• Title/Summary/Keyword: Internal quality

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A Study on Usefulness of Clinical Application of Metal Artifact Reduction Algorithm in Radiotherapy (방사선치료 시 Metal artifact reduction Algorithm의 임상적용 유용성평가)

  • Park, Ja Ram;Kim, Min Su;Kim, Jeong Mi;Chung, Hyeon Suk;Lee, Chung Hwan;Back, Geum Mun
    • The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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    • v.29 no.2
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    • pp.9-17
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    • 2017
  • Purpose: The tissue description and electron density indicated by the Computed Tomography(CT) number (also known as Hounsfield Unit) in radiotherapy are important in ensuring the accuracy of CT-based computerized radiotherapy planning. The internal metal implants, however, not only reduce the accuracy of CT number but also introduce uncertainty into tissue description, leading to development of many clinical algorithms for reducing metal artifacts. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to investigate the accuracy and the clinical applicability by analyzing date from SMART MAR (GE) used in our institution. Methode: and material: For assessment of images, the original images were obtained after forming ROIs with identical volumes by using CIRS ED phantom and inserting rods of six tissues and then non-SMART MAR and SMART MAR images were obtained and compared in terms of CT number and SD value. For determination of the difference in dose by the changes in CT number due to metal artifacts, the original images were obtained by forming PTV at two sites of CIRS ED phantom CT images with Computerized Treatment Planning (CTP system), the identical treatment plans were established for non-SMART MAR and SMART MAR images by obtaining unilateral and bilateral titanium insertion images, and mean doses, Homogeneity Index(HI), and Conformity Index(CI) for both PTVs were compared. The absorbed doses at both sites were measured by calculating the dose conversion constant (cCy/nC) from ylinder acrylic phantom, 0.125cc ionchamber, and electrometer and obtaining non-SMART MAR and SMART MAR images from images resulting from insertions of unilateral and bilateral titanium rods, and compared with point doses from CTP. Result: The results of image assessment showed that the CT number of SMART MAR images compared to those of non-SMART MAR images were more close to those of original images, and the SD decreased more in SMART compared to non-SMART ones. The results of dose determinations showed that the mean doses, HI and CI of non-SMART MAR images compared to those of SMART MAR images were more close to those of original images, however the differences did not reach statistical significance. The results of absorbed dose measurement showed that the difference between actual absorbed dose and point dose on CTP in absorbed dose were 2.69 and 3.63 % in non-SMRT MAR images, however decreased to 0.56 and 0.68 %, respectively in SMART MAR images. Conclusion: The application of SMART MAR in CT images from patients with metal implants improved quality of images, being demonstrated by improvement in accuracy of CT number and decrease in SD, therefore it is considered that this method is useful in dose calculation and forming contour between tumor and normal tissues.

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1-Methylcyclopropene and Carbon Dioxide Absorber Reduce Chilling Injury of Eggplant ($Solanum$ $melongena$ L.) during MAP Storage (1-Methylcyclopropene과 이산화탄소 제거제 처리에 의한 가지($Solanum$ $melongena$ L.) 과실의 MAP 저장 중 저온장해 경감)

  • Veasna, Hay;Hwang, Yong-Soo;Choi, Jong-Myung;Ahn, Young-Jik;Lim, Byung-Sun;Chun, Jong-Pil
    • Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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    • v.21 no.1
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    • pp.50-56
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    • 2012
  • This study was conducted to extend the postharvest life of eggplant ($Solanum$ $melongena$ L.) by modified atmosphere packaging using a OPP bag with 1-MCP to evaluate the alleviation effects of that treatment on external chilling injury during at low temperature. 1-MCP treatment at the level of $1.0{\mu}L{\cdot}L^{-1}$ were very effective in delaying the progress of surface bronzing of eggplant during 10 days of storage at $8^{\circ}C$, but not significant at $1^{\circ}C$. Also, the treatment of 1-MCP at the levels of $0.1{\sim}1.0{\mu}L{\cdot}L^{-1}$ are beneficial to complement low temperature storage and maintain quality indices such as higher firmness and lower weight loss than untreated control even at a critical low temperature 4 to $8^{\circ}C$. The treatment of carbon dioxide using dry ice (DI, 5 g/3 fruits) significantly promoted chilling injury of eggplant stored at $4^{\circ}C$, symptoms were appeared from 3 days after treatment and combination treatment of 1-MCP did not block the development of chilling injury symptom. Meanwhile, single treatment of $CO_2$ absorber (CA, 5 g/3 fruits) or combination treatment with 1-MCP at the level of $1.0{\mu}L{\cdot}L^{-1}$ prevented effectively the external and internal chilling injury at $4^{\circ}C$ during 6 days and 15 days of MAP storage, respectively. Results suggest that 1-MCP and carbon dioxide absorber treatments delay fruit deterioration and are beneficial to broaden storage temperature of eggplant fruits.

