ABSTRACT
AIM: The objective of this study was to explore nurses' perceptions regarding their knowledge, skills, and preparedness for disasters and how they acquired their knowledge about disaster preparation using a quantitative approach. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional survey using the Disaster Preparedness Evaluation Tool was distributed to nurses in six hospitals (three private, three public) throughout Miyazaki Prefecture located in southern Japan. RESULTS: Nine hundred and seventy-three surveys (87.4%) were returned. Seventy-two were eliminated leaving 902 (81.0%) for data analysis. Mean scores for preparedness, response abilities, and evaluation all scored below normal on a 6 point Likert scale (2.63, 2.02, and 2.05, respectively). Overall, nurses felt they were not able to respond in a variety of disaster situations, were aware of their workplace emergency disaster plan, but did not think they could execute them, and were not aware of the level of preparedness of the healthcare systems in their communities. CONCLUSION: The amount of information nurses need to know on the knowledge, skills, and preparation of disasters are in great need. Such skills are understood, but lacking for various reasons. In-house programs for nurses to learn more about disaster nursing are needed. Furthermore, a curriculum for disaster preparedness for undergraduate and graduate nursing programs would also help these future nurses gain more information earlier on to better prepare them for possible disaster situations in their future careers.
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Attitude of Health Personnel , Disaster Planning , Nursing Staff/psychology , Adult , Cross-Sectional Studies , Female , Humans , Male , Middle AgedABSTRACT
PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to describe loneliness, depression, and health status in Korean and Japanese institutionalized elderly and explore differences between the countries. Also this study determined predictors of depression in each group. METHODS: Elderly subjects, aged 65-98 (n = 184), were recruited from private nursing homes in Korea and Japan. Subjects were interviewed on health status, loneliness, and depression. RESULTS: Korean subjects had higher loneliness scores than Japanese. More Korean elderly had depressive symptoms than Japanese elderly. The mean GDS score of Korean elderly was 8.07 and that of Japanese elderly was 5.21. Korean elderly had less physical function, and perceived their general health to be poor. Loneliness and perception of general health were significant predictors of depression in Korean and Japanese subjects. CONCLUSION: It is necessary to assess the levels of loneliness and depression of institutionalized Korean elderly and pursue an intervention to reduce these problems.
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Transient T wave changes after cessation of preexcitation have been attributed to cardiac memory. However, there have been no reports on the effects of long-term cardiac memory on repolarization dispersion before and after catheter ablation in patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome. METHODS AND RESULTS: We investigated 47 patients with an accessory pathway (AP; 24 manifest left-sided, 14 manifest right-sided, and 9 concealed left-sided). Repolarization dispersion was analyzed by two methods, recovery time (RT) dispersion and newly proposed T wave width (WT), from 87-lead body surface maps before, 1 day after, and 7 days after catheter ablation. RT dispersion and WT were significantly correlated before, 1 day after, and 7 days after catheter ablation (r = 0.78). In patients with preexcitation, RT dispersion and WT increased significantly (P < 0.05) 1 day after catheter ablation (178 +/- 32 msec and 172 +/- 30 msec) compared with those before (154 +/- 24 msec and 156 +/- 18 msec) and 7 days after catheter ablation (147 +/- 19 msec and 156 +/- 16 msec), respectively. However, there were no significant changes in RT dispersion and WT before and after catheter ablation in concealed WPW syndrome. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that the abrupt changes in activation sequence increase repolarization dispersion in the presence of previous cardiac memory, and that the dispersion decreases days or weeks after alteration of activation sequence by catheter ablation, with development of new cardiac memory in patients with manifest WPW syndrome.
