Three hundred forty-nine full-time nursing assistants (NAs) in 5 PACE programs and their neighboring nursing homes were surveyed to assess job satisfaction. There were no significant differences between NAs in the two models of care with respect to demographics, job description, or importance placed on job elements. Job satisfaction, however, was higher among the PACE NAs. PACE NAs reported a significantly higher prevalence of the chance to form close relationships with patients, variety, respect for suggestions by people who make decisions about patient care, the chance to use one's own judgment, the chance to discuss patients with other team members, and respect for choices in assignment type.
The Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12; Ware, Kosinski, & Keller, 1996) is a widely used screening device for measuring physical and mental health to assess quality of life. However, limited psychometric data exist for older adults, especially minority aging samples. Findings from Resnick and Nahm (2001) suggest revising traditional SF-12 scoring for use in older adults because of different factor loadings for two questions. This study sought to examine the reliability and validity of a verbally administered SF-12 in a community-dwelling sample of African Americans using the Detroit City-Wide Needs Assessment Database (N = 985). Reliability analysis resulted in an overall Cronbach's alpha of 0.77. Factor analysis with principal components extraction and varimax rotation yielded two factors. Consistent with Resnick and Nahm (2001), question 10 loaded on the physical health factor and question 12 on both the physical and the mental health factors. The overall SF-12 score was significantly related to use of home health services, visits to a physician, number of prescription drugs, as well as number of chronic diseases. The SF-12 appears to be a valid and reliable measure used as a screening device for use with African American elders overall. However, for optimal measurement, modifications to traditional scoring methods for the SF-12 should be considered.
The purpose of this study was to compare leakage rates of used latex and vinyl examination gloves from high and low risk clinical units. A total of 4838 latex and 1008 vinyl examination gloves were collected and tested by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) watertight leak test: three brands of latex [Brand A: n = 2920; Brand B: n = 284; Brand C: n = 1634; and one brand of vinyl gloves (Brand D: n = 1008]. Seventy percent of latex gloves and 46.7% of vinyl gloves were collected from the high risk units. In general, there were no significant differences in leakage rates for vinyl gloves between high and low risk units. However, latex gloves leaked significantly more often at stress levels 2 and 3 from the high risk units as compared to the low risk units (X2 = 24.6, p < .0001). Regardless of level of stress and duration worn, 85.3% (860/1008) of used vinyl gloves and 18.4% (891/4838) of used latex gloves leaked, p < .001). There were significant differences in leakage rates between the three brands of latex gloves (Brand A, 9.8%; Brand B, 25.1%; Brand C, 30.9%, p < .001). Although latex gloves leaked slightly more frequently as stress level increased, glove material (latex or vinyl) and brand of glove were the most important predictors of leakage.
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