• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.512-523
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• 2002

The objective of this study was to investigate the nutritional status, biochemical parameters, lipid and electrolytes concentrations of the enteral nutrition patients according to the duration of enteral nutrition. Eighteen neurosurgery patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) at K University Hospital were subjected in this study. The duration of enteral nutrition was classified into under or over six month of period. Anthropometric, biochemical, clinical, and dietary assessments were performed. Patients' intakes of energy and protein were insufficient, from 82% to 95% of their requirements. Mid-arm muscle circumference (MAMC) and mid-am muscle area (MAMA) were significantly lower in patients over six months of enteral nutrition than those in patients under six months. The subjects were malnourished as indicated by nutrition-related parameters such as hemoglobin, albumin, total lymphocyte count (TLC), tricep skinfold thickness (TSF), mid-arm circumference (MAC), MAMC, and MAMA. Serum chloride level of the patients eve, six months of enteral nutrition was lower (94.7 $\pm$ 3.4 mmo1/1) significantly as compared to that of patients (99.3 $\pm$ 3.5 mmol/ 1) under six months. Urinary sodium and chloride levels were lower in the longer time of enteral nutrition patients than those of shorter period of enteral nutrition patients (p < .05). While serum phospholipid level was higher in the patients over six months of enteral nutrition, other blood biochemical parameters and electrolyte concentrations did not show any differences with the duration of enteral nutrition. Neurosurgery patients in the ICU undergoing long-term enteral nutrition tube-feeding were malnourished and had a variety of metabolic complications. The duration of enteral nutrition could affect the patients' nutritional status, biochemical parameters, and electrolytes balance. The patients who require nutritional support over an extended time need the continuous follow-up care and monitoring by the nutrition support team for laboratory, clinical, and nutritional assessments.

• The Korean Journal of Rehabilitation Nursing
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.5-14
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• 2006

Purpose: This research was conducted to explore the relationship between spiritual well being and life attitude among breast cancer patients who were operated, and to increase understanding for wholistic nursing care. Method: With spiritual well being from quality of life questionnaire in breast cancer survivors (QOL-BR 23) of Ferrell et al (1998) and Life attitude profile (LAP) of Recker & Peacock (1981), the data were collected by research assistant in a sample of 56 women with stage 1-stage 3 breast cancer at surgery OPD after follow-up care. Result: Mean spiritual wellbeing score of subject was 5.83 (0-10) and life attitude was 4.96 (1-7). There were significant differences in life attitude according to monthly income (F=3.22, p=.03), and in spiritual wellbeing according to monthly income (F=4.16, p=.01) and religion (t=-3.67, p=.001) among demographic characteristics. There was significant difference in spiritual wellbeing according to the period passed after operation (F=2.89, p=.04) among disease characteristics. From life attitude domain, the mean score of "will to meaning" was the highest (5.30) and "existential vacuum" was the lowest (4.58). There was a significant relationship between spiritual wellbeing and "will to meaning" subscale of life attitude (r=.521, p=.000). The correlation coefficient showed r= .513 between spiritual well being and life attitude. Conclusion: Nurses could promote positive life attitude for breast cancer patients by improving spiritual well being with the encouragement of having religion expecially for long term breast cancer survivors in the process of their rehabilitation.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.249-254
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• 2014

Background: Delirium after cardiac surgery is associated with serious long-term negative outcomes and high costs. The aim of this study is to evaluate neurobehavioral, hemodynamic, and sedative characteristics of dexmedetomidine, compared with the current postoperative sedative protocol (remifentanil) in patients undergoing open heart surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Methods: One hundred and forty two eligible patients who underwent cardiac surgery on CPB between April 2012 and March 2013 were randomly divided into two groups. Patients received either dexmedetomidine (range, 0.2 to $0.8\;{\mu}g/kg/hr$; n=67) or remifentanil (range, 1,000 to $2,500\;{\mu}g/hr$, n=75). The primary end point was the prevalence of delirium estimated daily via the confusion assessment method for intensive care. Results: When the delirium incidence was compared with the dexmedetomidine group (6 of 67 patients, 8.96%) and the remifentanil group (17 of 75 patients, 22.67%) it was found to be significantly less in the dexmedetomidine group (p<0.05). There were no statistically significant differences between two groups in the extubation time, ICU stay, total hospital stay, and other postoperative complications including hemodynamic side effects. Conclusion: This preliminary study suggests that dexmedetomidine as a postoperative sedative agent is associated with significantly lower rates of delirium after cardiac surgery.

