• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.353-374
• /
• 2008

The descriptive epidemiology of specific neuropathic pain disorders has not been well-des-cribed, although the burden of neuropathic pain is well recognized. The true incidence of neuro-pathic pain disorder is unknown, but it is believed to be under diagnosed and treated inade-quately, despite the development of various diagnostic system. The purpose of this study was to report the epidemiology of specific neuropathic pain as managed by all kinds of hospital in Korea. A descriptive analysis of the epidemiology of prevalent trigeminal neuralgia(TN)(n-=77,053 27,6%), atypical facial pain(AFP)(n=12,382 4.4%), glossopharyngeal neuralgia(GN)-(n=1,319 0.5%), post-herpetic neuralgia(PHN)-(n=84,598 30.3%), diabetic neuropathy(DN)-(n=85,989 30.8%), atypical odontalgia(AO)-(n=16,001 5.7%) and glossodynia(GD)(n=2,133 0.8%) and treatment departments and treatment durations from computerized Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service(HIRA) of Korea: January 2003 to December 2005, are reported with rates increasing over time for PHN and DN and decreasing for the other neuropathic pain disorders. Most patients were treated at private clinic record for 57.6-72.8% of patients except OA for 10.3%. The percentage of Dept of dentistry for outpatients was 3.2% for TN, 34.7% for AO and 15.4% for GD. Other neuropathic pain patients visited nearly medical clinic.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.39-46
• /
• 2019

Antidepressants are widely used to treat depression in Korea, however, only a few studies have focused on the provider of the treatment. The aim of the study is to compare the differences between patients who were prescribed antidepressants by psychiatrists and those who were prescribed antidepressants by non-psychiatrists in South Korea. Patients with a diagnosis of depressive disorder who had been newly prescribed antidepressants in 2012 were selected from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service database. They were classified into two groups depending on whether they received the antidepressant prescription from a psychiatrist or non-psychiatrist. Sociodemographic, clinical, and depression related cost has been investigated. Treatment resistant depression, which is defined as a failure of two antidepressant regimens to alleviate symptoms, was also investigated. Prescription adequacy was assessed based on whether a regimen was maintained for at least 4 weeks. Among the 834694 patients with pharmaceutically treated depression (PTD) examined in this study, 326122 (39.1%) were treated by psychiatrists. Patients who were treated by psychiatrists were younger and had more psychiatric comorbidities than those treated by non-psychiatrists. They had longer PTD duration (229.3 days vs. 103.0 days, p < 0.05) and a larger proportion of treatment resistant depression (9.3% of PTD) when compared to those patients treated by non-psychiatrists. The patients treated by psychiatrists had a smaller proportion of inadequate antidepressant use compared to those patients in the non-psychiatrist group (44.5% vs. 65.1%, p < 0.05). The costs related to depression corrected with PTD duration were higher in the non-psychiatrist group (32214 won vs. 56001 won, p < 0.05). Patients who receive antidepressants from psychiatrists are patients with more severe, treatment-resistant depression. Psychiatrists prescribe antidepressants more adequately and cost- effectively than non-psychiatrists.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.18 no.8
• /
• pp.162-170
• /
• 2017

This study analyzed the current situation of medium and small-sized hospital nursing staff and related policies, and identified the factors that affect staffing level to provide evidence for planning and adopting policy. By analyzing the statistical data published by public institutions such as the Ministry of Health and Welfare and Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, the result was viewed based on the understanding of various internal and external health care environments. The number of active nurses was less than 50% of the number of licensed nurses and has decreased every year. This means that the cost-effectiveness of increases in nursing college enrollment should be reconsidered. Inpatient nursing fees by staffing grades has caused nurses to move from medium and small-sized hospitals, where there is a severe lack of staff, to more advanced general hospitals. As a result, the lack of nursing staff in medium and small-sized hospitals has worsened. In conclusion, reexamination is needed to improve effectiveness of inpatient nursing fees by staffing grades as a policy to secure the workforce of medium and small-sized hospitals. Furthermore, the tracking management system of licensed nurses must be able to solve the imbalance between demand and supply of nursing staff.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.21-27
• /
• 2019

