Measuring professional competency of public health nurses: development of a scale and psychometric evaluation.

Aims And Objectives: To develop an instrument to measure public health nurse competencies in Taiwan and to test its psychometric properties.

Background: Core competencies for public health nursing practice have been established in the USA and elsewhere but no equivalent studies have been undertaken in Taiwan.

Design: Postal survey of self-administered questionnaire to 1534 full-time public health nurses (response rate 67.

[Nurses deliver quality care in the community nurses deliver quality care in the community].

In Taiwan, responsibility for administering healthcare services is being gradually moved out of hospitals and into the community. As such, nurses are increasingly required to address new problems and meet the specific healthcare needs of important subgroups such as Taiwan's growing elderly population and young adult immigrants. Because policies have lagged behind such developments, nurses are expected to provide leadership in addressing these new challenges.

Successful mechanical ventilation weaning experiences at respiratory care centers.

A phenomenological qualitative study was conducted on the experiences of patients who had been successfully weaned from mechanical ventilation, including essential elements of the patient support system during the weaning process. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 participants who had been recruited through purposive sampling from three respiratory care centers in Taiwan. The experiences of participants who had been successfully weaned from mechanical ventilation could be categorized into five themes, which were (a) dealing with the unfamiliar context presented by the weaning program, (b) experiencing various psychological responses and self-endurance ambiguity, (c) being tortured by helplessness, (d) wondering whether to continue or give up, (e) and release from self-breathing.

[Application of telehealth in case management].

Nursing clinical practice has changed dramatically in recent years due to advances in medical science. Increasing medical costs and the rising prevalence of chronic diseases in growing elderly populations have encouraged the development of various new case management care models. The purpose of this study was to introduce the current status and future development of case management and telehealth care as well as to challenge and guide nurses.

A study of community healthcare competency among public health nurses.

The purpose of this study was to explore community healthcare competency of public health nurses (PHNs) and related factors in Taiwan. A cross-sectional research design was adopted to collect data. A community healthcare competency scale for PHNs was developed by the researchers based on a review of the literature to measure PHN competency (self-assessed) and task frequency rates.

[Job satisfaction and quality of life among hospital nurses in the Yunlin-Chiayi area].

The purpose of this study was to explore job satisfaction and quality of life and their inter-relationships among nurses. A cross-sectional research design was applied. Participants were 1,020 nurses who had worked for over six months at seven hospitals in Yunlin and Chiayi counties.

[A systematic review of acupressure for the application on nursing practice].

The purpose of this study was to search articles on acupressure treatment that used clinical control trials (CCT) or randomize control trials (RCT) to review the quality of conducted research quality and the caring effects of acupressure. Literature published in 6 databases, including MEDLINE, was searched. A total of 71 relevant articles were identified and included in the current study.

[A concept analysis of self-efficacy].

Over the past decade, self-efficacy has become one of the most measured variables in studies on health behaviors and patient education. The concept was originally proposed in 1977 by Bandura, who initially promoted its use in social science research, especially psychology. It is now considered one of the most important determinants of health-related behaviors.

[SARS prevention and nursing in traditional Chinese medicine].

This study adopts the concept of the three levels of prevention from traditional Chinese medicine to discuss Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) prevention and nursing. The emphasis in traditional Chinese medicine is on primary and tertiary prevention. The study presents nursing interventions based on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), including daily care, diets, massage care, exercise, and Chinese psychosocial care.

[Nursing in traditional Chinese medicine in Taiwan: policies and future development].

Traditional Chinese medicine is popular in Taiwan. There are more resources for the practice of the discipline, more regulations governing it, and more users of it in Taiwan than in other countries. Chinese medical teams have already developed in a systematic way in Taiwan.