• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.133-139
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• 2020

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the influence of consecutive night-shift work and working time on insomnia among hospital nurses. Methods: A descriptive correlational research designutilizing secondary data analysis was adopted. Data on consecutive night-shift work, working time, and insomnia were collected from 64 hospital nurses using a Fitbit activity tracker and questionnaires, and analyzed using hierarchical logistic regression. Results: Consecutive night-shift work for more than three days had a significant influence on insomnia among hospital nurses. Weekly working hours also accounted significantly for the variance in insomnia, exceeding the influence of consecutive night-shift work. Conclusion: Development and implementation of proper schedules to control consecutive night-shift work and working time is important to alleviate insomnia among hospital nurses.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.357-366
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• 1993

The purposes of this study were to investigate the operational affecting productivity in hospital foodservice, and to examine the relationships between operational factors affecting productivity. The 28 hospitals over 400 beds in Seoul were mailed questionnaires assessing the factors that affect productivity in hospital foodservice(23 hospitals responded). Data analyses included descriptive statistics. Pearson product moment correlation analysis, and stepwise multiple regression analysis. The result of Pearson product moment correlation analysis indicated that the percentage of patient meals was significantly correlated to the productivity (r=.5560, p<.01). Stepwise multiple regression analysis indicated that the percentage of patient meals and the average work hours of employees were significant predictors of the operational factors at productivity.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.336-340
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• 2019

Background/Aims: Victim advocates are at risk of developing secondary traumatic stress (STS), which can result from witnessing or listening to accounts of traumatic events. This study investigated the relationship between victim status, years of experience, hours of direct contact with victims, and availability of workplace supports in the development of STS. Results: Of the 142 victim advocates, 134 were women. Regression analyses revealed that the only significant predictor of STS was the number of direct hours of victim services provided. Conclusion: The findings from this study found that women have high rates of STS and that more workplace support needs to be implemented.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.115-127
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• 2018

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the effect of empowerment on job satisfaction for physical therapists in general hospitals. METHODS: A total of 297 physical therapists working in general hospitals throughout the country participated in the study survey using self-administered questionnaires. The questionnaires comprised three major parts, i.e., questions about general characteristics, empowerment, and job satisfaction, which were rated using a 5-point Likert scale. Statistical analysis was performed to analyze the frequency and percentage of participants, and the independent t-test and analysis of variance were performed to determine the difference in job satisfaction according to the general characteristics. Stepwise multiple regression was used to evaluate the factors that affect job satisfaction. RESULTS: The average of total empowerment, including two subordinate concepts, was 3.29 points, that of psychological empowerment was 3.53 points, and that of structural empowerment was 3.05 points. The average job satisfaction of the participants was 3.43 points, and it showed a significant difference in age, overall work experience, current work experience, position, annual salary, and daily work hours. Moreover, job satisfaction increased as the subordinate factors for empowerment, i.e., support, resources, chance, and competence, increased. Other factors that affect job satisfaction were daily work hours, number of colleagues, type of work, annual salary, and therapeutic assistance. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that job satisfaction of physical therapists working in general hospitals was related to empowerment, thereby indicating that job satisfaction and work performance can be increased by improving their empowerment.

• Korean Journal of Artificial Intelligence
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2021

In this paper, We focused the issue of creating a socially problematic nurse schedule. The nurse schedule should be prepared in consideration of three shifts, appropriate placement of experienced workers, the fairness of work assignment, and legal work standards. Because of the complex structure of the nurse schedule, which must reflect various requirements, in most hospitals, the nurse in charge writes it by hand with a lot of time and effort. This study attempted to automatically create an optimized nurse schedule based on legal labor standards and fairness. We developed an I/O Q-Learning algorithm-based model based on Python and Web Application for automatic nurse schedule. The model was trained to converge to 100 by creating an Fairness Indicator Score(FIS) that considers Labor Standards Act, Work equity, Work preference. Manual nurse schedules and this model are compared with FIS. This model showed a higher work equity index of 13.31 points, work preference index of 1.52 points, and FIS of 16.38 points. This study was able to automatically generate nurse schedule based on reinforcement Learning. In addition, as a result of creating the nurse schedule of E hospital using this model, it was possible to reduce the time required from 88 hours to 3 hours. If additional supplementation of FIS and reinforcement Learning techniques such as DQN, CNN, Monte Carlo Simulation and AlphaZero additionally utilize a more an optimized model can be developed.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• v.35
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• pp.29.1-29.10
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• 2023

