A Study on Factors Affecting Cultural Competency of General Hospital Nurses / 간호행정학회지

PURPOSE: As Korea has been rapidly transformed to be a multicultural society, it becomes essential for nurses to develop cultural competency. The purpose of this descriptive study was to assess the cultural competency level of general hospital nurses and to examine its contributing factors adopting ecological model. METHOD: A convenience sample of 327 nurses from six general hospitals in Seoul metropolitan area was recruited between November 14 to 28, 2011. Cultural competency was measured using the Korean version of the Caffrey Cultural Competence in Healthcare Scale (CCCHS) and Cultural Competence Assessment(CCA). Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was performed to assess the influence of intrapersonal, cultural-experience, and organizational factors on cultural competency. RESULTS: Mean cultural competency in this study was 2.57(+/-0.43). Cultural competency was associated with job position (p=.044) at the intrapersonal level. At the cultural experience level, foreign language classes experience (p=.005), fluency in a foreign language (p=.000), experience of working with foreign health care professionals (p=.000) were associated cultural competency. At the organizational level, training program (p=.000), job description (p=.002), health education materials (p=.016), insufficient job control (p=.000), and interpersonal conflicts (p=.011) showed significant difference. Foreign language class experience, foreign language fluency, experience of working with foreign health care professionals, and job control were the most consistent predictors of cultural competence and explained 20.4% of the total variance in the proposed ecological model. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that to enhance cultural competency in general hospital nurses, cultural experience and organizational factors need to be more fully considered than intrapersonal factors.

Evaluating the Accuracy of Blood Pressure Measurement in General Hospital Nurses / 기본간호학회지

To assess the accuracy of blood pressure measurement in general hospital nurses, 276 nurses at four hospital in Kyungju city and Pohang city were observed during the study period 20 December 1998 to 29 December 1998. The nurses measuring the blood pressure of simulated patient's were checked by the researcher or 20 items, that are recommended for consideration when doing a blood pressure measurement. Of the six items in the preparation step for measuring blood pressure, the accuracy of 'patients shouldn't talk during the procedure' had the lowest frequency(27.1%) and the other five items were above 80%. Of the ten items on blood pressure measuring technique, the accuracy of the frequency for 'inflating the cuff until the radial or brachial artery pulse is no longer palpable and then adding 30mmHg' was 0%, 'waiting 30~60 seconds before reinflating the cuff' was alse 0%, 'rapidly deflating the cuff', 0.3%, 'rapidly and steadily inflating the cuff to the maximal level as per above-mentioned initial systolic pressure assessment step', 0.7%, 'reading the pressure to the nearest 2mmHg mark on the manometer', 10.8%, the remaining items were above 70%. Of the four items on blood pressure recording, the accuracy of 'recording the cuff size' had a frequency of 0.3%, 'recording the patient's position such as sitting, standing or lying position', 10.8%, 'recording the arm or leg which was used for measuring the blood pressure', 53.6%, and 'recording systolic/ diastolic pressure', 100%. The variables significantly related to the accuracy of the blood pressure measurement were age, career, position at hospital, and qualification education for blood pressure measurement(p<0.01). In the multiple regression analysis, position and qualification education were significant variables(p<0.01). In conclusion, the accuracy of blood pressure measurement was very low, thus, qualification education for blood pressure measurement should be done immediately to improve the accuracy of measurement by nurses in general hospitals.