• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.185-189
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• 2023

Purpose: Limited research has been conducted on the prevalence of non-medical opioid use (NMOU) in Korean cancer patients who have received prescription opioids (PO). This study aimed to identify the potential proportion of NMOU in cancer patients who had been prescribed opioids in Korea. Methods: A retrospective cohort analysis was conducted on 14,728 patients who underwent cancer-related treatment between January 2009 and December 2019, using electronically collected data from a tertiary hospital in Korea. Information regarding the type and duration of opioid use was gathered. A detailed review of medical charts was carried out, focusing on patients who had been prescribed opioids for over 60 days beyond a 12-month period following the completion of their cancer treatment (long-term PO users). Results: Out of the 5,587 patients who were prescribed PO and followed up for at least 12 months, 13 cases of NMOU were identified, representing 0.23% of the patient population. Among the 204 long-term PO users, the rate was 6.37% (13/204). The most commonly misused opioids were oxycodone and fentanyl. For the group confirmed to have NMOU, the median duration of prescription was 1,327 days in total. Of the 13 patients diagnosed with NMOU, 9 reported withdrawal symptoms, 3 exhibited craving behavior for opioids, and 1 experienced both symptoms. Conclusion: This study found that 0.23% of cancer patients who had been prescribed opioids in Korea demonstrated NMOU. Despite this relatively low rate, careful monitoring is necessary to minimize the risk of NMOU in this population, especially among long-term PO users.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.1155-1162
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• 2014

Background: Despite mixed survival data, the utilization of contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM) for the prevention of a contralateral breast cancer (CBC) has increased significantly over the last 15 years, especially among women less than 40. We set out to look at our own experience with CPM, focusing on outcomes in women less than 40, the sub-population with the highest cumulative lifetime risk of developing CBC. With an extended follow-up, we hoped to demonstrate differences in the long-term disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) among groups who underwent the procedure (CPM) versus those that did not (NCPM). Materials and Methods: We performed a retrospective review of all breast cancer patients less than age 40 diagnosed at Mount Sinai Medical Center between January 1, 1980 and December 31, 2010 (n=481). Among these patients, 42 were identified as having undergone CPM, while 195 were confirmed as being CPM-free during the observation period. A univariate and multivariate analyses were performed. Results: The CPM group had a significantly higher percentage of patients who were diagnosed between 2000 and 2010 (95.2% vs 40%, p=0.0001). The CPM group had significantly smaller tumors (0-2cm.: 41.7% vs 24.8%, p=0.04). Among the entire group of patients, the overall five- and 10-year DFS were 81.3% and 73.3%, respectively. CPM was significantly associated [HR 2.35 (1.02, 5.41); p=0.046] with 10-year OS, although a similar effect was not observed for five-year OS. Conclusions: We found that CPM has increased dramatically over the last 15 years, especially among white women with locally advanced disease. In patients less than 40, who are thought to be at greatest cumulative risk of secondary breast cancer, CPM provided an OS advantage, regardless of genetics, tumor or patient characteristics, and which was only seen after 10 years of follow-up.

• Journal of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.306-320
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• 2020

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the subjective perception structures and types of empathy among nurses caring for patients with behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) using Q-methodology. Methods: Thirty-eight Q-samples (statements) were derived from in-depth interviews with 10 nurses working in long-term care hospitals and nursing homes. The Q-sorting was conducted in rank order (the responses obtained by each of the 30 nurses working at 3 long-term care hospitals and 4 nursing homes) into a normal distribution grid (from -4 to +4). The types of empathy among participants were analyzed using the PC-QUANL program. Results: Five types of empathy accounting for 48.5% of the total variance were categorized as follows: (1) taking the patients' personality into consideration while helping, (2) interacting closely and emotionally, (3) supporting the patient as a companion, (4) performing the duty in a defensive manner, and (5) resolving patients' problems by focusing on their needs. Conclusion: This study shows that there are various types of empathy in nurses caring for patients with BPSD. Therefore, it is necessary to develop strategies and educative programs to enhance empathy competency and deal with burnout based on the type of empathy.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.19-30
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• 2005