Background: Lone workers are generally defined as individuals who work alone without supervision, including self-employed people. While lone workers are considered a vulnerable group in some countries, there is a lack of research on their health status in domestic studies. Globally, the number of lone workers has been increasing, and this trend has been further accelerated since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic with the rise of remote work. Methods: The study analyzed data from 44,281 participants, excluding unpaid family workers, soldiers, and those with missing data. Lone workers were defined as individuals who reported having no colleagues with the same job at their current workplace. Self-rated health status was categorized as "good" or "poor." Results: This study found a statistically significant higher number of lone workers among women compare to men. The largest occupational category for lone workers was service and sales workers, followed by agriculture and fisheries workers. A majority of non-lone workers reported working 40 hours or less per week, while the majority of lone workers reported working 53 hours or more per week. In addition, lone workers had significantly poorer health status evaluations compared to non-lone workers (odds ratio: 1.297; 95% confidence interval: 1.165-1.444). Conclusions: Further research is needed to investigate the causal relationship between lone work and health, using data collected after the COVID-19 pandemic.

• 월간산업보건
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• s.277
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• pp.48-53
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• 2011

• 월간산업보건
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• s.273
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• pp.61-70
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• 2011

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.14-28
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to calculate the total daily nursing workload and the optimum number of nurses per intensive care unit (ICU) based on the nursing intensity and the direct nursing time per inpatient using the patient classification. Methods: Two ICUs at one general hospital were investigated. To calculate the nursing intensity, patient classification according to the nursing needs was conducted for 10 days in each unit during September 2018. We performed patient classifications for a total of 167 patient-days in the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) and 86 patient-days in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU). The total number of person-days for nurses who responded to the Nursing Time survey was 151 for MICU and 85 for SICU. In each unit, direct and non-direct nursing hours, nursing intensity score, and direct nursing hours were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, and average calculated using Microsoft Excel. The amount of nursing workload and the optimum number of nurses were calculated according to the formula developed by the authors. Findings: For the MICU, the average direct nursing time per patient was 5.59 hours for Group 1, 6.98 hours for Group 2, and 9.28 hours for Group 3. For the SICU, the average direct nursing time per patient was 5.43 hours for Group 1, 7.21 hours for Group 2, 9.75 hours for Group 3, and 12.82 hours for Group 4. Practical Implications: This study confirmed that the appropriate number of nurses was not secured in the nursing unit of this study, and that leisure time such as meal time during nursing work hours was not properly guaranteed. The findings suggest that to create working environments where nurses can serve for extended periods of time without compromising their professional standards, hospitals should secure an appropriate number of nurses.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• v.34
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• pp.9.1-9.13
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• 2022

Background: Long working hours causes several health risks, but little is known about its effects on the liver. This study aimed to examine the correlation between working hours and abnormal liver enzyme levels. Methods: We used data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey IV-VII. For the final 15,316 study participant, the information on working hours was obtained through questionnaires, and liver enzyme levels, consisting of serum levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT), through blood tests. The relationship between weekly working hours and abnormal levels of liver enzymes was analyzed using multiple logistic regression, and a trend test was also conducted. Results: In male, working ≥ 61 hours per week was significantly associated with elevated AST and ALT levels compared with working 35-52 hours per week. Even after adjusting for covariates, the odds ratios (ORs) of abnormal AST and ALT increased by 1.51 (95% confidence interval: 1.20-2.05) and 1.25 (1.03-1.52), respectively, and a dose-response relationship was observed. This association was more prominent among the high-risk group, such as those aged > 40 years, obese individuals, worker on non-standard work schedule, pink-collar workers, or temporary worker. No correlation was observed in female. Conclusions: Long working hours are associated with abnormal liver function test results in male. Strict adherence to statutory working hours is necessary to protect workers' liver health.