• Health Policy and Management
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.172-183
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• 2019

Background: Falls are the most frequent adverse events reported in hospitals. The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence rate and characteristics of falls in patients who used comprehensive nursing care service in National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital. Methods: Incidence rate of falls was investigated in patients using comprehensive nursing care service, from July 2013 to Jun 2017 and compared with those not using this service. The characteristics and risk factors for falls, and fall-related injuries were obtained. Results: Among the 62,445 patients who used the comprehensive nursing care service for 4 years, total of 672 falls were reported. The incidence rate of falls per 1,000 patients-day was 1.15. The percentage of fall-related injuries was 26.9% and that of major injury was 2.2%. Although the incidence rate of all falls was slightly higher in patients using comprehensive nursing care service than those not using this service, falls-related injuries were not correlated with the implementation of this service. Conclusion: The falls could be more frequently detected and reported in comprehensive nursing care service, but there was no difference in fall-related injuries.

• Archives of Hand and Microsurgery
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.290-295
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• 2018

Author planed peroneal artery perforator flap for ankle reconstruction and experienced successful result using sural neuro-lesser saphenous venous flap due to an unexpected event. A male Asian patient, 24 years old, had a history of recurrent operation wound disruption in the ankle region. Under general anesthesia, peroneal perforator and saphenous vein, as well as the sural nerve branches, were identified and preserved. In the process of flap rotation, an accidental division of peroneal artery perforator has occurred. Despite the division of the perforator, circulation was normal. The patient experienced no complication after the surgery. Some study reported that accompanying arteries and the vascular plexus around the sural nerve communicate. In conclusion, sufficient blood supply was possible only with the accompanying artery of the sural nerve without peroneal perforator. So, it is essential to always preserve not only perforator but also neurovascular bundles at any circumstances and any location.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Emergency Medicine
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.423-429
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• 2018

Objective: Falling is a common cause of head injury in preschool aged children. We investigated the characteristics of mild head injuries caused by falling and the association between body weight and occurrence of traumatic brain injuries (TBI). Methods: This retrospective observational study was conducted on head-injured preschool-aged children that visited the emergency department from January 2012 to December 2015. Characteristics such as age, sex, weight, free fall height, floor type, and presence of TBI, as defined as cerebral hemorrhage or skull fracture, were investigated. We calculated body weight percentiles by calibrating age and weight and categorized them into four quartile ranges. We grouped all included cases into two groups according to the presence of TBI. The characteristics of the two groups were compared by using chi-square test, and the association with TBI was investigated by using binomial logistic regression. Results: A total of 701 children were included, and TBI was observed in 95 children. Children with TBI were younger. The proportion of children with TBI was higher in the third and fourth quartiles of the body weight group as well as according to soft floor and fall from high height (${\geq}1m$). The odds of soft floor being associated with TBI was higher than the odds for hard floor (odds ratio, 2.734; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.597-4.680). The odds of high height (${\geq}1m$) being associated with TBI was higher than that for low height (odds ratio, 2.306; 95% CI, 1.155-4.601), and the odds ratio for the weight percentile group was 1.228 (95% CI, 1.005-1.499). Conclusion: Prevalence of TBI after falling in preschool-aged children might be associated with high fall-height and body weight quartiles.

• Clinics in Shoulder and Elbow
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.211-216
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• 2015

Background: Few studies have investigated magnetic resonance (MR) characteristics of traumatic posterosuperior rotator cuff tears involving the supraspinatus and infraspinatus. We hypothesized that traumatic rotator cuff tears may have MR characteristics distinguishable from those of non-traumatic tears. Methods: Preoperative MR arthrography and intraoperative tear size measurements were compared in 302 patients who underwent MR arthrography and subsequent arthroscopic rotator cuff repairs for traumatic (group T, 61 patients) or non-traumatic (group NT, 241 patients) tears. The inclusion criteria for both groups were posterosuperior full-thickness rotator cuff tear and age between 40 and 60 years. For group T, traumas were limited to accidental falls or slips, or sports injuries, motor vehicle accidents; injuries were associated with acute onset of pain followed by functional shoulder impairment; and time between injury and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was 6 weeks or less. Results: In group T, 72.1% of shoulders (44 patients) had tendon tears with blunt edges while 27.9% of shoulders (17 patients) had tears with tapering edges. In contrast, 21.2% of patients in group NT (51 patients) had blunt-edge tears, while 78.8% (190 patients) of tears had tapering edges. These results were statistically significant (p<0.001) and estimated odds ratio was 9.6. The size of tear did not vary significantly between groups. Conclusions: We found no exclusive MR characteristic to define traumatic tears. However, oblique coronal MRI of traumatic tears showed a significant tendency for abrupt and rough torn tendon edges and relatively consistent tendon thicknesses (without lateral tapering) compared to non-traumatic cuff tears.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.96-112
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• 2003

