• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.40-49
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• 2006

Purpose: This study was designed to investigate nursing students' exposure experience to infectious diseases and their knowledge and performance for the nosocomial infection control. Method: The data was obtained from 292 nursing students having clinical experience at two university hospitals in Seoul from November 2005 to February 2006. Specific questionnaire was constructed and used for this study. The obtained data was analyzed by using the SPSS window program. Result: The results were as follow : 1. Among the evaluation scores of knowledge for the nosocomial infection control, the score of sterilization and the score of the intravenous therapy management were low(.14). 2. Among the evaluation scores of performance for the nosocomial infection control, the score of hand washing is low(1.63). 3. 86.3 percent of the nursing students had exposure experience to infectious disease. Many of them did not use the protective equipments in clinical experience nor took any treatment after the exposure to infectious diseases. Conclusion: Based on these results, we suggest that the programs for the nosocomial infection control should be developed for nursing students. It is also suggested that nursing students should be educated before their clinical experience to keep protected from the infection. In particular, the hand washing, sterilization and intravenous therapy management should be emphasized in the educational programs.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.208-218
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• 2014

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the factors influencing on practice of healthcare-associated infection control among clinical nurses. Methods: The subject of this study were 118 nurses who worked in medical surgical ward and ICU of 2 general hospital in Gwangju city. Data were collected with a questionnaire. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Scheff$\acute{e}$ test, Pearson correlation and stepwise multiple regression analysis using SPSS/WIN 12.0. Results: The major findings of this study were as follow: There were significant positive correlation between knowledge, recognition, empowerment and practice of healthcare-associated infection control. The significant factors influencing practice of healthcare-associated infection control were recognition and empowerment, which explained 68.8% of the practice of healthcare-associated infection control. Conclusion: These results indicate that recognition on healthcare-associated infection control and empowerment among clinical nurses should be reinforcement via consistent education, administrative and organizational support at the level of hospital.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.136-138
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• 2021

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is a newly emerging infectious disease worldwide, can be categorized as an occupational disease, because employees, particularly in the healthcare system, can be infected at the workplace. As of December 15, 2020, we summarized the occupational safety and health practices in selected countries on the recognition of COVID-19 as one of the occupational risks. The situation has differed among countries, including the recognition status and whether a specific regulation existed. International organizations, namely the International Labour Organization, World Health Organization, and European Union, should plan and conduct studies on the work-relatedness of COVID-19, propose criteria for recognition, and add the infection to the occupational disease list to provide a basis for specific country regulations. Stakeholders should also act to adjust country-level legislation.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.861-877
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• 1999

The hand is a very specialized organ that functions to obtain information and to execute motor acts essential to human interaction with the environment. Loss of hand function through infections affects the mechanical tasks that the hand performs and psychological adjustments to their disability. Infection is a disastrous complication of hand injuries and adequacy of circulation is of greatest importance to prevention of infection. Careful debridement, incision, and adequate drainage and antibacterial treatment are of great importance. Optimal care of the infected hand demands that carefully surgical care, early postoperative exercises and other therapy. Hand rehabilitation has grown as a specialty area of both physical and occupational therapy. It is essential that the surgeon and therapist work together, and communicate freely-all of which generally require daily contact. Treating the psychological loss suffered by the patient with a hand infections is an integral part of the rehabilitation therapy as well. Treatment techniques, Whether thermal modalities or specifically designed exercises, are used as a bridge to reach a further goal of returning to functional performance.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.44-51
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• 2002

Purpose: Surgical Site Infection(SSI) is the third most common cause of nosocomial infection, so that it results in serious socioeconomic impact such as extra hospitalization, mortality and health care cost. The aim of this study was to analyses the SSI that based on the degree of wound contamination and patient risk index after general surgery and to generate a reference data for the effective management and reducing SSI. Method: From July, 1999 to June, 2000, 1080 cases which presented with surgical site infection after general surgery at S hospital in chunchon city were included in this study. The data were collected by review of the medical records retrospectively. The collected data, in accordance with the test purpose, is analyzed by SPSS/PC+ program, using real numbers, percentage, $X^2$ test, Pearson's correlation and stepwise logistic regression. Result: The overall wound infection rate was 4.7%(51 cases out of 1,080). The infection rate of clean wounds was 1.4%. Surgical site infection rate for patient risk index scores of 0, 1, 2 and 3 was 1.9%, 8.0%, 13.1% and 20.0%, respectively and increased significantly according to patient risk index(p=.000). Sixteen of the fifty one(31.4%) surgical site infections were found during an outpatient visit after discharge. Multivariate analysis, identified two independent variables : duration of postoperation stay(p=.000), age(p=.037). The most frequent isolated organisms were Pseudomonas aeruginosa(21%) and Staphylococcus aureus(21%). Also Staphylococcus aureus were all MRSA(Methicillin Resistant S. aureus). Conclusion: In this study, SSI was analysed according to the degree of wound contamination and patient risk index after general surgery. The data that obtained from this study is expected that it would be available for surveillance and control of SSI.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.30-39
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• 2006

