Purpose: This study aimed to further understand the experience related to emotional labor among the emergency room (ER) nurses Methods: Data for the study were collected via in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 8 nurses working at ER in tertiary-hospital settings. Conventional content analysis method was adopted. Results: Data analysis revealed 3 categories and 8 major topics on the participants’ experience of emotional labor at ER. The first category ‘the nature of nursing at emergency room’ involves three topics: ‘making quick, smooth interactions with people around ER’, ‘heavy, demanding workloads for ER nurses’, and ‘difficulties embedded in working environment’. The second category ‘rules of emotional expression and management’ includes two topics: ‘norms of emotional expression required for ER nurses’ and ‘work-centered emotional management.’ The last category ‘exhaustion, adaptation, and the sense of reward’ has three topics: ‘burn-out’, ‘recharging and withstanding’, and ‘reeling rewarded’ While experiencing ‘burn-out’ due to the negative effect of emotional labor, participating nurses reported that they also felt the sense of rewarding by restoring positive emotions through proper self-management, positive feedback and social support. Conclusion: The findings show that the nature of ER care required intensive emotional labor from nurses. Thus, it is imperative to provide interventions that assist ER nurses to reduce the negative impact of emotional labor and reinforce its positive influence on their lives, with systemic approaches to reduce the intensity of emotional labor and improve working conditions in ER settings.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to understand the reality of the suffering as infertile women who are doing repeated ART (Assisted Reproductive Technology) for pregnancy and childbirth. Methods: The data were analyzed using Colaizzi’s (1978) phenomenological method. Nine women receiving repetitive ART participated in semi-structured, in-depth interviews for this study. Results: Data analysis yielded sixteen themes which were grouped into four theme clusters: ‘Being demoted to a tool only for pregnancy’, ‘Struggling for the happiness hard to get’, ‘Standing loneliness alone on a solitary island’, and ‘Ongoing yearning for recognition by pregnancy and childbirth’. Conclusion: The findings provide further understanding of complex experiences of women receiving ART who were struggling with practical, psychological, and relational issues in their everyday lives. Based on the results of this study, health professionals are urged to support those women receiving repetitive ART by providing comprehensive caring programs that employ personal, social, and psychological approaches so that they can resolve such issues.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe nurses' experiences on patient safety incidents in special departments. Methods: Data were collected from June 1 to July 31, 2019 through in-depth interviews with 8 nurses who worked in tertiary hospitals. Data were analyzed using Braun & Clarke's thematic analysis method. Results: Four themes and fourteen sub-themes emerged. Four themes are as follows: ‘Incidents occurred by missing confirmation in the operating room’, ‘Unexpected incidents in ICU’, ‘Incidents related to difficult intravenous cannulation in pediatric patients’, ‘Nurses are near to patient safety’. Conclusion: The findings provided valuable information on the hospital nurses' experiences on patient safety incidents in special departments, which may have serious consequences and have not been easily addressed. Programs to sustain patient safety and nursing systems to guard against these incidents should be developed.

Purpose: Recently, with the increasing demand for a evidence-based practice model in the health care area, qualitative meta-synthesis studies that provide a comprehensive understanding of phenomena of interest has increased. This study was conducted to understand the concept of qualitative meta-synthesis and guide the application of appropriate methods. Methods: This study is a literature review to address and analyze concepts and methods used in qualitative meta-synthesis studies. Results: The definition and purpose of qualitative meta-synthesis, philosophical background, procedures and outcomes are described. And the meta-ethnography, which is widely applied, was described. In addition, grounded theory, critical interactive synthesis, and meta-study were briefly introduced. It is also desirable to evaluate the quality of the primary research paper by utilizing evaluation criteria and evaluation tools to select the primary research paper, which also affects the quality of qualitative meta-synthetic studies. It is necessary for the researcher to recognize the epistemological difference in qualitative meta-synthesis, to consider saturation of the primary research paper, and to minimize the decontextualization of the primary research paper. Above all, the creative interpretation of researchers should provide expanded knowledge and insights into the research area. Conclusion: By clarifying the purpose of qualitative meta-synthesis, the researcher should ensure justification for performing qualitative meta-synthesis. Researchers also need to make efforts to ensure methodological transparency in order to overcoming the limitations of qualitative meta-synthesis.