Based on Japanese history, nurses regard sincerity as valuable in their nursing practice. However, there are not systematic studies related to nurses' sincerity, so far. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explain the structure of nurses' sincerity for patients. Investigations were conducted by semistructured interviews using guidelines for 8 nurses.

The results determined 24 types of nurses' sincerity by the KJ method. 19 types of them are elements associated sincerity as behavior or attitude on nursing practice. In addition, these 19 elements were divided into 3 categories as “A: To be able to behave with common sense”, “B: Enhancement of one's potential with autonomy”, and “C: To esteem patients”. “A” category means that a nurse's sincerity develops through one's career and life history. “B” category is similar with a concept of Professionhood, and “C” category is focused on the concept of Caring. And 5 of 24 types are elements associated how to regard the sincerity by clinical nurses. Possessing these characteristics of sincerity for patients is essential to more effective nursing.

It is difficult for subjects to notice sincerity because of the characteristic of spontaneity. However, care-receivers and colleagues can notice a nurse's sincerity. Therefore, when a nurse notices and accepts sincerity into colleague's nursing scene, it leads to a dynamic chain of sharing the values of sincerity among groups at workplace.

This study aimed to examine collaborative practice between physicians and nurses in Japanese hospitals. The Collaborative Practice Scales (CPS) developed by Weiss & Davis (1985) was translated into Japanese. A self-administered questionnaire survey by using the Japanese version of CPS was conducted on 520 physicians and 2,139 nurses at four hospitals in four prefectures, and data from 275 physicians and 1,678 nurses who completed the Japanese version of CPS were analyzed (valid response rates of 52.9% and 78.4%, respectively). The Cronbach's alpha of the Japanese version of CPS were over 0.9 for total scores, 0.84-0.88 for subscales. Factor analysis confirmed that the factorial structure of the Japanese version of CPS for nurses was almost consistent with the original version. As for physicians, it was slightly different from the original version. Although the validity of subscales for physicians requires further investigation, the total scores of CPS could be utilized for measuring collaborative practice between physicians and nurses. The results showed the CPS total scores of our subjects were low in comparison with those of previous studies in the United States. The CPS total scores of physicians were related to their specialties and those of nurses, to their qualifications and positions. Further investigation into factors influencing collaborative practice is required for physicians. For nurses, it is necessary to develop their communication skills.

The number of cases of HIV infection is increasing in Japan, so strategies to prevent new cases are crucial. Learning self-care behaviors for maintaining medication adherence and preventing secondary HIV transmission is important for individuals with HIV/AIDS. Nurses can play an important role in helping patients maximize self-care skills through educational practices. An additional medical fee for management of HIV infection was established in 2006, and one of the requirements was to allocate nurses specifically focused on HIV/AIDS patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the allocation of nurses and educational practices for self-care behaviors of patients at outpatient departments and to clarify whether practices differ according to allocation patterns of nurses. Self-reported questionnaires were sent to 369 AIDS regional hospitals in Japan by mail. Background of the hospital, allocation of nurses to HIV/AIDS clinics, and frequency of educational practices in terms of 16 items specialized for HIV/AIDS care by nurses were investigated. A total of 176 hospitals responded (47.7%), and 130 hospitals had experience of seeing HIV/AIDS patients. Of these, nurses were assigned at 113 hospitals, and about 60% had nurses engaged only for HIV/AIDS patients (pattern A) or in caring for patients with HIV/AIDS when they consulted a doctor at a general outpatient department (pattern B). Nurses assigned for either pattern A or pattern B performed educational practices more frequently than generalduty nurses. Furthermore, in pattern B, nurses in institutions with an HIV/AIDS clinic every day or on scheduled days during the week performed educational practices more frequently than nurses at institutions with less frequent clinics. This study revealed providing HIV/AIDS specialized nurses is important for providing adequate education for patients.

This research focused on the socialization of newly-graduated nurses and their clinical compentencies for nursing. The growth and development of newly-graduated nurses was viewed in terms of socialization, the improvement of their practical nursing capabilities, and in the way that newlygraduated nurses are perceived. Forms of involvement in promoting the growth and development of newly-graduated nurses were clarified retroactively.

At two facilities of an acute hospital provided by the local government, a group interview was conducted with the use of a semi-constructive questionnaire targeting nurses who had been working for a period of two years since completing their basic nursing education, and the data with regard to “their actual experience in the first year of socialization, the improvement of their clinical competencies for nursing, and the different types of effective involvement” were collected. Word-for-word data was encoded into types of action, and then categorized.

All 6 nurses whose consent I obtained were female of average age of 23.3 years. They belonged to the general ward of the department of internal medicine, or the department of surgery. They responded that there was a full-time worker in charge of training in the ward where all the nurses worked.

As forms of involvement in promoting the growth and development of newly-graduated nurses, “the teaching of practical nursing skills for the carrying out of duties,” “the formation of a constructive learning culture,” “approval,” “attention to important circumstantial information,” “nursing safety,” “motivation,” “the nurturing of socially responsible nurses,” and “role models” were selected.

I believe that a focus on the socialization of newly-graduated nurses and the clarification of their place within society and nursing will be useful for the training of newly-graduated nurses in the future.

To be able to adequately provide nursing informatics education to nursing managers working at Japanese hospitals, subject areas in which there is an urgent need for education in nursing informatics competencies were decided using the Delphi method based on a survey of nursing informatics experts.

The experts participating in the survey were 76 lecturers responsible for teaching informationrelated subjects in the nursing manager curriculum accredited by the Japanese Nursing Association. The number of experts who responded to all three surveys was 16. The original list contained 69 subject areas considered by Stagger (2002) to be abilities necessary for both experienced and novice nurses. The identification criteria for the necessary teaching items were: median score of ≥4.0, IQR ≤1.0 and IQR% ≥80% during the tertiary survey.

Among the 26 items were selected, those related to informatics knowledge and skills exceeded those related to computer skills. In a future study it will be necessary to carry out further examination of a specific curriculum including the identified subject areas for nursing manager education.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to clarify the effect of management by objectives in hospital nursing organization. Job satisfaction, organization commitment, perceived system knowledge (PSK) were used as the valuation indexes of effect of management by objectives, and the relation between them and way of setting goal, high or low of objective achievement degree, superiors' feedback was examined.

Methods: An autographic questionnaire survey was conducted in 222 nurses, who had worked for a couple of years, in three public hospitals running management by objectives.

Conclusion: In a total point of job satisfaction of 49 nurses checking identities, the ratio of the point rose after introduction significantly. And all items constituting job satisfaction went up. In organization commitment, continuous commitment rose significantly. PSK rose, however, significant difference was not observable. The objective achievement degree analyzed in each high and low group, the high increased in job satisfaction and continuous commitment more than the low. The significant items of job satisfaction were autonomy, interaction, and professional status. And the objective achievement degree was high significantly when the goal was set up high and clearly. In addition, the degree was higher as their superiors gave them feedback more.

These circumstances led the following. Job satisfaction increased after carrying out management by objectives. And it was higher in the high group of satisfaction. The introduction of management by objectives enhanced continuous commitment and feelings to keep working without leaving their job whether the objective achievement degree was high or low. Management by objectives, which is a goal interview and so on, may produce an effect on a meaningful rise in PSK after introducing PSK into the low group of objective achievement degree. It seems necessary for nurses' superiors to acquire a coaching technique because objective achievement degree is related to the superiors' feedback.