• Perspectives in Nursing Science
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.55-63
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• 2017

Purpose: This study aims to report on and compare the conditions of practicing nurses and nursing graduates in Korea and other OECD countries to suggest policy to improve nurse staffing in Korea. Methods: Data on nurses and nursing graduates from 34 OECD countries in 2015 (or the nearest year) were analyzed. The proportion of practicing nurses among nurses who were licensed to practice and nursing graduates per population and per the number of practicing nurses were examined. Results: The number of practicing nurses per 1,000 population in Korea was 5.9 and, in Korea, only 31.0% of licensed nurses were practicing, whereas the OECD average was 69.5%. Korea had the highest number of nursing graduates (109.0) per 100,000 population and the highest number of nursing graduates (183.5) per 1,000 practicing nurses in the OECD countries. Skill-mix analysis indicated that 52.2% of the practicing nurses in Korea were professional practicing nurses, which was the second-lowest among the OECD countries. The ratio of nurses' wages to those of physician specialists was 0.43 in the OECD countries. Conclusion: Nurse staffing and skill-mix in Korea were very low in comparison to other OECD countries. Policies for retention of nurses via improved working conditions are required.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.94-102
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• 2024

Background: There is controversy surrounding the claim that current nursing workforce policies exacerbate the geographic imbalance of nurses in Korea, but very few studies have confirmed this assertion. Therefore, this study aimed to identify factors influencing the distribution of nurses at the regional level, including variables related to nursing workforce policies. Methods: This study analyzed the distribution of 225,462 practicing nurses across 250 regions in Korea as of 2020. National statistics were collected for these 250 regions, and regression analysis was conducted. Results: Factors influencing the distribution of practicing nurses included the number of annual inpatient days, integrated nursing care service beds, public healthcare institutions, tertiary hospitals, and general hospitals. Additionally, the number of nursing graduates and healthcare institutions with nurse staffing grade 1 and 2 had an impact on nurse distribution in non-capital regions. Conclusion: To prevent exacerbating the geographic imbalance of nurses, careful decisions should be made regarding the expansion of integrated nursing care service beds. Furthermore, it is necessary to increase the number of nursing students in non-capital regions and prioritize the improvement of wages and working conditions for nurses in those areas.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.407-418
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• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the nurse's role performance and the perception of the importance of role among nurses practicing in a cancer care facility. Methods: A descriptive study design was applied with convenient sampling of 175 nurses working at a cancer care facility in Daegu, Korea. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire from July 1, 2013 to July 5, 2013. Results: Cancer care facility nurse's role performance score was measured on average $3.23{\pm}0.64.$ Oral medication was the most frequently performed role, followed by encouragement, care related to medication, and pain management. The perception of the importance of nurse's role was measured on average $3.31{\pm}0.35$. Care related to medication was regarded as the most important, followed by transfusion, oral medication, and intravenous & intramuscular medication. Nurse's role performance was different according to nurse's age (F=3.21, p=.024) and current practice area (F=3.73, p=.012). The perception of the importance of nurse's role was different only in relation to current practice area (F=6.82, p<.001). Conclusion: Nurses practicing in oncology setting frequently involve encouraging patients and pain management. Training programs designed to facilitate frequently performed and highly regarded nurse's roles are required for nurses practicing in oncology setting.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.339-353
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• 2021

Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate the educational needs for practicing neonatal intensive care among Korean nursing students. Methods: An explorative, sequential, mixed-methods design was used. Qualitative content analysis was conducted of in-depth interviews of six nursing students, five clinical practice faculty members, and five nurses in the neonatal intensive care unit. The results of a survey of 174 nursing students were analyzed quantitatively. Results: Nursing students, clinical practice faculty members, and nurses wanted opportunities for direct nursing practice and education in school during neonatal intensive care practice. In terms of specific educational content, nursing students expressed the highest observation-related educational needs for communication with medical team members, and they expressed the highest practice-related educational needs for operating medical equipment used for neonatal intensive care. The nursing students' needs with regard to the method of practice education were highest for orientation from the head nurses. Conclusion: Communication and operating medical equipment were found to be areas with high educational needs for practicing neonatal intensive care among Korean nursing students. Further research is needed to develop an educational framework and setting for practicing neonatal intensive care that would meet their needs.

• International journal of advanced smart convergence
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.58-67
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between sleep disorders, job satisfaction, health promotion behavior, quality of life, turnover intention. And also to find the predicting factors on turnover intention of shift and non-shift nurses. A descriptive study design was used. Study subjects were 239 nurses worked as a shift (167) and non-shift (72) in two general hospitals in P city. Turnover Intent, Sleep disorders, Job satisfaction, practicing health promotion profile and quality of life scales were used to collect the data. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and Pearson's correlation coefficient for find the relationship between study variables. Stepwise multiple regressions used to find predicting factors of turnover intention with other variables. The shift group showed lower Job satisfaction, practice of health promotion behavior and intention of turnover than non-shift nurses. The most important predictive factors of turnover intention in of shift group was job satisfaction (β =-. 477, p <.001) and non-shift group was health promotion behavior (β =-. 295, p = .040) than other factors. Findings showed that turnover intention highly influenced by job satisfaction than health promoting behavior and quality of life. This study suggests organizational efforts to provide sufficient staffing and nurse managersshould make more concentration to allot work schedule in order to avoid over load shift nurses and promote quality of client care.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.211-221
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• 2017

Purpose: A National survey was conducted to assess neonatal intensive care nurses' practice, barriers, knowledge, and belief regarding Kangaroo Care (KC). Methods: A descriptive survey was conducted. Kangaroo care questionares were sent to nurses in all hospitals in Korea whose were identified as providing neonatal intensive care services(N=263). Descriptive statistics were used to summarized the data. Results: Among 67 neonatal care units, 61.1% adapted KC in their practice. About 60% of nurses in the KC providing hospital actually practiced KC. Major barrier of practicing KC were infant safety concerns, as well as work load of nurses. Respondants who had practiced KC were more knowledgable and were more positive in their belief regarding KC. Conclusion: The findings suggest that in order to overcome barriers of practicing KC, educational programs are recommended designed for nurses. In addition, development of KC practice guideline is necessary to facilicate successful and safe KC.