• Korean Medical Education Review
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.10-17
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• 2022

South Korea is not a wasteland of publicly funded health care-instead, it has a good medical social security system known as the national health insurance (NHI). The NHI of Korea has three unique features; (1) low premiums, low insurance fees, and low coverage; (2) obligatory designation of medical institutions; (3) and allowance of non-benefit services. These features have made hospitals and doctors interested in profit-seeking. However, the commercialization of medical institutions has taken place in both private- and public-established sectors. A basic problem of commercialization is the co-existence of the obligatory designation of medical institutions and non-benefit services. The problem became worse in the Kim Dae-Jung government because it officially permitted non-benefit services. Since 2000, the Korean government has consistently pursued benefit extension policies, but the coverage rates of the NHI have stagnated. In addition, premiums and current medical expenses have markedly increased because policy-makers have emphasized accessibility to the NHI, while ignoring important principles of medical social security such as a needs-based approach and patient-referral system. In order to resolve the commercialization problem, the obligatory designation of medical institutions to the NHI should be changed to a contract system, and non-benefit services should be prohibited at NHI institutions. We must re-establish the patient-referral system via a needs-based approach. We also need to build a primary healthcare system and public health policies. We should make a long-term plan for healthcare reform.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.465-474
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• 2014

PURPOSE: This study aims to provide basic materials to re-establish terms and to build the institutional framework for the home and visiting physical therapy. METHODS: For such purpose of the study conducted the research that targeted the physical therapists, who were working at the rehabilitation hospital located in Gyeonggi-do as for the survey questionnaires as to the need and awareness of development of the adequate insurance fee of home physical therapy and visiting physical therapy. RESULTS: The survey result shows the awareness is low on the term separation in referring the home physical therapy and the visiting physical therapy. On the question regarding the performance obligation in the current system of the home and the visiting physical therapies, the answers for the recognition are shown to be 58% and 88.1% while no significant differences according to ages and working periods are found in all questions (p>.05). In the meanwhile, on the question regarding necessities of the home and the visiting physical therapies, answers agreeing the necessity is shown as 96.3%. And, on the question regarding the expected effect, the score shows to be very high with 40.5 points out of 50 points and significant differences according to the age and the working period (p<.05). CONCLUSION: It directly reflects the result, as the age and the working period are longer, the necessity shows to be higher.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.74-87
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• 2017

Purpose: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy has been shown to improve survival in locally advanced gastric cancer, but it is associated with significant toxicity. Sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity have been studied in several types of cancers and have been reported to be associated with higher chemotherapy toxicity and morbi-mortality. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of sarcopenia/sarcopenic obesity in patients with gastric cancer, as well as its association with chemotherapy toxicity and long-term outcomes. Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed using an academic cancer center patient cohort diagnosed with locally advanced gastric cancer between January 2012 and December 2014 and treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. We analyzed body composition (skeletal muscle and visceral fat index) in axial computed tomography images. Results: A total of 48 patients met the inclusion criteria. The mean age was $68{\pm}10years$, and 33 patients (69%) were men. Dose-limiting toxicity was observed in 22 patients (46%), and treatment was terminated early owing to toxicity in 17 patients (35%). Median follow-up was 17 months. Sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity were found at diagnosis in 23% and 10% of patients, respectively. We observed an association between termination of chemotherapy and both sarcopenia (P=0.069) and sarcopenic obesity (P=0.004). On multivariate analysis, the odds of treatment termination were higher in patients with sarcopenia (odds ratio=4.23; P=0.050). Patients with sarcopenic obesity showed lower overall survival (median survival of 6 months [95% confidence interval {CI}=3.9-8.5] vs. 25 months [95% CI=20.2-38.2]; log-rank test P=0.000). Conclusions: Sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity were associated with early termination of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with gastric cancer; additionally, sarcopenic obesity was associated with poor survival.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.110-124
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• 2019