Estimation of Addition and Removal Processes of Nutrients from Bottom Water in the Saemangeum Salt-Water Lake by Using Mixing Model (혼합모델을 이용한 새만금호 저층수 내 영양염의 공급과 제거에 관한 연구)

  • Jeong, Yong Hoon;Kim, Chang Shik;Yang, Jae Sam
    • Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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    • v.17 no.4
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    • pp.306-317
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    • 2014
  • This study has been executed to understand the additional and removal processes of nutrients in the Saemangeum Salt-water Lake, and discussed with other monthly-collected environmental parameters such as water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, suspended solids, and Chl-a from 2008 to 2010. $NO_3$-N, TP, $PO_4$-P, and DISi showed the removal processes along with the salinity gradients at the surface water of the lake, whereas $NO_2$-N, $NH_4$-N, and Chl-a showed addition trend. In the bottom water all water quality parameters except $NO_3$-N appeared addition processes indicating evidence of continuous nutrients suppliance into the bottom layer. The mixing modelling approach revealed that the biogeochemical processes in the lake consume $NO_3$-N and consequently added $NH_4$-N and $PO_4$-P to the bottom water during the summer seasons. The $NH_4$-N and $PO_4$-P appeared strong increase at the bottom water of the river-side of the lake and strong concentration gradient difference of dissolved oxygen also appeared in the same time. DISi exhibited continuous seasonal supply from spring to summer. Internal addition of $NH_4$-N and $PO_4$-P in the river-side of the lake were much higher than the dike-side, while the increase of DISi showed similar level both the dike and river sides. The temporal distribution of benthic flux for DISi indicates that addition of nutrients in the bottom water was strongly affected by other sources, for example, submarine ground-water discharge (SGD) through bottom sediment.

Approach to improve construction management using Information Technology (IT) (정보기술(IT) 기반을 통한 시공관리 선진화 방안)

  • Lee Woo-Bang;Moon Jin-Yeong;Moon Byeong-Suk
    • Proceedings of the Korean Institute Of Construction Engineering and Management
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    • autumn
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    • pp.115-122
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    • 2002
  • There is various points that should be improved in Fairness such as our contract practice to propose construction projects, project managing and the stakeholders' way of thinking and culture. We consider that the revision of construction related provisions and systems is required but even more, an overall change in business management through the implementation of Integrated Construction Information Management System that will enable the owner, which drives the project, and contractor sharing construction information is required. To mange construction related information in an integrated manner, designing information should be smoothly transferred to purchasing information, and changes are required in order to move ahead to process-oriented work system. Finally information created from various construction organizations should be delivered in an aligned and standardized manner as well. The domestic Nuclear Power Plant Construction has been accepting various technology transfers from U.S, France, Canada and UK, which enabled us to self-support technology and recently even proceeded to the phase exporting our technology to others. However, continuous effort is required to improve internal business efficiency and to respond to external environmental change such aselectricity market deregulation. Recently, in accordance with the result in number of CEO's intention to make progress in IT and improve business efficiency, the number of enterprises introducing Enterprise Resource Planning is increasing. ERP is an innovative tool which changes the way of performing work from organization and department orientation to process-orientation in order to optimize the resources, such as human and material resources, through out the Enterprise by performing BPR which will maximize overall business efficiency of the enterprise, such includes not only construction management, but also business management. KHNP continued to performing large scaled construction projects such as nuclear power plant construction for past 30 years and took the initiatives of large scale project management and Quality management ability in domestic industry by having independent capability of over all construction planning, purchasing and, construction and start up management etc. To maintain our leading position of improving construction management technology based on our accumulated project management experience and technology, KHNP included construction into our ERP project in purpose of innovating construction business. We would like to discuss the characteristics of nuclear construction business, project management system, information system infrastructure and information sharing system among construction related entities, and implementation practices for information system, and consider how to resolve our practice that should be improved in this thesis.

