• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.32-40
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• 2023

Background: Equating is a statistical procedure used to create a common measurement scale across two instruments. Item-level information should be taken into consideration so that scores can communicate interchangeably across the instruments. Objects: To investigate a common measurement scale across two health-related quality of life questionnaires (HRQOL) applied to various cancer survivors who underwent palliative care in healthcare institutions. Methods: A total of 139 cancer survivors who underwent palliative care were recruited from two rehabilitation hospitals and an oriental medicine hospital. Participants consisted of various cancer survivors who presented to the sites for palliative care. They were asked to fill out Korean versions of the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) and EuroQOL-5 dimension (EQ-5D) questionnaires following the palliative care. For the item level comparison, the Rasch rating scale model was used to investigate how participants regarded individual test items of two instruments in relation to item difficulty calibrations. Results: All items except the three items fit the Rasch model. One item (anxiety/depression) of the EQ-5D and two items (dependence on medical aids and negative feelings) of the WHOQOL-BREF are misfit. The WHOQOL-BREF targets the survivors well, while the EQ-5D is able to target the survivors with lower HRQOL levels with some ceiling effects. By inspecting the item difficulty calibrations of the two instruments, five items of the WHOQOL-BREF are selected as common items in relation to the EQ-5D. These five items are considered compatible with each other. Differential item functioning (DIF) analysis reveals that the healthcare item of the WHOQOL-BREF vs the self-care item of the EQ-5D exhibits significant DIF. Conclusion: Findings suggest that one paired item should be taken into consideration when equating the WHOQOL-BREF and the EQ-5D applied to cancer survivors who underwent palliative care.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.7-16
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• 2023

Purpose: Seclusion room in a psychiatric facility limit the body and space for treatment or protection, so controversy over human rights violations arises despite their necessity. The seclusion room should be created as an environment that can promote the recovery and healing of patients, not the purpose of managing patients. while ensuring the safety of medical staff. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to compare and analyze the standards of overseas guidelines for the seclusion room in psychiatric facility, and through this, it is intended to contribute to the improvement of facility standards for seclusion rooms in Korea, which are at a very insufficient level. Method: This study takes the method of comparative analysis through literature review. We analyze the facility standards of seclusion room in Korea, and compare and analyze guidelines for seclusion rooms in Australia, US, UK, and Canada. Result: As a result, the elements of the guideline for seclusion room were classified into size, space, opening, furniture and equipment, and etc. The results of comparative analysis of details are presented. Implications: Korea should also prepare guidelines for psychiatric institutions, and among them, the standards for seclusion room, which are at the center of controversy over human rights violations, should be reviewed in depth.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.1-10
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• 2023

Purpose : This study explores the professional status of Advanced Practice Nurses (APNs) in Korea, who, despite being legally certified, face instability in their professional standing, including their scope of practice and compensation. Method : The study uses Flexner's professional characteristics as a framework to analyze and project the future trajectory of Korean APNs. Results : First, to ensure social accountability, professional bodies need to establish uniform nursing policies related to job roles, and healthcare institutions must adhere to these policies. Second, nursing leaders should spearhead the creation of nursing knowledge essential for the profession's advancement, aiming to establish it as the foundation for nursing practice through a consensus process within the nursing community. Third, the curriculum for APNs should enhance the quantitative and qualitative aspects of practice in response to societal needs. Fourth, professional bodies should formulate consistent nursing policies based on a thorough analysis of the healthcare environment and legal considerations, and guide their implementation in clinical practice through a consensus process within the nursing community. Lastly, guidelines should be established for professional standards suitable for the Korean context. Conclusion : Based on this review, it is recommended that all APNs adhere to the professional standards set by their respective organizations, actively participate in personal quality improvement initiatives, and fulfill their duties and roles as members of these professional bodies. Furthermore, these organizations should devise practical strategies to solidify the APN system and should spearhead a systematic consensus process that garners the agreement of all members within the nursing community.

