This study was aimed to observe the incidences and types of hospital infections and to compare the length of hospitalization and of the operation between the infected patients and those of non-infected after the operations. The subject of study were 465 patients who had been operated surgically in a University Hospital from March 1 to April 30, 1985. The data were clected by reviewing medical charts of subjects. The criteria to diagnose hospital infection for this study had been revised the one utilized at University of Virginia Hospital in the U.S. Summary of the results were as follows; 1. The incidence rate of hospital infection was 6 %. The type of infection with higher incidence rate in order were wound infection(28.5%) urinary infection(28.5%), fever of unknown origin (25%) and septicemia (18%). 2. There was a statistically significant difference in the duration of hospitalization between the patient group without it (t=265.2, p<0.005). 3. There was a statistically significant difference in the duration of operation between the patient group with it (t=75.0, p<0.005).

Nosocomial infection is important in the management of the nursing care and has been found to be related with the airborne microbes contamination. The purpose of this study is to identify the differences of the airborne microbes between hospitals, nursing units, days and times and to identify the difference in the types of microorg-anisms between hospitals, nursing units, days and times. This study was conducted from May 25, to July 10, 1981, according to R. Koch's methods for quantative samplings of airborne microbes and the results of this study were reviewed in a statistical method. The following conclusions were obtained: 1. There was a significant difference in the types of airborne microbes between 8 hospitals (F=5.0491, P<0.01) 2. There was a significant difference in the types of airborne microbes between surgical, medical, nursery, I.C.U., operating theatre and outpatient nursing unit, (F=2.1764, P<0.05) 3. There was not a significant difference in the types of airborne microbes between Monday, Thrusday and Saturday (F=1.6365, P>0.05) 4. There was a significant difference in the types of airborne microbes between AM 7 : 00, AM 11: 00 and PM 3 : 00. (F=7.2951, P<0.01) 5. 4061 colonies were divided into more 48 types and the classification was as follows. gram positive cocci (2024 colonies) 49.3% gram positive bacillus (1211 colonies) 29.8% gram negative bacillus (577 colonies) 14. 2% fungus (200 colonies) 4.9% gram negative cocci (41 colonies) 1.0% other's (8 colonies) 0.3% 6. There was a significant difference of airborne microbes between 8 hospitals. (F=7.7943, P<0.01) 7. There was not a significant difference of airborne microbes between 6 nursing units. (F= 1.8461, P>0.05) outpatient nursing unit : 12.6 colonies surgical nursing unit: 10.4 colonies Medical nursing unit : 9.8 colonies nursery nursing unit: 9.4 colonies operating theatre nursing unit: 8.2 colonies Intensive care nursing unit: 7.8 colonies 8. There was not a significant difference of airborne microbes between Monday, Thursday and Saturday. (F=1.4371, P>0.05) Saturday : 11.0 colonies Monday : 9.1 colonies Thursday : 9,1 colonies 9. There was a significant difference of airborne microbes between A.M. 7 : 00, A.M. 11 : 00 and P.M. 3 : 00 (F=7.6658, P<0.05) P.M. 3 : 00 : 12.2 colonies A.M. 11 : 00 : 10.0 colonies A.M. 7 : 00 : 7.1 colonies.

The main purpose of this survey was to identify for elements of an effective hospital infection control program for Korea. Nurses and doctors who had participated in an education program for infection control or were re s ponsible for hospital infection control were selected as data iformers. The data were collected from 51 subjects by employing a Delphi technique in a series of three rounds from september 1, 1987, to March 31, 1988. IN each round the responses to questionaires were analyzed and the results were communicated back to the individuals. Finally 32 elements of effective hospital infection control program] were reduced to 10 elements. 10 elements are as follows ;1) Hospital administrator's knowledge of importance and necessity for HIC(hospital infection control)2) Supporting HIC administratively 3) Constituting infection control committee and role of ICC 4) Developing an eductional program and providing a work manual for the hospital infection control staff 5) Educating and informing medical staff about hospital infection 6) Surveillance for hospital infection 7) Developing patient care technique 8) Controlling the hospital environment 9) Executing regular health examinations of all medical staff 10) Recruiting the medical staff sufficiently Three rankings of response rate about 32 elements are as follows;1) Hiring a full time staff member for the HIC(66%) 2) Establishing a hospital policy and standards for the HIC(66 %) 3) Activating the infection control committee and taking administrative action to support the ICC (63%) In addition the rankings of importance score by Likert 5 scale are as follows ; 1) Washing hands scrupulously (4.88) 2) Nurses participation as key members of the ICC (4.75) 3) Reviewing and evaluating all ongoing aseptic techniques (4.69) In conclusion, first of all, administrative support must be given to hiring a full time staff member and to organization of infection control cmmittee for the HIC in Korea.

