Flora colonization and oral care in high-risk newborns.

Purpose: A randomized intervention study was conducted to explore the impact of oral care with sterile normal saline to oral flora colonization of high-risk newborns at the third day after birth.

Design And Methods: Ninety-two newborns were allocated to either intervention or control group. After obtaining oral secretion for prepoint data, the intervention group received oral care with sterile normal saline only.

Family quality of life among families of children with atopic dermatitis.

Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) may cause emotional distress and impairs the quality of life (QoL) in children and their families.

Objective: We examined family QoL of children with AD and explored associated factors such as disease severity and psychosocial factors among parents of children with AD.

Methods: Study participants were 78 children (1 month to 16 years old) diagnosed with AD and their parents visiting an outpatient clinic of the Department of Pediatrics in Inha University Hospital.

Development of a simulation-based assessment to evaluate the clinical competencies of Korean nursing students.

Objectives: To describe a simulation-based assessment (SBA) to evaluate the clinical competencies of nursing students in children's health and to compare its results with grade point average (GPA), self-efficacy, topic-specific knowledge, and self-reported clinical competency using the Six-D Scale.

Methods: This cross-sectional, descriptive study recruited nursing students from a children's health clinical practicum. Students were assigned to either an asthma (n=55) or a type 1 diabetes (n=48) care scenario conducted on a high-fidelity simulator.

Diabetes-Specific Quality of Life of Korean Children and Adolescents With Type 1 Diabetes.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the quality of life of children in Korea with type 1 diabetes and related factors.

Methods: Children were recruited from a diabetes camp. Data were collected using four instruments: the PedsQL™ 3.

Growth of Korean preterm infants in a family-centered tradition during early infancy: the influence of health risks, maternal employment, and the sex of infants.

Aim: The physical growth of mild preterm infants (<32 weeks of gestation at birth) needs to be explored in terms of bio-sociocultural factors considering the sociocultural aspects of child-care practice.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted with 238 Korean mild preterm infants from birth up to 6 months of corrected age regarding four of the biological and sociocultural factors such as health risks (at birth and discharge), maternal employment status, and the infant sex.

Results: There were four noteworthy findings on growth variation in Korean mild preterm infants during early infancy: (i) the secular trend of intrauterine growth; (ii) the cumulative adverse effects of four risk factors; (iii) the possible burden of maternal employment if insufficient support; and (iv) the possibility of the cultural favoritism to male infants regardless of the modern industrialized society.

Two methods of cord care in high-risk newborns: their effects on hydration, temperature, pH, and floras of the cord area.

This randomized clinical study explored the effects of two cord care methods on hydration, temperature, pH, and floras at the cord area in high-risk newborns. One group used the water method; and the other group used the alcohol method. Seventy-two newborns, including premature newborns, in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of a university-affiliated hospital in South Korea were enrolled from August 2011 to May 2012.

[pH, temperature, hydration of the stratum corneum of the dorsal hand and the cord area, and acid mantle formation during early days of life in high-risk newborns].

Purpose: The study was done to explore variations in physiologic parameters of the stratum corneum (SC) of the dorsal hand and cord area during early days of life in high-risk newborns.

Methods: In this longitudinal study, a total of 77 high-risk newborns were assessed for pH, temperature and hydration of the SC of the dorsal hand and the cord area on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 7th days of life.

Results: Results showed that an acid mantle (AM) was formed in 57.

Growth patterns and their implications for preterm infants in a culture of rapid modernization.

This prospective longitudinal study explored the growth patterns of preterm infants and the implications of rearing them in an advancing culture. The study measured the weight, length, and head circumference of 343 Korean preterm infants over 12 months corrected age. Data were analyzed using a generalized estimation equation for growth patterns of preterm infants by the degree of prematurity (mild, moderate, or severe).

Adiposity of Korean school-age children measured by national and international growth charts.

The study was conducted to explore adiposity levels of Korean children using body mass index (BMI) and comparing how three BMI charts define adiposity. The charts used were the growth standard of the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the growth references of the World Health Organization and the International Obesity Task Force. The percentage of children at different adiposity levels varied depending on which chart was used.

Assessment of Primitive Reflexes in High-risk Newborns.

Background: Assessment of primitive reflexes is one of the earliest, simplest, and most frequently used assessment tools among health care providers for newborns and young infants. However, very few data exist for high-risk infants in this topic. Among the various primitive reflexes, this study was undertaken particularly to describe the sucking, Babinski and Moro reflexes in high-risk newborns and to explore their relationships with clinical variables.

[Growth patterns of premature infants up to 40th term week of corrected age].

Purpose: Study purpose were to describe growth patterns of premature infants in weight, length and head circumference from birth to 40th week of corrected ages (CA) and to explore factors affecting patterns.

Methods: A longitudinal descriptive study was conducted with 267 premature infants. They were categorized into 2 groups; GA group with measurements at birth and the CA group with measurements at CA, which was categorized into 3 groups (group 1-3) by WHO guideline for gestational age (GA) at birth.

Simulation-based smoking cessation intervention education for undergraduate nursing students.

Smoking is one of the most important preventable risk factors that contributes to premature death from many tobacco-related diseases. Clinicians should offer and provide effective smoking cessation interventions to their smoking patients. Yet, few clinicians receive training in smoking cessation intervention.

Formula and scale for body surface area estimation in high-risk infants.

Advances in medical technology and the health sciences have lead to a rapid increase in the prevalence and morbidity of high-risk infants with chronic or permanent sequels such as the birth of early preterm infants. A suitable formula is therefore needed for body surface area (BSA) estimation for high-risk infants to more accurately devise therapeutic regimes in clinical practice. A cohort study involving 5014 high-risk infants was conducted to develop a suitable formula for estimating BSA using four of the existing formulas in the literature.

