This study aimed to develop and verify a progressive simulation education program aimed at enhancing nursing students’ medication safety competency.

A non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design was adopted. The participants were 40 third-year nursing students with no prior simulation education experience, comprising 20 each in the experimental and control groups. The experimental treatment utilized a hybrid simulation approach incorporating both full-body mannequins and standardized patients and was, conducted over three sessions with durations of 65, 80, and 95 minutes for the first, second, and third sessions, respectively, for a total of 240 minutes. The program was constructed based on Jeffries’ simulation model.

The levels of medication safety competencies, communication self-efficacy, learning self-efficacy, and problem-solving abilities of the experimental group were significantly higher than that of the control group.

Our results confirm that the program effectively improves nursing students’ medication safety competence, communication self-efficacy, learning self-efficacy, and problem-solving ability. Therefore, this program can serve as a basis for developing educational strategies related to medication safety for nursing education institutions. Furthermore, the program is anticipated to have a positive impact on novice nurses’ education and practice in clinical settings.

The purpose of this study was to develop a scale to assess the transition shock experienced by newly graduated nurses, and test the validity and reliability of the scale.

The initial items were identified through a review of literature and in-depth interviews with nine newly graduated nurses. Content validation of the items was evaluated by five nurse professors and three nurses. Participants were 269 newly graduated nurses who worked at six acute care hospitals in Busan, Ulsan, and Yangsan, South Korea. Data were analyzed using item analysis, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, criterion related validity, and internal consistency.

The final scale consisted of 18 items and six factors (conflict between theory and practice, overwhelming workload, loss of social support, shrinking relationship with co-workers, confusion in professional nursing values, and incongruity in work and personal life), which explained 71.3% of the total variance. The six subscale model was validated by confirmatory factor analysis. Cronbach's alpha for the total items was. 89. Convergent validity was evaluated by analyzing total correlation with burnout (r=.71, p<.001) and turnover intention (t=5.84, p<.001).

This scale can be used in the development of nursing interventions to reduce the transition shock experienced by newly graduated nurses.

This study was conducted to examine activities of daily living (ADL) of older adults admitted to Korean long-term care hospitals (LTCHs), and to explore the patient and organizational factors that have an impact on the ADL of this population.

A secondary analysis of the Korean minimum data set (K-MDS) of patients (N=14,369) and of the profiles of LTCHs (N=358) from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service was done between January and July 2008. The outcome variable was ADL score 6 months after baseline assessment. Multi-level linear regression was employed to explore the patient and organizational factors that affected ADL scores.

Of the patients, 45.4% had a baseline ADL score of between 31 and 40, with a score of 40 indicating that the patient was entirely dependent for all items. None of the organizational characteristics were significantly associated with effects on the ADLs of older adults who had been in a LTHC for at least 6 months. However, patient characteristics, such as age, baseline ADL, frequency of physical therapy, urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence, pressure ulcers, and having a tube or catheter, were significantly associated with ADL 6 months after baseline.

In order to maintain and improve the ADL of older adults in LTCHs, we should develop strategies to prevent urinary and fecal incontinence, pressure ulcers, unnecessary tubes or catheters, providing adequate physical therapy. Additional studies should include more detailed information regarding nursing staff, including RN hours for direct care, education level and turnover.

Purpose: In this study analysis was done of utilization of rooming-in care in South Korean hospitals in order to examine the factors related to mothers and hospitals that affect rooming-in care.

With the involvement of 254,414 mothers who gave birth across 953 hospitals, the analysis used the health insurance qualification data of the National Health Insurance Corporations and Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (2006). Factors associated with rooming-in care were analyzed using a GEE logistic regression analysis to consider factors related to both mothers and hospitals.

Only 45.1% of the mothers used rooming-in care. The results of the regression analysis revealed that individual factors of the mothers were not associated with rooming-in care, whereas group factors of the hospitals were. Rooming-in care use was primarily related to small hospital, location of hospital, and higher nurse staffing level.

The findings of this study indicate that the utilization of rooming-in care is not associated with factors an individual mother, but rather with the group factors of the hospitals. Thus, a policy-based approach considering both of these types of factors is required to enhance the utilization of rooming-in care.

To develop and test the validity and reliability of the Korean version of PES-NWI measuring nursing work environments in hospitals.

The Korean version of the PES-NWI was developed through forward-backward translation techniques, and revision based on feedback from focus groups. An internal consistency reliability and construct validity using confirmatory factor analysis were conducted using SPSS WIN (16.0) and AMOS (18.0). Survey data were collected from 733 nurses who worked in three acute care hospitals in Seoul, South Korea.

The Korean version of PES-NWI showed reliable internal consistency with a Cronbach's alpha for the total scale of .93. Factor loadings of the 29 items on the five subscales ranged from .28 to .85. The five subscales model was validated by confirmatory factor analysis (RMR<.05, CFI>.9).

The findings of this study demonstrate that the Korean version of PES-NWI has satisfactory construct validity and reliability to measure nursing work environments of hospitals in Korea.

The purpose of this study was to analyze effects of a community-based case management program for clients with hypertension living in the community.

The research design was a one group pre and post-test design with 30 participants with hypertension who agreed to participate in the 8-12 week case management program provided by case managers from the National Health Insurance Corporation in 2002. Data were collected three times, before and after the case management services, and 6 months later. Outcomes included changes in blood pressure, knowledge of hypertension and daily life practices, including alcohol consumption, smoking, exercise, and medication adherence.

Repeated-measures ANOVA and post-hoc tests of means revealed significant differences before and after service for systolic blood pressure, daily life practices (monitoring body weight and BP, low salt and cholesterol and high vegetable diet, and stress-relief practices), and exercise. The goal for medication adherence was attained after service. Significant improvements from baseline to 6 months after service were observed in measures of salt and vegetables in diet. There were no significant differences on hypertension knowledge, alcohol consumption or smoking behavior between before service and after, and at 6 months.

The findings provide preliminary evidence that case management intervention can have positive outcomes on BP control, daily life practices, exercise, and medication adherence for clients with hypertension. However, additional interventions are needed to sustain long-term effects.