The purpose of this study was to determine how often toddlers and preschoolers in kindergartens have accidents and what factors affect the accident rate. The study population consisted of 150 children who were attending at nursery schools and 150 children who were attending at kindergartens. The data was collected from ten nursery schools and five kindergartens from five districts in Daegu. The questionnaires were distributed to teachers of participating nursery schools and kindergartens to be completed using nursing care records in the institutions and by interviewing children's parents about all of the accidents happened in a previous year. Data were collected during the period of August 1 through 31, 2002. The results of the study are as follow: 1. Among 300 children, 282 had 506 accidental injuries during the study period. 2. The month, the day and the time with the highest accident rate were April. Monday, and between 2 and 4 o'clock in the afternoon, respectively. 3. Locations where the injury took place most included nursery schools or kindergartens, around the homes of the children, and inside the home. 4. Most accidents were occurred due to lack of carefulness of the children, and the most prevalent forms of injury was abrasions. 5. Most frequently injured part of the body was legs of the children. 6. Most injuries were healed within three days and required first aid measures to disinfect the wound. Mostly, these were performed by family members at home. Some children go to the hospital to suture the open wound. Most frequent type of complication was scar formation and the cost of the treatment ranged from 9,000 to 30,000 won. 7. Children's age. sex, birth order. personality. type of family composition. type of residency. father's occupation, father's age, and mother's age were significantly related to the frequency of injury among children. Children who were in nursery schools and kindergartens need their assessment for accident involving condition according to seasons, time. place. This study provided a very useful and important data to prepare accident prevention education program and accident prevention strategies, and to develop Injury Surveillance System.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.336-342
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• 2015

Fall-related injuries are the most common cause of accidental death for the elderly and the most frequent work-related injuries in construction sites. Due to the growing popularity of smartphones, there has been a number of research work related to the use of sensors embedded in the smartphone for fall detection. Falls can be detected easily by measuring the magnitude and direction of acceleration vectors. In general, the direction of the acceleration vector does not show the object movement, but the velocity vector directly indicates the tangential direction in which the object is moving. In this paper, we proposed a new method for computing the fall direction based on the characteristics of the velocity vector extracted from the accelerometer.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.269-273
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• 2007

Purpose: High-pressure injection(HPI) injury is an injury caused by accidental injection of substances by industrial equipment. HPI injury of the hand is a serious injury that can be potentially devastating. There have been a number of publications on the results of its treatment and its functional outcome of these hands. Unfortunately, the clinical outcomes were unsatisfactory following an initial treatment approach of digital expression of the injection material, elevation, soaks, dressing changes, and antibiotics. Methods: A 43-year-old right handed man sustained a high pressure injection injury to the tip of the left index finger. The injected material was industrial paint thinner. Tissue necrosis was noted at the pulp of the finger. Several debridements and irrigation were required. A pedicled chest flap transfer was performed on the eighteenth day after injury as the dorsal nail complex remained viable. This is a retrospective review of our experience with high-pressure finger injection injury caused by paint. A literature review, retrospective chart and radiologic review were presented. Results: Follow-up length was about 1 year. The injuried hand was left nondominant hand, the index. Patient complaints were cold intolerance, paresthesia, contact pain, and impairment of activities of daily living. Conclusion: The outcome of high-pressure injection injuries of the hand is affected by many factors. The time between injury and operative treatment has been regarded as a key determinant by a number of authors. The nature of the injected material is probably more important. It has been noted by many authors that injuries with paints have a worse outcome than those with oil or grease. This study confirms the fact that high-pressure injection injury caused by paint thinner to the hand is a significant problem. Virtually a patient suffers sequelae of this injury. The injury has significant repercussions for future function and reintegration into the work force.

