• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.307-310
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• 2020

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has placed unprecedented pressure on healthcare systems, even in advanced economies. While the number of cases of SARS-CoV-2 in Africa compared to other continents has so far been low, there are concerns about under-reporting, inadequate diagnostic tools, and insufficient treatment facilities. Moreover, proactiveness on the part of African governments has been under scrutiny. For instance, issues have emerged regarding the responsiveness of African countries in closing international borders to limit trans-continental transmission of the virus. Overdependence on imported products and outsourced services could have contributed to African governments' hesitation to shut down international air and seaports. In this era of emerging and re-emerging pathogens, we recommend that African nations should consider self-sufficiency in the health sector as an urgent priority, as this will not be the last outbreak to occur. In addition to the Regional Disease Surveillance Systems Enhancement fund (US$600 million) provided by the World Bank for strengthening health systems and disease surveillance, each country should further establish an epidemic emergency fund for epidemic preparedness and response. We also recommend that epidemic surveillance units should create a secure database of previous and ongoing pandemics in terms of aetiology, spread, and treatment, as well as financial management records. Strategic collection and analysis of data should also be a central focus of these units to facilitate studies of disease trends and to estimate the scale of requirements in preparation and response to any future pandemic or epidemic.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.3007-3013
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• 2016

Background: Gastrointestinal cancers are common malignancies associated with high mortality rates. Healthcare systems are always faced with high costs of treatment of gastrointestinal cancers including stomach cancer. Identification and prioritization of these costs can help determine economic burden and then improve of health planning by policy-makers. This study was performed in 2015 in Kerman City aimed at estimating the direct hospital costs for patients with gastric cancer. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the medical records of 160 patients with stomach cancer admitted from 2011 to 2014 to Shafa Hospital were examined, the current stage of the disease and the patients' health status were identified, and the direct costs related to the type of treatment in the public and private sectors were calculated. SPSS-19 was used for statistical analysis of the data. Results: Of the patients studied, 103 (65%) were men and 57 (35%) were women. The mean age of patients was 65 years. Distribution into four stages of the disease was 5%, 20%, 30%, and 45%, respectively. Direct costs in four stages of the disease were calculated as 2191.07, 2642.93, 2877, and 2674.07 USD (63,045,879, 76,047,934, 82,783,019, and 76,943,800 IRR), respectively. The highest percentage of costs was related to surgery in Stage I and to medication in Stages II, III, and IV. According to the results of direct costs of treatment for stomach cancer in Kerman, the mean total cost of treating a patient in the public sector was estimated at 74,705,158 IRR, of which averages of 60,141,384 IRR and 14,563,774 IRR were the shares of insurance and patients, respectively. Conclusions: The high prevalence and diagnosis of disease in old age and at advanced stages of disease impose great costs on the patients and the health system. Early diagnosis through screening and selecting an appropriate treatment method might largely ameliorate the economic burden of the disease.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.224-233
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• 2019

Objectives: In women, breast cancer is the most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer death. Screening tests are the basis for early diagnosis. In Iranian women, the mortality rate of breast cancer is high due to insufficient screening examinations and delayed visits for care. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the factors affecting breast self-examinations among Iranian women employed in medical careers. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 501 women working in the medical professions at Hamadan University of Medical Sciences in western Iran in 2018. The subjects were selected by stratified random sampling. Data were collected using a researcher-developed, self-report questionnaire that contained demographic information and questions based on protection motivation theory and social support theory. Descriptive data analysis was conducted using SPSS version 23 and model fitting with PLS version 2. Results: The mean age of the participants was $37.1{\pm}8.3years$, and most of the women (80.4%) were married. Most women had a bachelor's degree (67.5%). The findings of this study showed that the coping appraisal construct was a predictor of protection motivation (${\beta}=0.380$, p<0.05), and protection motivation (${\beta}=0.604$, p<0.05) was a predictor of breast self-examination behavior. Additionally, social support theory (${\beta}=0.202$, p<0.05) had a significant positive effect on breast self-examination behavior. Conclusions: The frequency of practicing self-examinations among women employees in the medical sector was low; considering the influence of social support as a factor promoting screening, it is necessary to pay attention to influential people in women's lives when designing educational interventions.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.89-101
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• 2021

Scale-up of ICT startups is not easy because of limited capabilities, lack of resources, and immature networks for the business. Therefore, this research selected a representative startup succeeded in scale-up and applied the ERIS model in analyzing their scale-up process in the initial stages of scale-up. Analysis of qualitative data collected revealed that the entrepreneurs' experience, convergence of knowledge between diverse industries, participation in public-sector-led R&D, management of communication channels between customers and businesses, and utilization of project-oriented campaigns are found to be critical success factors in scaling up ICT startups. Academically, this study validates the utility of ERIS model in analyzing the scale-up process. For practitioners, this study will be used as a reference for strategic development in seucring the competitiveness of the initial market of ICT startups and scale-up.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.16 no.10
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• pp.3313-3332
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• 2022

This study is an investigation into the factors affecting patient dissatisfaction among Saudi hospitals. The selected factors considered for analysis are security of information sharing, operational practices, disruptive technologies, and the ease of use of EHR patient information management systems. From the literature review section, it was clear that hardly any other studies have embraced these concepts in one as was intended by this study. The theories that the study heavily draws from are the service dominant logic and the feature integration theory. The study surveyed 350 respondents from three large major hospitals in three different metropolitan cities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This sample came from members of the three hospitals that were willing to participate in the study. The number 350 represents those that successfully completed the online questionnaire or the limited physical questionnaires in time. The study employed the structural equation modelling technique to analyze the associations. Findings suggested that security of information sharing had a significant direct effect on patient satisfaction. Operational practice positively mediated the effect of security of information sharing on patient dissatisfaction. However, ease of use failed to significant impact this association. The study concluded that to improve patient satisfaction, Saudi hospitals must work on their systems to reinforce them against the active threats on the privacy of patients' data by leveraging disruptive technology. They should also improve their operational practices by embracing quality management techniques relevant to the healthcare sector.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.95-103
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• 2023

