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Background: Psychiatric patients are affected by diseases and mental symptoms that may worsen their ability to adjust emotionally. Being unable to respond to the emptiness, increases the risk of suicidal behaviors. Purpose: This study was designed to translate the Experienced Level of Existential Emptiness (ELEE) scale, developed by Hazell in 1984, from the original English into Chinese and then to test its reliability and validity. Methods: This research adopted a cross-sectional design and collected data using convenience sampling and a structured questionnaire. The subjects of this study were psychiatric outpatients in the acute and chronic wards of a psychiatric hospital in Taiwan. The instruments used in this research included a demographic datasheet; the ELEE; the University of California, Los Angeles Loneliness Scale, version 3; the Beck Depression Inventory-II; the State- Trait Anxiety Inventory Y form; and the Oxford Happiness Inventory. After the data were obtained, the reliability and validity of the Chinese-version scale was tested. Results: Three hundred subjects were surveyed. The content validity index value of the ELEE was between .88 and 1, and the retest reliability and intrinsic consistency were good. From the analysis of criterion-related validity, a higher degree of emptiness was shown to correlate with more-obvious feelings of loneliness, depression, and anxiety. Conversely, a higher sense of happiness was shown to correlate with less-obvious feelings of these three variables. After the construct validity test, which used confirmatory factor analysis and regarded the co-variation coefficient of association and model fit index as the basis of consideration, the scale was reduced to two sub-scales of seven questions each. After the deletion of items, the scale retained good retest reliability and intrinsic consistency, supporting the retention of the 14 questions in the scale. Conclusions/ Implications for Practice: The findings of this study support using the Chinese version of the ELEE to measure emptiness in patients with mental illness and then providing appropriate medical assistance based on the measured results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research is an indispensable element that shapes every profession and discipline. "Employ evidencebased research into practice" is one of the five core competences highlighted by the American Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 2001 that all healthcare professionals should possess. With the development of evidence-based medicine, "Nursing research competence" has gradually become a core competence that all nurses must have. In light of the major demographic changes and multicultural social revolution underway worldwide, nursing research trends must be adapted to meet new, global challenges rooted in changing environmental, populational, geographical, and ethnic conditions. This paper analyzed the Web of Science database using VOSviewer and inputting the names of schools and departments as key words in consideration of QS rankings among European, American, and Asia regions for the years 2014 - 2018. Analyses of keywords, themes, and countries of international cooperation were conducted on 6333 original nursing articles published in journals indexed on the Science Citation Index (SCI) and/or Social Science Citation Index (SSCI). The results indicate that the cooperation between scholars from Taiwan and scholars from the United States, the United Kingdom, and China is relatively common. With regard to both global and Asia-specific research study trends, the top- five key words used to describe nursing research papers were health, care, depression, prevalence, and quality of life. The differences between Europe and the United States and Taiwan were the "risk, intervention, experience, adolescent" and "risk and impact" depicted by visual analysis. In addition, this research examined the themes of academic nursing conferences announced online for 2020, and found that a majority highlighted "nursing and healthcare" as a major theme. In twenty-two Chinese nursing journals indexed on the Huayi Online Database (2017-2020), geriatric nursing, long-term care and improvement in nursing care quality were the most commonly used research topics. In general, the aims of nursing research are to enhance the professional image and status of global nurses and to achieve the goals of global health. To create a better nursing research environment in Taiwan, nurses should improve their research abilities and cultivate cultural nursing sensitivity with the goals of maximizing the quality and quantity of research and of strengthening international cooperation, with the ultimate aim of enhancing the health and well-being of all. The international visibility of nursing in Taiwan must be increased to improve our international profile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Clinical research nurses (CRNs) play an important role in improving the quality of clinical trials. In Taiwan, the increasing number of clinical trials has increased the number of practicing CRNs. Understanding the role responsibilities of CRNs is necessary to promote professionalism in this nursing category. Purpose: This study investigates the role responsibilities of CRNs in conducting clinical trials / research. Method: A questionnaire survey was conducted in a medical center in Taipei City, Taiwan. Eighty CRNs that were registered to facilitate and conduct clinical trials at this research site completed the survey. Results: "Subject protection" was the CRN role responsibility most recognized by participants, followed by "research coordination and management", "subject clinical care", and "advanced professional nursing". Higher recognition scores were associated with higher importance scores and lower dificulty scores. Participants with trial training had significantly higher dificulty scores for "subject clinical care" and "research coordination and management" than their peers without this training (p < .05). Participants who had participated in a long-term trial-training course earned higher importance scores for "CRN four-subthemes role responsibilities" (p < .05) and lower dificulty scores for "subject protection", "research coordination and management" (p < .005) than their short-term course peers. "Recognition of overall responsibilities" and "receiving trial training" were the signiicant predictors of dificulty in performing CRN role responsibilities, explaining 21.9% of the total variance. Conclusions: To further promote CRN as a professional career in Taiwan, the indings of this study recommend identifying the core competences of CRNs and adding CRN-related study materials into the advanced nursing curriculum. Long-term and systematic educational training may help CRNs understand the importance of their role responsibilities, better recognize their professional role, and relect these responsibilities in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & Problems: Peripheral intravenous catheter insertion is a significant