• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.52-61
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to examine the feeding and nutritional status of enteral tube-fed elderly patients. Subjects included 77 elderly hospitalized patients who had received enteral nutrition more than one week before admission. Medical records on admission and actual feeding volume were used to assess anthropometric, biochemical, and nutritional status. Most patients manifested disorders of the nervous system (93.5%) and the average duration of tube feeding was 13.9 months. The average feeding volume of formula was 1,107 mL per day and the mean ratios of calorie and protein (supplied vs. required) were 81.7% and 80.9%, respectively. At admission, 57.4% of the patients were malnourished according to the institutional criteria. Patients receiving less than 80% of the required calories were in worse nutritional status compared with those receiving more than 80% of the required calories. Body mass index, percent ideal body weight, serum albumin level and blood lipid levels (total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglyceride) were significantly lower in patients receiving less than 80% of the required calories. These results indicate the high prevalence of malnutrition and the need for increased attention and nutritional care of elderly patients undergoing long-term enteral nutrition.

• Journal of International Academy of Physical Therapy Research
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.545-551
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to determine the correlations between problematic behaviors and activities of daily living(ADL) targeting 106 demented elderly people hospitalized in a geriatric hospital. To examine the cognitive function of the subjects, the study used Korean Mini Mental State Examination(K-MMSE). For problematic behaviors and ADL, the study collected data based on Patient Assessment Forms in the geriatric hospital. Among problematic behaviors, apathy/indifference had the highest correlation with the items of ADL. Irritability/lability, agitation/aggression, depression/ dysphoria, night-time behavior and wandering also showed to be correlated to items of ADL(p<.05). This study demonstrated that cognitive function, problematic behaviors and ADL of the demented elderly hospitalized in the geriatric hospital are correlated to each other.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.25-42
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• 2007

To identify characteristics of elderly inpatients who had long term hospitalization in a general hospital, this study categorized into two groups who were hospitalized for less than 30 days and a group hospitalized for more than 30 days. To compare the groups the independent variables were the sociodemographical characteristics, the medical care utility characteristics, and the disease characteristics and finally analyzed factors affecting the hospitalization period. The data of 18,727 inpatients who were older than 65 years of age by the year 2005 were used and the data were analyzed using SPSS for Windows 12.0. With the results, it is necessary to provide intensive and positive management to elderly inpatients who belong to the more than 30 days group and also necessary to share roles and functions of hospital by medical network with local hospitals and clinics in order to manage long-term elderly inpatients and offer continuous post-management to discharged patients by encouraging them to use a long-term care center or by implementing an early discharge program. This study should provide many studies on how to manage the period of hospitalization efficiently on long-stay elderly inpatients in the future.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.223-247
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• 1996

