• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.645-653
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• 2005

The prevalence of undernutrition in hospital populations is known to be high. The presence of malnutrition is associated with depression, infections, sarcopaenia, falls, fractures, reduced autonomy and increased mortality. This study specifically examined the prevalence of malnutrition in patients aged 65 or older at the time of admission as determined by the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) which has been a frequently used nutritional risk screening tools in detecting undernutrition in old people. This study was done for one hundred eight hospitalized geriatric patients in Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul, Korea. On admission baseline history, anthropometrics measurements, laboratory data and nutritional status by MNA were assessed. Length of hospital stay was obtained by reviewing medical charts. We used one-way analysis of variance to compare the differences in variables. Spearman's rank correlation coefficients were calculated for associations between MNA and variables. On admission, $22.3\%$ of patients were malnourished and $40.7\%$ were at risk of malnutrition according to the MNA. Percent of ideal body weight, anthropometrics data, albumin, and hemoglobin were lower in the malnourished patients (p<0.05). The malnourished patients stayed in the hospital 7.3 days longer, as compared with well nourished patients (p<0.05). Percent of ideal body weight, albumin, hemoglobin and total cholesterol were correlated inversely with nutritional status according to MNA (p<0.05). MNA can be used for nutritional assessment in Korean old people, because MNA significantly correlated with other nutritional assessment parameters, such as, anthropometric and laboratory data in hospitalized geriatric patients. The high prevalence of malnutrition in the elderly was observed and the presence of malnutrition on admission predicted a significant increase in the length of hospital stay in this study. Therefore further studies are needed to determine whether nutritional interventions in old people with low MNA scores can improve clinical outcomes during the hospital course.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.637-643
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• 2015

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Malnutrition in the elderly is a serious problem, prevalent in both hospitals and care homes. Due to the absence of a gold standard for malnutrition, herein we evaluate the efficacy of five nutritional screening tools developed or used for the elderly. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Elected medical records of 141 elderly patients (86 men and 55 women, aged $73.5{\pm}5.2years$) hospitalized at a geriatric care hospital were analyzed. Nutritional screening was performed using the following tools: Mini Nutrition Assessment (MNA), Mini Nutrition Assessment-Short Form (MNA-SF), Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI), Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) and Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS 2002). A combined index for malnutrition was also calculated as a reference tool. Each patient evaluated as malnourished to any degree or at risk of malnutrition according to at least four out of five of the aforementioned tools was categorized as malnourished in the combined index classification. RESULTS: According to the combined index, 44.0% of the patients were at risk of malnutrition to some degree. While the nutritional risk and/or malnutrition varied greatly depending on the tool applied, ranging from 36.2% (MUST) to 72.3% (MNA-SF). MUST showed good validity (sensitivity 80.6%, specificity 98.7%) and almost perfect agreement (k = 0.81) with the combined index. In contrast, MNA-SF showed poor validity (sensitivity 100%, specificity 49.4%) and only moderate agreement (k = 0.46) with the combined index. CONCLUSIONS: MNA-SF was found to overestimate the nutritional risk in the elderly. MUST appeared to be the most valid and useful screening tool to predict malnutrition in the elderly at a geriatric care hospital.

• 한국노년학
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.311-323
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• 2020

Older adults are at a high risk of falling, causing severe injuries and increased hospital stays and treatment costs. This can be a burden not only on the family but also on the national economy. Thus, fall prevention is very important in nurses' and nursing assistants' work. This study intended to grasp the real situation faced by nurses and nursing-assistants working at geriatric hospitals in J province, Korea. The researcher interviewed thirty-six nurses and nursing-assistants in four geriatric hospitals and performed four focus group interviews. Data were analyzed through an inductive content analysis based on Elo & Kyngäs's approach. Three categories and five subcategories were identified. Categories were patients, environmental, and personal factors. Patient factors included patients' impaired cognitive function. Environmental factors included lack of personnel support and assignment of inpatients without regard to fall risk. Personal factors included hopelessness regarding improvement and fear of being blamed. Promotion of fall prevention practice needs a gradual increase in nursing staff at geriatric hospitals, a system for assigning hospital room according to fall risk, and education and support system to reduce nursing burden.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 1982

