• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.118-131
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• 2000

Background : A continuous healthcare quality improvement is needed to provide high quality healthcare service as well as to maintain trust in terms of satisfying the needs of the patients. Recently it also became an essential issue. in hospital management, recognized for it's competitive potentiality among healthcare organization groups. This study was conducted to analyze patient complaints and issues received by the Quality Improvement Department. Its purpose is to improve healthcare qualities within the hospital, as well as establish policies and appropriate strategies in hospital management. Method : From July 1st to September 30th of the year 1999, we analyzed all complaints and issues made by various patients and their families, which were received through 24 hour phone consultation, numerous suggestion boxes, letters and E-mails, The issues were classified into 16 different categories based on a Patient Satisfaction Assessment Tool. All data were segregated according to the departmental frequencies and their contents. To come up with for environmental and patient satisfaction improvement, all complaints or issues were communicated with hospital administrators, medical and nursing staff and employees. Comprehensive customer satisfaction activities including improving phone etiquette were discussed in Customer Satisfaction Team, CQI Team and each Department. All opportunities for improvement were implemented. Feedback actions were discussed. Results : A total of 317 cases were collected. Issues regarding parking and other accommodation facilities were most common complaints that were 14.5% of total. Issues regarding admission rooms (10.7%), admission procedures (10.7%), waiting room environment (8.8%), nurses and nurse assistants (7.6%), physicians (6.6%) and others (23%) followed. Thirteen of 45 departments received more than 8 complaints. The Nursing Department had the most complaint, receiving 9.8% of total complaints. Complaints regarding the Nursing Department were predominantly related to the environment of patient rooms. The Department of Psychiatry for phone etiquette (4.7%), Department of Otolaryngology for the nursing staff's attitude and phone etiquette (4.4%), and the Admission Department followed. As a part of efforts to improve patient satisfaction, a new parking structure was built and reallocation of the parking space was done. Renovation of other accommodation facilities were carried out by hospital administration, Monthly phone call and answering attitude survey was done by QI Department. Based on this survey we made a phone etiquette manual and distributed throughout the hospital. Compare to the last year, Patient Satisfaction Index measured by Korea Productivity Center using National Customer Satisfaction Index was improved 7 points. According to our organization's own study, we confirmed the phone etiquette was improved 11% than last year. Conclusions : Issues related to parking and other accommodation facilities ranked first followed by complaints made regarding the patient care area, the admission and cashier process, and nurses' and doctors' attitude. The Nursing and Psychiatry Departments need improvement regarding phone etiquette. Results were shared and played a vital role in policymaking and strategic planning of the hospital. It is imperative that we keep our database updated by listening to and solving the needs of each patient. The CQI activities can be achieved only by full commitment of the hospital top management supported by related personal.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.377-384
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• 2009

This study was conducted to examine the effects of electrical conductivity (EC) and rootstock on initial growth and physiological response of grafted pepper in protected cultivation. The pepper (Capcicum annuum L.) cultivars 'Nokgwang' was used as scions, and the cultivars used as rootstocks were Capcicum annuum L: 'Kataguruma', 'Conesian hot' and 'Tantan'. The scion cultivar left ungrafted was used as a control. Two experiments were to examine the effects of the EC levels of nutrient solution on the growth and physiological response of grafted pepper, respectively. Nutrient solution was supplied with three level (1.5, 3.0, 5.0dS/m). By the change of nutrient solution EC level, the plant growth of all seedlings decreased with the increase in EC level. grafted seedling was grafted onto rootstock cultivar 'kataguruma' showed higher growth than the other cultivar at the EC 5.0dS/m level. But this result was slightly different by cultivation time (spring and fall). The total N and P concentration were increased with the increase in EC level, but the Ca and Mg concentration were decreased. Photosynthetic rate of ungrafted seedlings decreased at the EC 5.0dS/m level. But there was no difference between EC 1.5 and 3.0dS/m level. Grafted seedlings showed lower photosynthetic rate at the EC 5.0dS/m level. The activity of SOD do not have a uniformly tendency by the EC level. With the EC 5.0dS/m level, the activity of APX attained higher level than the other EC level. Further study will be needed to examine additional cultivation experiment for more variable rootstock, and development of rootstock for salinity tolerance.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.236-245
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• 2000