Purpose: Mortality rate in the health services research field is frequently considered as a proxy for measuring healthcare quality. We compared the mortality rate and hospitalization levels among patients with poisoning. Methods: A population-based study of hospital size and level based on the Korean health insurance and assessment service was conducted to identify the impact of hospital level on patient mortality. Results: We analyzed a total of 16,416 patients, of which 7,607 were from tertiary hospitals, 8,490 were from general hospitals, and 319 were from hospitals. The highest mortality rate of diagnosis regarding poisoning was T60.31 (other herbicides and fungicides, 16%), followed by T60.0 (organophosphate and carbamate insecticides, 12.7%). There was no statistical difference in mortality among hospital levels for gender. Among age groups, tertiary hospitals had lower mortality than general hospitals and hospitals for patients aged more than 70 years (11.9% mortality at tertiary vs 14.2% at general and 23% at hospital; p=0.003, adjusted z score=-6.9), general hospitals had lower mortality than tertiary hospitals and hospitals for patients aged 18 to 29 (0.6% at general vs 2.4% at tertiary and 3.7% at hospital; p=0.01, adjusted z score=-4.3), and hospitals had lower mortality than tertiary hospitals and general hospitals for patients between 50 and 59 years of age (0% at hospital vs 6.4% at general and 8.3% at tertiary; p=0.004). Conclusion: Overall, there was no significant difference between mortality and hospital level among poisoned patients. However, to establish an efficient treatment system for patients with poisoning, further studies will be needed to identify the role of each facility according to hospital level.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
• /
• v.48 no.3
• /
• pp.324-332
• /
• 2021

This study was conducted to investigate changes in dental visits in children and adolescents due to COVID-19. Based on the data provided by the Korea Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, the number of dental visits among children and adolescents from January 2019 to August 2020, and the rate change according to Korean disease classification in 2019 and 2020 were analyzed by month and region. From January to August 2020, compared to the same period in 2019, the total number of visits to dental clinics and dental hospitals among children and adolescents decreased by 642,202 times (16.3%) in the 0 - 9 years old group, and 313,488 times (9.2%) in the 10 - 19 years old group. During the same period, the decreases due to Z29 (Need for other prophylactic measures) decreased by 118,219 times (34%) in the 0 - 9 years old group and 83,944 times (31%) in the 10 - 19 years old group, showing the greatest change. It is analyzed that overall dental service of children and adolescents has decreased due to COVID-19, and this may lead to deterioration of oral health of children and adolescents in the future, and this study can be used as a reference in case of an infectious disease such as COVID-19 in the future.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
• /
• v.49 no.1
• /
• pp.76-84
• /
• 2022

The study was conducted to analyze the impacts of COVID-19 on the number of dental trauma patients. Based on the data provided by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service's Healthcare Bigdata Hub, dental trauma which occurred from 2010 to 2020 was analyzed. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the incidence of dental trauma per 100,000 decreased compared to the average Incidence between 2017 to 2019. By age, it decreased by 5.4% (p = 0.017) for 0 - 4 years old, 30.3% (p < 0.001) for 5 - 9 years old, 39.5% (p < 0.001) for 10 - 14 years old, 14.5% (p = 0.002) for 15 - 19 years old, 1.3% for 20 - 29 years old, 0.2% for 40 - 49 years old, 2.7% for 50 - 59 years old, 1.2% for 60 years old or older, but it increased by 2.5% for 30 - 39 years old. Compared monthly, before and after the outbreak of COVID-19 confirmed patients, the number of dental trauma patients dropped sharply. After the outbreak of COVID-19, the incidence of dental trauma decreased significantly for under 20 years old, but the decrease was not significant for 20 years old or older.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.32 no.1
• /
• pp.94-106
• /
• 2022