• Journal of Korea Society of Industrial Information Systems
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.1-14
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• 2024

The study aims to comprehend the health needs of multicultural families, identify relevant policies, and explore ways to enhance health information accessibility through Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Employing a qualitative research method, the health status of multicultural families was analyzed through literature review, followed by in-depth interviews. The findings revealed a lower priority given to health policies for multicultural families compared to other governmental sectors, with limited discussion on leveraging ICT for improved accessibility. In-depth interviews highlighted four main themes: "Early experiences in Korean society," "Language barriers in medical facilities," "Unmet healthcare needs for various reasons," and "High demand for health-related services." To safeguard health rights and enhance information accessibility, we recommend strengthening linguistic support in healthcare institutions, implementing government efforts for multicultural families, and designing user-centered ICT platforms.

• Korean Medical Education Review
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.93-107
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• 2024

Interprofessional education (IPE) is relatively new in medical schools in South Korea. Since the introduction of IPE in 2022, its effective and sustainable implementation has been of great interest in medical schools. This study analyzed literature on the development of IPE in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Japan to explore strategies for successful IPE in Korean medical schools. A systematic literature search focused on institutionalizing IPE yielded 30 papers for review. The findings included the following crucial elements for effective IPE: (1) government or institutional-led support; (2) establishment of networks and partnerships; (3) development of standardized core competency frameworks for IPE; and (4) inclusion of IPE in accreditation standards. These aspects underscore the importance of IPE as an essential component of health professional education that should be effectively and sustainably implemented in academic settings. The study concludes that the successful integration and sustainable development of IPE in Korean health education will necessitate expanded and proactive governmental support. Moreover, promoting collaborations among universities, hospitals, and local healthcare institutions will be vital for creating synergies in implementing IPE programs. Establishing networks to develop and execute joint IPE initiatives and securing initial support for conceptualizing and developing competency frameworks will be critical. Additionally, forming consortia of healthcare accreditation bodies to collaboratively develop and incorporate IPE standards into evaluation criteria will be essential. Efforts to surmount these challenges will contribute to building a structural and institutional support system for the successful introduction and sustainability of IPE in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.130-136
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• 2016

The aim of this study was to examine and analyze the infection management status of Jeju-area general hospitals, and in order to convey the importance of infection management, and to determine role plans of medical technologists as infection management staff, the infection management status was examined through surveys targeting 7 general hospitals located in Jeju Special Self-Governing Province. The infection management of Jeju-area medical institutions showed excellence in that all institutions operated an infection management room, there was dedicated manpower, and hospital infection management guidelines were established and executed. However most institutions were operating their infection management room with only 1 nurse, reporting many difficulties in securing dedicated manpower, microbe-related culture deciphering, frequency of multiple-resistance bacteria, infection statistics, and details on microbe testing. Accordingly, it is believed that the medical technologist who can perform the practical tasks of infection management has sufficient qualification and experience in infection management as per the medical law enforcement regulations, and in operation of an infection management room. If medical technologists (infection control microbiological technologist) with expert knowledge on microbes and infection control nurses can execute the tasks as dedicated personnel, the operation of the infection management room will be more advanced. In addition, for proper infection management in the future, the introduction of a medical system specialized in infection management and full support for infection management of vulnerable small/medium hospitals in addition to general hospitals across the country is considered important.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.45-54
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• 2022

Purpose: The study aims to identify the theme list and priority criteria of patient safety theme reports in South Korea. Methods: The survey was conducted twice, and the importance of each criterion and theme was measured on a nine-point scale using the Delphi technique by a panel of 19 patient safety experts. The criteria included severity, universality, preventability, and organizational-social impact. Descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, median, and interval quartile range were used to analyze the data. Results: The parameters were assigned a weighted average of 35% for severity, 20% for universality, 30% for preventability, and 15% for organizational-social impact, respectively. The final top three rankings were surgery safety, blood transfusion safety, and medication safety. In addition to expert opinion, for the theme that is selected based on the priority ranking, one to five sub-topics can be derived from the theme based on the priority ranking, societal demands, or the yearly priority list of patient safety incidents. Conclusion: It is recommended that the official patient safety center distribute the report in the form of a summary that can be utilized nationwide at medical institutions, government institutions, and other places. Updates, as well as accumulated theme reports, will serve as the baseline data for the proposal of the system and for the policy designed to implement and improve institutions' safety practices as a standard of domestic patient safety practice guidelines.