Background: Transbronchial lung biopsy(TBLB) has known to yield useful information for pulmonary infiltrates of uncertain etiology, However, its safety and usefulness have not been conclusive in the critically ill patients with respiratory failure. Moreover, TBLB has not been recommended for patients with mechanical ventilation. This study was conducted to investigate the diagnostic values and risks of Will performed on critically ill patients at bedside to obtain information on the pulmonary infiltrate of unknown etiology. Methods: Twenty patients(21 admissions with 23 cases) with diffuse pulmonary infiltrates who were treated in a medical intensive care unit of a tertiary referral hospital from January 1994 to May 1998, were enrolled for the study. Their medical records were retrospectively reviewed. TBLB was opted when a noninvasive diagnostic work-up failed to reveal the cause for the pulmonary infiltrate. The procedure was performed at patients' bedside without assistance of fluoroscopy. Bronchial washing or bronchoalveolar lavage was performed on the same pulmonary segment before performing TBLB. Results: Adequate specimens were obtained in 18 cases(78%). TBLB provided a specific diagnosis in two cases. The results of TBLB suggested the underlying etiology in 9 cases; bacterial pneumonitis(4), hypersensitivity pneumonitis(1), polymyositis(1), radiation fibrosis(1), idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis(1), and BOOP(1). Therapeutic decisions were altered in 11 cases(47.8%) based on the TBLB results. Pneumocystis carinii was found in the BAL fluid of another case. Ten patients with a therapeutic change and ten patients without a management change had mortality rates of 40% and 80%, respectively. The APACHE III scores were significantly higher in patients with complications($72.8{\pm}21.8$) compared with those without complications ($48.3{\pm}18.9$)(p<0.05). The complication rates were higher in those with mechanical ventilation(50%) than in those without Mechanical ventilation(33%), but the difference was not statistically significant(p=0.3). Conclusions: TBLB may be a useful diagnostic option for critically ill patients with unknown cause of pulmonary infiltrates. However, it should be cautious be used with care for patients with mechanical ventilation or for severely ill patients.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.249-256
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• 2016

This study was performed to investigate the effect of various concentrations of Diniconazole (DC) on the growth and quality of grafted tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) seedlings cultivated during the summer season. Concentrations of DC were set to 0 (non-treatment), 5, 10 and $20mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$, were treated once 3 days after grafting. Rootstock of the seedlings was shorter in the DC $5mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ and $10mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ treatment compared to the non-treatment, and the scions were significantly shorter in the DC $20mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ treatment. Seedlings were significantly shorter in the DC $20mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ treatment compared with the non-treatment. Leaf area was lower for seedlings subjected to all treatments than for seedlings in non-treatment group, and reduction was dose dependent. In particular, the DC $20mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ treatment inhibited both leaf and stem growth. The fresh weighs of leaves and stems of the seedlings treated with DC $5mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ and the fresh weights of roots subjected to all treatments were significantly greater than those of the non-treatment seedlings. Dry weight per organs of the seedlings treated with DC $5mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ was significantly greater that of the non-treatment seedlings, but the dry weight of leaves of seedling treated with DC $20mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ was much less than that of the non-treatment seedlings. The T/R ratio of the seedlings was lower for all treatments than for the non-treatment. The relative growth rate of the seedlings was significantly lower in the DC $20mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ treatment and, the leaf area rate of seedlings was lower in the DC $5mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ and $10mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ treatment than in the non-treatment. Therefore, the optimal concentration of Dinoconazole used to produce a suitable grafted tomato seedling in the summer season is $10mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ or less.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.197-202
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• 2010

Purpose: Recently, many hospitals have been tried to increase the satisfaction of the outpatients through blood-gathering, exam, result notice and process in a day. Each laboratory has been used the automatic equipment for the rapid requests of the result notice and the increase of the reliability and efficiency. Current automatic equipments that have been limited short TAT(Turn-Around Time)because of the restricted batch lists and 1 tip-5 detectors. The Gamma Pro which is made in Korea to improve the shortcomings of existing automation equipment, complemented with capacity to perform a wide range of domestic automation equipment. In this study, we evaluated the usefulness and reliability of short TAT by comparing Gamma Pro with current automatic equipment. Materials and Methods: We studied the correlation between Gamma Pro and RIA-mat 280 using the respective 100 specimens of low or high density to the patients who were requested the thyroid hormone test (Total T3, TSH and Free T4) in Samsung Medical Center Sep. 2009. To evaluate the split-level Gamma Pro, First, we measured accuracy and carry over on the tips. Second, the condition of optimal incubation was measured by the RPM (Revolution Per Minute) and revolution axis diameter on the incubator. For the analysis for the speed of the specimen-processing, TAT was investigated with the results in a certain time. Result: The correlation coefficients (R2) between the Gamma Pro and RIA-mat 280 showed a good correlation as T3 (0.98), TSH (0.99), FT4 (0.92). The coefficient of variation (C.V) and accuracy was 0.38 % and 98.3 % at tip 1 and 0.39 % and 98.6 % at tip 2. Carry over showed 0.80 % and 1.04% at tip 1 and tip 2, respectively. These results indicate that tips had no effect on carry over contamination. At the incubator condition, we found that the optimal condition was 1.0mm of diameter at 600RPM in 1.0mm and 1.5mm of at 500RPM or 1.0mm and 1.5 mm of diameter at 600 RPM. the Gamma Pro showed that the number of exam times were increased as maximum 20 times/day comparing to 6 times/day by current automatic equipment. These results also led to the short TAT from 4.20 hour to 2.19 hours in whole processing. Conclusion: The correlation of between the Gamma Pro and RIA-mat 280 was good and has not carry over contamination in tips. The domestic automation equipment (Gamma Pro) decreases the TAT in whole test comparing to RIA-280. These results demonstrate that Gamma Pro has a good efficiency, reliability and practical usefulness, which may contribute to the excellent skill to process the large scale specimens.

