[Task analysis of the job description of gerontological nurse practitioners based on DACUM]

Job analysis of vaccination health workers at public health centers and sub-centers

OBJECTIVE

To analyze duties, tasks, and task elements of health workers in charge of vaccination at public health centers in South Korea.

DESIGN

Descriptive study using a survey.

SAMPLE

Health workers in charge of vaccination for more than 1 year at 254 public health centers in South Korea. Of 631 health workers, 401 responded to the questionnaire, and 379 responses were included in the analysis after excluding 22 incomplete responses.

MEASUREMENTS

The Developing A Curriculum (DACUM) workshop was conducted to identify the frequency, importance, and difficulty of duties, tasks, and task elements.

RESULTS

Four duties (vaccination promotion, vaccination administration and symptom management, execution of vaccination, and vaccination education), 18 tasks, and 81 task elements were identified. "Execution of vaccination" exhibited the highest determinant coefficient. "Implementing the budget" exhibited the highest determinant coefficient among tasks, and "dealing with an emergency in the case of adverse events" exhibited the highest determinant coefficient among task elements.

CONCLUSIONS

Duty, task, and task elements with high determinant coefficients have high educational needs. Education demands was higher for administrative work than for direct vaccination. Developing an educational curriculum based on DACUM results could contribute to the professional education of vaccine workers.

Development and Analysis of the Job Description for Dementia Care Center Nurses in Korea Using Developing a Curriculum (DACUM)

The current study aimed to develop and analyze a dementia care center nurse (DCCN) job description using Developing a Curriculum (DACUM) in Korea. Seven DCCN panels participated in the DACUM workshop to define the duties and tasks. The developed duties and tasks were validated with a survey that included the importance, difficulty, frequency, and educational needs of the duties and tasks. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data collected from August to September 2020. Nine duties and 111 tasks were identified, with "dementia screening" ranking the highest among the duties and "management of cognitive programs" ranking the lowest. The task with the highest rank based on the determinant coefficient and educational needs was "conducting the first stage of the diagnostic test," whereas the task with the lowest rank was "recording special issues." Findings can be used as fundamental data for designing educational programs aimed at enhancing the competencies of DCCNs and as a tool for evaluating their job performance. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 49(10), 29-35.].

[Job Analysis of Nurse Care Coordinators for Chronic Illness Management in Primary Care Settings: Using Developing a Curriculum Process]

PURPOSE

This study aimed to conduct a job analysis of nurse carecoordinators and to identify the frequency, importance and difficulty of each task of their job.

METHODS

A committee for developing a curriculum (DACUM) was formed and members of the committee defined nurse care coordinators' jobs and enumerated the duties, tasks and task elements by applying the DACUM technique. Then nurse care coordinators enrolled in the pilot project evaluated the frequency, importance and difficulty of each task.

RESULTS

From the job descriptions of nurse care coordinators, we identified 12 duties and 42 tasks. Each task comprised 1~5 task elements. Among tasks, 'assess the patient's general health status' was carried out most frequently. Nurse care coordinators perceived that 'check vital signs' and'strengthen patient competence to promote health behaviors' were more important than all other tasks. The most difficult task was 'develop professionalism as a nurse care coordinator'.

CONCLUSION

The nurse care coordinators' roles developed in this study will serve as the key guidelines for human resource management of care coordinators. Further, job specifications for nurse care coordinators need to be developed, which is necessary for designing education and training programs. We also need to integrate primary health care as an essential component in nursing education.

Is there an agreement among the items of the Korean physical therapist licensing examination, learning objectives of class subjects, and physical therapists' job descriptions?

PURPOSE

To determine the agreement among the items of the Korean physical therapist licensing examination, learning objectives of class subjects, and physical therapists' job descriptions.

METHODS

The main tasks of physical therapists were classified, and university courses related to the main tasks were also classified. Frequency analysis was used to determine the proportions of credits for the classified courses out of the total credits of major subjects, exam items related to the classified courses out of the total number of exam items, and universities that offer courses related to the Korean physical therapist licensing examination among the surveyed universities.

RESULTS

The proportions of credits for clinical decision making and physical therapy diagnosis-related courses out of the total number credits for major subjects at universities were relatively low (2.06% and 2.58%, respectively). Although the main tasks of physical therapists are related to diagnosis and evaluation, the proportion of physiotherapy intervention-related items (35%) was higher than that of examination and evaluation-related items (25%) on the Korean physical therapist licensing examination. The percentages of universities that offer physical therapy diagnosis and clinical decision making-related courses were 58.62% and 68.97%, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Both the proportion of physiotherapy diagnosis and evaluation-related items on the Korean physical therapist licensing examination, and the number of subjects related to clinical decision making and physical therapy diagnosis in the physical therapy curriculum, should be increased to ensure that the examination items and physical therapy curriculum reflect the practical tasks of physical therapists.

Job analysis of clinical research coordinators using the DACUM process

PURPOSE

This study was done to analyze the job of clinical research coordinators (CRCs).

METHODS

Through the "developing a curriculum (DACUM)" workshop, the definition of CRCs' role was described and CRCs' duties and tasks were identified. Finally, the developed duties and tasks were validated for importance, difficulty, and frequency.

RESULTS

A CRC is defined as the one who coordinates and performs tasks related to clinical research/trials among investigators, participants, and sponsors according to the Good Clinical Practice at institutions conducting clinical trials. Twelve duties and 78 tasks were identified on the DACUM chart which represented the importance, difficulty, and frequency of tasks represented as A, B, and C respectively. Based on determinant coefficient (DC) of the task, the highest ranked task was confirming the eligibility of participants for research (DC=8.03) and the lowest was inventory management for clinical study materials (3.95).

CONCLUSION

In this study, the job of a CRC was analyzed through the DACUM process and it was found that CRCs were doing various duties and tasks. Based on these results, it is suggested that it is necessary to develop CRC education programs considering the career ladder of CRCs.