source of stress for preschoolers during hospitalization. An average of about 85% of pediatric patients at our general pediatric unit are preschoolers. An average 71% of these exhibit severe pain-related behavior during intravenous insertions. The factors influencing this pain experience may include inappropriate administration of analgesics by nurses, non-pharmacologic pain management, and inappropriate clinical settings. Purpose: This project worked to develop a strategy to reduce the incidence of severe injection pain in preschool children from 71.0% to 36.0% and to achieve a capacity improvement target of 50%. Resolutions: We implemented the following: 1) arranged a relevant training program for pediatric nurses; 2) revised hospital standards for pediatric intravenous insertions; and 3) enhanced analgesic administration and non-pharmacologic pain management through creating child-friendly clinical settings and providing interactive toys. Results: After implementing the abovementioned interventions, the incidence of severe pain-related behavior in pediatric patients decreased from 71.0% to 19.7%, a result that greatly exceeded expectations. Conclusions: This project demonstrated an effective approach to reducing severe intravenous-insertion pain in pre-schoolers and increasing pediatric care quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to examine the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, snacks and desserts among pre-school children and estimate the intake of refined sugar among children aged 2 to 5 by a prospective cohort. Methods: Total 301 infants were followed up annually to the age of 5 (n=132). The intake of refined sugar is calculated by using 24-hour recalls. Estimated percentages of refined sugar in various food products are used in order to obtain the average daily intakes. Results: The consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages increased with age. "Flavored and fermented milk" contributed to the highest percentage among children aged 2-5, while the "whole grains drinks" and "tea drinks" showed an increasing trend over the years and the "tea drinks" increased its consumption sharply. For snacks and desserts, "biscuits" contributed the highest percentage among children aged 2 to 4, while "Chinese sweet soup" showed an upward trend over the years with the highest percentage among children aged 5. The estimated refined sugar consumption was 13 ± 12g, 19 ± 16g, 32 ± 18g, 29 ± 20g (p for trend<0.01), energy intake from refined sugar was 5%, 6%, 9% and 8% among children aged 2, 3, 4 and 5, respectively. Conclusions: Over one-third of 5-year old children had over 10% of their caloric intakes from refined sugar. The caffeine in tea may not be suitable for young children. Proper eating habits and a balanced diet could facilitate the normal growth and development of healthy children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research is an indispensable element that shapes every profession and discipline. "Employ evidence-based research into practice" is one of the five core competences highlighted by the American Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 2001 that all healthcare professionals should possess. With the development of evidence-based medicine, "Nursing research competence" has gradually become a core competence that all nurses must have. In light of the major demographic changes and multicultural social revolution underway worldwide, nursing research trends must be adapted to meet new, global challenges rooted in changing environmental, populational, geographical, and ethnic conditions. This paper analyzed the Web of Science database using VOSviewer and inputting the names of schools and departments as key words in consideration of QS rankings among European, American, and Asia regions for the years 2014 - 2018. Analyses of keywords, themes, and countries of international cooperation were conducted on 6333 original nursing articles published in journals indexed on the Science Citation Index (SCI) and/or Social Science Citation Index (SSCI). The results indicate that the cooperation between scholars from Taiwan and scholars from the United States, the United Kingdom, and China is relatively common. With regard to both global and Asia-specific research study trends, the top-five key words used to describe nursing research papers were health, care, depression, prevalence, and quality of life. The differences between Europe and the United States and Taiwan were the "risk, intervention, experience, adolescent" and "risk and impact" depicted by visual analysis. In addition, this research examined the themes of academic nursing conferences announced online for 2020, and found that a majority highlighted "nursing and healthcare" as a major theme. In twenty-two Chinese nursing journals indexed on the Huayi Online Database (2017-2020), geriatric nursing, long-term care and improvement in nursing care quality were the most commonly used research topics. In general, the aims of nursing research are to enhance the professional image and status of global nurses and to achieve the goals of global health. To create a better nursing research environment in Taiwan, nurses should improve their research abilities and cultivate cultural nursing sensitivity with the goals of maximizing the quality and quantity of research and of strengthening international cooperation, with the ultimate aim of enhancing the health and well-being of all. The international visibility of nursing in Taiwan must be increased to improve our international profile.

The numbers of people who suffer from age-related and chronic diseases have been increased worldwide. This has lead to an increased emphasis in the medical community on end of life care. This paper references the processes followed overseas in developing palliative care education programs as well as the domestic experiences promoting the hospitalization, home care, and "share care" models of palliative care. Particular emphasis is given to considerations of cultural diversity in palliative care. The aim of this paper is to elaborate on the prevalent clinical end-of-life care issues that are faced in Taiwan, to cultivate core capabilities in end-of-life care, to elicit the current status and development of formal nursing education, and to promote continuing education in palliative care. Kern formulated a six-step approach to curriculum development in education and the details has been discussed . Finally, this paper reflects on the current bottlenecks, challenges, and expectations related to palliative care curriculum development in order to help medical professionals further put humanistic and social care into practice, increase ethical reflection in end of life care and nursing competency, and encourage the creation of localized textbooks / multimedia e-teaching materials. The fostering of "patient-centered, family unit and the social-cultural contexture" for palliative care professionals and the ability to respond to the needs of terminal patients and patients with chronic diseases are critical to increasing the quality of Taiwan healthcare.