Factors That Influence Attitudes toward Advance Directives among Female Cancer Patients / 한국호스피스완화의료학회지

Purpose@#This study aimed to identify attitudes toward advance directives (ADs) among female cancer patients and factors related to ADs. @*Methods@#The study was conducted at a university hospital in Seoul from September 19, 2020, to January 20, 2021. The participants were 153 patients diagnosed with gynecological cancer or breast cancer. Data were collected using questionnaires and included general characteristics, disease- and AD-related characteristics, knowledge and attitudes about ADs, and attitudes about dignified death.Data were analyzed using the t-test, analysis of variance, and multiple regression analysis. @*Results@#Only 2% of the participants completed ADs. The mean score for attitudes toward ADs was 3.30, indicating a positive knowledge and attitude toward dignified death. Thefactors related to attitudes toward ADs were attitudes toward dignified death (β=0.25, P=0.001), experience discussing life-sustaining treatment (β=0.17, P=0.037), preferred time to have a consultation about ADs (β=0.19, P=0.046), intention to write ADs (β= 0.15, P=0.038), and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status (β=-0.37, P＜0.001). The explanatory power of these variables for attitudes toward ADs was 38.5%. @*Conclusion@#Overall, patients preferred to have a consultation about ADs when they were still active, mentally healthy, and able to make decisions. Education about ADs should be provided to patients on the first day of hospitalization for chemotherapy or while awaiting treatment in an outpatient setting so patients can write ADs and discuss them with family and friends.

The Evaluation of the Korean Advance Directives (K-AD) / 한국호스피스완화의료학회지

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate Korean advance directives (K-AD) by examining the degree of adults' acceptance and reliability of the directive itself. METHODS: Survey was performed with 181 adults aged 20 or older who were recruited from three regions. A questionnaire used to examine the participants' acceptance of their K-AD in terms of visual analogue scale score of complexity, difficulty, necessity, satisfaction, recommendation. Then, a retest was carried out by asking participants to write up a K-AD again to confirm the reliability of the directives. RESULTS: On a scale of 100, the average acceptance score was 70 or above, which represents rather high level of acceptance in all five categories. The test-retest reliability kappa values ranged from 0.592 to 0.950, and the conformity degree was moderate or high. Regarding K-AD components such as values, treatment preference, proxy appointment, differences among age groups were observed in each component. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that K-AD is a feasible instrument to analyze its acceptability and reliability for adult population. K-AD could be utilized to help people make their own decision on their end-of-life care. Further studies are needed to confirm this study results and promote widespread use of K-AD.

An Effect of the Application of Educational Electronic Nursing Record System for Nursing Students / 한국간호교육학회지

PURPOSE: This study aimed to identify the effectiveness of educational Electronic Nursing Record System in terms of nursing process preparation ability and satisfaction about the system itself. METHODS: A one group pre-post experimental study design was utilized in this study. The effectiveness of the system was examined through quality of nursing diagnoses, interventions, and outcomes and electronic nursing record system satisfaction inventory. Junior and senior nursing students were the potential study respondents and evaluation instruments were applied only for the one who agreed to participated in the study. Education about nursing process and electronic nursing record system was carried out as part of regular classes and students were guided to prepare nursing process upon the scenarios developed earlier. RESULTS: 29 juniors and 33 seniors prepare nursing process documentation related to each scenario and both groups showed significant improvement upon nursing process documentation (t=7.53, p<.001, t=3.23, p=.003, respectively) compared to paper based nursing process preparation. Satisfaction about system itself was 2.78(0.81). CONCLUSION: Educational electronic nursing record system seems to be effective to train nursing students for nursing process preparation ability. Effort to enhance its utility are called in the area of education and system itself.

Incidence and Risk Factors for Ventilator-associated Pneumonia in an Intensive Care Unit of a Tertiary Hospital / 병원감염관리

BACKGROUND: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is the most severe form of nosocomial infection. However the actual incidence of pneumonia associated with ventilator is not known. The purpose of this study is to examine the incidence of VAP, find out related risk factors, and establish effective preventive measures. METHODS: The medical records of 172 consecutive patients, who have been admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) from January 2005 to October 2005 and were subjected to mechanical ventilation for more than 48 hours, have been reviewed retrospectively. VAP was defined according to the definition of CDC (1992). The statistical software SPSS (version 12.0) was used to conduct descriptive and comparative analysis including Chi-square, student's t-test, and logistic regression. RESULTS: The incidence was 163 per 1,000 persons and 19.0 per 1,000 ventilator use patient-days. The significant risk factors for VAP were type of ICU (surgical ICU, OR=5.942, 95% CI=1.894-8.644) and duration of ventilator use (OR=3.603, 95% CI=1.810-7.173). VAP developed 3.04 (+/-0.88) days after initiating mechanical ventilation. Causative agents of VAP were Acinetobacter baumanii (35.2%), MRSA (18.8%), Enterobacter aerogenes (12.4%), Klebsiella pneumonia (9.4%), Staphylococcus aureus (6.3%), Burkholderia (6.3%), Serratia marcesceus (6.3%), Stenotrophomonas (3.1%), and Pseudomonas (3.1%) spp. CONCLUSION: Type of ICU (surgical ICU, OR=5.942, 95% CI=1.894-18.644) and duration of ventilator use (OR=3.603, 95% CI=1.810-7.173) were considered to increase the incidence of VAP. Further study with larger number of cases and preventive measures would be necessary to identify risk factors related to the ventilator-associated pneumonia.