Purpose: Nursing students are susceptible to medication safety incidents in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) related to a lack of communication experience. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the impact of a NICU medication safety simulation (NMSS) focusing on communication clarity, patient hand-off confidence, and patient safety competency in senior-year nursing students. Methods: The study utilized a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design. In total, 60 nursing students were assigned to two groups. The experimental group participated in the NMSS, which included three medication error scenarios. Pairs of students completed the scenarios together in 10 to 20 minutes. Data were analyzed using the chi-squared test, independent t test, and ANCOVA. Results: The experimental group showed significant improvements in communication clarity (p=.015), and patient safety competency (p<.001) compared to the control group. Using the pretest values as covariates, patient hand-off confidence scores significantly increased (p=.027).Conclusion: Implementing the NMSS focusing on communication in the pediatric nursing curriculum helped students to communicate clearly and concisely about medication errors, and its use is recommended to promote patient safety competency in the NICU.

To compare the epidemiological characteristics of a breast cancer screening program of patients between 40–69 years of age and ≥70 years of age, we calculated the age-standardized detection rate of the breast cancer screening program and compared it with the age-standardized incidence rate from the Korea Central Cancer Registry. The data of the breast cancer screening program from January 2009 to December 2016 and the data of the health insurance claims from January 2006 to August 2017 were used. In the 40–69 year age group, the age-standardized detection rate of breast cancer increased annually from 106.1 in 2009 to 158.6 in 2015 and did not differ from the age-standardized incidence rate. In the ≥70 year age group, the age-standardized detection rate of breast cancer increased annually from 65.7 in 2009 to 120.3 in 2015 and was 1.9 to 2.7 fold of the age-standardized incidence rate. It shows that the early detection effect of breast cancer screening was greater for patients over 70 years old. Further studies are needed to evaluate the effect of breast cancer detection in the ≥70 year age group on all-cause mortality or breast cancer mortality.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate factors related to the levels of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in elderly women based on Wilson and Cleary’s HRQoL model. Methods: This study analyzed data from the eighth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2019 on 868 women over the age of 65 years. Based on the HRQoL model, parameters were categorized as personal, environmental, and physiological characteristics; symptom status; functional status; and perception of health status. The data were analyzed by quantile regression. Results: The overall level of HRQoL was 0.87. Factors related to HRQoL in the 10% quantile were higher education level, higher economic status, economic activity, more walking days, fewer diseases, lower stress, less activity limitation, and higher perceived health status. Factors related to the 25% quantile of HRQoL were more walking days, fewer diseases, less activity limitation, and higher perceived health status. Factors related to the 50% quantile were age, economic activity, more walking days, fewer disease, lower stress, less activity limitation, and higher perceived health status. Factors related to the 75% quantile of HRQoL were smoking, more walking days, fewer diseases, lower stress, less activity limitation, and higher perceived health status. Conclusion: While differing parameters were identified according to the level of HRQoL of elderly women in Korea, there were five common factors. Interventions that focus on increasing walking, mitigating diseases, stress, and activity limitations, and improving perceived health status can improve HRQoL.

손미선, et al. J Korean Acad Community Health Nurs. 2022 Mar;33(1):74-83. https://doi.org/10.12799/jkachn.2022.33.1.74

Purpose: This study aimed to identify latent classes of ego-resiliency trajectories in adolescents and investigate predictors of latent classes based on the ecological systems theory. Methods: This study used data from the first, second, and fourth to seventh waves of the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey 2010. The subjects included 1,793 adolescents. The data were analyzed using latent class growth analysis in Mplus 8.3 and multinomial logistic regression in SPSS 26.0. Results: The trajectories of ego-resiliency in adolescents were classified into four groups; increasing, decreasing, persistently moderate, and persistently poor. The predictors of the ‘increasing’ group were male gender, higher self-esteem, lower depression, lower parental behavior, and higher perceived community. The predictors of the ‘decreasing’ group were higher self-esteem, higher scores for relationships with friends and teachers, and higher perceived community. The predictors of the ‘persistently poor’ group were lower self-esteem, higher depression, lower annual income, lower scores for relationships with friends, and lower perceived community. Conclusion: We identified predictors for a persistently poor ego-resiliency trajectory. We suggest providing effective interventions for latent classes of ego-resiliency in adolescents based on the ecological environments.