• Journal of Korean Clinical Health Science
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.35-45
• /
• 2013

Purpose. Based on the comparison and analysis with those of United States, the aim of this research is to find the problems in current management, operation and future directions of emergency medical service (EMS) fund in S. Korea and to provide basic resources and appropriate measures to make a right decision in policies for EMS fund. Methods. Data from Ministry of Health and Welfare and other various sources during 1995 to 2012 were collected and analyzed. Results. From our analyses, several problems are identified in EMS fund operation. In brief, problems discerned are as follows. First, whereas the purpose and direction of EMS fund operations in United States are highlighted and focused on pre-hospital EMS system and associated infrastructures which need to be constructed, those of S. Korea are emphasized mainly on the in-hospital EMS system so far. Second, on the contrary to the fact that the EMS funds in United States are tuned to pre-hospital EMS system to provide prompt and efficient emergency care at the emergency scene of pre-hospital stage and to achieve the development, design, planning and demonstration projects for pre-hospital EMS systems, up to date, our investment of EMS funds demonstrated an excess biased inclination toward the construction of in-hospital EMS system, which is far from the realization of constructive and vital pre-hospital infrastructures. Third, while emergency medical technician is important and principal body in the management of emergency medical funds in United States, so far, no EMS funds in S. Korea existed for EMTs including the job condition, improved treatment and working environment for them. Conclusion. In conclusion, we strongly suggest that the problems pointed out must be revised and corrected. Current usage of EMS fund needs to be redirected predominatly to pre-hospital EMS system. Otherwise, unless current management and investment of emergency medical funds in S. Korea are applied and used for the vital necessities and demands of EMTs, public EMS units and private EMS units as well as related units in pre-hospital EMS system as in the cases of United States, in our consideration, they must be suspended or abolished.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.13 no.10
• /
• pp.4686-4693
• /
• 2012

The present study was conducted to identify the factors related to the hypertension, and to offer the evidence of 1st prevention of hypertension. 2,230 male workers aged 30-59 years were observed the relationships between hypertension and age, BMI, glucose intolerance, smoking, alcohol drinking, regular exercise, eating habits using data from health check-ups in 2011. As a results, the incidence rate of hypertension was 18.8% of 30-39 year old group, 23.8% of 40-49 year old group, 33.0% of 40-49 year old group. The incidence rate of hypertension was significantly higher as age and BMI ascend, and it was higher in the group of abnormal glucose intolerance, regular alcohol intake, no regular exercise than their respective counterparts. The multivariable-adjusted odds ratio of hypertension increased significantly as there is an increase in age, and the group of abnormal glucose intolerance, smoking, regular alcohol intake, no regular exercise. In conclusion, obesity, glucose intolerance, alcohol intake, and physical inactivity are risk factors for hypertension, therefore we need the control of these factors for 1st prevention of hypertension.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
• /
• v.44 no.2
• /
• pp.154-163
• /
• 2017

This study aims to investigate the utilization status of dental services by foreign children living in Seoul and their level of satisfaction with the treatments. We developed a structured questionnaire with 35 questions, which comprised 14 questions (demographic characteristics) and 21 questions (oral hygiene and dental experience of the child). In this study, the distribution of nationality of 391 participants differed from the actual statistics in Korea. It consisted of high percentage of participants from African countries (23.6%), as well as North American countries (24.1%). In addition, the education status of most parents was above the level of college graduate. Despite the relatively high socioeconomic status of the participants, they showed minimal dental health knowledge regarding the aspect of oral hygiene. Utilization of dental health services and the types of dental clinics visited by them were similar before and after coming to Korea. The participants showed overall satisfaction with the care, but many of them expressed the need for improvement with regard to treatment fee and communication. In conclusion, foreign children living in Seoul require appropriate dental health education and governmental support to promote regular dental check-ups, to improve their overall oral health, and prevent the incidence of dental caries.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.153-166
• /
• 2007