• Journal of the Korean BIBLIA Society for library and Information Science
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.283-304
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to identify Web accessibility issues of healthcare websites of the Korean government and public agencies by evaluating these websites' accessibility in accordance with the Korean Web Contents Accessibility Guideline. This study conducted both automated and expert testing to assess the accessibility of a total of 27 health-related websites. The results of the assessment which was conducted in two stages indicated that institutions such as the National Hospital and National Rehabilitation Center demonstrated almost no Web accessibility error. In addition, the Korea Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Health Services Agency, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, and the Korea Medical Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Agency attained very high web accessibility. However, the results of an expert evaluation highlighted that there were considerable errors in providing appropriate alternative text, which was not found in the automated test, and the color contrast of the text content did not comply with Web accessibility standard. Therefore, these websites did not support web accessibility for the sight-impaired. Furthermore, the present study found that it was difficult to deliver accurate information to users due to errors in the default language display and markup, and also, issues of skipping repeated content, content linearization, and compliance with keyboard use were considered as challenges that might arise for people with sight, cognitive and mobility impairments with respect to Web accessibility. It is the first study that evaluated accessibility of healthcare websites of the Korean government and public agencies based on the Korean Web Contents Accessibility Guideline. The present study made a contribution to research on Web accessibility by conducting expert testing, which provided a more complete assessment that identified the degree and specific issues of accessibility errors when compared to automated testing.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.69-91
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• 2017

Since the global financial crisis, major countries have been executing policies related to two top-priority goals to create more jobs: revitalization of entrepreneur activity and the cultivation of small and medium-sized companies. In South Korea, the interest of policy makers is increasingly focusing on the role of SMEs that have a technological competitive edge in the realization of a "job-centered creative economy." Due to the nature of the field, the health and medical industry requires a particularly long time until the achievement of industrialization, Also, because of the complex distribution structure, it is essential for related government ministries and institutions to jointly devise strategies. A lack of policy supports for the industry has thus far resulted in its development being relegated for the most part of small and medium-sized companies, which consequently means low global competitiveness. Now is the time for the South Korean government to provide the revolutionary supported options and strategies. This study aims to propose a general policy direction and policy areas for the cultivation of Korea's small and medium-sized companies in the healthcare industry into global small giant companies through an exploration of the German case. It is crucial to first cultivate the international competitiveness of Korean small and medium-sized companies (as in the case of Germany) so that they can grow into global small giant companies. Another important task is the creation of an environment that expedites the qualitative growth of promising SMEs as well as technological development. After securing competitiveness in terms of both product quality and technology in the global health market, substantive policy supports will be necessary to cultivate global small giant companies that are export-based (e.g. job creation effect, sales value added).

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.131-160
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• 2023

An amendment to Medical Law allowing permanent face-to-face treatment has been proposed in the 21st National Assembly, with five different bills introduced. However, each proposed amendment focuses on different aspects, and the issue is currently in a state of 'ongoing review' due to factors such as opposition from the medical profession and political considerations. However, from the perspective that the introduction of non-face-to-face treatment should be institutionalized and legislated prioritizing patient safety, certain directions are proposed. These include focusing on returning patients as the primary target, chronic diseases as the focal conditions, outpatient medical institutions as the implementing agencies, restricting non-face-to-face means primarily to video systems, and legally exempting healthcare professionals from responsibility for incidents beyond their control. The proposed directions also emphasize establishing the right to demand face-to-face treatment. It is suggested to legislate initial standards that ensure a minimum level of safety and gradually expand the scope of non-face-to-face treatment through future research, evaluation, and similar step-by-step approaches.