Determining Nurse Staffing By Classifying Patients Based on their Nursing Care Needs / 간호행정학회지

PURPOSE@#To determine nurse staffing by classifying patients based on their nursing care needs and to benchmark current staffing against the Safer Nursing Care Tool (SNCT) staffing requirements.@*METHODS@#Cross-sectional data were collected from four general wards at a tertiary hospital. Nursing activities conducted by 86 registered nurses were observed at 10-minute intervals. The nursing care needs of 780 inpatients were measured with two dimensions: acuity (10 nursing activities) and dependency (four activities of daily living).@*RESULTS@#Nurses worked for 9.3 hours per shift on average, reflecting overtime work of 1.3 hours per nurse. Nurses spent 37% of their time on direct care, 54% on indirect care, and 9% on associated work. Nursing hours per patient day increased as nursing care needs became higher. Patients were classified into four groups based on their level of nursing care needs. The staffing ratio of groups 1-4 was 1:9.8, 1:8.0, 1:7.0, and 1:4.6, respectively. The current staffing (i.e., nursing hours) was as low as 53% of the SNCT benchmark, resulting in informal caregiving by patients' family or their privately hired attendants.@*CONCLUSION@#Appropriate and safe staffing is required to meet patients' nursing care needs and to improve the quality of nursing care.

Nurses' Knowledge about and Attitude toward Cancer Pain Management: A Survey from Korean Cancer Pain Management Project / 성인간호학회지

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to examine the nurses' knowledge about and attitude toward cancer pain management. METHOD: Study subjects of this retrospective cross-sectional survey study were 343 nurses sampled conveniently in a tertiary teaching hospital in Seoul. Seven measurement tools were used to collect data on demographic data, knowledge about and attitude toward cancer pain management, barrier to cancer pain management, knowledge about and concerns for the opioid use, and professional education of cancer pain management. RESULT: Nurses showed knowledge deficit when their knowledge on the cancer pain management and the opiod use was evaluated using two case scenarios and the 15-item questionnaire respectively. Ninety-five percent of the nurses believed that cancer pain management is a major problem. However, inadequate staff knowledge of pain management was rated as the single most important barrier to adequate pain management by 20.4% of nurses. Only 10.9% and 23.2% of the nurses replied that nursing school's education and professional education in cancer pain management respectively, were adequate. CONCLUSION: This study confirms the existence of knowledge deficits and attitudinal barriers among Korean nurses that can impede cancer pain manage- ment. This study suggests a need for professional education for nurses on cancer pain management.

Transoral Endoscopic Adenoidectomy with the Microdebrider / 대한이비인후과학회지

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Surgeons have tried various methods of adenoidectomy from the conventional transoral ad- enoidectomy using curettes or adenotomes to the newly developed transnasal endoscopic adenoidectomy using microdebriders. However, surgeons still face a great difficulty in achieving complete adenoidectomy due to the unfavorable anatomic structure and a narrow operating field. This study aims to introduce and try to establish a better way of performing transoral endoscopic adenoidectomy using microdebriders. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty patients who underwent transoral endoscopic adenoidectomy using rnicrodebriders were prospectively randomized. Skull lateral radiographs and endoscopic photographs were obtained to analyze the surgical outcome of transoral endoscopic adenoidectomy using a microdebrider. RESULTS: There were no specific postoperative complications such as hemorrhage or infection. Nasal obstruction disappeared within 7 postoperative days, and mouth breathing and snoring were simultaneously improved. CONCLUSION: Transoral endoscopic adenoidectomy using a microdebrider can be considered as one of the most effective methods for more complete adenoidectomy to relieve nasal obstruction and to reduce mouth breathing and snoring.

Mucin and Lysozyme Expression in the Epithelium of Normal Human Nasal Inferior Turbinate and Polyps / 대한이비인후과학회지

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: In chronic bronchitis, rhinitis or cystic fibrosis, the number of goblet cells increases along with hypertrophy of mucous cells in submucosal gland, resulting ineffective mucociliary clearance. But, it is still not fully understood what role each gene plays in producing airway secretions. This study aimed to figure out which mucin gene is expressed in the epithelium of normal human nasal mucosa and nasal polyps, and to verify whether the epithelium of nasal polyp itself contributes to the increased nasal secretion as in chronic sinusitis with nasal polyp. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Normal nasal epithelial cells were obt assay. And, RT-PCR was used for the detection of mucin mRNA and lysozyme mRNA. RESULTS: The level of intracellular mucin was 2.9 times higher in the epithelium of nasal polyp, and this was statistically significant. Among seven mucin genes (MUC1, 2, 4, 5AC, 5B, 7, 8) expressed in the epithelium of normal inferior turbinate and polyps, MUC2 and MUC8 were more strongly expressed in the epithelium of nasal polyp than those of normal inferior turbinate. CONCLUSION: This results suggest that the polyp epithelium itself is contributing to increased secretion in chronic sinusitis, and MUC2 and MUC8 are thought tbe responsible for this change. However, further study is required to uncover the full sequence of MUC8 mRNA and its exact function.