The job of dental hygienists is specialized, and they have to be capable of performing their primary duties including prevention of oral diseases, oral prophylaxis, and oral health education. To ensure their successful job performance, dentists should have an accurate understanding of their duties and need a change of mind-set about them. And there should be written legal and concrete regulations on the coverage of their work in order to let them boost their job performance with pride and a sense of responsibility. The purpose of this study was to examine the actual roles and job performance of dental hygienists in clinical field in an attempt to discuss the substantial job performance of dental hygienists and their job enlargement. It's basically meant to help enhance the efficiency and quality of medical services. The subjects in this study were 471 dental hygienists in dental clinics, dental hospitals, university hospitals and general hospitals across the nation, on whom a survey was conducted in person from March 2 to 25, 2005. The collected data were analyzed with SPSS Win 12.0 program, and the findings of the study were as follows: 1. The major jobs they currently performed included oral health education, hospital management, simple duties, extensive dental hygiene duties and joint treatment assistance. They hoped to continue to be responsible for oral health education, preventive treatment and extensive dental hygiene duties. 2. As for their current job by age, extensive dental hygiene duties, preventive treatment, joint treatment assistance, preserving treatment, prosthetic treatment and pediatric treatment were most conducted by the dental hygienists who were at the age of 26 to less than 31, and those who were at the age of 31 and up were most responsible for hospital management and simple duties. 3. As to job awareness by workplace, their workload was statistically significantly different according to their workplace. The hospital employees took care of more work than those in clinics. 4. Concerning job awareness by age, the younger dental hygienists suffered more role conflicts and were given a less free hand in work handling, the middle-aged group's job was uncertain. Legal regulations about the coverage of their work should be prepared in detail as a measure to stir up their responsible job performance and pride. In order to take advantage of experienced dental hygienists, their duties should be more differentiated and specialized, and their working conditions should be improved to boost their job satisfaction. That is, they should be given ample chances for promotion and serving as a middle manager and be given fair treatment according to their career. If their work is accurately darified and specialized based on career, it will boost the efficiency of dental treatment. Dental hygienists also should direct sustained efforts into self-development in order to become a skilled and professional oral health personnel.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.165-171
• /
• 2000

The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence of cataracts in a rural area of Kyung-Buk province. Cataract is the main cause of blindness and visual impairment in the world. Recently, the number of age-related cataract surgeries has increased remarkably. In spite of such an increase in the number of patients, there are still many cataract patients with highly deteriorated visual function who have had no occasion to receive an ocular examination. In order to screen such patients the author assessed 636 individual(1272 eyes) aged 50 years or more who had wanted to be examined generally in two area. Chilgok and Munkyung, Kyung-Buk province using a simplified cataract screening system recently proposed by Sasaki et al. Kanazawa Medical University in Japan. The results obtained are as follows. The number of visual impairment patients in this study group was 493(77.5%). They were screened by cataract screening system. Primary screening examination detected 448 subjects to be suspected of cataract while the subsequent secondary examination narrowed this number of subjects to 308(48.4%). Final number of subjects to be diagnosed of cataract was 421(66.2%). The rate of incidence, according to the age, was 27.5% in the 50 year-olds age group, 62.5% in the 60's age group, 86.1% in the 70's age group and 94.3% in the 80's age group and upwards. This results concluded that cataract is the main cause of blindness and visual impairment and is an important public eye health care problem of aged population in rural Korea. Methods of tackling the cataract problem(both backlog and incident), and other eye health needs are recommended. The need to extend eye health service to the rural areas is emphasized.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.190-199
• /
• 1981

A survey of nutrition and incidence of parasites was conducted from January 23 to 31 and February 14 to 18, 1981, to determine the nutritional status of young children under the age of 6 years, in one of the rural family health project areas: Whaseoung-gun, Kyunggi-do, Korea. This study covered a total of 233 children. The results are summarised as follows: Approximately one-half of these families had an annual income between \1,000,000 and \2,500,000. Nearly 84% of the households were involved in farming. Energy intake of children met 70.6% of the requirement: carhohydrates provided 77%, protein provided 11%, and fat provided 12% of the total energy intake. Low intake of iron; calcium; and vitamins, excluding thiamin, was also found. Mean hemoglobin value was $10.6{\pm}1.0gm/100ml.;\;42%$ of subjects were categorized as low group, 22% were in the deficient group, and only 36% were at an acceptable level as indicated by O'Neal. Thus, 22% of the subjects were proven to be anemic by the hemoglobin criteria. Mean hematocrit value was $30.1{\pm}2.8%$, and 80 of 208 children, or 38.4% of subjects, were below 30% of the standard established by O'Neal. The positive prevalence of parasitic infection was 20% , significantly higher than that observed in the Yowido compound (5.5%) in 1980. Hematologic findings had no significant correlation to parasitic infection. The majority, 95.2% of the subjects, met or surpassed 90% of the KlST's standard of height:whtile 28. 6% of the subjects were below 90% of the KIST's standard of weight. The ratio of weight to height for boys 4 to 6 years old was 15.8 to 17.5, in contrast to 16.3 to 16.9 for boys of KHDI project areas, and also in contrast to 17.7 to 17.9 for boys of the same age group from the Yowido apartment compound in Seoul. According to the results of the assessments, the authors found a clear difference in growth values, hematologic findings and dietary patterns between rural areas and advantaged urban areas of Seoul. Our results suggest the need to develop the nutrition and parasite control training of village women for better nutritional care of their young children.

