Intensive Care Unit Nurses' Knowledge and Nursing Practices regarding Bedside Electrocardiograph Monitoring / 한국간호교육학회지

PURPOSE: Bedside electrocardiograph (ECG) monitoring is continuously used for assessing patients' cardiac status in intensive care units. However, it has not been explored whether it is used with proper knowledge and nursing practices; if not, its usage will be limited and the risk for compromised patient safety might be significant. This study, therefore, explored knowledge and nursing practices regarding bedside ECG monitoring in nurses working at intensive care units. METHODS: Participants in this survey research were a convenience sample of 156 nurses from 25 intensive care units distributed in five hospitals with more than 1,000 beds each in Seoul, South Korea. RESULTS: Participants showed limited and incorrect knowledge and nursing practices. Only 4 (2.6%) participants correctly answered to all electrode placement sites of RA, LA, LL, and V1. Lead II was the most frequently monitored unit regardless of the main purpose of ECG monitoring, and nursing practices to manage noisy signals did not include skin care at the top priorities. CONCLUSION: Educators and clinicians alike need to make an effort to ensure that a safe level of knowledge and practices for the monitoring is maintained in order to make sure that patient outcomes are not compromised.

Health-related Quality of Life and Depression after Radical Prostatectomy or Hormonal Therapy

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to compare the health-related quality of life (HQOL) and depression in prostate cancer patients with radial prostatectomy or hormonal therapy more than 6 months ago. METHODS: A total of 116 patients participated in the study (83 radical prostatectomy patients and 33 hormonal therapy). Data were collected from 13th September to 13th November 2012, using two instruments-translated into Korean: Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite and Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form. RESULTS: Hormonal therapy participants reported significantly higher scores of HQOL than radical prostatectomy participants did (p=.002). The HQOL subscales with significant differences were urinary function (p<.001) and incontinence (p<.001) under urinary domain and sexual bother (p<.001) under sexual domain. The level of depression was not significantly different between the two treatment groups. There were moderate negative correlations between HQOL and depression in both groups. CONCLUSION: Many of prostate cancer patients reported treatment-related functional deteriorations in urinary and sexual domains and they were depressed even more than 6 months after the treatment completion. To manage prostate cancer patients' HQOL and depression, clinicians including nurses should evaluate patients' complaints according to their treatment modality and intervene accordingly.

Effects of Surgery Information Service on One-Day Surgery Patients' Anxiety and Satisfaction with Nursing Care / 성인간호학회지

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of surgery information service on one-day surgery patients' anxiety and satisfaction with nursing care. METHODS: The study used the nonequivalent control group time difference design. Sampling and measurement of the control group participants (n=30) was completed first. Later, participants in the experimental group (n=30) were sampled, intervened, and measured. The experimental group participants received the surgery information services twice: before and after the surgery, 20~30 minutes for each of the sessions. The anxiety was measured with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory developed by Spielberger (1975), and modified by Kim & Shin (1978). The patient satisfaction with nursing care was measured with the Patient Satisfaction with Nursing Care Scale developed by La Monica and colleagues (1986), and modified by Shin (1999). The data was collected between February 1 and May 30, 2006. RESULTS: The results were as follows: 1) The level of anxiety in the experimental group was not significantly different from that in the control group. 2) The level of patient satisfaction with nursing care in the experimental group was significantly higher than in the control group (t=-4.53, p=.00). CONCLUSION: These findings suggested that the one-day vocal cord surgery information service could be a useful nursing intervention to improve patient satisfaction with nursing care, but not for controlling the anxiety of one-day surgery patients.

Needs of Hospice Care and Quality of Life for Cancer Patients / 한국호스피스완화의료학회지

PURPOSE: This study investigated the relationship between the needs for hospice care and quality of life in cancer patients. METHODS: Data were collected from 127 cancer patients hospitalized at a university hospital in Chonbuk between October, 2006 to March, 2007. Two instruments were used: cancer patients' need for hospice care, developed by Kang and Kim and quality of life developed by Tae et al. RESULTS: The mean scores were 3.11 out of 4 for hospice care needs, and 5.25 out of 10 for quality of life. The correlation between needs for hospice care and quality of life was moderate and negative (r=-0.395, P<0.01). Among the four groups of needs, physical need was the most strongly correlated with quality of lifer (r=-0.388, P<0.01). The need for hospice care was significantly different according to participants' religion (t=6.02, P<0.05), and duration of disease (F=3.45, P<0.05). Quality of life was significantly different according to participants' monthly income (F=3.38, P<0.05). cancer stage (F=8.10, P<0.01) and chemotherapy (t=6.09, P=0.015). CONCLUSION: The results suggested that the cancer patients' hospice care needs should be answered in order to improve their quality of life. While doing so, participants' characteristic need should also be considered.

The Effect of Hand Massage on Discomfort in Patients Following Percutaneous Coronary Intervention / 성인간호학회지

PURPOSE: This study assessed the effectiveness of hand massage on reducing discomfort of patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention(PCI). METHODS: The sample consisted of 62 patients admitted to an university affiliated hospital. The 30 patients in experimental group received hand massage developed by Snyder(1995) for 5 minutes on both hands and 32 patients in control group received the usual nursing intervention only. The outcome variable of discomfort was measured 10 minutes before and after the hand massage using Questionnaire and VAS. The data were collected from Feb. 5th to May 17th in 2007, and analysed through Chi-square, and t-test with SPSS WIN 12.0. RESULTS: The level of discomfort measured with the questionnaire was decreased in experimental group, but increased in control group. This discomfort changes in two groups were significantly different(t=4.43, p<.001). The level of discomfort measured with VAS was also decreased in experimental group, but increased in control group. The changes were significant, too(t=5.62, p<.001). CONCLUSION: It was clear that hand massage could be a useful nursing intervention in reducing the discomfort of patients undergoing PCI.

The Effect of Music Therapy on Anxiety of Patients in Emergency Room / 성인간호학회지

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of music therapy on anxiety of patients in emergency room. METHODS: The study was designed using a noneqivalent control group nonsynchronized design. For 20 minutes, the experimental group(22 patients) had listened to music and the control group(23 patients) had bed rest. A six-item state anxiety scale developed by Marteau and Bekker, which was based on Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, blood pressure and pulse rate were measured to all study participants before and after the intervention. The data was analyzed by the SPSS 12.0 program. RESULTS: 1) The experimental group's state anxiety level were significantly lower than the control group's(t=2.220, p=.032). 2) There were no significant differences in both group's diastolic(t=-.495, p=.623) and systolic blood pressure(t=831, p=.411). 3) The experimental group's pulse rate was significantly lower than the control group's(t=2.363, p=.023). CONCLUSION: Music therapy may be applied as a nursing intervention to decrease anxiety in emergency room.