A cost analysis for hospitalized patients was camied out based upon Patient Classification System (PCS) in order to determine an appropriate nursing fee. The data were collected from 21 nursing units of three teaching hospitals from April 1 to June 30, 1989. First, all of the 22,056 inpatients were classified into mildly ill (Class I), moderately ill (Class II), acutely ill (Class III), and critically ill (Class IV) by the PCS which had been carefully developed to be suitable for the Korean nursing units. Second, PCS cost accounting was applied to the above data. The distribution of inpatients, nursing costs, and nursing productivity were as follows : 1) Patient distribution ranged from 45% to class I, 36% to class II, 15% to class III, and 4% to class IV, the proportion of class IV in 'H' Hospital was greater than that of the other two hospitals. 2) The proportion of Class III and IV in the medical nursing units was greater than that of surgical nursing units. 3) The number of inpatients was greatest on Tusedays, and least on Sundays. 4) The average nursing cost per hour was W 3,16 4 for 'S' hospital, W 3,511 for 'H' hospital and W 4, 824 for 'K'hospital. The average nursing cost per patient per day was W 14,126 for 'S' hospital, W 15, 842 for 'H' hospital and W 21,525 for 'K' hospital. 5) The average nursing cost calculated by the PCS was W 13,232 for class I, W 18,479 for class II, W 23,000 for class III, and W 25,469 for class IV. 6) The average nursing cost for the medical and surgical nursing units was W 13,180 and W 13,303 respectively for class I. W 18.248 and W 18.707 for class II, W 22,303 and W 23,696 for class III, and W 24,331 and W 26.606 for class IV . 7) The nursing costs were composed of 85% for wages and fringe benefits, 3% for material supplies and 12% for overhead. The proportion of wages and fringe benefits among the three hospitals ranged from 75%, 92% and 98% for the 'S', 'H', 'K' hospitals respectively, These findings explain why the average nursing cost of 'K' hospital was higher than the others. 8) According to a multi- regression analysis, wages and fringe benefits, material supplies, and overhead had an equal influence on determining the nursing cost while the nursmg hours had less influence. 9) The productivity of the medical nursing units were higher than the surgical nursing units, productivity of the D (TS) -nursing unit was the lowest while the K (Med)-nursing unit was the highest in 'S' hospital. In 'H" hospital, productivity was related to the number of inpatients rather than to the characte ristics of the nursing units. The 'K' hospital showed the same trend as 'S' hospital, that the productivity of the medical nursing unit was higher than the sur gical nursing unit. The productivity of 'S' hospital was evaluated the highest followed by 'H' hospital and 'K' hospital. Future research on nursing costs should be extended to the other special nursing areas such as pediatric and psychiatric nursing units, and to ICU or operating rooms. Further, the PCS tool should be carefully evaluated for its appropriateness to all levels of institutions (primary, secondary, tertiary). This study took account only of the quantity of nursing services when developing the PCS tool for evaluating the productivity of nursing units. Future research should also consider the quality of nursing services including the appropriateness of nursing activities.
This study was done to examine knowledge about. and need for sex education among university students in Korea. This Study design was descriptive survey design. The data were collected from 540 university students from June 10 to June 30, 1996, using questionnaires developed by the authors. The results are as follows : Those who had sex education had higher scores in sex knowledge than those had not had sex education. The average score for sex knowledge was 71.9 of a maximum score of 100. Knowledge of sexually transmitted disease was scored highest of 79.8, and knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the reproductive system was scored lowest at 60.9. The subjects who answered 'yes' about the necessity of sex education numbered 529(98%) and the most important reason given for needing sex education was to cope well with physical and psychological developments. Regarding the content of sex education, a choice of relevant contraceptive methods was given the highest rating. Anatomy and physiology of reproductive system was the least chaser subject as the first priority among five topics. Yet, sex education for university students should include anatomy and physiology of the reproductive system, considering the low level of knowledge on this topic in the subjects of this study and its importance as a part of sex education.