• Child Health Nursing Research
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.247-254
• /
• 2014

Purpose: Maternal-fetal attachment in a pregnant woman is important for her health and for her child's emotional stability. This study was done to identify the contribution of maternal fatigue, social support, and Taegyo to maternal-fetal attachment based on a survey of pregnant women. Methods: The study was a descriptive correlation study. Participants were 211 from two women's health clinic centers. Data were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficients and stepwise multiple regression. Results: Mean scores for maternal-fetal attachment, Taegyo, maternal fatigue, and social support were 93.74 (range 25-125), 64.76 (17-85), 24.12 (10-40), and 54.43 (22-132), respectively. There were significant differences in maternal-fetal attachment according to parity, breast feeding experience, and putting prenatal education into practice. Multiple regression analysis showed that the key determinants of maternal-fetal attachment, were Taegyo (${\beta}$=.67), maternal fatigue (${\beta}$=.21), and social support (${\beta}$=.13), and these explained 55% of the total variance of attachment. Conclusion: The results suggest a need to encourage Taegyo in prenatal management program and provide methods for fatigue resolution and promotion of social support.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.35-47
• /
• 1999

Medication non-compliance among the elderly results in medical problems and substantial cost to the health care system. This study investigate predicted variable related to the medication task ability among elderly. This study was done in the selected 4 villages in Kimchun County of Kyungbuk Province from July to August, 1996. The subject was the resident that 202 adults above 60 years of age. The questionnaire of interview included medication task ability, socio-demographic data, COOP/WONCA chart, family ABGAR score. BDI(Beck depression inventory), ADL(activities of daily living), IADL(instrumental activities of daily living), and MMSE-K(minimental state examination-Korean version). The results were as followed : 1. Approximately 49% of study population was taking drug medication currently. We found that 93% of study population was successful at the medication task all alone, 6% was failure at the medication task all alone, so need help partly or completely. 2. Significant variables between group of medication task ability were age, educational attainment, IADL, and MMSE-K in univariate analysis. And significant correlated variables with medication task ability were ADL, IADL, MMSE-K, and BDI in correlation analysis. 3. Major predictors to medication task ability on multiple logistic regression were IADL and sex finally. Findings suggest that IADL is related to medication task ability than other test battery of health status, so IADL could be used to necessary for medication management and add information to conventional methods of assessing mental status.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.203-214
• /
• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze the status of contact lens wearing, management and awareness of eye health knowledge among female university students in Jeju area and to utilize the basic data for education and management of contact lens. Methods: Data for this study were collected from the 236 female university students in Jeju area who have a contact lens experience from May 1, 2016 to June 11, 2016. Results: We found the status of contact lens wearing and management of subjects and there were different correlations between discomfort and awareness of eye health knowledge among the subjects who have different characteristics. There were also correlations in discomfort, the average days of contact lens wear per week, initial wearing day and action when they have any discomfort in some contact lens wearers. Conclusions: We realized the status of contact lens wearing and management of female university students and it suggests appropriate contact care education and sustainable management system are need to be established for considering daily average wearing time, the type and material of contact lens wear and main discomfort and so on.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.221-254
• /
• 2015

The amendment of the Korea Civil Code will take place July 1, 2013. One of the most import issues related to adult guardianship system is a part. Though more than 100 new provisions, the revised Civil Code fundamentally reformed the guardianship system to establish a system to meet the diverse and complex needs of those who need a guardian and ensure due process. The new adult guardianship system intended to respect dignity and human right of mentally incapacitated adults, to guaranee their autunomy and to minimize the public interventions for assisting them. The new guardianship system for vulnerable adult has three kinds of legal guardianship system (adult guardianship, limited guardianship and specific guardianship). Mental patients forced the hospitalization of the mental health code and will be treated as an agreement incapable person. In principle an agreement incapable person has capacity of consent. The consent of the mental patients are admitted first. It is advisable to medical care only by the consent of the guardian when the the mental patient do not agree ability. If the mental patient do not agree with the mentally ill, but there should be a supervisory capacity for a guardianship of the couple guardian supervision. In conclusion, it not lost the capacity to consent to inpatient mental illness called. Therefore, we must discuss in detail the scope of the agreement for the mental patients. Mental Health Act amendments are necessary in accordance with the amended Civil Code.