To determine and compare the perception among nurses and doctors of the roles and tasks of critical care advanced practice nurses (APNs) in order to establish standardized and formally agreed role criteria for such critical care APNs.

This study measured and analyzed the necessity of each of the roles and tasks of critical care APNs, as perceived by nurses and doctors, through a survey of 121 participants: 71 nurses in 7 intensive care units (ICUs) at a general hospital in Seoul, and 50 doctors who used ICUs. Data collection utilized a questionnaire of 128 questions in the following fields: direct practice (79), leadership and change agent (17), consultation and collaboration (15), education and counseling (11), and research (6).

Both the nurses' and the doctors' groups confirmed the necessity of critical care APNs, with doctors who frequently used ICUs indicating a particularly strong need. As for the priority of each role of critical care APNs, the nurses considered direct practice to be the most critical, followed by education and counseling, research, consultation and collaboration, and leadership and change agent. The doctors also considered direct practice to be the most critical, followed by education and counseling, consultation and collaboration, research, and leadership and change agent. There was a statistically significant difference between how the two groups regarded all the roles, except for the consultation and collaboration roles. As for the necessity of each role of critical care APNs, the nurses considered research to be the most necessary, followed by education and counseling, consultation and collaboration, leadership and change agent, and direct practice. The doctors, on the other hand, considered education and counseling to be the most necessary, followed by research, consultation and collaboration, leadership and change agent, and direct practice. The responses of the two groups to all the roles, except for education and counseling roles, were significantly different.

Nurses and doctors have different perceptions of the roles and tasks of critical care APNs. Thus, it is necessary for the combined nursing and medical fields to reach an official agreement on a set of criteria to standardize for the roles and tasks of critical care APNs.

This study was done to compare the rates of hemolysis and repeated sampling in blood samples obtained by a syringe needle versus a vacuum tube needle.

A randomized, prospective study was used to evaluate the differences between the two blood sampling methods. The study group consisted of patients seen in the emergency department (ED) for blood sampling to determine electrolyte level. ED patients were randomly assigned to either the syringe group or the vacuum tube group. All blood samples were collected by experienced ED nurses and hemolysis was determined by experienced laboratory technologists. Data were analyzed using Fisher's exact test and binary logistic regression.

One hundred forty-five valid samples were collected (74 in the syringe group versus 71 in the vacuum tube group). 5 of 74 (6.8%) blood samples in the syringe group and 8 of 71 (11.3%) in the vacuum tube group hemolyzed. Repeated blood sampling occurred for 2 of 74 (2.7%) and 3 of 71 (4.2%) in each group respectively. There were no significant differences in rates of hemolysis and repeated sampling between two groups (B=1.97, p=.204; B=2.36, p=.345).

Venipuncture with syringe needles can be recommended for ED nurses to obtain blood samples.

The purpose of this study was to develop an e-Learning program about medication for nurses to enhance nurses' medication performance ability and to analyze learners' responses after studying with this program.

For the development of the e-Learning program, the NBISD(Network Based Instructional Systems Design) model, suggested by Jung(1999) was applied as a basic model and the instruction design theory of Gagne & Briggs(1979) and ARCS theory of Keller(1983) were applied. After the operation of this program for one month to 34 new nurses, learners' responses were analyzed.

Learners' knowledge of medication was greatly improved after this program. In addition learners' satisfaction with the overall education program, help in field applicability, ease of screen shift and exploration, and tutor activities were high and the contents were regarded suitable for e-Learning. Many things were advantageous such as easy accessibility, easy understandability with pictures and flash animation, practical cases and feedback from a tutor. Provision of a supplementary handout and improvement of a tight time schedule were pointed out as things to be improved.

This e-Learning program can be used effectively for medication education for registered nurses, student nurses, and new nurses.