• Biomedical Science Letters
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.45-50
• /
• 2021

Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) are a typical group of microorganisms, and the recent advances in laboratory technology and medicine has dramatically modified their significance in medical practice. CoNS, which were previously classified as normal bacterial flora, have recently been reported to be associated with serious infectious diseases, such as surgical wound infection or periprosthetic joint infection. Representative CoNS include Staphylococcus epidermidis, S. haemolyticus, and S. saprophyticus, which are known to cause serious problems in biomaterial-based and prosthetic device infections, as well as to cause simple urinary tract infections in sexually active women. Over the last decade, the clinical isolation rate of CoNS has been increasing, and antibiotic resistance has also been occurring. This review aimed to investigate the incidence of CoNS infection and to use the results as basic data for the management of CoNS, with a focus on the isolation rate and antibiotic resistance in clinical surgery.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
• /
• v.9 no.4
• /
• pp.849-863
• /
• 2009

Objectives : This study was to study dental hygiene department students' management of infection and their attitude toward infection. Methods : This study was conducted from August 24, 2009 to September 20, 2009. 269 sophomore and junior college students enrolled in the department of dental hygiene from schools located in Gyeonggi-do and Gangwon-do participated in the study. A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted. Results : 1. As for dental hygiene department students' recognition of the causes of infectious diseases, 80.7% of the respondents said hepatitis B was the infectious disease highly likely to occur in laboratories. 35.3% was correct about the antecedent variables of infection in the workshop, 24.9% about the oral symptoms of HIV and 18.6% about the diseases induced by HBV. The recognition rates were generally low. 2. About whether the respondents ask patients questions about infectious diseases, 80.7% of them answered Yes, but only 56.2% of them said they do so every time, and 17.8% of them said they never do so. 3. As far as washing hands to prevent infectious diseases is concerned, 97.4% of the respondents said hand washing helps prevent infection. 72.5% of them said they wash their hands every time before they practice on a patient, while 84.0% of them said they washed their hands after the lab practice. 90.7% said they use liquid soap containing anti-microbial agents, and 81.8% of them said they use paper towels. 4. With regard to protective gear for prevention of infectious diseases, 98.9% of the respondents said it is desirable to use disposable protective gear for each patient. When it comes to what they actually used as protective gear, 91.1% said aprons, 89.2% gloves, and 87.7% masks. However, a low percentage of the respondents actually use goggles and replace masks when they got damp, 11.2% and 24.2% respectively. Conclusions : As for treating the surface of equipments to prevent infectious diseases, most of the respondents exhibited a high recognition rate. Relative fewer respondents actually treat the surface of equipments than those respondents who are aware of the need to do so. A high percentage of the respondents also said they use alcohol sponge to treat the surface of each equipment in order to prevent infectious diseases.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
• /
• v.39 no.6
• /
• pp.812-823
• /
• 2022

The purpose of this study is a descriptive study to confirm the relationship between medical infection prevention knowledge, infection control confidence, and standard practice of nursing students and to understand the effect on performance for standard precautions. Data collection was conducted on 160 nursing students located in G Metropolitan City from October 4 to October 12, 2018. As a result of the study, the performance for standard precautions has a positive correlation with 'infection prevention knowledge' (r=.27, p<.001) and infection control confidence (r=.52, p<.001), and infection prevention knowledge was found to have a significant correlation with infection control confidence (r=.27, p=012). Factors affecting the performance for standard precaution of nursing students were in order of infection control confidence (𝛽=.45, p<.001), no skin contact experience (𝛽=.18, p<.004), infection prevention education (𝛽=-2.65, p<.009), infection prevention knowledge (𝛽=.15, p<.019). and the explanatory power of the model was 35%. Based on the results of this study, it is necessary to develop and implement a standard precautions program that can increase infection prevention knowledge and infection management confidence in order to increase the performance for standard precautions of nursing students.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.65-70
• /
• 2001

