福島県内病院における看護業務の看護補助者・他職種への委譲状況と看護師の認識との関連

目的：福島県における看護業務について看護補助者および他職種への委譲状況と看護師の認識の関連を明らかにする．方法：福島県内の病院に勤務する看護師を対象に現在の看護業務の委譲状況とそれぞれの看護師が考える看護に基づいた本来の看護業務の委譲のあり方に関して自記式の質問紙調査を行った．基本統計量を算出し，現在の委譲状況と本来の委譲のあり方の一致の程度について割合を算出し，看護職の認識による差をKruskal-Wallis検定で行った．結果：有効回答は14施設241部であった．療養上の世話は，現在ほとんど看護補助者と共に行っているが，本来は看護補助者と共に行うおよび看護補助者に委譲するという回答が多かった．診療の補助は，現在看護師のみが行い，本来も看護師だから行うとの回答が多かった．看護師の業務量が多いと認識している人ほど本来は看護補助者に業務を委譲するものと回答した．結論：看護師は療養上の世話は看護補助者と共に行うか委譲するとし，診療の補助は看護師だから行うとし，業務量が多いと認識している人ほど業務を看護補助者に委譲するものと考えていた．Purpose: To clarify the relationship between the status of nursing task delegation to nursing assistants and other professions in Fukushima Prefecture regarding their work. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted on nurses working in hospitals in Fukushima Prefecture regarding the current and desired states of delegation of nursing duties based on their view of nursing. We calculated basic statistics, and percentages for the degree of agreement between the current and the desired states of delegation. Results: The number of valid responses was 241 from 14 facilities. The majority of the respondents answered that they currently provided most of the assistance with patients' activities of daily living together with nursing assistants, and that this duty should be provided together with the nursing assistants or delegated to them. For example, 32.4% of foot baths are currently performed only by nurses, while 42.8% of nurses said it would be better to delegate this task. Those who perceived the workload of nurses to be high were more likely to say that some of their duties should be delegated to nursing assistants. Conclusion: The current study showed that nurses prefer to provide assistance with patients' activities of daily living with nursing assistants or to delegate this duty to them. They also prefer to assist medical treatment

紙芝居に関する保育者の意識と活用状況 : 保育者の保育経験年数との関係から

本研究は、紀要第34号で報告した調査研究において、課題となったことを明らかにするために行った追加調査の結果をまとめたものである。前回の調査では、保育経験年数が16年～20年の保育者の中には、ただ単に既成の紙芝居を活用するに留まらず、保育者自身が紙芝居を自作して子どもの前で演じたり、保育の中で子どもに作らせたり、子どもが自作した紙芝居を子ども自身に演じさせたり、演じ方を指導したりしたことがある保育者が存在することがわかった。この結果は、他の保育経験年数の保育者群と比較すると少し違う傾向であった。本研究では、保育経験年数を考慮した調査・分析を行い、他の保育者群と異なる傾向の要因は何か探った。保育の中で紙芝居を媒介にして、子どもと保育者が心と心をふれ合わせ、コミュニケーション力を身につけるための効果的な教材、教具として紙芝居を活用することの意義を見出し、具体的な活用方法を確立するための手がかりを得たいと考えたからである。その結果、今回の調査においても、保育経験年数が16年以上の保育者が、紙芝居をオリジナルな教材・教具として活用していることが明確になった。また、保育経験年数が多くなるほど、紙芝居の特性を活かして保育の中で意図的に紙芝居を活用していることが明らかになった。自由記述からは、子どもに紙芝居を作らせたり、子どもに自作の紙芝居を演じさせる過程で、子ども同士が意見交換しコミュニケーション力が育まれると考える保育者がいることが明らかとなった

Analysis of Expressed Sequence Tags from the Fungus Aspergillus oryzae Cultured Under Different Conditions

We performed random sequencing of cDNAs from nine biologically or industrially important cultures of the industrially valuable fungus Aspergillus oryzae to obtain expressed sequence tags (ESTs). Consequently, 21 446 raw ESTs were accumulated and subsequently assembled to 7589 non-redundant consensus sequences (contigs). Among all contigs, 5491 (72.4%) were derived from only a particular culture. These included 4735 (62.4%) singletons, i.e. lone ESTs overlapping with no others. These data showed that consideration of culture grown under various conditions as cDNA sources enabled efficient collection of ESTs. BLAST searches against the public databases showed that 2953 (38.9%) of the EST contigs showed significant similarities to deposited sequences with known functions, 793 (10.5%) were similar to hypothetical proteins, and the remaining 3843 (50.6%) showed no significant similarity to sequences in the databases. Culture-specific contigs were extracted on the basis of the EST frequency normalized by the total number for each culture condition. In addition, contig sequences were compared with sequence sets in eukaryotic orthologous groups (KOGs), and classified into the KOG functional categories

Sustaining the nursing workforce - exploring enabling and motivating factors for the retention of returning nurses: a qualitative descriptive design

