Factors Related to Clinical Competence among Graduating Nursing Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study

Purpose@#This study investigated clinical competency, COVID-19-related anxiety, coping strategies, self-efficacy, and perceived stress among graduating nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic. @*Methods@#We conducted a cross-sectional survey. Participants were recruited from universities located in four major cities in South Korea. General demographic information, clinical competency, self-efficacy, perceived stress, COVID-19-related anxiety, and coping strategies were assessed using reliable questionnaires. Descriptive statistics, correlations, and multiple regression tests were used to analyze the data. @*Results@#The mean clinical competency, self-efficacy, perceived stress, adaptive coping, and maladaptive coping were 138.16 ± 18.34, 83.85 ±14.02, 21.37 ± 5.79, 53.15 ± 4.64, and 30.98 ± 6.73, respectively. COVID-19-related anxiety was reported by 4.3% of participants. Clinical competency was significantly positively correlated with self-efficacy (r = .44, p < .001) and adaptive coping (r = .20, p = .035) and was significantly negatively correlated with maladaptive coping (r = .20, p = .035). The predictors of clinical competency were self-efficacy (β = .434, p < .001) and adaptive coping (β = .173, p < .039), which explained 23% of the variance in clinical competency. @*Conclusion@#Self-efficacy and adaptive coping strategies are significant predictors of clinical competence during the pandemic. Planning and implementing various curricular and non-curricular activities to increase senior students' self-efficacy and adaptive coping strategies will help prepare competent nursing graduates for the pandemic when they enter the nursing workforce.

Development of the Multimedia Education Program for Newly Employed Nurses in the Operating Room / 대한의료정보학회지

Operating Room nurses are required to have special skills and knowledge to do their job. However, because there is no systematic education program, which considers special circumstances in the OR, novice nurses have a great deal of difficulty adapting themselves to the work environment. The purpose of this study is to develope a multimedia education program, which provides the systematic learning environment, so novice nurses can adapt to the OR environment more effectively. This study has been implemented according to Computer Assisted Instruction Design Model(Il-Joo Na and In-Sung Jung, 1990), which goes through the following steps; 1). Education program analysis 2). Development, evaluation 3). CompletionLearning goals, objectives, motive strategy, and analysis of the education program are analyzed by the concepts based on basic education materials for novice surgery nurses of 6 Medical Centers in Seoul and 'Development of the job training program for newly employed nurses in operating rooms. 'written by Ji-Young Yoon(2000). We divided 9 areas of the contents in surgery education; 1. Basic orientation 2. OR nurses' roles and responsibilities 3. Asceptic technique 4. Disinfection and sterilization 5. OR safety 6. OR nursing care 7. Surgical positioning 8. OR Material management 9. Anesthetic care. We selected asceptic technique, which is the most fundamental concept in OR nursing care. The program screens consist of cover screen, screen for guide, mini menu screen, and test screen. We distributed questionnaires to fifteen experts and investigated their opinions to analyze learning contents and effects of the Courseware. The education program was modified based on respones provided by experts. This study offers an educational program, which allows the individuals to choose the areas they want to learn. The program is easy to use, which encourages the individuals to search for additional information more than one area.

Development of Protocol for the Management of Patients with Delayed Ischemic Deficits Following Rupture of Cerebral Aneurysms: A Prospective Study

To establish management protocol for delayed ischemic deficits(DID), the authors designed a prospective study involving patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage, Fisher group 2 or 3, who had been admitted within 72 hours of the first rupture. The study group consisted of 100 consecutive surgical cases who underwent prophylactic hyperdynamic therapy during the period May 1995 to December 1996. The historical control group was a series of 117 patients, treated between January 1993 and April 1995, who did not undergo the same therapy. DID occurred in seven of 51 patients(13.7%) in the study group who underwent surgery within 72 hours of the first rupture, and in ten of 38 patients(26.3%) in the control group who similarly under surgery. Patients who postoperatively showed evidence of DID were managed as follows ; 1) in those developing DID without increased velocity on transcranial Doppler(TCD) study, hypertension was induced ; 2) in those who on TCD study showed increased flow velocity, cerebral angiography was performed ; 3) those with significant arteriographic vasospasm or delayed cerebral circulation, were intra-arterially infused with papaverine. In conclusion, prophylactic hyperdynamic therapy is an effective tool for the prevention of DID, especially following early surgery. TCD study may not effectively detect DID, but is a useful guide to the selection of management modalities. Intra-arterial papaverine infusion is an effective therapy for angiographic vasospasm and the prevention of DID.