Presently, there is increasing demand for geriatric nursing care due to increasing proportion of elderly population and extended age. And, of particular importance in deforming the effectiveness of nursing care given to the elderly is the attitude of nursing personnel toward the elderly patient. This study was intendent to investigate the attitudes of baccalaureate nursing students toward the elderly, and to investigate any possible correlation between these attitudes and the following variables: the students' levels (freshman, sophomore, junior, senior), their preferences for var-ious fields of specialization in nursing after graduation, their clinical experiences with geriatric-patients, their personal experience with elderly family members, their educational experience of the elderly's health problems and geriatric nursing, and their experience with relatives and acquaintances over 60 years of age. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compile basic data about the attitudes of nursing students toward the elderly in order to contribute to the improvement of geriatric nursing. The subjects for this study were 259 nursing students: 163 in the College of Nursing at E-womans University., and 96 in the Department of Nursing in K. College. Data was collected from the 11th of Sep., to the 8th of Oct., 1981, using the Tuckman-Lorge Attitude Questionnaire which contained 131 items excepting 6 items. The attitudes toward the elderly was scored by the use of mean and standard deviation. The relations between attitudes toward the elderly and six independent vairables were analysed by T-test. The results which were obtained are as follows : 1. The attitude score of nursing students was M=71.67 S.D= 16.18. Nursing students agreed with 54.8% of the stereotypic statements, and they had stereotypic attitudes toward the elderly relatively. (P<0.01). 2. There was a significant difference between the attitudes of nursing students toward the elderly, and sophomores had a less stereotypic attitudes than juniors and seniors (P<0.01). 3. There was significant difference between the attitudes toward the elderly and the preferences for various fields of specialization in nursing after graduation, and nursing students those who wanted maternity fields had a more stereotypic attitudes than others (P<0.05, p<0.01). 4. There was no significant difference between the attitudes toward the elderly and the clinical experience with the geriatric patients (P>0.05). 5. There was no significant difference between the attitude3 toward the elderly and the personal experience with elderly family members (F>0.05). 6. There was no significant difference between the attitudes toward the elderly and the educational experience of the elderly's health problems and geriatric nursing (P>0.05). 7. There was no significant difference between the attitudes toward the elderly and the experience with relatives and acquaintances over 60 years of age (P>0.05).

• Journal of Korean geriatric psychiatry
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.35-40
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• 2017

Objective : This study aimed to investigate the effect of community-based Goal-Achieving program in geriatric depressive symptoms preliminarily. Methods : We obtained data from elderly Korean subjects with major depressive disorder (n=51) aged 60 years or older at baseline, taking case management from community mental health center. Subjects were randomly assigned to intervention group (n=24) and control group (n=27). We investigated depressive symptoms through Short Form Geriatric Depression Scale-Korean version (SGDS-K) at baseline and every month for 3 months to all subjects. We tested interaction between group and time in SGDS-K score to evaluate the effect of program. And post hoc test examined between group differences of SGDS-K at each time points. Results : In quadratic linear mixed effects model analysis, interaction between group and time was statistically significant (Total SGDS-K score : coefficient=0.29, p<0.001 ; SGDS-K dysphoria subscale : 0.18, p<0.001 ; SGDS-K hopelessness subscale : 0.05, p=0.089 ; SGDS-K cognitive impairment subscale : 0.06, p=0.003). And significant between group difference was shown in post hoc test at time points of third month (SGDS-K score of control group : SGDS-K score of intervention group=$10.74{\pm}3.482$ : $7.25{\pm}4.475$, p=0.0184). Conclusion : These results may suggest that 'Community-based the Goal-Achieving program' has efficacy in reducing geriatric depressive symptoms.

• Korean Journal of Audiology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.138-145
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• 2021

Background and Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the audiologic results after cochlear implantation (CI) in older patients and the degree of improvement in their quality of life (QoL). Subjects and Methods: Patients over 65 years old who underwent CI at implant center in Bozyaka Training and Research Hospital were included in this study (n=54; 34 males and 20 females). The control group was patient over 65 years old with normal hearing (n=54; 34 males and 20 females). We administered three questionnaires [World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF), World Health Organization Quality of Life-OLD (WHOQOL-OLD)], and Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) to evaluate the QoL, CIrelated effects on activities of daily life, and social activities in all the subjects. Moreover, correlations between speech recognition and the QoL scores were evaluated. The duration of implant use and comorbidities were also examined as potential factors affecting QoL. Results: The patients had remarkable improvements (the mean score of postoperative speech perception 75.7%) in speech perception after CI. The scores for the WHOQOL-OLD and WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire responses were similar in both the study and control groups, except those for a two subdomains (social relations and social participation). The patients with longer-term CI had higher scores than those with short-term CI use. In general, the changes in GDS scores were not significant (p<0.05). Conclusions: The treatment of hearing loss with CI conferred significant improvement in patient's QoL (p<0.01). The evaluation of QoL can provide multidimensional insights into a geriatric patient's progress and, therefore, should be considered by audiologists.