The purpose of this study is to prevent nosocomial infection in patients through contact of radiographic cassettes. Data were collected from radiographers working in 29 university hospitals in Seoul in February and March 2001. Radiographic cassettes were disinfected daily in 5 hospitals, weekly in 4 hospitals, monthly in 5 hospitals, bimonthly in 1 hospital and once every three months in another hospital. 12 other hospitals do not practice regular disinfections of radiographic cassettes. Gauze soaked in disinfectant solution is used in 7 hospitals while 11 hospitals used cotton and cloth soaked in disinfectant solution to clean the radiographic cassettes. 26 hospitals used 99% alcohol based disinfectant solutions while 3 hospitals used 75% alcohol based disinfectant. 26 hospitals use of intercourse cassettes outpatients and in patients. In 26 hospitals, all patients shared the same set of radiographic cassettes used in the hospitals, or in 26 hospitals, separate sets of radiographic cassettes are used for outpatients and inpatients. Separate sets of cassettes are used for ICU and inpatients in 6 others hospitals. 23 hospitals used the same sets of radiographic cassettes for all their patients. radiographic cassettes are cleaned in wash area in the study room of the radiographic department in 17 hospitals. 12 other hospitals do not have designated cleaning areas for the cassettes. All radiographers practiced hands washing with soap. All 29 hospitals surveyed have infection control committee. However, only 9 out of the 29 hospitals surveyed provided Infection disinfections control education to radiographers. Only 3 hospitals have radiographers sitting in the infection control committee. Infection management education is conducted in 63 hospitals annually, twice a year in 1 hospital and once every 3 months in 2 hospitals.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.141-149
• /
• 2019

Objectives: To investigate the real-world re-use of disposable dental supplies (DDS) in dental offices and assess the relationship between general characteristics of dental hygienists and reuse of DDS, with respect to infection control characteristics. Methods: A questionnaire was administered to 277 dental hygienists to assess their general characteristics, awareness of infection control/DDS management, and re-use of DDS. Nine DDS were categorized into the following categories based on their purpose: Critical, Semicritical, Noncritical, and Personal protective equipment (PPE). The association between general characteristics of dental hygienists and re-use of DDS, with respect to infection control characteristics, was assessed using the chi-squared test. Results: All 9 DDS were re-used to different extents. The highest reuse rate of supplies were for masks (64.6%), prophylaxis cups (61.0%) and plastic saliva ejectors (30.0%). Overall, 89.5% of the participants re-used DDS; subgroup analysis showed the following proportions of specific DDS re-use: PPE 66.4%; Semicritical DDS 63.9%; Noncritical DDS 19.5%; and Critical DDS 1.8%. Based on the type of clinic, the rate of re-use was higher in dental clinics than dental hospitals. Thus, the re-use of DDS may be caused by inappropriate or nonexistent guidelines or habitual practice, rather than the awareness or attitude of dental hygienists. Conclusions: In order to ensure a safe environment within the dental clinic, DDS classifications must be clearly outlined in the dental infection control guidelines; moreover, additional studies are needed regarding the regulations for DDS re-use and disposal.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.46 no.3
• /
• pp.172-182
• /
• 2022

Background: The coronavirus problem is an ecological problem stemming from a sudden change in the relationship between parasites and hosts. Ecologists judge organisms that are established out of their original territory as exotic species. Unlike in their original habitat, these exotic species become very aggressive in their newly settled habitat. Coronavirus infection damage was bigger in Europe or the United States than that in the country of its origin, China, and its neighboring countries. Therefore, coronavirus infection damage resembles the damage due to the invasive species. Results: Exotic species are found in places with similar environmental conditions to those of their origin when introduced to other ecological regions. However, there are few ecological ill effects in their place of origin, while the damage is usually severe in the ecological regions in which it is introduced. According to historical records, exotic infectious diseases, such as European smallpox and measles, also showed a similar trend and caused great damage in newly established places. Therefore, it is expected that measures to manage exotic species could be used for the prevention of exotic infectious diseases such as the coronavirus. Conclusions: Prevention comes first in the management of exotic species, and in order to come up with preventive measures, it is important to collect information on the characteristics of related organisms and their preferred environment. In this respect, ecosystem management measures such as exotic species management measures could be used as a reference to prevent and suppress the spread. To put these measures into practice, it is urgently required to establish an international integrated information network for collecting and exchanging information between regions and countries. Furthermore, a systematic ecosystem-management strategy in which natural and human environments could continue sustainable lives in their respective locations may serve as a countermeasure to prevent infectious diseases.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
• /
• v.22 no.9
• /
• pp.121-131
• /
• 2024