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine factors influencing for the compliance of guidelines of preventing bloodborne infection for operating room nurses. Method: Data was collected through questionnaires from March 16 to April 12, 2005. The subjects of this study were consisted of 208 operating room nurses, who had been working at 4 university hospitals and 10 general hospitals in Busan. The Instrument for the compliance of guidelines for preventing bloodborne infection was 24-item questionnaire. It was revised based on the Standard Precaution of CDC and Bloodborne Pathogen Standards of OSHA. In addition, to find out the knowledge level of AIDS, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, 15-item questionnaire was used, which had been made by researcher based on Kim(1999) et, al. Results: The affecting factors of compliance for preventing bloodborne infection were work skill(${\beta}=.27$), operating room education on infection prevention(${\beta}=.25$), knowledge on infection(${\beta}=.19$), readiness of using personal protective equipment(${\beta}=.18$), and posting a notice of infected surgery patients(${\beta}=.16$). Theses 5 factors account for 28.5% on the compliance of guidelines for preventing bloodborne infection for operating room nurses. Conclusion: According to the results, to increase the compliance level of operating room nurses, personal efforts should be made to improve work skills and infection knowledge. In addition to organizational efforts on practical education and management of environment were required.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.133-135
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• 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in movement restrictions being instituted globally and the cessation of work at many workplaces. However, during this period, essential services such as healthcare, law enforcement, and critical production and supply chain operations have been required to continue to function. In Singapore, measures were put in place to protect the workers from infection at the workplace, as well as to preserve the operational capability of the essential service in a COVID-19 pandemic environment. This paper critically analyses the measures that were implemented and discusses the extension to broader general industry.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.275-284
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• 2013

Purpose: This study analyzed the characteristics of occupational injuries and illnesses of the nursing staff to reveal the prevalence of the major diseases and the predominant causes of the injuries in the nursing environment. Methods: Total 3,455 work-related compensation cases of nursing staff from January 1 2000 to December 31 2012, were selected. The specific types of the diseases, injuries, causes and the time of the incidence were analyzed. Results: Majority of the compensated cases were young women under 30 years old. The composition of the occupational injuries and illness was 74.5% and 25.5%, respectively. Occupational infection was the major part of the occupational illnesses (47.3%), and 74% of them were tuberculosis. Musculoskeletal disorder (12.6%) was followed the infectious disease, and 36.4% of them occurred while moving the patients. Slipping was the most frequent injury; most of them resulted in the lower extremities injury. Most of the injuries increased during shift change, except workplace violence, which increased later than 19:00. Conclusion: Occupational injuries and illnesses of nursing staff need the specific prevention strategy, and the prevention strategy should be suitable for the nursing workplace.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.245-247
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• 2019

Occupational risks are often underestimated in midwifery. It is not commonly known that occupational risks were originally described by the Italian physician Bernardino Ramazzini (1633-1714) at the beginning of the 18th century. Our aim was to describe occupational risks in midwifery from Ramazzini to modern times. The original text by Bernardino Ramazzini was analyzed. A review of modern scientific articles on occupational risks in midwifery was conducted. Ramazzini identified two major occupational risks in midwifery: infections and awkward postures. Modern literature seems to agree with his considerations, focusing on infection, use of universal protection and personal protective equipment, and musculoskeletal problems. Modern studies also evidenced posttraumatic stress disorder that was probably postulated by Ramazzini himself. The poor number of articles in literature on midwives' occupational risks shows a lack of interest toward this issue. Prevention should therefore be emphasized in this field, so high-quality studies on occupational risks in midwifery are needed.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.467-475
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• 2023

Background: To mitigate the spread of Covid-19, nurses infected with the virus were required to isolate themselves from their families and community. Isolated patients were reported to have experienced mental distress, posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, and suicide. Though studies have reported the psychological impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, less is known about the lived experiences of nurses who survived Covid-19 infection in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods: A descriptive phenomenological approach was used to study the lived experiences of registered nurses who survived Covid-19 disease. In-depth interviews were conducted among nurses diagnosed with Covid-19 from two hospitals in Kenya between March and May, 2021. Purposive and snowball sampling were used to recruit registered nurses. Data were analyzed using Giorgi's steps of analysis. Results: The study included ten nurses between 29 and 45 years of age. Nurses' experiences encompassed three themes: diagnosis reaction, consequences, and coping. Reactions to the diagnosis included fear, anxiety, and sadness. The consequence of the diagnosis and isolation was stigma, isolation, and loneliness. Nurses coping mechanisms included acceptance, creating routines, support, and spirituality. Conclusion: Our findings aid in understanding how nurses experienced Covid-19 infection as patients and will provide evidence-based content for supporting nurses in future pandemics. Moreover, as we acknowledge the heroic contribution of frontline healthcare workers during the Covid-19 pandemic, it is prudent to recognize the considerable occupational risk as they balance their duty to care, and the risk of infection to themselves and their families.