Abstract Background The nursing shortage represents a persistent and urgent challenge within the healthcare industry. One of the most cost-effective and time-efficient solutions to address this issue is the recruitment of inactive nurses to rejoin the nursing workforce, while simultaneously ensuring the long-term sustainability of their careers following their return to work. The aim of this study is to explore the factors that facilitate the retention of nurses who have returned to work, from their perspective. Methods To achieve this aim, a qualitative descriptive design was employed. A total of 15 registered nurses who had not practiced nursing for a minimum of three years prior to their return to work, and had been working as nurses for at least three months following their return, were selected from seven healthcare institutions using convenience sampling. Face-to-face or online semi-structured interviews were conducted, and qualitative inductive analysis was employed to analyze the collected data. Results The analysis revealed five key themes, two of which were related to the enabling factors making it possible for the nurses to continue their work, while the remaining three pertained to the motivating factors driving the pursuit of professional careers. The two themes associated with enabling factors were identified as “Conditions and support that sustain work-life balance” and “A workplace that acknowledges my career, and encourages my growth as an experienced nurse”. The three themes related to motivating factors were entitled “Pride in reconnecting with and contributing to society,” “Cultivating confidence through incremental professional development and future envisioning,” and “Enrichment of my own and my family’s life”. Conclusions Returning nurses constitute a valuable asset for healthcare institutions. To effectively retain these nurses, it is crucial to implement multi-dimensional approaches that enable and motivate them to sustain and enrich their professional and personal lives while continuing their work in the nursing field

Postanesthetic effects of isoflurane on behavioral phenotypes of adult male C57BL/6J mice.

Isoflurane was previously the major clinical anesthetic agent but is now mainly used for veterinary anesthesia. Studies have reported widespread sites of action of isoflurane, suggesting a wide array of side effects besides sedation. In the present study, we phenotyped isoflurane-treated mice to investigate the postanesthetic behavioral effects of isoflurane. We applied comprehensive behavioral test batteries comprising sensory test battery, motor test battery, anxiety test battery, depression test battery, sociability test battery, attention test battery, and learning test battery, which were started 7 days after anesthesia with 1.8% isoflurane. In addition to the control group, we included a yoked control group that was exposed to the same stress of handling as the isoflurane-treated animals before being anesthetized. Our comprehensive behavioral test batteries revealed impaired latent inhibition in the isoflurane-treated group, but the concentration of residual isoflurane in the brain was presumably negligible. The yoked control group and isoflurane-treated group exhibited higher anxiety in the elevated plus-maze test and impaired learning function in the cued fear conditioning test. No influences were observed in sensory functions, motor functions, antidepressant behaviors, and social behaviors. A number of papers have reported an effect of isoflurane on animal behaviors, but no systematic investigation has been performed. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to systematically investigate the general health, neurological reflexes, sensory functions, motor functions, and higher behavioral functions of mice exposed to isoflurane as adults. Our results suggest that the postanesthetic effect of isoflurane causes attention deficit in mice. Therefore, isoflurane must be used with great care in the clinical setting and veterinary anesthesia

Results of the anxiety tests.

<p>(A) In the elevated plus-maze test, the mean time spent in the open arm was greater in the control group than in the yoked control group and the isoflurane-treated group. (B) The rate of open entry in the elevated plus-maze test was greater in the control group than in the yoked control group. (C) In the open field test, no significant differences were observed among the three groups regarding the time spent in the central area and (D) the distance ratio. (E) In the light-dark exploration test, no significant differences were observed among the three groups in the total number of transitions or (F) the total time spent in the dark compartment. * p < 0.05 vs. control group. Vertical lines represent the mean ± SEM.</p

Timeline of the series of behavioral tests in each test battery.

<p>The behavioral test battery consisted of sensory test battery, motor test battery, anxiety test battery, depression test battery, sociability test battery, attention test battery, and learning test battery.</p

Results of the depression tests.

<p>(A) In the Porsolt forced swim test, no significant differences were observed among the three groups regarding the time of immobility or (B) the latency to first immobility. (C) In the tail suspension test, no significant differences were observed among the three groups regarding the time of immobility or (D) the latency to first immobility. Vertical lines represent the mean ± SEM.</p

Results of the sociability tests.

<p>(A) In the social interaction test, no significant differences were observed among the three groups regarding the interaction frequency or (B) interaction time. (C) In the tube test, no significant differences were observed between the yoked control group and the isoflurane-treated group. Vertical lines represent the mean ± SEM.</p

Results of the attention tests.

<p>(A) In the prepulse inhibition test, no significant differences were observed among the three groups regarding the acoustic startle response to 110 dB and 120 dB. (B) Prepulse inhibition was similar among the three groups. (C) In the latent inhibition test, the freezing level in the control group during the preshock period of the conditioning trial was slightly greater than the levels in the yoked control group and the isoflurane-treated group. (D) For the control group and (E) yoked control group, the pre-exposed group had significantly lower freezing levels during the tone-presented period than the non-pre-exposed group. (F) For the isoflurane-treated group, latent inhibition to the tone was not observed in the pre-exposed group. ** p < 0.01 vs. the corresponding pre-exposed group. Vertical lines represent the mean ± SEM.</p