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A survey of eco-foodservice perception and satisfaction of elementary school parents in Jeju (제주지역 초등학생 학부모의 친환경급식에 대한 인식도 및 만족도 조사)

  • Jeong, Mi-Hui;Chae, In-Sook
    • Journal of Nutrition and Health
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    • v.48 no.1
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    • pp.105-112
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    • 2015
  • Purpose: This study analyzed the eco-foodservice perception and satisfaction of 344 elementary school parents in Jeju surveyed from February 1~12, 2010, with the aim of providing basic data for quality improvement of eco-foodservice in Jeju. Methods: The data were analyzed by descriptive analysis, ${\chi}^2$-test, t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson's correlation coefficients, using the SPSS Win program (version 12.0). Results: Regarding awareness of eco-friendly food materials of subjects, average score was 3.52 points (out of 5 scales) and 'difference between eco-friendly and general agricultural products (3.76)' showed the highest score whereas 'assurance standard and label of eco-friendly agricultural products (3.31)' showed the lowest score. In terms of the recognition of eco-foodservice implementation, 75.0% of parents were aware of it. Regarding the eco-foodservice satisfaction of the subjects, average score was 3.88 points (out of 5 scales) and food safety (3.98 points) showed the highest score whereas food taste (3.70 points) showed the lowest score. The eco-foodservice perception of subjects showed positive correlation with their eco-foodservice satisfaction. Conclusion: It is necessary for the government and the local government to provide continuing education for school parents in order to enhance their perception of eco-friendly food materials. In addition, systematic and appropriate government support is needed in order to ensure internal stability of eco-foodservice.

The Effect of Psychological Factors on Postoperative Pain in Gastric Tumor Patients after Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection (내시경 점막하 박리법을 시술 받은 위종양 환자에서 심리적 요인이 시술 후 통증에 미치는 영향)

  • Lee, Joon-Hyub;Jeon, Han Ho;Lee, San;Lee, Hyeok;Oh, Seung-Taek;Chang, Jhin Goo;Im, Woo Young;Park, Jaesub;Choi, Won-Jung
    • Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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    • v.26 no.1
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    • pp.68-75
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    • 2018
  • Objectives : Since pain in cancer patients is an important factor that greatly affects the quality of life and prognosis, many attempts have been actively made to reduce the pain. Despite continuous effort on reducing pain after Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD), research has not been done on psychological factors as much as on biological factors affecting pain. The objective of this study is to investigate the psychological factors affecting postoperative pain in gastric tumor patients who underwent gastric ESD. Methods : 91 gastric tumor patients who visited National Health Service Ilsan Hospital in Korean between May 2015 and June 2016, and received ESD were evaluated. Baseline characteristics including sociodemographic factors, anxiety, depression, and resilience were evaluated before the procedure. Multivariate logistic regression was done to analyze factors affecting postoperative pain. Results : The group with high postoperative pain showed lower alcohol consumption and higher depressive symptom scores than the group with low postoperative pain. Also, the group with high postoperative pain showed lower total resilience score with lower subtotal scores in self-control and positive item. Multivariate logistic regression analysis of the postoperative pain showed that patients with lower score in self-control of resilience [odd ratio (OR), 0.911 ; 95% CI, 0.854-0.971, p=0.004) reported more pain after ESD. Conclusions : This study showed that patients with lower self-control ability of resilience felt more pain after ESD. Among the psychological factors evaluated in this study, resilience of an individual seems to have effect on pain.

Demonstration and Operation of Pilot Plant for Short-circuit Nitrogen Process for Economic Treatment of High Concentration Nitrogen Wastewater (고농도 질소함유폐수의 경제적 처리를 위한 단축질소공정 파일럿플랜트 실증화 및 운영 결과)

  • Lee, Jae Myung;Jeon, Ji-hyeong;Choi, Hong-bok
    • Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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    • v.28 no.1
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    • pp.53-64
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    • 2020
  • A 2㎥/d combined wastewater treatment pilot plant containing the multi-stage vertical stacking type nitrification reactor was installed and operated for more than 1 year under the operating conditions of the short-circuit nitrogen process (pH 8, DO 1mg/L and Internal return rate 4Q from nitrification to denitrification reactor). For economically the combination treatment of food wastewater and the leachate from a landfill, the optimal combination ratio was operated by adjusting the food wastewater with the minimum oil content to 5-25% of the total throughput. The main treatment efficiency of the three-phase centrifugal separator which was introduced to effectively separate solids and oil from the food wastewater was about 52% of SS from 116,000mg/L to 55,700mg/L, and about 48% of normal hexane (NH) from 53,200mg to 27,800 mg/L. During the operational period, the average removal efficiency in the combined wastewater treatment process of BOD was 99.3%, CODcr 94.2%, CODmn 90%, SS 70.1%, T-N 85.8%, and T-P 99.2%. The average concentrations of BOD, CODcr, T-N, and T-P of the treated water were all satisfied with the discharge quality standard for landfill leachate ("Na" region), and SS was satisfied after applying the membrane process. On-site leachate had a relatively high nitrite nitrogen content in the combined wastewater due to intermittent aeration of the equalization tanks and different monthly discharges. Nevertheless nitrite nitrogen was accumulated, denitrification from nitrite nitrogen was observed rather than denitrification after complete nitrification. The average input of anti-forming chemical during the operation period is about 2L/d, which seems to be economical compared to the input of methanol required to treat the same wastewater.

