Effects of Self-Efficacy and Job Stress on Organizational Commitment among Clinical Dental Hygienists / 치위생과학회지

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to provide basic data to establish a foundation for efficient operation of the organization by assessing the effects of self-efficacy and job stress (measured by self-efficacy, job demand, and job autonomy) on organizational commitment among clinical dental hygienists. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional survey study that used a self-administered questionnaire to collect data. After institutional review board approval, a survey was conducted from January to May 2017, targeting dental hygienists working in dental clinics and hospitals. The final 199 questionnaires were analyzed with PASW 18.0 for Windows (IBM Corp.). The data were analyzed using mean and/or standard deviation t-test, one-way ANOVA, and multiple regression analysis. RESULTS: The means for self-efficacy, job demand, job autonomy, and organizational commitment were 55.94±9.65, 26.55±2.29, 20.24±3.88, and 49.49±8.39, respectively. Along with self-efficacy, the other factors of organizational commitment among dental hygienists that were statistically significant included job autonomy, mean salary (2,500~2,990 thousand Korean won [KRW] and ≥3,000 thousand KRW), and employee welfare (good), which are sub-areas of the surface acting. In other words, it was found that the higher the mean salary, the better the employee welfare, the higher self-efficacy, and the higher the organizational commitment, and the explanatory power of the model was approximately 42.1%. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the higher the self-efficacy, job autonomy, mean salary, and employee welfare, the higher the organizational commitment. In order to improve job demand among dental hygienists, it is necessary to establish an effective plan to improve job welfare, self-efficacy, and job autonomy.

Effects of Infection Control Training on Dental Hygienists' Health Beliefs and Practices of Infection Control / 치위생과학회지

This study aims to determine the changes in health beliefs and practices of dental hygienists on infection control after having received special training on that subject. The study population consisted of dental hygienists working at the dental institutions located in Seoul and Gyeonggi areas. The intervention group and the control group each had randomly assigned 26 dental hygienists. The intervention group received training courses on infection control once a week for 3 hours, for a total of 4 training sessions. We used a survey tool to find the changes between the two groups regarding their health beliefs and practices on infection control measures. The survey was conducted prior to the training sessions, 3 months and 2 weeks after the training. The study results revealed statistically significant increases in perceived sensitivity, perceived seriousness, and perceived benefits after the training courses in the intervention group (p<0.05). A statistically significant decrease in perceived barriers was also noted in the intervention group (p<0.05). Additionally, there was a statistically significant increase in the practice of infection control in the intervention group as compared to the control group (p<0.05). Therefore, we conclude that infection control training is crucial in bringing about positive changes to the health beliefs of dental hygienists, and a structured system is necessary for continuous infection management along with training in order to improve infection control practices.

Differences in Psychological Changes after Botulinum Toxin A Administration for Bruxism with Masseter Hypertrophy / 치위생과학회지

This study aimed to assess changes in maximum bite force and psychological elements in patients with bruxism treated with botulinum toxin who visited the hospital with a chief complaint of masseter hypertrophy. From among the subjects with masseter hypertrophy as the chief complaint, 10 patients with and 10 without bruxism were selected. We measured bite force prior to botulinum toxin injection and at 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks after the injection and assessed changes in psychological elements by using Symptom Checklist 90 Revision. The study results showed statistically significant differences in maximum bite force on both the right and left sides between the patients with and those without bruxism, according to periodic changes (p<0.05). Depression elements showed statistically significant changes in the patients with bruxism (p<0.05). In the bruxism and non-bruxism groups, the patients recovered from anxiety in accordance with the periodic changes (p<0.05). Our study results indicate that the patients with bruxism show significant changes in interpersonal sensitivity, depression, and anxiety according to the treatment periods, and that occlusal force and depression were significantly related. Therefore, when setting a treatment plan for bruxism, multilateral psychological elements must be considered, along with functional elements.

The Effects of Intravenous Anesthetics on Blood-Brain Barrier Disruption Induced with Mannitol in Rats / 대한마취과학회지

BACKGROUND: In the anesthetic state, various anesthetic agents may effect on hyperosmolar blood-brain barrier disruption. Therefore, the effects of intravenous anesthetics, pentobarbital, ketamine and propofol, on the mannitol induced blood brain barrier disruption (BBBD) of 21 Spague-Dawly rats were evaluated. METHODS: Intravenous anesthetics, pentobarbital (group 1), propofol (group 2) and ketamine (group 3), were administrated before right intracarotid artery infusion of mannitol in three groups. BBBD was estimated by the calculation of the ratio of radioactivity between plasma and brain tissue using 99MTC-human serum albumin and Evans blue staining in cerebral hemisphere. Also cerebral blood flow (CBF) was monitored with laser doppler flowmetry. RESULTS: Percent albuminal space of right and left cerebral hemisphere was showed 9.01 +/- 3.47%, 1.65 +/- 1.25% in group 1, 8.02 +/- 2.19%, 1.61 +/- 1.06% in group 2 and 5.63 +/- 1.79%, 1.10 +/- 0.94% in group 3 respectively. Evans blue dye staining was showed 2+~3+ in the right and 0 in the left cerebral hemisphere in all groups. Right cerebral hemisphere showed significantly more blood brain barrier disruption than left cerebral hemisphere in all groups (p<0.01). And there was no significant difference in BBBD among three groups. However, the degree of BBBD of group 3 was drop down to nearly 70-80% of group 1 and 2. The CBF of group 3 was significantly higher than that of group 1 and group 2 after intracarotid infusion of mannitol (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that pentobarbital, propofol and ketamine could be used to be anesthetics for BBBD in rats, but some caution should be paid to use ketamine in mannitol induced BBBD.

Volume Changes under Isotonic Condition Containing Thiopental in Brain Astrocytoma Cells / 대한구급학회지

BACKGOUND: Cell volume regulation is especially important in the brain because the brain is confined within a non-compliant vault and cannot tolerate significant perturbations in cell size. Cerebral cell volume regulation mechanisms are activated by sustained disturbances in plasma osmolality. The constancy of cell volume under physiological conditions is generally thought to reflex a balance between influx and efflux of solute and is therefore critically dependent on the properties of the plasma membrane. Cell volume regulation have not been described under isoosmotic solution. The object of the study was to know the effects of thiopental on cell volume change in isoosmotic condition. METHODS: We made isoosmotic solution without thiopental (Group 1) and isoosmotic solution with 22.9 mM (Group 2), 16.8 mM (Group 3), 13.3 mM (Group 4) thiopental, separately, in order to study changes in cell volume under isoosmotic solution. We put cultured human brain astrocytoma cells into isoosmotic solution for each group and calculated cell volume using Coulter Counter after 30 minutes. RESULTS: Cell volume was shown to be 5084+/-8580 (micrometer3)in Group 1, 501+/-854 (micrometer3) in Group 2, 1183+/-3839 (micrometer3) in Group 3, and 624+/-1100 (micrometer3) in Group 4. We discovered that cells in Group 2,3,4 were shrunk relative to cells in Group 1 (p<0.01). And there were significant differences in cell volume among thiopental groups. CONCLUSIONS: Thiopental may has an effect on cell membrane properties and decrease cell volume under isoosmotic solution in brain astrocytoma cell.