The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of aromatherapy on stress responses, autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity, and blood pressure in patients hospitalized to receive coronary angiography (CAG).

A non-equivalent control group with a pretest-posttest design was used. The subjects were patients admitted to the day angiography room to receive CAG at E University Hospital (34 in the experimental group and 30 in the control group). The experimental group treatment was inhalation of the aroma oil blended with lavender, ylang-ylang, and neroli at a ratio of 4:2:1 twice before and after CAG. The measurements of stress index, ANS activity, and blood pressure were performed 5 times as follows: at admission, at pre-CAG after treatment I, at post-CAG, 2 hours after treatment II, and 4 hours after treatment II. The data were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U Test and repeated-measures analysis of variance.

Significant interactions in the high frequency of ANS (F=5.58, p=.005) were observed between group and time. Stress index (z=2.14, p=.016), systolic blood pressure (z=4.14, p<.005), and diastolic blood pressure (z=3.28, p=.001) were significantly different between the experimental and control groups after 4 hours of treatment II.

The findings showed that aromatherapy was not effective before CAG, but was effective after CAG. Therefore, aromatherapy can be used as a nursing intervention for patients receiving CAG.

The purpose of this study was to propose and test a predictive model that could explain and predict nursing productivity.

A survey using a structured questionnaire was conducted with 360 nurses in Korea. The data were analyzed using SPSS Windows 18.0 and AMOS 19.0 program.

Based on the constructed model, burnout and organizational commitment were found to have direct effects on nurses' turnover intention and nursing productivity. While nursing work environment was found to have indirect effects on nurses' turnover intention and nursing productivity.

This structural equational model is a comprehensive theoretical model that explains the related factors and their relationship with nursing productivity. Comprehensive organizational interventions to improve nursing productivity should focus on improving the nursing work environment. Findings from this study can be used to design appropriate strategies to decrease nurse turnover in Korea. Further studies are needed to prospectively verify these causal relationships with larger samples.