This study was done to provide information which would lead to nursing care of the elderly being more holistically through an understanding of the phenomena of powerlessness based on the lived experience of powerlessness by the elderly, the meaning the elderly give to such phenomena, and what essence of powerlessness is. The methodology used in this study was Max Van Manen's phenomenological method based on the philosophy of Merleu-Ponty and a concerted approach was realized through the 11 steps suggested in the Van Manen's method. Data collection was done from March 2, 1995 to December 30, 1995. The subjects for this study were four elderly persons who lived with their families and who were over 60 years of age. Data were collected about the lived experience of the elderly, this researcher's experience of powerlessness, the linguistic meaning of powerlessness, idioms of the word or a feeling of powerlessness, and descriptions of powerlessness in the elderly as they appeared in the literature, are works, and phenomenological literature. All data were used to provide insights into the phenomena of powerlessness. Data about the experience of powerlessness by the elderly were collected through open interviews, participation, and observation. In the analysis of the theme of this study, the aspects of the theme, powerlessness in the elderly were clarified, thereby abstracting and finding meaningful statements by the elderly about their feeling of powerlessness, and then those significant statements were expressed as linguistic transformations. The summarized findings from the study are as follows : 1. Five meanings of powerlessness in the elderly were defined. 〈weakness〉, 〈dependence〉, 〈frustration〉, 〈worthlessness〉 and 〈giving up〉. 2. 〈Weakness〉 means that the elderly experience, not only their aging but also, their becoming weak and the loss of physical function frequently caused by diseases. 〈Dependence〉 means that the elderly experience dependence without any influence from the surroundings and that elderly patients who are hospitalized lose their autonomy, follow entirely their doctor's prescriptions, use aid equipment and directions, and depend only on those things. 〈Frustration〉 means that the elderly experience the loss of their roles from the past, there by feeling that there is no work for them to do anymore and therefore feel unable to do anything. 〈Worthlessness〉 means that the elderly experience the feeling of losing their social roles from the past, having no financial ability, thereby being a burden to their children or the people around them, and therefore regarding themselves useless. 〈Giving up〉 means that the elderly experience the feeling of closeness to death in the final stage of their lifetime, lose hope to be healed from their disease, and recognize the incontrollability of their own body. 3. From a general view of the meaning of the theme the powerlessness in the elderly-the most essential meaning of the theme is the 〈sense of loss〉. For the elderly are experiencing a sense of loss in the situation of being elderly and therefore being often hospitalized. Brief definitions of the five phenomena could be 〈weakness〉 meaning the loss of physical strength, 〈dependence〉 the loss of mentality caused by disease and hospitalization, 〈frustration〉 and 〈worthlessness〉 the loss of social performance caused by the loss of social functions from the past, and lastly 〈giving up〉 the loss of the controllability of such situations of aging and suffering disease. In light of the discussion above, it is understandable that the hospitalized elderly experience powerlessness not only as it related to their diseases but also to their normal aging, and this related to other characteristics of being elderly means that the 〈sense of loss〉 is the very essence of their powerlessness. 4. While most cases are of the normal elderly experiencing powerlessness in relation to their social network, cases of elderly who are hospitalized are of those experiencing powerlessness in relation to the loss of their physical desire. 5. The findings discussed above can serve as guidelines for nurses who take care of the ill elderly who are hospitalized and that can provide cues to appropriate nursing service, recognizing that the subjective experience of the objective age of the elderly is so important. Nurses can provide highly qualitative nursing service, based on their deep understanding of the suffering of the elderly due to feelings of powerlessness.

• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.237-246
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• 2011

Purpose: This study investigates dental health and chewing ability of patients hospitalized in geriatric hospital, and compares the chewing ability for each factor that can be used as data for dental healthcare of senior citizens and basic data for denture insurance for the elderly. Methods: The 101 subjects of this study were selected from 178 patients hospitalized in a geriatric hospital located in Daegu Metropolitan City, excluding 77 patients who were being treated in the intensive care unit and who were unable to communicate. The chewing ability of the patients were measured using an evaluation scale based on foods consisting of 10 different hardnesses. Results: Patients with less than 21 teeth, those with dentures and patients who were less than satisfied with their dental conditions had difficulties in chewing hard food such as dried squid and radish kimchi, and the Chewing ability increased proportionally to the number of remaining teeth(p<0.001), appropriateness of the maxillary and mandibular dentures(p<0.005) and the level of dental satisfaction(p<0.001). Conclusion: This study is limited as the subjects were selected from a single hospital and the authors estimate that various studies will be necessary to investigate the Chewing ability of patients hospitalized in long-term hospitals. The subjects of this study did not receive any dental treatment while staying in the hospital and many of the subjects had bad fit denture or didn't have dentures or did not use dentures, although they have dentures, which calls for denture construction and prosthetics through dental treatment.

• Journal of International Academy of Physical Therapy Research
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.696-700
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• 2014

This study was carried out to identify the influence of continuous physical therapy on long-stay elderly patients. This study classified 92 patients who had been hospitalized for one year into experimental group who continued to perform physical therapy and control group who did not conduct physical therapy and these two groups were classified into 0.5 point-questionable group, 1 point-mild dementia group, and 2 point-moderate dementia group based on the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale(CDR) when they were hospitalized in order to analyze the changes at the early stage of hospitalization and after one year has passed. As a result, it was appeared that both in CDR 0.5-point subgroup of questionable group and in CDR 1-point subgroup of mild dementia group, CDR was statistically significantly reduced in the experimental group whose physical therapy was continuously performed than in the control group whose physical therapy was not performed(p<.05) and that there was no significant difference in changes in the CDR between experimental group and control group in CDR 2-point group, which is a moderate dementia group.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.48-56
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• 2015

