Pearson-r Correlation Research Articles

Factors Affecting Medication Errors among Staff Nurses: Basis in the Formulation of Medication Information Guide

Medication errors seriously affect patient safety, hospital costs and integrity of nursing profession. Proper understanding of the contributing factors that increase medication errors is the first step toward preventing them. The study is quantitative descriptive using researcher-made questionnaire. Total enumeration was used and there are 210 nurses participated in the study. The data were statistically treated using frequency, percentages, average weighted mean, one way ANOVA, and Pearson r-correlation. Based on the key findings of the study, it found out that professional factors is the number one cause of medication errors, followed by managerial factors, work-related factors, and lastly personal factors. Furthermore, there were identified significant differences between the respondents profile, competency level, and factors affecting medication errors. There was a very-low correlation between respondent’s competency level and factors affecting medication errors. In conclusion, the longer the hospital experience and the proficient a nurse is in the standards of care on medication management, the higher is the ability of the nurse to handle factors affecting medication errors. The researcher recommended utilization of medication information guide for nurses, self-report logbook, and enhanced course syllabus in Nursing Pharmacology. Keywords - Medication, medication errors, factors, patient safety, self-report, nurse, competency, cause

Law enforcement officer seniority and PAI variables in psychological fitness for duty examinations

Sixty-two police officers were administered the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) during employer referred psychological Fitness for Duty Examinations (FFDEs). PAI scores were analyzed as a function of the length of time the officers had worked within law enforcement occupations. PAI subtest scales ARD, ARD-P, ARD-T and DEP scores all produced significant positive correlations between both the amount of time spent on the current police job and the total time served as a police officer within a bivariate Pearsonr correlation matrix. Implications for an understanding of psychometric test results within the FFDE context and the evolution of law enforcement officer personality patterns are discussed.

COMPARISON OF CARDIAC MAGNETIC FIELD DISTRIBUTIONS DURING DEPOLARIZATION AND REPOLARIZATION

Multichannel magnetocardiography measures the magnetic field distribution of the human heart noninvasively from many sites over the body surface. Multichannel magnetocardiogram (MCG) analysis enables regional temporal differences in the distribution of cardiac magnetic field strength during depolarization and repolarization to be identified, allowing estimation of the global and local inhomogeneity of the cardiac activation process. The aim of this study was to compare the spatial distribution of cardiac magnetic field strength during ventricular depolarization and repolarization in both normal subjects and patients with cardiac abnormalities, obtaining amplitude measurements by magnetocardiography. MCGs were recorded at 49 sites over the heart from three normal subjects and two patients with inverted T-wave conditions. The magnetic field intensity during depolarization and repolarization was measured automatically for each channel and displayed spatially as contour maps. A Pearson correlation was used to determine the spatial relationship between the variables. For normal subjects, magnetic field strength maps during depolarization (R-wave) showed two asymmetric regions of magnetic field strength with a high positive value in the lower half of the chest and a high negative value above this. The regions of high R-wave amplitude corresponded spatially to concentrated asymmetric regions of high magnetic field strength during repolarization (T-wave). Pearson-r correlation coefficients of 0.7 (p<0.01), 0.8 (p<0.01) and 0.9 (p<0.01) were obtained from this analysis for the three normal subjects. A negative correlation coefficient of -0.7 (p<0.01) was obtained for one of the subjects with inverted T-wave abnormalities, suggesting similar but inverted magnetic field and current distributions to normal subjects. Even with the high correlation values in these four subjects, the MCG was able to identify differences in the distribution of magnetic field strength, with a shift in the T-wave relative to the R-wave. The measurement of cardiac magnetic field distribution during depolarization and repolarization of normal subjects and patients with clinical abnormalities should enable the improvement of theoretical models for the explanation of the cardiac depolarization and repolarization processes.

Dietary magnesium intake and blood pressure: a qualitative overview of the observational studies.

Published reports of 30 separate sets of analyses from 29 observational studies relating dietary intake of magnesium to blood pressure (BP) were identified through a comprehensive search using MEDLINE and BIDS-EMBASE. Three studies were prospective, 24 cross-sectional (25 reports), of which four also contained a longitudinal component, and two were obtained from baseline data in a trial. Various dietary methodologies were used: 24-h dietary recall (n = 12), food-frequency questionnaire (8), food record (7), and duplicate diet (2). Twelve reports compared magnesium intake or BP level between subgroups. Seven showed a negative association between magnesium intake and BP level, and five reported no association. From 18 of the 30 sets of analyses either a regression estimate or a Pearson correlation coefficient was reported. Many reports also allowed identification of subgroups by sex, age and race. Ninety population samples and subgroups could thus be identified from the 30 reports. All 11 Pearson-r correlation coefficients reported for systolic BP (SBP) (three significant, P < 0.05) and 10 (out of 12) Pearson-r correlation coefficients reported for diastolic BP (DBP) (four significant) were negative. Seven reports (13 subgroups for SBP, 11 subgroups for DBP) gave partial regression coefficients after adjustment; 10 (seven significant) and eight (six significant) were negative for SBP and DBP, respectively. For 13 subgroups in five papers, Pearson-r correlation coefficients were reported after adjustment for confounding factors. Eight (out of 13) showed a negative relationship for SBP and DBP. This review points to a negative association between dietary magnesium intake and BP. A systematic quantitative overview is needed to reconcile the inconsistencies of the results of individual studies and to quantify the size of such relationship.

Predictors of Elderly Happiness

This paper examines the influence of social variables on the happiness of non-institutionalized elderly citizens. Foremost, the living arrangements of the elderly (living alone, living with a spouse, or living with a child or relative) are examined to determine if this affects the Level of Happiness of the elderly. The dependent variable was measured using the Life Satisfaction Index from the Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development (CSHAD) and the Older American Resources and Services (OARS). This index has been used for elderly research since 1978. The sample was 98 individuals age 65 and over who primarily reside in the Monmouth County, New Jersey area. Using 2-sample independent T-tests, the results showed that the order of preferred living arrangements were Living With One's Spouse, Living Alone, and Living With One's Children. Using Pearson r-correlation coefficient tests, the independent variables of health, marital status, and religious commitment were found to be significantly correlat...