A Hybrid Forecasting Framework based on Case-based Reasoning and Artificial Neural Network (사례기반 추론기법과 인공신경망을 이용한 서비스 수요예측 프레임워크)

  • Hwang, Yousub
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.18 no.4
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    • pp.43-57
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    • 2012
  • To enhance the competitive advantage in a constantly changing business environment, an enterprise management must make the right decision in many business activities based on both internal and external information. Thus, providing accurate information plays a prominent role in management's decision making. Intuitively, historical data can provide a feasible estimate through the forecasting models. Therefore, if the service department can estimate the service quantity for the next period, the service department can then effectively control the inventory of service related resources such as human, parts, and other facilities. In addition, the production department can make load map for improving its product quality. Therefore, obtaining an accurate service forecast most likely appears to be critical to manufacturing companies. Numerous investigations addressing this problem have generally employed statistical methods, such as regression or autoregressive and moving average simulation. However, these methods are only efficient for data with are seasonal or cyclical. If the data are influenced by the special characteristics of product, they are not feasible. In our research, we propose a forecasting framework that predicts service demand of manufacturing organization by combining Case-based reasoning (CBR) and leveraging an unsupervised artificial neural network based clustering analysis (i.e., Self-Organizing Maps; SOM). We believe that this is one of the first attempts at applying unsupervised artificial neural network-based machine-learning techniques in the service forecasting domain. Our proposed approach has several appealing features : (1) We applied CBR and SOM in a new forecasting domain such as service demand forecasting. (2) We proposed our combined approach between CBR and SOM in order to overcome limitations of traditional statistical forecasting methods and We have developed a service forecasting tool based on the proposed approach using an unsupervised artificial neural network and Case-based reasoning. In this research, we conducted an empirical study on a real digital TV manufacturer (i.e., Company A). In addition, we have empirically evaluated the proposed approach and tool using real sales and service related data from digital TV manufacturer. In our empirical experiments, we intend to explore the performance of our proposed service forecasting framework when compared to the performances predicted by other two service forecasting methods; one is traditional CBR based forecasting model and the other is the existing service forecasting model used by Company A. We ran each service forecasting 144 times; each time, input data were randomly sampled for each service forecasting framework. To evaluate accuracy of forecasting results, we used Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) as primary performance measure in our experiments. We conducted one-way ANOVA test with the 144 measurements of MAPE for three different service forecasting approaches. For example, the F-ratio of MAPE for three different service forecasting approaches is 67.25 and the p-value is 0.000. This means that the difference between the MAPE of the three different service forecasting approaches is significant at the level of 0.000. Since there is a significant difference among the different service forecasting approaches, we conducted Tukey's HSD post hoc test to determine exactly which means of MAPE are significantly different from which other ones. In terms of MAPE, Tukey's HSD post hoc test grouped the three different service forecasting approaches into three different subsets in the following order: our proposed approach > traditional CBR-based service forecasting approach > the existing forecasting approach used by Company A. Consequently, our empirical experiments show that our proposed approach outperformed the traditional CBR based forecasting model and the existing service forecasting model used by Company A. The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 provides some research background information such as summary of CBR and SOM. Section 3 presents a hybrid service forecasting framework based on Case-based Reasoning and Self-Organizing Maps, while the empirical evaluation results are summarized in Section 4. Conclusion and future research directions are finally discussed in Section 5.

Opportunity Tree Framework Design For Optimization of Software Development Project Performance (소프트웨어 개발 프로젝트 성능의 최적화를 위한 Opportunity Tree 모델 설계)