As the population of the elderly increases drastically year by year in Korea, the more welfare centers for them are greatly needed. There are, however, a small number of public geriatric hospitals currently available. And a limited number of private-founded geriatric centers are under construction throughout the country. And the systematic standards for the spacial composition and departmental area distribution for them are not satisfactorily set up yet. The analytical study of the space composition and area distribution of the hospitals in question shows that publicly-shared spaces, such as day-room and lobby, are much more useful for their communications than private spaces, such as shut-in living rooms. It also shows that in-yards or in-gardens which are located in the center of the wards are very helpful for their comfortable long-term hospitalization. The shared spaces are recommended to be in sight of and within earshot of their caretakers. In relation with out-patient departments, the programs for the local elderly residents, such as the day-care center and recreation facilities are recommended to be prepared for their physical care and emotional treatment at a time by municipal welfare centers rather than by private institutions. The analytic study carried out in terms of departmental area distributions reveals that the areas for the wards are generally wider and areas for out-patient/or diagnosis departments are relatively narrower than those in the general hospitals. These area distributions seem to have come from the considerations of their relatively long-term staying in the centers than general hospitals and their mental stability as well.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.35-52
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• 1991

The purpose of this study was to assess the degree of stress and patterns of coping for that Stressful events on family members because of the hospitalization of the patients. Stress and coping were measured with a tool on the basis of Volicer and Bell's questionnaire. In data collection, the modified 38 items of Volicer's stress scale and Bell's 18 item coping scale were administered. The subjects consisted of 259 family members of general ward-patients in Seoul National University Hospital during April in 1990. They were randomly selected on the basis of relationship of patients; patient's spouse, patient's daughters or sons. The stressors of the family members were ranked as follows; The first rank Stressful events was related to the patient's diseases and pain, the second ones was related ·to caring of their patients and family's psychosocial life. Families used long term coping method significantly more than short term ones. The results indicated that there was no difference in use of coping method between pre and post hospitalization. Finding out more about situation and optimism were the most common coping methods, and the least frequent coping method was the use of drugs. In conclusion, the identification of perceived stress and coping patterns of family members provides useful information for family nursing and aimes at better nursing care for the hospitalized in patients.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.271-280
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• 2018

Recently, big data has been growing rapidly due to the development of IT technology. Especially in the medical field, big data is utilized to provide services such as patient-customized medical care, disease management and disease prediction. In Korea, 'National Health Alarm Service' is provided by National Health Insurance Corporation. However, the prediction model has a problem of short-term prediction within 3 days and unreliability of social data used in prediction model. In order to solve these problems, this paper proposes a disease prediction model using medicine prescription data generated from actual patients. This model predicts the total number of patients and the risk of disease in each region and uses the ARIMA model for long-term predictions.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.98-104
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• 2007

Background: Although there is an increasing incidence of Mycobacterium abscessus pulmonary disease in Korea, the optimal therapeutic regimen has not yet been established and there are no reports of the long-term treatment outcomes. This study examined the long-term treatment outcomes of M. abscessus pulmonary disease. Methods: Twenty-nine patients diagnosed with M. abscessus pulmonary according to the American Thoracic Society criteria and treated from January 1996 to December 2003 were enrolled in ghis study. The clinical characteristics, radiological findings, treatment outcome, and follow up data were analyzed retrospectively. Results: The mean age of the 29 patients was 56.1 (${\pm}13.6$) years and there was a female (22/29) dominance. The chest radiography revealed the nodular bronchiectatic type to be dominant (69%, 20/29). Twenty-seven (93.1%) were prescribed clarithromycin-containing regimens, and injectable drugs, mainly aminoglycosides, were included in the regimen of nineteen patients. The most predominant regimen (48.3%) consisted of clarithromycin and amikacin. The treatment success, failure, and default were achieved in 19(65.5%), 9(31.0%), and 1(3.4%), respectively. The median duration to culture conversion was 42 days (range 15-362) and the median duration of treatment in the success group was 543 days (range 176-1,160). An adjunctive surgical resection was performed in five patients, which resulted in treatment success in two patients. After the completion of treatment, nineteen patients were followed up for a median duration of 931 days (range 230-2,294). Only one (5.3%) patient relapsed 45 days after completing treatment. Conclusion: Treatment with clarithromycin-containing regimens resulted in a successful treatment in approximately two thirds of patients with M. abscessus pulmonary disease. The long-term relapse rate was also quite low.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.55-62
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• 1977

