Effects of Intensive Clinical Training for Nursing Students in Nursing Practice on their Clinical Competence, State Anxiety, and Clinical Practice Stress / 기본간호학회지

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a intensive clinical training programfor nursing practice on the clinical competence, state anxiety, clinical practice stress in nursing students who were beginning their first clinical practice. METHODS: This practice has been processed as a ‘Pre-Post design with a non-equivalent control group’. The participants were 177 students in a college of nursing. The students were divided into two groups: 89 students in the experimental group and 88 students in the control group. RESULTS: The experimental group showed significant improvement in their clinical competence scores compared to the control group. The difference between the two groups was also significant. State anxiety in the experimental group significantly decreased compared to the control group. However, scores for stress during practice were not significantly different. CONCLUSION: The findings in this research reveal that the program, ‘Close clinical practice training for nursing students’ practice entry, contributes to improving students' overall ability and performance, and reduces anxiety of nursing students as they start their first clinical practice. These findings can be utilized in helping nursing students improve the quality of their performance.

Effect of Acupressure Massage on Temperatures of Acupoints, Severity of Facial Paralysis, Subjective Symptoms, and Depression in Bell's Palsy Patients

PURPOSE: Bell's palsy is a nerve paralysis disease that causes functional impairments and affects psychological and aesthetical parts. This study aimed to examine whether acupressure massage had positive effects on facial paralysis, subjective symptoms, and depression in Bell's palsy patients. METHODS: This study was conducted by a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design. Participants were 60 patients with Bell's palsy. 30 patients were assigned to the experimental group and the remaining 30 patients were assigned to the control group. The period of the study was from October 1, 2008 to July 30, 2009. Acupressure massage was offered to the experimental group for 20 minutes per day for two weeks (a total of six times). A SPSS/Win 12.0 program was used for data analysis. RESULTS: A difference in Digital Infrared Thermographic Imaging (DITI) between affected and unaffected sides was less in the experimental group having acupressure massage than in the control group and the score of the recovery of facial paralysis was also increased in the experimental group. The Facial Nerve Grade Systems by Brackmann score that is a more objective index showed a significant difference between two groups (F=26.81, p<.001). Subjective symptom and depression scores were more decreased in the acupressure massage group than in the control group. CONCLUSION: Based on the results, it is considered that acupressure massage can be applied to Bell's palsy patients as an alternative therapy. It can be used as an evidence-based East-West nursing intervention to improve patients' physical and mental functions.

Effects of Foot Reflexology on Fatigue, Sleep and Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of foot reflexology on fatigue, sleep and pain. METHODS: A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted. Electronic database and manual searches were conducted on all published studies reporting the effects of foot reflexology on fatigue, sleep, and pain. Forty four studies were eligible including 15 studies associated with fatigue, 18 with sleep, and 11 with pain. The effects of foot reflexology were analyzed using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis Version 2.0. The homogeneity and the fail-safe N were calculated. Moreover, a funnel plot was used to assess publication bias. RESULTS: The effects on fatigue, sleep, and pain were not homogeneous and ranged from 0.63 to 5.29, 0.01 to 3.22, and 0.43 to 2.67, respectively. The weighted averages for fatigue, sleep, and pain were 1.43, 1.19, and 1.35, respectively. No publication bias was detected as evaluated by fail-safe N. Foot reflexology had a larger effect on fatigue and sleep and a smaller effect on pain. CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis indicates that foot reflexology is a useful nursing intervention to relieve fatigue and to promote sleep. Further studies are needed to evaluate the effects of foot reflexology on outcome variables other than fatigue, sleep and pain.