The purpose of this study was to develop a tool for measuring the intra-operative caring as perceived by regional anesthesia patients.

A preliminary instrument with 54 questions, based on a literature review and semi-structured interviews with 11 regional anesthesia patients, was developed. A group of experts revised individual questions, and 34 questions were finally selected. This tool was tested with 137 regional anesthesia patients admitted to D university hospital in B city from August to October 2008.

The validity and reliability of the tool were tested using factor analysis. After item analysis, one question with a correlation coefficient under .30 was discarded After performing factor analysis on the final 33 questions, 7 factors were identified; holistic needs fulfillment, consideration, protective environment, cautiousness, concern, information, physical comfort. The total variance shown in the test was 73.5%. A Cronbach alpha of 0.96 showed the reliability of the instrument.

Results of this study indicate that the tool is statistically reliable and valid to measure the intraoperative caring perceived by regional anesthesia patients. This tool can be utilized usefully in assessing the effects of nursing interventions for regional anesthesia patients.

The purpose of this descriptive study was to determine the perception of physicians and nurses on family presence during invasive procedures.

The study population consisted of 100 physicians and 100 nurses from five hospitals which have more than 500 beds in B city. Data collection was done from August 20 to September 19, 2007. The Family Presence During Resuscitation (FPDR) Inventory developed by Fulbrook, Albarran and Latour (2005) was used as the study instrument. The collected data was analyzed by t-test, ANOVA and Duncan's multiple range test using SPSS/WIN 14.0 version.

Nurses had more positive attitudes to allowing family members to be present during invasive procedures than physicians did. However, compared to physicians, nurses had more concern about problems of confidentiality, arguing with medical team, and increased rate of legal action if family members were present during invasive procedure.

The results of this study indicate that educational programs and policy for family presence be required within the hospital to enhance the perception of physicians and nurses to the family presence.

This study was done to investigate nurses' knowledge of, and compliance with the multidrug-resistant organism (MDRO) infection control guidelines.

A survey questionnaire was developed based on the institutional and national guidelines and was administered to a convenience sample of 306 nurses in a university hospital.

The mean score for knowledge was 33.87 (percentage of correct answers: 82.61%). The percentages of correct answers for basic concepts, route of transmission, hand washing/protective devices and environment management were 74.27%, 94.29%, 92.90% and 75.54% respectively. The mean compliance score was 4.15 (range: 1-5). The compliance scores for education, communication, contact precaution, disinfection, surveillance culture, and hand washing were 3.29, 4.05, 4.20, 4.50, 4.40 and 4.48 respectively. Nurses indicated "lack of time (30.06%)", "lack of means (10.78%)" and "lack of knowledge (9.48%)" as reasons for noncompliance.

While most educational programs have focused on hand washing or use of protective devices to prevent transmission of MDRO in acute care settings, hospital nurses' knowledge of the basic concepts of MDRO and environmental management has remained insufficient. Nurses are relatively non-compliant to the guidelines in the areas of education (staff, patient, family) and communication. Comprehensive educational programs are needed to decrease hospital infection rates and to improve the health of patients.

The aim of this study was to compare the relation between differently measured sports activities (metabolic equivalent [MET] and peak strain score) and distal radius bone mineral density in college-aged women.

Lifetime sports activity was scored in two different ways: 1) a sports activity score by multiplying the intensity (METs) and duration and 2) a sports activity score by adding up physical strain scores based on the ground reaction force of each sports activities. Bone mineral density was measured using dual energy x-ray densitometry (DTX-200) in the distal radius site.

In stepwise multiple regression analysis, body weight and sports activities during the college period were significant positive predictors for distal radius bone mineral density. The explained variance of sports activity measured with a peak strain score (8.8%) for distal radius bone mineral density was higher than one measured with the MET score (3.3%).

It can be concluded that sports activity scores based on MET and peak strain scores during college are very important for determining the bone mineral density in the distal radius site in women under 30.

This was a methodological research to develop an instrument to assess the emotional response of family members of physically restrained patients.

A primary instrument with 68 questions was developed based on literature review and semi-structured interviews with family members. A group of experts revised individual questions and removed 4 irrelevant questions. This secondary instrument, then, was tested with 199 family members of physically restrained patients in intensive care units of a university hospital. The validity and reliability of the instrument were tested by factor analysis.

After item analysis, 3 questions with a correlation coefficient under .30 were discarded and the questions with a factor loading under .45 on Varimax Rotation were also removed. After factor analysis on the final 37 questions, 7 factors were identified; avoidance, shock, helplessness, grudge, depression, anxiousness, and acceptance. The total variance explained was 55.63%. The reliability of this instrument was 0.93 of Cronbach's alpha.

This instrument was statistically reliable and valid to measure family’s emotional response to physical restraints of the patients. This instrument can be useful in assessing the effects of nursing interventions for family members of restrained patients.