The innovation of science and technology in healthcare systems and the increased need for quality of life among patients and families demands a redesigned academic model to foster graduates with high levels of competence, knowledge and skills (Mohieldein, 2017). Bryar et al. (2011 and the World Health Organization (2001) identified a group of professional competencies for Registered Nurses (RNs) that were important for providing patients with high-quality, safe care. In particular, there is strong evidence that professional competencies, such as Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degrees, among RNs enhance high-quality nursing care, which promotes patient safety (Aiken et al., 2014).In Korea, the undergraduate programme aims to nurture competent nurses, and the educational content and learning process are determined by the learning outcomes (Kim, 2012a). The Korean Accreditation Board of Nursing Education (KABONE) has been evaluating the bachelor's degree programme in nursing through a 5 years certification system since 2004. In accordance with the Medical Act, all universities in Korea must obtain a nursing education certification

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Korean version of the Pain Assessment in Impaired Cognition (KPAIC-15) for people with dementia.Methods: Participants in this study were 200 patients with dementia in two long-term care hospitals in the Republic of Korea. The PAIC-15 was translated into Korean using the process for the translation and adaptation of instruments developed by the World Health Organization. Three bilingual nursing professionals carried out this process. The construct validity, convergent validity, Cronbach’s ⍺, inter-rater reliability, and test-retest reliability of the translated instrument were evaluated. IBM SPSS Statistics 25.0 and AMOS 26.0 were used for data analysis.Results: In the confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses, the KPAIC-15 exhibited an adequate model fit, with three factors accounting for 72.13% of the total variance. The confirmatory factor analysis supported the validity of the KPAIC-15. The scale had a Cronbach’s ⍺ of .91, an inter-rater reliability of .75 (p<.001), and a test-retest reliability of .71 (p<.001).Conclusion: The findings show the KPAIC-15 is valid and reliable for use in the pain assessment of people diagnosed with dementia in the Republic of Korea.

PurposeThe aim of this study is to identify the key functional care problems, NANDA‐I nursing diagnoses, and intervention plans related to function‐focused care (FFC) using a web‐based case management system for patients who present different cognitive status.MethodsThis study employed a retrospective descriptive research design. Data were obtained from system records on patients after the research team trained the case management system at a nursing home in Dangjin in South Chungcheong Province, South Korea. A total of 119 inpatient records were analyzed.ResultsThe key physical, cognitive, and social functional problems, nursing diagnoses in six domains (health promotion, elimination and exchange, activity/rest, perception/cognition, coping/stress tolerance, and safety/protection), and intervention plans were identified.ConclusionThe identified FFC case management information of interdisciplinary caregivers will provide evidence for the implementation of effective interventions according to a patient's functional status. Additional studies related to the establishment of a large clinical database of advanced case management systems focusing on interdisciplinary caregivers’ functional management are needed to support the prioritization of functional care.

Background Recent studies raise concerns that arthroscopic meniscectomy (AM) for degenerative tear may be detrimental to the maintenance of the joint structure. This study was performed to examine the rate of total knee replacement (TKR) among patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) who underwent AM for meniscal tears and compare this rate with those who did not. Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted using the National Health Insurance Database of South Korea. Among knee OA patients aged 50–79, those who were treated with AM due to meniscal damage from 2007 to 2009 were selected as the AM group while those not treated with AM despite the presence of meniscal damage were selected as control group. Both were matched based on a propensity score and followed-up until the earliest occurrence of: TKR, death, or 10 years. Cox proportional hazards models were used to compare the outcome. Results A total of 36,974 patients were included in AM groups and non-AM group after 1:1 matching. TKR occurred in 9.62% and 7.64% in AM and non-AM groups with the average duration after meniscectomy of 5.88 ± 2.77 and 5.50 ± 2.94 years, respectively. After adjustment for baseline confounders, the TKR rate in the AM group was calculated to be 25% higher than that in the non-AM group (subdistribution hazard ratio, 1.25; 95% confidence interval, 1.16–1.34). The mortality rate was 5.20%, which did not significantly differ between groups. Conclusion OA patients who underwent AM for the meniscal injury had higher incidence of TKR up to 10 years of follow-up than the non-operated group. The greater TKR utilization observed in patients undergoing AM merits caution when treating OA patients with meniscal injury.