• Korean Journal of Weed Science
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.208-216
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• 1988

This study was conducted to select herbicides safe for cucurbitaceae crops under the polyethylene film mulching culture. No crop injury with ethalfluralin (N-ethyl-N-(2-methylally)-2, 6-dinitro-4-(trifluoromethyl) aniline) was found in gourd, water melon, cantaloup, cucumber and pumpkin of direct seeded culture. There was no significant reduction in fresh weight of gourd and pumpkin at the rate of 1080 g a.i./ha, that of water melon, cantaloup and cucumber at the rate of 720 g a.i./ha. Napropamide (N,N-diethyl-2-(${\alpha}$-naphthyloxy) propionamide) did not cause any crop injury at the rate of 1500 to 3000 g a.i./ha. There was no significant reduction in fresh weight of gourd, pumpkin and cucumber at the rate of 3000 g a.i./ha, and that of cantaloup and water melon at the rate of 1500 g a.i./ha. Trifluralin (${\alpha}$, ${\alpha}$, ${\alpha}$-trifluoro-2,6-dinitro-N, N-diprophlaniline) did not cause any crop injury in gourd. When ethalfluralin, napropamide and nitralin were applied to the transplanted seedlings of water melon and cantaloup, no significant reduction in the fresh weight were observed. The weeding effect greater than 90% was obtained with ethalfluralin at 720 to 1080 g a.i./ha and pendimethalin (N-(1-ethylpropyl)-3,4-dimethyl-2,6-dinitrobenzenamine) at 1268 g a.i./ha. The rest treatment gave the weeding effect ranging from 81 to 90%.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.33-47
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• 2011

One of the most fundamental jobs of contemporary government is to look into various ways of providing its citizens with the best service work. This study aims to establish a procedure through which to consign the management of city parks to private companies, thus inviting participation and satisfaction on the part of citizens. In particular, this procedure includes creating a system of selecting private managing companies, for instance, specifying standards of selection and assembling selection committees. The results of this study can be summarized as follows. First, city parks can be managed better by private companies than by local governments in terms of cost cuts, personnel training, business efficiency, and know-how accumulation. The legal background for this is found in central and local legal articles. Second, it is recommended that the selection committee be composed of 6 to 9 members, both insiders and outsiders. In addition to selecting private managing companies for contracting-out, the committee should under take the role of consulting on how to perform and revise selecting standards, so that they can continue to improve these procedures. Third, the decision on private management should be noticed in advance and be made based on standards considering each local government's condition. These standards should consider the aspects of the public good, cost saving, quality of service, managing supervision, and citizen participation. The committee's assessment takes into account both the quality and the quantity of the standards. Fourth, the contracting-out for city park management should follow the order of: announcing consignment and receiving applicants, organizing selection committees and assessing applications, selecting and contracting, midterm evaluation, and re-announcement and re-consignment. To run city parks through the contracting-out is expected to increase the number of park visitors. Additionally, private consignment will involve a participation of diverse citizenship, thus playing an important role in city parks' building of a green-culture community.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.61-71
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• 1999