[Comparison in weight, height, degree of obesity and body mass index among different methods for body shape classification in school-age children].

Purpose: The study was conducted to describe body shapes of school age children using the degree of obesity index (DOI) and body mass index obesity index classified by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (M-BOI) and Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (S-BOI).

Methods: In this cross sectional descriptive study health screening data for school children collected in 2007 was used.

Results: Data were analyzed for 2,193 4th-6th grade boys (52%) and girls who attended 4 schools in rural areas.

Implementation of a clinical pathway in primary spontaneous pneumothorax patients treated by wedge resection surgery.

Purpose: This study was conducted to develop a clinical pathway for primary spontaneous pneumothorax (PSP) patients treated by wedge resection surgery. The authors also aimed to evaluate the effects of the implementation of the PSP clinical pathway on (1) complication occurrence rates, (2) self-efficacy with respect to PSP recurrence prevention, (3) patient-perceived quality of life, and (4) patient treatment satisfaction.

Design: This study was conducted using a quasi-experimental, nonequivalent study design.

[Evaluation of mental status in high-risk neonates using infants coma scale].

Purpose: This was a cross sectional descriptive study to introduce the Infants Coma Scale (ICS), describe mental status of high risk infants using ICS and explore the relationships between ICS and clinical variables in infants hospitalized in a neonatal intensive care unit of a university hospital in Korea.

Methods: After ICS was developed and tested by the authors, a research nurse evaluated the mental status of the infants using the English version of ICS and obtained clinical information on the infants from their medical records.

Results: Data from 88 infants were analyzed.

Breast functions perceived by Korean mothers: infant nutrition and female sexuality.

The descriptive cross-sectional study of 2,235 Korean postpartum women was conducted to explore (a) feeding types with related factors, (b) the perceived benefits of each feeding type, (c) the perceived sexuality-related barriers to breast-feeding, and (d) the perceived relative significance of breast functions. The most frequently utilized feeding type was breast-feeding only. The gender of infants, vaginal delivery, not being employed, having a nuclear family, previous breast-feeding experience, and previously receiving breast-feeding education were statistically significant factors of breast-feeding.

Estimations of body surface area in newborns.

Aim: To explore the suitability of existing formulas to estimate the body surface area (BSA) of newborns when direct measurement of surface estimation is not practical.

Methods: In 589 term-newborns of normal weight and height, the five estimations (in cm2) were performed using four known BSA formulas by Boyd, Meban, Mosteller and Dubois, and the fifth arithmetic mean of these four formulas (BSA-Mean).

Results: BSA-Meban was most similar to the BSA-Mean with a mathematically perfect correlation and the least dissimilarity using Euclidean distance (ED), followed by the Mosteller estimate.

Weight variation by sex and nature of risk factors in high-risk infants: an evolutionary perspective.

A retrospective cohort study was conducted to explore growth variation during the intrauterine and early postnatal period by sex and nature of high-risk factors (i.e. physiological and pathological) in 831 Korean infants at a University hospital.

Parental Perception of Neonates, Parental Stress and Education for NICU Parents.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to conduct a comparative analysis between the perception of parents with premature infants in the NICU and parents with full-term newborns, and in the process to evaluate the effects of NICU educational support on parents with regard to their perception of neonate and parental stress.

Methods: A mixed quantitative design was employed to compare parental perception of neonates using the Neonatal Perception Index (NPI) between the parents of 26 full-term infants (full-term group) and the parents of 22 premature infants in the NICU (NICU group), and also to evaluate the effect of NICU educational support on NPI and parental stress using the Parental Stress Scale (PSS) between the mothers and fathers in the NICU group.

Results: NICU mothers showed the lowest NPI score among full-term and NICU parents.

[Assessment of hydration on the stratum corneum and the influencing factors in neonates].

Purpose: The study was conducted to investigate the skin hydration level in various body sites and identify the influencing factors in neonates.

Methods: An exploratory comparison study was designed to measure the stratum corneum hydration, using a National DM-R2 on the forehead, abdomen, buttocks, and the back of the hands and feet of 198 neonates including 92 premature infants.

Results: The results showed 32.

Measurement of pain-like response to various NICU stimulants for high-risk infants.

Background: Infants during neonatal intensive care are invariably exposed to various procedural and environmental stimuli in which the pain-like responses may vary depending on the nature of the stimuli and the infants' condition.

Aim: To examine firstly the pain-like responses to frequent stimulants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) using CRIES, FLACC and PIPP, and secondly the clinical feasibility and validity of using these pain measurements for high-risk infants.

Study Design And Subjects: In a correlational study of 110 premature infants receiving neonatal intensive care, the pain-like responses to 274 observations of 8 types of frequently applied stimulant, classified into three categories according to the degree of invasiveness, were observed using CRIES, FLACC and PIPP.

[Coincidence analysis of keywords of the Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing with MeSH].

Purpose: We try to disclose how much the keywords of the papers from the Journal of the Korean Academy of Nursing coincide with MeSH terminologies and to understand the major subjects of the recent nursing research in Korea from keywords.

Methods: Keywords of journals were extracted and compared with MeSH terms. The frequency of the appearance of each keyword was sorted by a descending order.

[Pain assessment using CRIES, FLACC and PIPP in high-risk infants].

Purpose: Infants at neonatal intensive care units (NICU) are invariably exposed to various procedural and environmental stimuli. The study was performed to compare the pain responses in three NICU stimulants and to examine the clinical feasibility for NICU infants using CRIES, FLACC and PIPP.

Method: In a correlational study, a total of 94 NICU stimulants including angio-catheter insertions, trunk-rubbings and loud noises, was observed for pain responses among 64 infants using CRIES, FLACC and PIPP.