• Journal of Korean Living Environment System
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.549-561
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• 2017

We conducted a nationalwide questionnaire to investigate accidental experiences and injuries at flashover or flame-fire for active firefighters in the line of duty. A total of 794 firefighters participated in this survey (764 males, 27 females, and 3 respondents; $39.2{\pm}8.4yr$ in age, $173.7{\pm}5.1cm$ in height, $73.4{\pm}8.6kg$ in body mass). The results showed that high risk circumstances the most frequently experienced while firefighting in Korea was flashover followed by backdraft, rollover and flameover. At the high risk circumstances the most frequently-experienced injuries were bruise, stabs and burns. Firefighters hoped to reduce the total mass of personal protective equipment (PPE), improve the mobility of the PPE and dexterity of protective gloves, so that they could escape from the high risk circumstances as fast as possible. In particular, requirements for improvement on protective gloves were greater than those on other PPE. The present study suggested that the need for improvements on the current firefighters' PPE to cope with emergency high risk situations in terms of PPE mass reduction and mobility.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.440-447
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• 2022

Background: Agricultural handle equipment is present on all production areas' farms. They are handy and portable; however, excessive use can lead to acute traumas or accidental injuries. Repetitive movements, awkward postures, and hand-arm vibrations predispose them to pain and work-related musculoskeletal disorders. The purpose of this study was to observe the interaction of handle equipment in terms of electromyographic activity and analyze the postural work-related alterations. Materials and methods: Twenty male agricultural operators, mean age 24±1.54 years, underwent the electromyographic analysis testing their muscular activities with a brushcutter, electric saw, and hedge trimmer in four different test conditions. Results: The brushcutter proved to be the agricultural handle equipment with the higher mean frequency (3.37±0.38 Hz) and root mean square (5.25±1.24 ms^-2). Furthermore, the digital postural analysis showed a general asymmetry of the main arm and the respective side of the trunk. The head resulted right inclined in the anterior frontal plane by 5.7°±1.2°; the right scapula lower than the left in the posterior frontal plane (8.5°±1.8°), and a working trunk inclination of 34.15°±5.7°. Conclusions: Vibrations of handle equipment and awkward working postures represent a risk for agricultural operators. Preventive measures are required to avoid young operators from experiencing musculoskeletal disorders all lifelong.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.79-86
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• 1968

This paper describes the incidence and some epidemiological features of drowning accident out of a series of our study on the epidemiology of various accidents in Korea. By the daily press it is apparent from the frequent reporting of swimming accidents that the incidence would be high. In the rural areas, there are, at present, about 1,250 artificial lakes and farm ponds to be utlized for rice production. The reservoirs, irrigation ditches and riversides are also used for recreation. In most places facilities for aquatic activities is meager, and safety measures for the prevention of drowning is not sufficiently enforced. In the survey crude data on drownings were collected from the concerned governmental statistic books for the period 1955 to 1967 which were compiled not in a uniform way. Drownings were classfied into two categories, one is accidental drowning, E 929 and the other is due to cataclysm, E 934, according to the WHO international classification of diseases. Epidemiological variables in relation to drowning accident were obtained through qualitative analysis of informations from the popular news papers. The following summary may be drawn; 1. The average number of deaths due to accidental drowning totaled 1,088 annually and the mortality rate per 100,000 population was 3.4, The 42.0% of all drownings were rescued and the remaining were not saved. 2. The sex ratio (M/F) of the victims for all ages was 5 to 1, which had a wide range of difference among the age groups. The young ages less than 20 years occupied 68.0% of all deaths. 3. The percentage distribution of the causes of accidents revealed 31.9% for careless swimming, 45.5% for unskilled, 10.6% for swimmer's cramp and 6.0% for drunked. The distribution of places where accidents occurred showed 88.0% for rivers, water reservoirs, irrigation ditches and 12.0% for regular swimming pools. The seasonal distribution of cases indicated 85.0% of the total were seen during the summer months, June-August, and 50.0% of them occurred on Sundays, 4. The average annual deaths due to cataclysm were 402 and mortality rate per 100,000 population was 1.6, but the number of victims due to cataclysm varied greatly each year. 5. The accident cases due to cataclysm were classified into 60.0% for injuries, 40.0% for deaths. The 26.8% of all deaths were missing cases. 6. The deaths due to either accidental drowning or cataclysm totaled 1,490, and the death rate per 100,000 for the whole country was 5.0.