  • Song Ki-Won;Lee Kyung-Whan
    • The KIPS Transactions:PartD
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    • v.12D no.3 s.99
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    • pp.417-428
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    • 2005
  • Today, IT organizations perform projects with vision related to marketing and financial profit. The objective of realizing the vision is to improve the project performing ability in terms of QCD. Organizations have made a lot of efforts to achieve this objective through process improvement. Large companies such as IBM, Ford, and GE have made over $80\%$ of success through business process re-engineering using information technology instead of business improvement effect by computers. It is important to collect, analyze and manage the data on performed projects to achieve the objective, but quantitative measurement is difficult as software is invisible and the effect and efficiency caused by process change are not visibly identified. Therefore, it is not easy to extract the strategy of improvement. This paper measures and analyzes the project performance, focusing on organizations' external effectiveness and internal efficiency (Qualify, Delivery, Cycle time, and Waste). Based on the measured project performance scores, an OT (Opportunity Tree) model was designed for optimizing the project performance. The process of design is as follows. First, meta data are derived from projects and analyzed by quantitative GQM(Goal-Question-Metric) questionnaire. Then, the project performance model is designed with the data obtained from the quantitative GQM questionnaire and organization's performance score for each area is calculated. The value is revised by integrating the measured scores by area vision weights from all stakeholders (CEO, middle-class managers, developer, investor, and custom). Through this, routes for improvement are presented and an optimized improvement method is suggested. Existing methods to improve software process have been highly effective in division of processes' but somewhat unsatisfactory in structural function to develop and systemically manage strategies by applying the processes to Projects. The proposed OT model provides a solution to this problem. The OT model is useful to provide an optimal improvement method in line with organization's goals and can reduce risks which may occur in the course of improving process if it is applied with proposed methods. In addition, satisfaction about the improvement strategy can be improved by obtaining input about vision weight from all stakeholders through the qualitative questionnaire and by reflecting it to the calculation. The OT is also useful to optimize the expansion of market and financial performance by controlling the ability of Quality, Delivery, Cycle time, and Waste.

The Study on the Medical and Nursing Service Needs of the Terminal Cancer Patients and Their Caregivers (말기암 환자와 가족의 의료 및 간호 서비스 요구)

  • 이소우;이은옥;허대석;노국희;김현숙;김선례;김성자;김정희;이경옥
    • Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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    • v.28 no.4
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    • pp.958-969
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    • 1998
  • In this study, we attempted to investigate the needs and problems of the terminal cancer patients and their family caregivers to provide them with nursing information to improve their quality of life and prepare for a peaceful death. Data was collected from August 1, 1995 to July 31, 1996 at the internal medicine unit of S hospital in Seoul area with the two groups of participants who were family members of terminal cancer patients seventy four of them were in-patients and 34 were out-patients who were discharged from the same hospital for home care. The research tool used in this study has been developed by selecting the questionnaires from various references, modifying them for our purpose and refining them based on the results of preliminary study. While general background information about the patients was obtained by reviewing their medical records, all other information was collected by interviewing the primary family caregivers of the patients using the questionnaire. The data collected were analyzed with the SPSS PC/sup +/ program. The results of this study are summarized as follows ; 1) Most frequently complained symptoms of the terminal cancer patients were in the order of pain(87%), weakness(86.1%), anorexia(83.3%) and fatigue (80.6%). 2) Main therapies for the terminal cancer patients were pain control (58.3%), hyperalimentation(47.2%) and antibiotics(21.3%). 3) Special medical devices that terminal cancer patients used most were oxygen device (11.1%), and feeding tube(5.6%). Other devices were used by less than 5% of the patients. 4) The mobility of 70.4% of the patients was worse than ECOG 3 level, they had to stay in bed more than 50% of a day. 5) Patients wanted their medical staffs to help relieve pain(45.4%), various physical symptoms(29.6%), and problems associated with their emotion(11.1%). 6) 16.7% of the family caregivers hoped for full recovery of the patients, refusing to admit the status of the patients. Also, 37% wished for the extension of the patient's life at least for 6 months. 7) Only 38.9% of the family members was preparing for the patient's funeral. 8) 45.4% of family caregivers prefer hospital as the place for the patient's death, 39.8% their own home, and 14.8% undetermined. 9) Caregivers of the patients were mostly close family members, i.e., spouse(62%), and sons and daughters or daughter-in-laws(21.3%). 10) 43.5% of the family caregivers were aware of hospice care. 46.8% of them learned about the hospice care from the mass media, 27.7% from health professionals, and the rest from books and other sources. 11) Caregivers were asked about the most difficult problems they encounter in home care, 41 of them pointed out the lack of health professionals they can contact, counsel and get help from in case of emergency, 17 identified the difficulty of finding appropriate transportation to hospital, and 13 stated the difficulty of admission in hospital as needed. 12) 93.6% of family caregivers demanded 24-hour hot line, 80% the visiting nurses and doctors, and 69.4% the volunteer's help. The above results indicate that terminal patients and their family caregivers demand help from qualified health professionals whenever necessary. Hospice care system led by well-trained medical and nursing staffs is one of the viable answers for such demands.

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