Objective : The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between the premenstrual changes and stress perception in women with premenstrual changes($PMC^+$)(n=32) and those without premenstrual changes($PMC^-$)(n=62) by using prospective method. Method : The women who were older than 30 years of age and healthy were asked to complete a daily rating form based on DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for one menstrual cycle to assess the changes of psychological and physical symptoms across the menstrual cycle. They also completed 5-point likert scale to assess the perception of stress. Percent changes method was used to assess changes between follicular phase and luteal phase. Results : 1) No significant differences were found in demographic factors(age, education, marriage, employment) and risk factors(onset ages of menarche, regularities of premenstrual changes, duration of menstruation, cycle length, amount of menstruation, dysmenorrhea) between women with and without premenstrual changes. 2) There was a significant difference in mean luteal phase stress score between women with($1.92\pm0.63$) and without premenstrual changes($1.51\pm0.42$)(p<0.05). However no difference was found in mean follicular phase stress score between two groups($PMC^+$ : $1.67\pm0.43$, $PMC^-$ : $1.33\pm0.39$). 3) We divided women having premenstrual changes into two groups, higher stress group(stress score > 1.75(median)) and the lower stress group(stress score <1.75(median)). The higher stress group reported more luteal psychological symptoms than did the lower stress group(df=1, F=13.362, p<0.001). However, the groups did not differ in physical symptoms. Conclusion : In women with premenstrual changes, luteal stress score was higher than follicular stress score and this result suggested tha the perception of stress was related to psychological symptoms but not physical symptoms. These findings suggested that premenstrual change is associated with the stress level, and that it is important to manage the stress which is focused on the management of psychological symptom in the treamtment of prementrual syndrome.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.48 no.8
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• pp.813-819
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• 2005

Purpose : Medicolegal problems start when the patient asserts the mistake of doctor and doctor does not accept it. The purpose of this study is to assess the actual condition of medicolegal problems and to provide solutions of medicolegal problems in the pediatric field. Methods : There is not official statistical data about medicolegal problems in our country. We gathered data of legal insurance program of Korean Medical Association(KMA) and court cases and other fragmentary data. Results : Between 1981 and 1995, of total 2,338 cases reported to legal problem insurance program of KMA, most common ones were 748 cases of obstetrics and gynecology. Pediatric case was ranked at the 5th, 74 cases(3.1%). According to analysis of 41 medicolegal cases' after 1990, maltreatment of patient had the highest incidence of 14 cases, injection and medication were related to 12 cases, misdiagnosis was 9 cases, patient management were related to 4 cases, and others were 2 cases. The trial result of the medicolegal cases was that 31 cases were compensated, and 8 cases were defeated, and 2 cases were still in the process. Conclusion : The aspect of medical legal problem has the tendency of radicalism and systematization. This brings an economic destitution in the patient and gives damage to a doctor. In order to reduce medicolegal problem, doctor should offer a duty of explanation and efforts to his best to satisfy patient and endeavor to make an intimate doctor-patient relationship.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.154-165
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• 2002

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to identify characteristics of depression in cancer patients treated with chemotherapy. Methods : Subjects were 37 cancer inpatients of oncology in Yeungnam university hospital. BDI and ZDS were done and HDS was performed through semistructured interview. Results: 1) There were no significant differences of depression scale score according to sex, education, religion, marital status. 2) The mean scores of BDI, ZDS and HDS in 37 cancer patients were 18.27${\pm}$7.73, 36.51${\pm}$10.82, 15.14${\pm}$6.60, respectively. 3) HDS, ZDS scores were significantly higher in other cancer group receiving high dose chemotherapy. 4) Item score for depressed mood, diurnal variation(p<0.001), dissatisfaction(p<0.01), physical anxiety, decreased libido, sleep disturbance(p<0.05) were significantly higher in other cancer group than others. 5) Eight patients were diagnosed as having major depressive disorder, 11 as adjustment disorder, and 18 patients had no axis I diagnosis. 6) In major depressive disorder group, the score of the depressed mood item in ZDS was high (p<0.05). HDS item score for depressed mood, work difficulty, anxiey(p<0.001), psychomotor retardation(p<0.01) were significantly higher in major depressive disorder group. 7) In patients with adjustment disorder, ZDS item score of constipation(p<0.001), fatigue, anorexia (p<0.01), emptiness, sleep disturbance, dissatisfaction, weight loss(p<0.01) were high. HDS item score of hypochondriasis(p<0.01), agitation(p<0.01), fatigue, decreased libido(p<0.05) were significantly higher in adjustment disorder group. Conclusion : Some psychiatric disorders, such as adjustment disorder and major depressive disorder were common in the cancer patients in chemotherapy. Psychiatric intervention will increase compliance of cancer treatment and improve the quality of life. This study suggests that it would be important to consider the nature of somatic symptoms in diagnosing depression in cancer patients.