A nursing activity classification for hospitalized patients was performed based on an article review regarding nursing definition and nursing activity classification system. The study was conducted as follows: 1) Taxonomy was developed by the research team through the Delphi process and review article. The taxonomy consists of four nursing processes, (assessment, diagnosis, intervention and evaluation) and twelve nursing activity domains space (resperation, nutrition, elimination, exercise/alignment maintenance, comfort, hygiene, safety, spiritual support, counseling/ education, medication, communication, patient and information management). 2) First, nursing activities of the intervention process were listed and then classified by the nursing process of assessment, diagnosis, intervention and evaluation. The list consists of twelve nursing activity domains and 136 nursing activities. 3) A pilot study was conducted in two hospitals to verify validity and appropriateness of nursing activities. 4) The content validity index, which was calculated by 6 clinical practice experts, was 0.95. Also, a nursing activity classification system should also be developed in the department of community nursing and home health care nursing.
This cross-sectional survey was undertaken to examine the differences of BSE (breast-self examination) performance and health beliefs between Korean and Korean-American women and to identify which factors influence the BSE based on the HBM variables.
The study subjects were recruited from both Korea(189 women) and Cleveland in Ohio, USA(146 women). The HBM variables were measured using a reliable and valid Health Belief Model Scale. The subjects were also asked whether or not they did a BSE in the last year.
The Korean-American women who performed the BSE was statistically higher than that of Korean women. Regarding to the BSE-related health belief, the scores of benefits, confidence, and health motivation was significantly higher in Korean-American. After controlling for living places, age, education, and job, barriers and confidence variables significantly explained the BSE performance of Korean and Korean-American women.
There was a differences in BSE-related health belief and performance between Korean and Korean-American women. Among health belief variables, barriers and confidence were core variables predicting the BSE performance of Korean and Korean-American women together.
In this study a cognitive enhancement group training program of 10 sessions was provided for community-dwelling elders and the effects on cognitive function, depression and quality of life were tested.
A quasi-experimental study using a nonequivalent control group, pre-post design was used. The participants were 87 elders whose cognitive function was within the normal range. Of these elders, 45 were assigned to the experimental group and 42 to the control group. The intervention was conducted once a week for 10 weeks. Chi-square test, t-test, paired t-test, Wilcoxon rank sum test and Wilcoxon signed rank test were used to analyze the data.
After the program, the cognitive function (t=-2.85,
The findings indicate that the cognitive enhancement group training program was effective in enhancing the cognitive function, depression and quality of life for elders and could therefore be considered as a positive program for emotional and cognitive support for community-dwelling elders.
This study was done to survey health behaviors in people at risk for a Cerebrovascular Accident(CVA).
From November 21 to December 29, 2005, a questionnaire survey was conducted with 171 people at risk for a Cerebrovascular Accident(LDL of above 130 mg/dl & homocysteine of above 15.0 micromol/L). Their physical composition was measured and blood was collected.
1. Of the subjects, 34.5% were smokers, 61.4% were drinkers, 56.7% did not exercise regularly, 57.3% did not control their weight, 26.9% preferred eating meat, and 32.2% preferred salty food. 2. The gender was different between smoking status(χ2=10.734, p=.001), and drinking status(χ2=7.185, p=.007), and the age was different between smoking statusχ2=6.656, p=.010), and drinking status(χ2=10.722, p=.001). The HbA1C level was different for regular exercise(χ2= 4.824, p=.028) and the HDL-cholesterol was different for meat-eating preference(χ2=7.928, p=.005). The observance of troubling signs was different for a salty food preference(χ2=4.313, p=.038).
It is necessary to develop programs for taking care of people at risk for a Cerebrovascular Accident and test the effects of the programs in order to reduce the risk factors of CVA and enhance health behavior promotion.
The objective of our study was to figure out costs of nursing services in ICU based on the PCS in order to determine an appropriate nursing fee schedule.
Data was collected from 2 hospitals from April 15-16 to April 22-23, 2003. The costs of nursing services in the ICU were analyzed by nursing time based on the nursing intensity. The inpatients in the ICU were classified by a PCS tool developed by the Korean Clinical Nurses Association(2000).
The distribution of patients by PCS in the ICU ranged from class IV to Class VI. The higher PCS in ICU consumed more nursing time. As a result, the higher nursing intensity, the more the daily average nursing costs in the ICU.
Our study provides evidence to refine the current nursing fee schedule that does not differentiate from the volume of nursing services based on nursing time. We strongly recommend that the current reimbursement system for nursing services should be applied not only to the general nursing units but also to the ICU or other special nursing units.