Background: The efforts to build more "people centered," "patient centered" health system has been emerging all over the world. Aligning with it, the Korean government is conducing the survey called "Medical Service Experience Survey (MSES)." There are critics, however, that MSES is not scrutinizing the medical experiences of patients in various healthcare settings. For this reason, this study aims to perform an empirical analysis of the differences in answers of patients responding to various healthcare settings. Methods: There are two steps in this study. First, explanatory analysis is conducted to compare the tendency of statistical concentration on questionnaires by divided healthcare settings. Second, confirmative analysis is carried out to evaluate the construct validity, reliability, and discriminant validity of the questionnaire in each healthcare setting. The raw data of MSES, which was conducted in 2020 by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in Korea and the Korean Institute for Health and Social Affairs is used. Results: As a result of exploratory factor analysis for all outpatients, the items were classified into four factors statistically: "doctor experience," "nurse experience," "outpatient service experience," and "patient satisfaction." It was confirmed that the reliability of all factors extracted was secured. However, for patients who visited hospitals, questionnaires related to personal privacy, such as "experiences on medical staffs considering physical exposure" or "experiences related to personal information exposure," were answered in conjunction with items of "nurse experience." Besides, patients responded that administrative elements of medical services, such as "experiences of comfort in medical institutions" and "experiences of satisfactory administrative services," were related to the items of "nurse experience." The answers of patients who visited traditional medical hospitals and clinics about "doctor experience" and "nurse experience" were not discerned statistically, and the answers to "doctor experience," "nurse experience," and "medical institution experience" were entangled with the responses of patients who visited dental hospitals and clinics. On the other hand, as a result of the confirmatory factor analysis, it was found that the inquiries of MSES generally had intensive validity. Conclusion: The collection of objective and scientific data is the prominent component to enlighten the patient-centered healthcare system alongside with change of the worldwide paradigm of measuring the healthcare system performance as follows the transition of perspective of health care from provider-centered to patient-centered. This study empirically shows that the patient experience can vary as the healthcare settings. Furthermore, to make an advance in measuring the experience of patients with medical services, this article proposes the deliberate consideration of the different kinds of healthcare settings and articulate design of the survey.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.47-87
• /
• 2022

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, non-face-to-face treatment was temporarily permitted. A lot of consensus has been formed on the need to continuous non-face-to-face treatment. However, the current 「Medical Service Act」 only permits telemedicine between doctors and medical personnel. On the other hand, as a result of legal interpretation, there is an opinion that non-face-to-face treatment is allowed. But considering the overall legal system, non-face-to-face treatment is not allowed. Nevertheless, we have to consider the reality such as the development of science and technology and the outbreak of infectious diseases. Therefore, it is not advisable to allow face-to-face treatment only. Ultimately, it is necessary to find ways to ensure that non-foce-to-face treatment can be performed in a safe and effective manner. And it should be institutionalized. This is strategically necessary and important. Therefore, we must look over ahead legal issues to be discussed. First of all, the scope, the target disease and the subject of implement have to be clear. Also, structurally, the standards of facilities and equipment must be prepared for non-face-to-face treatment to be implemented. Functionally, communication and information exchange between doctors and patients should be well conducted. In addition, the information protection management system that occurs in the process of non-face-to-face treatment should be materialized. Lastly, the issue of responsibility and cost of non-face-to-face treatment should be decided in detail. When these problems materialize, it can be expected that a safe non-face-to-face treatment environment will be established.

• Journal of the Korean Orthopaedic Association
• /
• v.56 no.4
• /
• pp.305-309
• /
• 2021

Purpose: This study analyzed the increase in disposal rate of femoral heads in the bone bank of a single hospital from medical disease and drug history, as assessed by the Korean health insurance review and assessment service. Materials and Methods: The disposal rate and cause of 340 femoral heads were analyzed according to the regulations of the bone bank based on the standard model of the Ministry of food and drug safety. Results: One hundred and seven (33%) of 323 femoral heads collected from 2009 to 2018, and 65 (46%) of 142 femoral heads collected from 2015 to 2018 were discarded. The most common causes were related to the history of dementia and the administration of radioisotope for nuclear medicine. Conclusion: The current methods and screening tools can lead to errors in disposing of the available tissues in a bone bank. Thus, improved standards and screening methods are needed.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
• /
• v.49 no.2
• /
• pp.188-196
• /
• 2022

The purpose of this study was to investigate pediatric emergency department visits patterns and characteristics of children and adolescents under the age of 20 in South Korea from 2002 to 2015 due to dental conditions. This study used a stratified sample of approximately 1 million people from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service Database. The age, region, household income, and treatment cost were included for the patient characteristic analysis. Pediatric patients were compared to the adult group (over 20 years old). In children and adolescents, the rate of emergency department visits due to dental conditions was higher for traumatic conditions than for non-traumatic conditions. Children and adolescents with higher household income visited the emergency department more often than those with lower household income. The region with the highest number of children and adolescents visiting the emergency department for dental conditions was Busan (per 100,000 population). Although this study could not confirm the annual trend of children and adolescents' dental emergency visits due to the sample size limitation, the characteristics of children and adolescents' dental emergency visits were compared with those of adults using a stratified sample.