Urinary incontinence is defined as the involuntary and inappropriate loss of urine to failure to emit normal responses as the bladder fills, or inability to reach the bathroom in sufficient time. This study was undertaken to estimate the incidence of urinary incontinence and to determine the correlates of urinary incontinence among women. Subjects of this survey consisted of 408 women, 26 to 83 years old in Incheon. The results of this study are follows. 1. Of the subjects 50.7% reported urine loss once or twice per year and 28.5% reported incontinence on a regular basis at least once per month. 2. 40.5% of women reported small volume accidents of only 1 to 2drops, 31.4% ; 1t-spoon, 16.9% ; 1T-spoon, while 10.1% of women couldn't estimate the volume of urine loss. 3. The volume of urine loss was great enough to require a change of garment(undergarments or outer garments) in 73%. But only 3.8% of those used some type of pads. 4. 56.5% of incontinent women didn't talk about their urinary incontinence with other persons because they felt that urinary incontinence was shameful(38.4%), was not a disease(31.6%), was incurable in spite of treatment(27.4%) and was fearful of being uncured(2.6%). 5. Only 15.5% of urinary incontinent women had sought treatment. 6. The incidence of urinary incontinence was significantly higher in women who had more pariety and uterine-ovarian disease, older age, worrying about where toilets were when they visited new places or voiding anxiety, nocturia and frequency, but was significantly lower in women who had coffee intake. The incidence of urinary incontinence was not related to smoking and enuresis. The results indicate that urinary incontinence is common among young and middle-aged women. That few seek treatment for urinary incontinence suggests a need for more information about women's attitudes toward urinary incontinence and more attention to this problem by health care providers.

The surgical hand scrub(SHS) is the single most important procedure in the prevention of postoperative wound infections and yet it remains the most violated of all infection control procedures. The purpose of this study was to gain an overview of SHS habits in operative theatre personnel and to determine knowledge and attitudes to identify whether there is a need for improvement. The subjects for this study included 79 doctors and 94 nurses working in the operative theatres of four hospitals in Incheon City and Kyungki Province. Related data were collected from July 25 to August 10, 1995 by the author. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Chi-squre test. The results of the study are summarized as follows: 1. Nurses felt that they conducted SHS for a longer period of time than doctors did(X=20.1, P= .005). 2. Nurses and doctors had some knowledge of slipping rings off fingers and the length of nails, but they lacked knowledge on the duration of SHS, handwashing after an operation and on manicure. 3. There were many reasons given for insufficient SHS included: 1) because they were so busy (38%). 2) brushes were too harsh(19.7%). 3) operations were very simple(18.7%). 4) surgical latex gloves provide functional barrier(11.6%). 5) SHSs were troublesome(7.4%) 6) there were no clocks near the sinks(2.5%) and 7) the operative patients were administered antibiotics after operartion(2.1%). 4. Most of nurses and doctors considered SHS to be important in prevention against post operative infections. 5. Nurses were found to do a thorough SHS, but residents were found to neglect SHS. 6. Considering prevention against postoperative infections, most nurses and doctors considered aseptic techniques, environment-sanitary management and SHS more important than the use of antibiotics, the resistance of patients or the method of operation. 7. Half of the nurses and doctors(54.3%) considered surgical latex gloves to function well as a barrier. 8. Half of the nurses(56.4%) and doctors(51.9%) learned SHS as part of the curriculum in their school education and the rest (nurses: 95.7%, doctors: 74.7%) learned SHS as part of their In Service Education. In conclusion, these findings suggest a need to develop an educational program on surgical hand scrub and hospital infection control for surgical personnels, to install clocks near the hand scrub sinks, to consider a violation report for negligent surgical hand scrubs, and to develop a soft brush for hand scrubs in order to increase performance of the surgical hand scrub.

