PURPOSE
The objective of this study was to examine the relationships between nurses' knowledge and performance for the prevention of intravascular catheter-related infections (ICRI) according to the strength of recommendations in evidence based guidelines (EBG).
METHODS
The total participants were 144 nurses working for medical.surgical unit and intensive care unit. Data were collected from July 12 to July 30, 2010 and analyzed by one way ANOVA and Pearson's correlation analysis.
RESULTS
The knowledge and performance mean scores were 0.80+/-0.17 and 3.04+/-0.31 for peripheral venous catheter (PVC) management, and 0.83+/-0.17 and 3.00+/-0.30 for central venous catheter (CVC) management respectively. The items of category IA had the highest knowledge score (F=44.70, p<.001) and the items of category II had the highest performance score (F=47.09, p<.001) in PVC management, while the items of category IA had the highest knowledge (F=20.04, p<.001) and performance scores (F=18.20, p<.001) in CVC management. Knowledge and performance scores were significantly correlated in CVC management (r=.24, p=.004), but not in PVC management (r=.03, p=.753).
CONCLUSION
EBG for the prevention of ICRI was not fully implemented in clinical settings. These findings emphasize that clinical professions need to develope strategies to enhance nursing practices with evidence based guideline.

PURPOSE
S: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the extent of performance on activities in critical pathway (CP) according to eight domains and six admission days on nursing records of patients who received total hip replacement surgery.
METHODS
We reviewed 90 nursing records of patients who received total hip replacement surgery from June, 2004 to July, 2005 at C University Hospital. Data were collected using Hong's CP (2002) and were analyzed using ANOVA.
RESULTS
The domain of diet was valued the highest in CP performance scoring, followed by the domains of assessment, activities, and test. There were differences in the performance scores according to the period of admission in all of the domains. Among 132 activities in the CP, 18 activities were completely performed, of which most included activities belonging to the domain of assessment on the admission day. Twelve activities were never performed, of which most included activities belonging to the domain of treatment on the day of operation and the first day after operation.
CONCLUSIONS
Therefore, further studies on the development of a new system to increase CP utilization and on updating the contents of CP from the best practice based on evidence is recommended.

PURPOSE
This study aimed at developing the problem-based learning packages on the respiratory and cardiac system of an adult- health nursing course, and to examine the effect of PBL on the knowledge, learning attitude and motivation in nursing students. METHOD: A total of 7 PBL packages were developed through the analysis of learning contents and integration of concepts. Clinical scenarios used in 7 PBL packages were selected and composed at a respiratory and a cardiovascular unit, a medical ICU and a chest-surgery unit of C university hospital in G-city. The PBL method was implemented 3 hours a week for 12 weeks to 35 students of an experimental group, and the conventional lecture was implemented to 38 students at C college of C province from Sept. to Dec. 2002. A pretest-posttest experimental design was used. RESULT: The PBL students (n=35) scored significantly higher knowledge than conventional students (n=38) in the area of problem solving (t=3.418, p=. 001). But, there is no significant difference in the memory-dependent knowledge. Also, The level of learning attitude (t=3.570, p=. 001) and learning motivation (t=3.446. p=. 001) was significantly higher in PBL students. CONCLUSION: PBL method appears to be effective in improving nursing students' problem-solving knowledge and positive learning attitude and motivation.

PURPOSE
The purposes of this study were to develope and evaluate a constipation intervention program for inpatients. METHOD: To develope this program, Six phases were processed including the organization of team, the analysis of medical chart, the development of tentative constipation intervention program, the test of content validity, the test of clinical validity and the determination of final constipation intervention program. To evaluate the clinical validity of this program, 10 subjects who were in the C University Hospital were selected from March, 2001 to October, 2001. RESULT: The clinical validity was supplied by the pilot test, showing the potential effect of the program. Based on the validity results the final algorithm and the form of nursing record for this program which consist of the 3-step assessments and the intervention protocol were presented in this study. CONCLUSION: The advantage of this program is being able to assess and manage constipation simultaneously and is especially effective to patients who are at risk for developing constipation during their admission. Further study needs are also necessary to evaluate the effect of this program on the self-symptom of constipation.

PUPPOSE: The purpose of this study is to determine the level of pain related to a blood sugar test. Specifically, the study attempts to compare the varying degree of pains when different types of blood sugar test are used.
METHOD
A sample of 56 subjects is composed of DM patients admitted to a medical ward of C university hospital in Gwangju. Data were collected from July, 2001 to December, 2001. The blood sugar tests were administered in four different ways: (1) the use of 27G needle only, (2) the use of 27G needle followed by ice-packed treatment, (3) the use of 27G needle after EMLA cream application, and (4) the use of lancet. The degree of pain is measured with a visual analogue scale and performed twice.
RESULT
In both measures, the use of 27G needle only method is shown to cause the highest level of pain in comparison with the rest of methods (F=4.01, p=.01; F=8.14, p=.00). However, the differences in pain between time in all methods were not found to be significant (t=-.85, p=.40; t=.80, p=.42; t=.31, p=.75; t=.19, p=.85).
CONCLUSION
The study results indicate that the method using lanceter is more recommendable than the use of 27G needle only method. Further research is needed to support the current study result with the use of different measurement scales and to determine effective methods of blood sugar test to lower pain and compliance.

This study has been conducted for the purpose of identifying the levels of knowledge and attitude about dementia, and exploring the degrees of practice and the relationship among these variables in nursing assistants caring institutionalized demented elders. The subjects were 87 formal caregivers from 3 dementia-specialized nursing facilities, 2 dementia-specialized hospitals, 1 general psychiatric hospitals, and 3 general nursing homes. The data were gathered from July 10th to August 5th, 1998 through interviews by questionnaires. The measuring instruments of this study were developed by the researcher and proven for their reliability and validity. The collected data were analyzed using SAS program. 1) The lowest score among 6 sub-areas about practice showed on this subarea of maintenance of remained ADL function, offering stimuli and activities to demented elders was the second. 2) The third hypothesis of "the higher the attitude score they have, the higher the practice score they do" was supported (r=.370, p=.025). 3) The influencing factors significantly on knowledge were educational status, learning experience about taking care of patients, learning experience about dementia during last a year. 4) A factor of the period of taking care demented elders have significantly influenced on the attitude about dementia. 5) The influencing factors significantly on practice were age, marital status, learning experience about taking care of patients, learning experience about dementia during the last a year. 6) The most difficult situation the subjects perceived in taking care of demented elders was managing the aggressive and resistive behaviors of demented elders.