Effect of cold sensitivity among female nurses on patient comfort

Research Project

Project/Area Number	17K17426
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Fundamental nursing
Research Institution	Hyogo University of Health Sciences
Principal Investigator	Suzuki Miyuki 兵庫医療大学, 看護学部, 教授 (30510987)
Project Period (FY)	2017-04-01 – 2021-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2020)
Budget Amount *help	¥4,030,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥930,000) Fiscal Year 2019: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000) Fiscal Year 2018: ¥1,560,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000) Fiscal Year 2017: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000)
Keywords	看護師 / 冷え / 看護技術 / 皮膚温 / 患者 / 快適感 / 手 / 看護学
Outline of Final Research Achievements	Step 1 showed that the skin temperature of the female nurses' hands decreased at 11 o'clock and tended to increase in the afternoon. Individual differences in hand temperature were found to be large and the skin temperatures of the middle fingers decreased by 3.4°C after one hand wash. In step 2, a negative correlation was observed between the skin temperature difference before and after the measurement at the patient's pulse measurement site and the skin temperature difference before and after the pulse measurement on the nurse’s middle finger. It was revealed that heat exchange occurred due to heat conduction between the nurse and the patient in the pulse measurement scene. In step 3, it was shown that the skin temperature of the hands decreased following hand washing but tended to reheat after about 9 min implicating that the skin temperature and blood flow were correlated.
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	女性看護師における就労中の手の皮膚温の日内変動、および看護技術によって手の皮膚温に変動があるかについて明らかにした。また、看護師が患者に脈拍測定する場面で、看護師と患者間で熱伝導による熱交換が生じていることを示した。看護師自身が、手の皮膚温の変動の特徴や、看護師・患者の皮膚温において熱伝導による熱交換が行われていることを知ることで、看護師が患者に触れる際、いつどのように留意すべきか考察が可能になる。これは患者の快適感に影響することからも、看護学的に重要な知見と考える。手洗いによる皮膚温の低下からの復温には約9分かかるため、今後は冷たさがあるときの対策を検討する必要がある。