The purpose of this study is to supply evidences through scoping review of educational intervention studies for donning and doffing PPE to prevent healthcare-associated infection provided to nurses and student nurses in Korea. Through the search engines RISS, KISS, and DBpia, 12 articles were chosen by searching through theses and journals which were published before May 1, 2024. According to the study result, relevant studies were 12, and the education programs provided to donning and doffing PPE to prevent healthcare-associated infection were classified into 1) simulation based education, 2) video and practice based education, and 3) non-contact education. Knowledge, performance confidence, self-efficacy, performance, attitude, and awareness were confirmed as effects of the intervention. Based on the results of this study, there is necessity to develop more diverse teaching and learning methods and evaluation methods for donning and doffing PPE that can prevent healthcare-associated infection in infectious disease and emerging infectious disease situations, and repeatedly conduct research on educational intervention for donning and doffing PPE.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
• /
• v.12 no.5
• /
• pp.353-366
• /
• 2014

The purpose was to describe the state of healthcare-associated infection(HAI) control. Data were collected from 134 hospitals. The questionnaire developed by Kang[8] were modified. The mean of hospital beds was 556.4, 26.9% of hospitals were less than 300 beds. 99.3% of hospitals had infection control committee(ICC). ICC met 3.4 times a year. 54.5% of hospitals had one infection control practitioner(ICP). 95.5% of ICPs were nurse, 48.7% of ICPs had more than master's degree. Hospital experience of ICPs was 13.5 years. ICP experience was 3.2 years. 30.8% of ICPs worked for less than 1 year. All hospitals investigated HAI, 75.4% performed improvement activities. There are significant differences in existence of ICD, negative pressure room, computer program, numbers of ICPs according to hospital size. Manpower, organization, and facilities lacked in less than 300 beds. This conclusions will give baseline data to establish infection control system, manpower and practice in small-medium hospitals.

• Journal of East-West Nursing Research
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.153-165
• /
• 2021

Purpose: The aim of study was to identify ranges of Korean nurses' competency in disaster nursing. Methods: A scoping review was conducted using the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology. The review used information from four databases: RISS, ScienceON, EBSCO Discovery Service, and CINAHL. In this review, key words were 'disaster', 'nurs*', 'competenc*', 'ability' and 'preparedness'. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were identified as strategies to use in this review. The inclusion criteria for this review focused on the following: Korean nurse, articles related to disaster nursing competency, peer-review articles published in the full text in Korean and English. Review articles were excluded. Results: Nineteen studies were eligible for result extraction. A total of 10 categories of disaster nursing competency were identified: Knowledge of disaster nursing, crisis management, disaster preparation, information collection and sharing, nursing record and document management, communication, disaster plan, nursing activities in disaster response, infection management, and chemical, biological, radiation, nuclear, and explosive management. Conclusion: It is necessary to distinguish between Korean nurses' common disaster nursing competency, professional disaster nursing competency, and disaster nursing competency required in nursing practice. Therefore, future research will be needed to explore and describe disaster nursing competency.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.361-372
• /
• 2002

Purpose : The purpose of study was to identify to analysis of core nursing interventions performed by Operating Room nurses. Method : The subjects of the study were arbitrarily selected nurses(n=104) working in Operating Room. The period for data collection was 15 days from July, 15, 2002 to July, 30. 2002. The instrument for study was 486 Nursing Interventions Classification developed by McClosky & Bulechek(2000) and was translated into Korean. In 486 nursing interventions, 57 nursing interventions were selected by more than half of 47 professional nurses group of Operating Room. 57 nursing interventions were used as a secondary questionnaire. In the secondary questionnaire, labels and definitions of all 57 interventions were listed. The collected data were self reported by Operating Room nurses. The data were analysed with SPSS program. Result : In 57 nursing interventions, the 'Behavior' domain was the most frequently used. Core interventions of Operating Room were performed several times a day by more than 50% of Operating Room nurses. Core interventions of Operating Room were 16 Core interventions, 7 classes, 5 domains. In the core interventions, the 'Physiological:Complex' domain was the most frequently used. Core interventions of Operating Room were Surgical Preperation, Infection Control:Intraoperative, Surgical Precautions, Fall Prevention, Documentation, Surgical Assistance, Environmental Management:Safety, Skin Surveillance, Physical Restraint, Pressure Ulcer Prevention, Environmental Management:Comfort, Infection Protection, Presence, Emotional Support, Specimen Management, Shift Report. Conclusion : Core interventions of Operating Room have implications for nursing care practice, nursing education, nursing research, and nursing information system in Operating Room.