• Journal of Audiology & Otology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.138-145
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• 2021

Background and Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the audiologic results after cochlear implantation (CI) in older patients and the degree of improvement in their quality of life (QoL). Subjects and Methods: Patients over 65 years old who underwent CI at implant center in Bozyaka Training and Research Hospital were included in this study (n=54; 34 males and 20 females). The control group was patient over 65 years old with normal hearing (n=54; 34 males and 20 females). We administered three questionnaires [World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF), World Health Organization Quality of Life-OLD (WHOQOL-OLD)], and Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) to evaluate the QoL, CIrelated effects on activities of daily life, and social activities in all the subjects. Moreover, correlations between speech recognition and the QoL scores were evaluated. The duration of implant use and comorbidities were also examined as potential factors affecting QoL. Results: The patients had remarkable improvements (the mean score of postoperative speech perception 75.7%) in speech perception after CI. The scores for the WHOQOL-OLD and WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire responses were similar in both the study and control groups, except those for a two subdomains (social relations and social participation). The patients with longer-term CI had higher scores than those with short-term CI use. In general, the changes in GDS scores were not significant (p<0.05). Conclusions: The treatment of hearing loss with CI conferred significant improvement in patient's QoL (p<0.01). The evaluation of QoL can provide multidimensional insights into a geriatric patient's progress and, therefore, should be considered by audiologists.

• International Journal of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.122-127
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• 2020

After the THAAD crisis, Goyang city's Global Medical Service performance is showing a sharp decline compared to other cities and provinces. In particular, the contraction of participants who can create policy outcomes such as Medical Institutions and Attracting companies has emerged as the biggest problem. Therefore, Goyang City wanted to derive effective marketing policies and establish marketing policies according to their priorities in order to prevent the deaths of the future patient visitor market as well as performance. In order to examine such policy needs more closely, this paper reviewed the Global Medical Service policies of Goyang City based on AHP analysis, and derived a ranking of 28 major policies and preferred policies for each participant. In the future, Goyang City is expected to derive major policy effects by applying the results of this study to the establishment of marketing policies through customized policies for each medical institution type and Patient attraction company.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.287-293
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• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to report the clinical effectiveness of the complex Korean medicine therapy on a patient with BPSD (Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia) due to suspected Alzheimer's disease. Methods: We experienced an age 73 female who complained of a depressive mood, insomnia, and accompanying symptoms such as abnormal behavior. During treatment, the patient received acupuncture and herbal medicine. The clinical effects were evaluated through KGDS (Korean Form of Geriatric Depression Scale) and subjective statements of the patient. Results: After the complex Korean medicine therapy, the treatments ameliorated overall symptoms that the patient complained about. The patient was more positive and slept better after the treatment. No specificities or adverse effects were reported during treatment. Conclusions: This study suggests the possibility of treating patients with BPSD with complex Korean medicine therapy.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.183-190
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• 2013

Purpose: At present, information regarding periodontal disease in geriatric patients is scarce. The purpose of this study was to quantify the periodontal pathogens present in the saliva of Korean geriatric patients and assess the relationship between the bacterial levels and the periodontal condition. Methods: Six putative periodontal pathogens were quantified by using a real-time polymerase chain reaction assay in geriatric patient groups (>60 years) with mild chronic periodontitis (MCP), moderate chronic periodontitis (MoCP), and severe chronic periodontitis (SCP). The copy numbers of Porphyromonas gingivalis, Tannerella forsythia, Treponema denticola, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Fusobacterium nucleatum, and Prevotella intermedia were measured. Results: It was found that the bacterial copy numbers increased as the severity of the disease increased from MCP to SCP, except for P. intermedia. For P. intermedia, it was found that samples in the MCP group yielded the largest amount. It was also found that the quantities of P. gingivalis, T. forsythia, and T. denticola, the so-called "red complex" bacteria, were lower than those of F. nucleatum, A. actinomycetemcomitans, and P. intermedia in all of the samples. Conclusions: Collectively, the results of this study suggest that the levels of P. gingivalis, T. forsythia, F. nucleatum, and T. denticola present in saliva are associated with the severity of periodontal disease in geriatric patients.