The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of massage after a footbath as a nursing intervention for post-stroke patients with pain and numbness. This study is designed as a quasi-experiment, comparing non-randomized stroke patients with pain and numbness (20 patients) and stroke patients without pain and numbness (20 patients). The massaging method is a 15-minute lower leg massage after immersion the patient’s lower legs for 10 minutes in 41.0 to 42.0℃ water. The evaluation criteria are the subjective degree of pain and numbness (VAS), blood pressure, heart rate variability (HRV) and brainwaves. The results of the study indicate that VAS is significantly lower after the intervention. Furthermore, HF for patients with pain and numbness became significantly higher, which seems to support the evaluation of VAS, and the β waves also became significantly lower. The above findings indicate that a post-footbath massage has a relaxation effect to stroke patients and is furthermore an effective nursing intervention that results in alleviating post-stroke pain and numbness.

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　The purpose of this study was to identify the characteristics of the infection prevention behavior of nurses in relation to tracheal aspiration procedures in the intensive care unit (ICU), where many patients attached to mechanical ventilators are admitted and the risk of healthcare-associated infection is high, and to obtain suggestions in regard to the education that is needed.
　The subjects were 42 ICU nurses, and we observed their actions during 126 tracheal aspiration procedures, conducted a bacteriological survey of the environment around 11 patients, and conducted a survey of awareness by means of a questionnaire, and of attitude by self-report.
　The result of the observation survey showed a high rate of proper glove use, but the rate of proper performance of hand hygiene was low. A tendency was seen for the hand hygiene performance rate to be higher after aspiration procedures than before aspiration procedures. Also, 15.9% of the subjects were able to properly perform hand hygiene from before the start of the aspiration procedure to its conclusion and perform glove handling as a single continuous series of actions. Preventing infection by performing all of the individual actions necessitates acquiring the skill of being able to perform them as a continuous series of actions.
　Furthermore, even when the nurses predicted contamination, they did not go so far as to clean the site. We obtained suggestions in regard to education support that will enable feedback regarding what nurses themselves can do and enable them to review their own behavior in relation to events that they are aware of.

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　With 48 healthy university students, male and female, as subjects, using a stretcher to which a velocimeter, accelerometer and body pressure distribution meter were attached, the velocity was set to 3 km/h, 5 km/h and 7 km/h, and following a fixed route, transportation was carried out, and during course changes, the extent of acceleration and shift in the center of gravity were measured. The results were that during course changes in stretcher transportation, when the velocity was high, the acceleration was also high, in both forward-backward and left-right directions, and accompanying that, the distance of the shift in the center of gravity was also large. Additionally, a positive correlation was observed in acceleration and distance of the shift in the center of gravity at all velocities, in both forward-backward and left-right directions. Accompanying an increase in velocity, from the fact that the head undergoes significant movement, it is indicated that there is a necessity, while transporting, of keeping in mind the possibility that the condition of patients with head trauma or cervical spine injury may be negatively affected.

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　The purpose of this study was to compare the practice of nursing techniques by foreign nurses in Japan, the practice of nursing techniques by these same nurses in their home countries, and the practice of nursing techniques by Japanese new nursing graduates. The subjects were 65 nurses who came to Japan under an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) program and who passed the Japanese national nursing examination in 2010, 2011, or 2012 (99th to 101st annual examinations). They were working at 48 institutions nationwide in Japan. The survey was done using anonymous, self-administered questionnaires sent by mail. The questionnaires contained 39 items on basic nursing techniques, comprising daily living assistance and medical support techniques. The valid response rate was 75.6%. The nationality of the respondents was Filipino for 9 respondents (29.0%) and Indonesian for 22 respondents (71.0%). The nursing techniques more than half of the foreign nurses performed by themselves were 25 of the 39 items that were focused on daily living assistance. In their home countries the foreign nurses performed nearly all techniques by themselves, including both daily living assistance and medical support techniques. In Japan the foreign nurses performed these techniques at a lower rate than Japanese new nursing graduates ; it was found that while the foreign nurses performed daily living assistance by themselves they performed medical support techniques at a lower rate.

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