Stress due to End-of-Life Care, Coping Strategies, and Psychological Well-being among Nurses in Neonatal Intensive Care Units

PURPOSE: This study aimed to identify stress levels due to end-of-life care, coping strategies, and psychological well-being among nurses in neonatal intensive care unit, and to investigate the effect of stress levels and coping strategies on their well-being. METHODS: A total of 128 nurses in the neonatal intensive care units of general hospitals in B city participated. The data were collected using a self-report questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the t-test, ANOVA, the Pearson correlation coefficient, and hierarchical regression with SPSS version 22.0. RESULTS: The coping strategy that nurses most often used was seeking social support. The factors affecting the well-being of the participants were wishful thinking, problem-focused coping and seeking social support, in order. Those 3 variables explained 21 % of the total variance in psychological well-being. Problem-focused coping and seeking social support were positively associated with psychological well-being, while wishful thinking showed a negative association. CONCLUSION: In order to improve the psychological well-being of nurses in neonatal intensive care units, it is necessary to provide nurses with a program to build a social support system and to improve their problem-based coping skills.

Grades of Science and Non-science Courses of Medical Students Graduating from Different Types of High School / 한국의학교육

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore the interrelationship between the types of high school attended and academic achievement in medical school. We hypothesized that graduates of science or language high schools would achieve higher grades in science or humanity/social science courses during the early medical years because of their previous learning. In addition, we hypothesized that this difference would lessen throughout medical school. METHODS: The academic scores of 94 students who graduated from E medical school were analyzed. Of the 94, 79 students graduated from general high-schools, 8 were from special science high schools, and 7 were from special language high schools. The academic scores for 13 courses were analyzed: 4 from the pre-medical phase, 3 from the pre-clinical phase, and 6 from the clinical phase. Among the 13 courses, 8(Information & computing, Genetics, Biochemistry, Doctoring, Internal medicine, Reproduction medicine, Internal medicine clerkship, and Obstetrics & gynecology clerkship) were categorized as science courses, while 5 (Philosophy, Behavior science, Preventive medicine, Psychiatry, and Psychiatry clerkship) were categorized as humanity/social sciences courses. RESULTS: The graduates of the language high schools obtained significantly higher scores in Genetics(premedical) and Psychiatry clerkship(clinical). The differences in the 11 other subjects were not statistically significant. In the clinical phase, the science high school graduates had slightly higher grades in the lecture courses while the language high school graduates obtained higher scores in the clerkship courses. CONCLUSION: This study supports the hypothesis that there is no significant difference in academic achievements and the type of high school the students attended.