Post-operative wound infections have been a serious problem in nursing care in the operating room and appear to be strongly related to the infection occurring during the performance of operation. The purpose of this study is to identify patterns in duration of surgical hand scrub (SHS), to evaluate the method of SHS and to examine the rate of glove perforation. Subjects for this study include 244 doctors and 169 nurses working in the operative theatre of a hospital in Seoul area. Test samples and related data were collected from this medical facility between April 1, through 15, and July 1, through 5, 1995 by the author and a staff member working in the operating room. For the study, data on the SHS of doctors and nurses were obtained at the time of operation and multiple batches of surgical gloves worn by the operating doctors were collected after each operation. The duration of SHS was measured with a stop watch and the method of SHS was evaluated according to Scoring Hand Scrub Criteria (SHS Criteria) and expressed as SHS scores. For the analysis of the data, t-test was used to compare the differences in the duration and the SHS scores of doctors and nurses, and Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to examine the relationship between the SHS duration and the SHS scores. The results of the study are summarized as follows. 1) The mean time spent in each SHS was 167 seconds in nurses, and 127 seconds in doctors. The data comparing nurses and doctors indicated that there were significant differences in duration of SHS between these two groups (t=5.58, P=.000). 2) The mean time spent in the first SHS was 145 seconds and that in the 2nd SHS, 135 seconds, and there was not a significant difference in the duration of the SHS between doctors and nurses (t=1.44, P=.156). 3) The mean time spent in the SHS by OS (Orthopaedic surgery) doctors was 162 seconds, 150 seconds by NS (Neurologic surgery), 121 seconds by GS(General surgery), 94 seconds by OPH (Opthalmology) and DS (Dental surgery), 82 seconds by URO(Urology), 78 seconds by PS (Plastic surgery) and 40 seconds by ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat). These also showed a significant difference in the duration of the SHS among the medical specialities(t=4.8, P=.0001). 4) The average SHS score of the nurses was 15.2, while that of doctors was 13.1. The statistical analysis showed that t ?value was 3.66, P was . 000. This indicates that the nurses actually clean their hands more thoroughly than the doctors do. 5) The average SHS score of NS doctors was 15.5, 15.3 for doctors for OPH, 14.3 for OS, 12.7 for GS, 12.0 for DS, 11.7 for URO, 10.1 for PS, 7.5 for ENT. Comparison of the average SHS scores from 8 specialties showed that there was a significant differences in the patterns of the SHS (F=5.08, P=.000) among medical specialties. 6) It appears that the operating personnel scrub the palms and dorsum of their hand relatively well, however, less thorough the nails and fingers. 7) The more the operating personnel spend their time in hand scrubbing, the more correctly they clean their hands (r=.6427, P<.001). 8) The overall frequencies of perforation in all post-operative gloves tested was 38 out of 389 gloves (10.3%). The perforation rate for PS was 13%, 12.1% for GS, 8.8% for OS, and 3.3% for NS.

Post-operative wound infections have been the serious problems in nursing care in the operating room and appear to be strongly related to the infection occurring during the operation. The purpose of this study is to identify the level of contamination in saline used in the operation and also examine the correlation between the contaminated saline and the length of the operation, and unclean atmospheric factor. Subjects for this study include 13 cases of operation performed at the operative theatre of a hospital in Seoul area. Test samples and related data were collected from this medical facility between Oct. 6 through Dec. 10, 1994 by the auther and a nurse who worked in the operating room. For the study, multiple batches of saline sample were collected at the various time intervals during the operation and filtered through the membrane filters. Viable microorganisms retained on the filters were cultured on the appropriate culture media and the levels of existing cells in saline were enumerated according to Koch's method. In the analyses of the data, Pearson's correlation coefficient was obtained for the examination of relationship between the length of operation and numbers of microorganisms existing in saline and for the comparison of the differences in numbers if microrganisms in saline sample collected at the various operative stages, e. g. pre-incision, excision and skin suturing stages, ANOVA and Scheffe Tests were performed. The results of this study are summarized as follows. 1) The lenth of the operation and numbers of microorganisms in the saline used in the operation appeared to be significantly correlated (r =0.5467, P<0.001). 2) In case of saline exposed to air, but not used in the operation, the length of exposure to the air and the numbers of microorganisms present in saline also showed an apparent correlation(r=0.5087, P<0. 001). 3) The frequencies of occurrence of microorganisms in saline used in the operation and in saline exposed only to the air in the given time showed significant differences(t=3.73, p=.0000). 4) In case of saline used in the operation, there is significant differences in its numbers of contained microorganisms between the operative stages; pre-incision, excision, and skin suture(F=17.7500, p=.0000). 5) In case of saline exposed only to the air in the given time, there is significant differences in its numbers of contained microorganisms between the operative stages; pre -incision, excision, and skin suture (F=6.3807, p=. 00031).