nursing management fee was found in university hospital or hospitals with 300 or more beds than other types of hospitals. Conclusion: Differentiating nurse staffing system by hospital type and increasing financial incentives according to the grades are needed to improve hospital nurse staffing.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.26 no.7
• /
• pp.25-36
• /
• 2010

Tertiary unconsolidated mudstones spread throughout the eastern coast area. The demand for high quality filling materials in these areas is increasing due to harbors and large-scale residential land development. Rock produced in-situ or near site has been used as road subbase construction or reclamation materials for economical reason, but it is hard to decide appropriateness of quality specification because of its characteristics. The test results showed that unconsolidated rocks are diversely considered according to a different method of the applied geotechnical investigation. Therefore, the site of tertiary unconsolidated mudstones, the classification of rock and evaluation of rock properties that must be evaluated by objective criteria and apply a different set of criteria are needed. In addition, the environmental impact must be considered due to acid mine drainage.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.109-122
• /
• 2023

Purpose : This study aims to explore nursing activities after the decision to discontinue life-sustaining treatment, awareness of a good death, and perception of life-sustaining treatment decisions among nurses in intensive care units (ICUs) at tertiary general hospitals. Methods : Participants were 173 nurses working in two tertiary general hospitals. The data were collected using structured questionnaires and analyzed using an independent t-test, paired t-test, one-way ANOVA, Scheffé's test, and Pearson's correlation coefficient. Results : Participants were 173 nurses working in two tertiary hospitals. The nursing activity increase was the greatest in the spiritual domain, and the physical domain was where the activities decreased the most. There were significant associations between Awareness of good death (Clinical) and Perception of life-sustaining treatment decision(r=.26, p <.001), Awareness of good death (Closure) and Perception of life-sustaining treatment decision(r=.36, p <.001), and Awareness of good death (Personal control) and Perception of life-sustaining treatment decision(r=.49, p <.001). Conclusion : Based on the results, systematic education programs and job training are required to improve the awareness regarding good death and perception of life-sustaining treatment decision for nurses in ICUs where discontinuing life-sustaining treatment decisions are made.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• /
• v.35
• /
• pp.44.1-44.11
• /
• 2023

Background: A series of breast cancer cases were recently reported in a tertiary university hospital in South Korea. Nurses are generally exposed to risk factors for breast cancer such as night shift work, antineoplastic agents, and job strain. However, the epidemiological evidence of excess incidence among nurses remains lacking. This study aims to investigate the excess incidence of breast cancer among nurses in a tertiary university hospital and provide epidemiological evidence of occupational risk factors. Methods: A retrospective cohort was developed using personnel records of female workers in the nursing department who worked from January 2011 to June 2021 in a tertiary university hospital in South Korea. Sick leave records were used to identify cases of breast cancer. The standardized incidence ratio of breast cancer among nurses was compared to the general population. Results: A total of 5,509 nurses were followed up for 30,404 person-years, and 26 breast cancer cases were identified. This study revealed a significantly increased breast cancer incidence among all included nurses, with a standardized incidence ratio of 1.65 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.08-2.41), compared to the general population. Workers, who handle antineoplastic agents in their representative department and current and/or former department, had significantly elevated breast cancer standardized incidence ratios of 2.73 (95% CI: 1.008-5.94) and 3.39 (95% CI: 1.46-6.68), respectively. Conclusions: This study provides significant evidence of increased breast cancer risk among nursing staff in a hospital setting, particularly those who handle antineoplastic drugs. Measures that reduce exposure to risk factors should be implemented, especially anticancer drugs, to protect healthcare professionals. Further research at a national level that focuses on healthcare workers is necessary to validate breast cancer incidence and its contributing factors.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.1-22
• /
• 2023

Purposes: The purpose of this study is to identify and analyze the factors that affect patients reusing non-face-to-face treatments at tertiary general hospitals. Methodology: We retrospectively analyzed a patient's reuse of non-face-to-face treatment from February 1, 2020, to December 31, 2021, at a tertiary general hospital in Seoul within one year of the first non-face-to-face treatment. A frequency analysis was conducted to identify the study subjects' demographic characteristics, treatment type characteristics, disease characteristics, and hospital use type characteristics. Also, across-analysis was conducted to verify the difference in non-face-to-face treatment reuse according to the characteristics a multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify the factors affecting the reuse of non-face-to-face treatment by non-face-to-face treatment patients. Findings: The results of this study can be interpreted as indicating that the following groups are more likely tore use the non-face-to-face treatment: women, children, the elderly, Patients living far from the hospital, psychiatric patients, pediatric patients, medical benefits recipients, chronic patients, patients with mobility difficulties, and patients with high loyalty to hospitals. Practical Implications: When developing a non-face-to-face treatment system in the future, based on the results of this study, it is possible to target patients who prefer non-face-to-face treatment. And this study will be research material for vitalizing non-face-to-face treatment. In addition, the activation of the non-face-to-face treatment system will be an effective means for improving the quality of medical services and generating profits in hospitals in the future.

