Experiences With a Substitution System for Clinical Nurses' Leave of Absence: A Qualitative Study.

Insufficient staffing often makes it difficult for nurses in South Korea to adjust their schedules when they have illnesses or other health problems, resulting in presenteeism. This study aimed to explore the experiences of the Acknowledged Care Expert (ACE) team as a substitution system for clinical nurses taking leave because of illness or health problems from the perspectives of ACE nurses, nurse managers, and shift nurses. We collected data for this qualitative study through individual in-depth interviews with six ACE nurses, a focus group interview with five nurse managers, and two focus group interviews with five nurses who shared their experiences with the ACE team.

Comparison of Fatigue, Quality of Life, Turnover Intention, and Safety Incident Frequency between 2-Shift and 3-Shift Korean Nurses.

This study aimed to compare the fatigue, quality of life, turnover intention, and safety incident frequency between 2- and 3-shift nurses, and analyze their perceptions of the 2-shift system. Participants were 227 nurses working for one year or more in a tertiary hospital in Seoul, South Korea (113 were 2-shift nurses for two months or longer, and 114 were 3-shift nurses with no experience of 2-shift work). The Occupational Fatigue Exhaustion Recovery Scale (OFER) and Quality of Life Scale were used.

A 12-week worksite health promotion program reduces cardiovascular risk factors in male workers with the apolipoprotein E2 and apolipoprotein E3 genotypes, but not in apolipoprotein E4 genotype.

Worksite health promotion programs focusing on diet and lifestyle modification have been shown to improve health outcomes in workers. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a 12-week worksite health promotion program shows different response of cardiovascular risk factors in subjects according to apolipoprotein E (Apo E) genotype and obesity level in 141 male Korean industrial workers. We hypothesized that the health changes of a 12-week intervention may not be the same within Apo E genotypes in nonobese and obese subjects.

Pregnancy increases urinary loss of carnitine and reduces plasma carnitine in Korean women.

This study compared plasma and urinary carnitine concentrations in pregnant and non-pregnant Korean women. The subjects were fifty pregnant women and thirty non-pregnant women aged 24-28 years. During the first trimester, dietary carnitine intakes in the pregnant women were much lower than in non-pregnant women (70.