Varieties of literatures were reviewed in regard to the fundamental concept of day hospital, historical trends, the recipient of its care, facilities and personnel, therapeutic programmes and the follow-up care plans. Through the research the advantages of day hospital were highlighted in order to provide the reference for those who consider planning such health care institution. Since the introduction of the concept of day hospital and its implementation in 1930, many psychiatric patients world over are treated and cared. Patients with specific health problems ; alcoholism, acute or serious psychiatric disease, tendencies of humidor suicidal attempts, and with serious physical problems were excluded from the general recipient. Day hospital were annexed to the psychiatric hospitals in most in instances ; facilities, personnel, except nursing personnel, were shared. All therapeutic care were planned in daley, weekly programmes, and were focussed on socialization. The follow-up care were provided for those participating post- therapy club activities which were planned and introduced ahead. Many advantages of day-hospital care in contrast to the traditional hospitalization care were found: 1. The abrupt discontinuity of his family and other social role is prevented. 2. Therapeutic progress is faster. 3. Lessened economic burden to the family. 4. Behavioral regression is lessened and the lessened fear of hospitalization. 5. Less injury to the patients, self- respect, through lessened anxiety of hospitalization. 6. Incidents of secondary crisis believed to be existing in long term cases are decreased. 7. Therapeutic care implemented in freer atmosphere, better Patient-personnel relationships are created. 8. Varieties of group activities are Induced which enable faster recovery. 9. Patients could engage himself with social activities including getting job on part-time basis. 10. Rehabilitation of patient could be implemented.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.82 no.4
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• pp.348-356
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• 2019

Background: Recently, the number of lung transplants in South Korea has increased. However, the long-term outcome data is limited. In this study, we aimed to investigate the long-term outcomes of adult lung transplantation recipients. Methods: Among the patients that underwent lung transplantation at a tertiary referral center in South Korea between 2008 and 2017, adults patient who underwent deceased-donor lung transplantation with available follow-up data were enrolled. Their medical records were retrospectively reviewed. Results: Through eligibility screening, we identified 60 adult patients that underwent lung (n=51) or heart-lung transplantation (n=9) during the observation period. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (46.7%, 28/60) was the most frequent cause of lung transplantation. For all the 60 patients, the median follow-up duration for post-transplantation was 2.6 years (range, 0.01-7.6). During the post-transplantation follow-up period, 19 patients (31.7%) died at a median duration of 194 days. The survival rates were 75.5%, 67.6%, and 61.8% at 1 year, 3 years, and 5 years, respectively. Out of the 60 patients, 8 (13.3%) were diagnosed with chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD), after a mean duration of $3.3{\pm}2.8years$ post-transplantation. The CLAD development rate was 0%, 17.7%, and 25.8% at 1 year, 3 years, and 5 years, respectively. The most common newly developed post-transplantation comorbidity was the chronic kidney disease (CKD; 54.0%), followed by diabetes mellitus (25.9%). Conclusion: Among the adult lung transplantation recipients at a South Korea tertiary referral center, the long-term survival rates were favorable. The proportion of patients who developed CLAD was not substantial. CKD was the most common post-transplantation comorbidity.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-20
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• 1999

Since the late 1980s, there have been radical changes in the managerial environment of Y University Medical Center(YUMC). Externally, the competition among hospitals has intensified due to the establishment of universal health insurance in 1939 and the entrance of large enterprises into the health care industry in the early 1990s. In addition, government regulation of medical institution is becoming stricter. Also, consumer groups have continued to demand the respect for patient rights and improvement of the quality of medical services. Internally, the financial condition of YUMC has worsened, not only because weak control and poor mediation in its large-scale structure have made its operation inefficient, but also because the rates of increase in the prices of goods and labor have grown faster than any increases in revenues. This study on materials management at YUMC presents a way for YUMC to reduce costs and increase its productivity, thereby overcoming its financial difficulties and dealing with external pressures. This study utilized the case studies of the materials purchasing and medical supply management in the United States and the comparative analysis of management to suggest short-term and long-term alternatives for innovation in YUMC. The goals of the short-term alternatives for innovation are to centralize the purchasing and supply departments and to simplify the decision-making processes. Through these attempts, it is estimated that YUMC's costs could be reduced by $600,000 per year. In the long-term, it is necessary to consider introducing a Supply Processing Distribution(SPD) system and setting up a centralized electronic system for supply and inventory management, although it is difficult to estimate the effect of cost-cutting because of the lack of analysis data. Thus, YUMC should thoroughly analyze initial investment costs and economical efficiency generated from long-term alternatives.