• Journal of Dental Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.67-73
• /
• 2024

Background: Nitrous oxide has been an integral part of surgical anesthesia for many years in the developed world and is still used in developing countries such as India. The other main concerns in low-resource countries are the lack of an advanced anesthesia gas-scavenging system and modular surgical theatres. As a greenhouse gas that has been present in the atmosphere for more than 100 years and damages the ozone layer, nitrous oxide is three times worse than sevoflurane. Here, we conducted an observational study to quantify the annual nitrous oxide consumption and its environmental impact in terms of carbon dioxide equivalence in one of busiest tertiary health care and research centers in Northern India. Methods: Data related to nitrous oxide expenditure' from the operation theatre and manifold complex of our tertiary care hospital and research center from 2018 to 2021 were collected monthly and analyzed. The outcomes were extracted from our observational study, which was approved by our institutional ethics board (INT/IEC/2017/1372 Dated 25.11.2017) and registered prospectively under the Central Registry (CTRI/2018/07/014745 Dated 05.07.2018). Results: The annual nitrous oxide consumption in our tertiary care hospital was 22,081.00, 22,904.00, 17,456.00, and 18,392.00 m³ (cubic meters) in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, respectively. This indicates that the environmental impact of nitrous oxide (in terms of CO₂ equivalents) from our hospital in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 was 13,016.64, 13,287.82, 10,289.94, and 10,841.24 tons, respectively. Conclusion: This huge amount of nitrous oxide splurge is no longer a matter of laughter, and serious efforts should be made at every central and peripheral health center level to reduce it.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.6
• /
• pp.3641-3645
• /
• 2013

Background: Assessment of the nursing staff knowledge, attitude and practices about cervical cancer screening in a tertiary care teaching institute of rural India. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional, descriptive, interview-based survey was conducted with a pretested questionnaire among 262 staff nurses of a tertiary care teaching and research institute. Results: In this study 77% respondents knew that Pap smear is used for detection of cervical cancer, but less than half knew that Pap smear can detect even precancerous lesions of cervix. Only 23.4% knew human papilloma virus infection as a risk factor. Only 26.7% of the respondents were judged as having adequate knowledge based on scores allotted for questions evaluating knowledge about cervical cancer and screening. Only 17 (7%) of the staff nurses had themselves been screened by Pap smear, while 85% had never taken a Pap smear of a patient. Adequate knowledge of cervical cancer and screening, higher parity and age >30 years were significantly associated with self screening for cervical cancer. Most nurese held a view that Pap test is a doctor procedure, and nearly 90% of nurses had never referred a patient for Pap testing. Conclusions: The majority of nursing staff in rural India may have inadequate knowledge about cervical cancer screening, and their attitude and practices towards cervical cancer screening could not be termed positive.

• KSBB Journal
• /
• v.14 no.5
• /
• pp.566-571
• /
• 1999

Lactic acid is of interested as the raw material of biodegradable polymer. In this study lactic acid was separated by reactive extraction with mixed tertiary amine extractant dissolved in 1-octanol/n-heptane. Mixed tertiary amine extractant was composed of tripropylamine(TPA) and trioctylamine(TOA). The concentration range of lactic acid is ca. 5wt% which is the concentration of lactic acid obtained from fermentation.Maximum distribution coeficient was obtained at 8:2 weight ratio of TPA/TOA and their extraction efficiencies were above 90%.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.139-150
• /
• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the levels of end-of-life care competency; knowledge, attitudes, and experiences regarding advance directives; perceptions of good death; and end-of-life care obstacles and supportive behaviors among tertiary care nurses. Methods: The participants were 150 nurses at a tertiary hospital in Jinju, Korea. The data collected using a questionnaire were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the t-test, analysis of variance, Pearson correlation coefficients, and stepwise multiple regression in SPSS for Windows version 24.0. Results: The mean (±SD) score of end-of-life care competency was 3.63 (±0.53) on a 5-point scale. A significant difference in end-of-life care competency was found according to whether nurses had experienced the death of a family member or acquaintance (P=0.029). According to stepwise multiple regression analysis, the factors affecting end-of-life care competency were the frequency of end-of-life care supportive behaviors (β=0.38, P<0.001), experience with advance directives (β=0.29, P<0.001), and marriage (β=0.15, P=0.039). This model had an explanatory power of 27.9% (F=18.87, P<0.001). Conclusion: In order to improve nurses' end-of-life care competency, it is important to strengthen end-of-life care supportive behaviors by exposing nurses to those behaviors and providing frequent experience with advance directives.