• Journal of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.5-14
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• 2000

This study was conducted during the time period of September 1997 to February 1999. in order to provide data concerning important facets of horne care nursing and the degree to which practicing hospital and public health nurses believe themselves to be competent in each area. The study subjects consisted of 610 hospital nurses, 158 public health nurses and 21 other nurses from Seoul and the province of Kyunggi. Korea. Data was collected through self-reporting questionnaires which was used by Kim et al.(1999) to evaluate the status of home health nursing and the varying ideas of self-competence that practicing nurses have. The results of the study were as follows: 1) The mean scores of perceived important components and competencies on home health nursing measured on the Likert 4 point scale were $3.15{\pm}0.36$ for importance. and $2.56{\pm}0.36$ for competency. Of the four categories regarding nursing services, the 'Nursing skill' factor had the highest importance and competency. 2) There were significantly higher scores for hospital nurses' importance components and competencies of home care nursing as compared to those scores for public health nurses. 3) The significant factors of the importance component of home care nursing listed in order of priority were 'general infection control', 'bed sore care skill', 'rehabilitation care', 'keeping maintenance of the client's confidentiality', 'malpractice', 'diabetes patient care', 'ability for problem solving' respectively. In contrast, of low priority in the importance components of home care nursing were 'referring nursing as a job to others'. 'record keeping', 'family dynamics', 'medical equipment', 'economic problems', 'environmental assessment', 'suture removal', 'multidisciplinary coordination' respectively. 4) The high priority of the degree to which practicing nurses believe themselves to be competent in home health nursing were the 'blood sugar test', 'enema skill', 'injection skill', 'skin care', 'bed sore care skill', etc. In contrast, lower competence for home care nursing as perceived by nurses were 'AIDS care', 'family violence care', 'substance abuse care', 'mental health care' respectively.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.33 no.8
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• pp.1083-1092
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• 2003

Purpose. The purpose of the study was to assess the level of nurses' genetic knowledge and the perception of nurses' role in genetics. The ultimate goal of this paper is to educate practicing nurses so that they can counsel individuals and families with genetic problems, on the basis of better understanding of genetic diseases. Methods. A total of 969 clinical nurses in 11 general hospitals completed a self-administered questionnaire including basic genetic knowledge and perception of their role. The instruments were made by the author with the help of some experts on genetics. T-test, ANOVA, and Pearson Correlation were used to analyze the data. Results. The results of this study indicated that nurses revealed a vast knowledge deficit in genetics and the need for genetic content in nursing curriculum. The results also showed that nurses' sources of information about genetics largely came from the mass media. The nurses also expressed great interest in educating and counseling patients. Overall, the survey found a positive correlation between the nurses' level of knowledge and their degree of interest in genetics. Conclusion. In conclusion, education and training of clinical nurses in genetics is critical in integrating genetics with nursing science. Therefore, the development of educational programs for nursing knowledge and counseling as well as basic curriculums in genetic nursing at universities are essential in the near future.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.294-303
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• 2006

Purpose: To describe nurses' attitude to smoking cessation interventions and importance of participation in tobacco control policy. Method: The participants were 841 nurses practicing in hospitals of 400 beds or more and 103 members of a professional nurse's academic society. The hospitals were systematically selected to cover the whole country. The questionnaire was adopted from the 'Oncology Nurses' Tobacco Control Survey' and used after translation, Results: Nurses who were older, married, had higher positions, more education, more experience, and who worked in an OPD setting had higher mean score for attitude to the involvement of nurses in smoking cessation interventions. More than 80% of nurses agreed on the importance of nurses' participation and involvement in tobacco control policy. However, only 65.4% of nurses stated that supporting laws to increase cigarette price was important. Conclusion: Clinical nurses' attitudes to smoking cessation interventions were positive and participants supported the importance of participation in tobacco control policies.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.106-116
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• 2014

Purpose: In this paper issues and challenges of the workforce policy for nursing were explored and appropriate policy responses identified. Results: Many countries, including South Korea, are facing a shortage of nurses. In South Korea, the number of practicing registered nurses is about half the average for Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries. The shortage of nurses is not necessarily a shortage of individuals with nursing qualifications but also includes complex issues, such as lack of well-educated nurses, shortage of nurses willing to work, and geographical imbalances of nurses. The present nurse workforce policies are to increase number of nursing schools, to reduce the length of training, and to replace nurses with nursing assistants. However, the findings of many studies have shown that these attempts resulted in a worsening of patient outcomes and increasingly low quality of care. Conclusion: The findings in this study indicate that nurse workforce policy should have a multi-faceted approach in order to address the many factors affecting nurse shortages.