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Background: Nurses affect patient safety. Although studies have associated patient safety with nurse staffing levels, Taiwan's Department of Health does not yet support changing nurse workforce standards for medical institutions. Purpose: This study was designed to gain insight into the workload of nurses employed at medical institutions and to determine the relationship between nurse workload and nurse-sensitive patient safety outcome indicators. Methods: This study adopted a cross-sectional quantitative method and collected data using a self-designed logbook. The study population comprised nurses from acute medical institutions, including medical centers and regional and district hospitals. One thousand five hundred logbooks were distributed to participants selected by random sampling from 21 city/county nursing associations across Taiwan. One thousand three hundred seventy-three questionnaires were retrieved; the 1,358 valid responses yielded a valid response rate of 90.5%. Nurses ¡ used the logbook to record individual working conditions for 2 weeks. Descriptive statistics included mean values, standard deviations, and percentages; inferential statistics included the Spearman rho correlation and odds ratios. Results: Nurse overtime working hours were positively associated with the following nurse-sensitive patient safety outcome indicators: patient falls, decubitus/pressure ulcers, near errors in medication, medication errors, unplanned extubation, hospital- acquired pneumonia, and hospital-acquired urinary tract infections; risks of patient falls, decubitus/pressure ulcers, unplanned extubation, hospital-acquired pneumonia, and hospital-acquired urinary tract infections significantly increased when the patient- nurse ratio exceeded 7:1. Conclusion: Nurse workforce and nurse-sensitive patient outcome indicators are positively correlated. The results of this study will help professional nursing groups define suitable nursing workforce standards for medical institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of the study was to compare the effects of corticosteroid injection with lidocaine injection in treating tennis elbow. Design: It is a prospective, double-blinded, randomized controlled trial. Patients with tennis elbow for more than 1 mo were recruited from a hospital-based rehabilitation outpatient clinic. A total of 70 patients were recruited, and 61 patients completed the study. Patients received an injection of either 10 mg (1 ml) of triamcinolone (corticosteroid group, n = 30) or 1 ml of 1% lidocaine (lidocaine group, n = 31). All of the outcome measures were evaluated before the intervention and at 2 wks and 2 mos after treatment. Results: No significant group differences were observed between the corticosteroid and lidocaine groups regarding Patient-Rated Tennis Elbow Evaluation, Disability of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand, visual analog scale for pain, and grip strength at baseline and at 2 wks and 2 mos after treatment (P > 0.05). However, within-group comparison showed significant improvement after injection with regard to Patient-Rated Tennis Elbow Evaluation, Disability of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand, visual analog scale for pain, and grip strength in both groups (P > 0.05). Conclusions: No differences in the short-term outcomes were found between lidocaine and corticosteroid injection in a small sample of people with tennis elbow with mean duration of 3.8 mos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]