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to verify the effects of visual information on nursing management to elderly total knee arthroplasty (TKA) patients. Methods: A quasi-experimental study with a non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used in this study. Participants of this study were 60 elderly patients with TKA admitted to one hospital: the control group (30) between July and September, 2013, and the experimental group (30) between April and July, 2013. Anxiety and uncertainty were determined at baseline and at 3 days after TKA in both groups. Results: Two days after the visual information, the experimental group showed a significant decrease in anxiety and uncertainty compared with the control group. Conclusion: The results of this study show that providing visual information was effective in decreasing postoperative patient anxiety and uncertainty in elderly TKA patients. Therefore, when an elderly patient is hospitalized for TKA, positive and systematic provision of visual information may provide a positive effect by reducing postoperative patient anxiety and uncertainty.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.186-194
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• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate factors of sleep disturbance and sleep patterns of elderly hospitalized women patients between young-old (65-74 years), old (76-84 years) and old-old (85 years and above). Methods: The questionnaire included the environmental disturbance factors (Paik, 2000), degree of pain (Wang & Kim,1995), disease symptoms (Paik, 2000), depression (Kee, 1996) and sleep patterns (Oh, Song, & Kim, 1998). Data were analyzed using frequencies, means, ${\chi}^2$-test, t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe, Pearson correlation coefficients and multiple regression (SPSS 14.0). Results: The middle, and oldest group's environmental disturbance factors of degree of pain, disease symptoms, depression and sleep patterns were higher than those of the younger group. The younger, middle, and oldest group's sleep pattern had a significant negative correlation with environmental disturbance factors, degree of pain, disease symptoms and depression. The model including variables related to environmental, physical and psychological disturbance factors, explained the following variances in sleep pattern: 26.8% for the youngest group, 27.6% for the middle group and 40.7% for the oldest group. Conclusion: The result of this study offer basic data for the development of nursing intervention programs to improve sleep patterns for hospitalized women patients according to age differences.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.94-100
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• 2005

Background: Although trauma has been the major cause of death in korea, there are few reports describing the epidemiologic characteristics of trauma victims according to age-group. Thus, this study aimed to describe the epidemiologic characteristics of trauma victims visiting an urban emergency medical center in Korea. Method: This study was conducted with all trauma victims who visited the emergency departments of Asan Medical Center from April 11, 2005 to May 10, 2005. After the subjects were divided into three groups such as child (${\leq}14$ years old), adult(15-64 years old) and elderly(${\geq}65$ years old), the prehospital courses, injury mechanisms, injury severities and clinical results were compared. Result: Among total 5,927 patients who visited the emergency medical center, 896(15.1%) patients were trauma victims. Although child under the age of 15 comprised 28.7% of the total trauma victims, less severe injuries(injury severity score < 9) accounted for 97.7% of the cases. The hospitalization rate for injury among child was 21.5%. however, although elderly aged 65 comprised only 5.9% of the total trauma victims, more severe injuries(injury severity score ${\geq}9$) accounted for 30.2% of the cases. The hospitalization rate for injury among elderly was 56.4%. Conclusion: Patterns of injury and clinical results by age-group were considerably different. less severe and non-hospitalized injuries were more common in child than other age-groups. while severe and hospitalized injuries were common in elderly.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.161-170
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• 2022

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate polypharmacy and potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) use in elderly patients admitted to hospitals after falls. Methods: The study surveyed 283 patients 65 or older admitted January 1-December 31, 2016. Data were collected from electronic medical records, and medications administered immediately prior to admission were examined. PIM use for patients was investigated using the Beers criteria, and data were analyzed by Chi-square test and independent ttest. Results: The average age of participants was 79.42± 8.16, and the study included 226 women (79.9%) and 57 men (20.1%). The average number of self-administered medications daily was 4.94± 3.68, and 55.1% took five or more medications. PIM use was found in 107 patients (37.8%). There was a significant difference in polypharmacy according to age, and the proportion of medical aid beneficiaries and prevalence of cardiocerebrovascular, endocrine, and other chronic diseases were higher in the polypharmacy and PIM use patients than in the non-polypharmacy and non-PIM use patients. The number of chronic diseases and medications taken were significantly high among polypharmacy and PIM use patients. Conclusion: It is necessary to minimize polypharmacy and PIM use, and establish a system for systematically evaluating and managing medication use to prevent falls in the elderly.