Objectives: The budget gap in the health sector of local governments affects the supply of health services, which can cause the health gap. This study classified local governments according to their financial characteristics, such as local financial independence and health budget level. It analyzed the health behaviors and disease prevalence of local residents to examine the effect of local government financial investment on the health of local residents. Methods: To classify types according to the financial characteristics of local governments, financial independence and the health budget data for 17 local governments were collected from the local fiscal yearbook of the Ministry of Public Administration and Security. The prevalence of chronic diseases and healthy behavior was compared using the 16,333 data of adults between the ages of 30 and 65 years among the original data of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2016-2020). Results: Cluster analysis was used to classify local governments into five clusters according to the health financial capacity type. A comparison of the prevalence of local residents by cluster revealed a similar prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, and hypercholesterolemia. On the other hand, the obesity rate (P < 0.01), high-risk drinking rate (P < 0.01), aerobic physical activity rate (P < 0.001), and healthy eating practice rate (P < 0.001) were significantly different. In addition, an analysis of the odds ratio based on the Seoul area revealed a higher risk of health behavior of non-Seoul residents. Conclusions: It is necessary to review the universal health promotion project budget considering the degree of regional financial vulnerability from the viewpoint of health equity to narrow the health gap among regions.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.411-420
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• 2023

Background: The purpose of this study was to analyze the demand and supply status of patient beds by type of medical institution, categorized into 70 clinical privilege, in order to understand the regional bed supply situation. Methods: Utilizing the 70 clinical privilege defined by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, we calculated bed demand and supply quantities from 2019 to 2021 using data from Statistics Korea and the Health Insurance Statistical Yearbook. The bed demand calculation formula was based on the detailed guidelines for the medical sector by the Korea Development Institute and the 3rd edition of bed supply basic policies announced by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Additionally, to mitigate distorted bed supply situations caused by factors such as regional levels and patient outflows, we classified bed supply types using the population decrease index indicator published by the Ministry of Public Administration and Security. Results: Among the 70 clinical privilege, it was analyzed that a relatively balanced bed supply situation exists overall, irrespective of the type of healthcare institution. However, in medical institutions at or above the level of hospitals, regions with bed supply ratios exceeding 20% compared to demand, particularly in institutions at or above the level of general hospitals, showed a relatively high rate of demand diversion. Conclusion: We have identified the bed supply types in the 70 clinical privilege in South Korea. Based on the results of this study, we emphasize the need for bed supply policies that consider regional characteristics. It is expected that this research can serve as fundamental data for future efforts aimed at managing or rectifying bed supply imbalances on a regional basis.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.93-100
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• 2024

With the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, the Internet of Things, and cloud computing are driving innovation across industries. These technologies are generating massive amounts of data that many companies are leveraging. However, there is a notable reluctance among users to share sensitive information due to the privacy risks associated with collecting personal data. This is particularly evident in the healthcare sector, where the collection of sensitive information such as patients' medical conditions poses significant challenges, with privacy concerns hindering data collection and analysis. This research presents a novel technique for collecting and analyzing medical data that not only preserves privacy, but also effectively extracts statistical information. This method goes beyond basic data collection by incorporating a strategy to efficiently mine statistical data while maintaining privacy. Performance evaluations using real-world data have shown that the propose technique outperforms existing methods in extracting meaningful statistical insights.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.143-153
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• 2024

This study aims to analyze both the current utilization of e-learning in the scuba diving education sector and the possible improvements by using Delphi analysis. The study administered three rounds of Delphi surveys with 25 specialists, including business executives and educational leaders from scuba diving centers and resorts affiliated with organizations that conduct scuba diving education through e-learning. The comparative analysis of the state of e-learning utilization and factors for improvement revealed significant insights. In terms of expected benefits, the analysis highlighted an increase in user convenience, temporal flexibility in learning activities, and easy access to products. However, it identified major issues such as the simplistic mandatory exams, inadequate professional depth in the feedback provided, and a lack of bidirectional communication between learners and instructors. Recommendations for improvements included enhancing communication through various online communities, conducting mandatory exams offline, and developing a variety of content. Conducting regular program quality evaluations, integrating with various diving communities, and assigning dedicated tutors were deemed crucial factors for future development.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.235-262
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• 2019

While traditionally threatening human infectious diseases are decreasing, chronic diseases such as cancer and diabetes, including cardiovascular diseases, are spreading rapidly. Reflecting the characteristics of chronic diseases that are difficult to treat, the management of risk factors and the preparation of health promotion policies corresponding to them have emerged as important concerns around the world. Providing so-called multi-sector approach such as health promotion and disease prevention policy and solution for community response, The value of primary care is once again highlighted in the changed medical environment. As the existing medical delivery system has become difficult to cope with the people's desire for rapid aging, disease paradigm change, and quality of life improvement, European Union countries have made various efforts to improve the quality of their primary medical system, which provides continuous, com- prehensive and coordinated management. This paper examines the current status and problems of the healthcare delivery system in Korea, draws implications from the European Union examples related to the strengthening of primary care, and discusses the plans for establishing a patient-centered future medical delivery system.