In recent years, over-supply of hospitals has made hospital management more difficult and hospitals have introduced innovative hospital management to enhance customer satisfaction. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of innovativeness of hospitals on customer satisfaction by using mediating effects of hospital capacity and location strategy. The subjects of this study were selected from 120 patients and caregivers who were hospitalized in Seoul and Metropolitan area hospitals and conducted questionnaire and statistical analysis. The results of this study are as follows: Firstly, this paper shows hospital Innovativeness does not significantly affect customer satisfaction. Unlike private companies, it is urgent to develop innovativeness measuring tools that are unique to hospitals differentiated from those of general companies. Secondly, although the impact of Innovativeness on hospital internal competency and location strategy was similar, location strategy(${\beta}=0.357$) had a greater impact on customer satisfaction than internal competency(${\beta}=0.283$). This suggests that the medical institution should take precedence over the detailed preparations based on its location marketability, traffic infrastructure, building sales and medical concentration from the time of its opening. Thirdly, this paper confirms through empirical analysis that the relationship between hospital Innovativeness and customer satisfaction is completely mediated by internal capacity and location strategy. The hospital's Innovativeness is affecting customer satisfaction by enhancing the hospital's internal competencies and inducing an active attitude toward establishing a location strategy.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.169-181
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• 2011

Purpose: This paper presents the development process and the final contents of the sellf- management education program integrated with exercise training (Healthy Aging Happy Aging, HAHA program) for community residing older adults with chronic diseases. Methods: The program evaluation methodology was applied which is an interactive program development process based on needs assessment, formative evaluation, process evaluation and outcome evaluation. The program was developed and revised while the program was implementing to 22 hypertension (HT) and 32 diabetic (DM) participants. Results: The final program has two sub-programs for HT and DM participants utilizing self-efficacy resources. They share four common components; 1) health screening of exercise risks, 2) weekly 1-hour group self-management education classes, 3) biweekly 1-hour group exercise training and 4) a mid-term individual counseling. Both sub-programs were 12-weeks long but have different education and exercise contents. Participants-rated mean satisfaction scores were 3.47/4 and 3.61/4 for HT and DM program respectively. Attendance rate were 83.1% ~ 92.3% for the classes. Conclusion: The HAHA program developed by multidisciplinary team which reflected participants needs was accepted well by participants evidenced by high attendance rate and perceived satisfaction level.

• Healthcare Informatics Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.346-358
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• 2018

Objectives: The association between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and mortality or serious cardiovascular events over a long period of time is not clearly understood. The aim of this observational study was to estimate the clinical effectiveness of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment on an outcome variable combining mortality, acute myocardial infarction (AMI), and cerebrovascular insult (CVI) during a follow-up period of 15.5 years ($186{\pm}58$ months). Methods: The data set consisted of 978 patients with an apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) ${\geq}5.0$. One-third had used CPAP treatment. For the first time, a data-driven causal Bayesian network (DDBN) and a hypothesis-driven causal Bayesian network (HDBN) were used to investigate the effectiveness of CPAP. Results: In the DDBN, coronary heart disease (CHD), congestive heart failure (CHF), and diuretic use were directly associated with the outcome variable. Sleep apnea parameters and CPAP treatment had no direct association with the outcome variable. In the HDBN, CPAP treatment showed an average improvement of 5.3 percentage points in the outcome. The greatest improvement was seen in patients aged ${\leq}55$ years. The effect of CPAP treatment was weaker in older patients (>55 years) and in patients with CHD. In CHF patients, CPAP treatment was associated with an increased risk of mortality, AMI, or CVI. Conclusions: The effectiveness of CPAP is modest in younger patients. Long-term effectiveness is limited in older patients and in patients with heart disease (CHD or CHF).

• Korean Circulation Journal
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• v.52 no.8
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• pp.606-620
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• 2022

Background and Objectives: Protein-losing enteropathy (PLE) is a devastating complication after the Fontan operation. This study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics, treatment response, and outcomes of Fontan-associated PLE. Methods: We reviewed the medical records of 38 patients with Fontan-associated PLE from 1992 to 2018 in 2 institutions in Korea. Results: PLE occurred in 4.6% of the total 832 patients after the Fontan operation. After a mean period of 7.7 years after Fontan operation, PLE was diagnosed at a mean age of 11.6 years. The mean follow-up period was 8.9 years. The survival rates were 81.6% at 5 years and 76.5% at 10 years. In the multivariate analysis, New York Heart Association Functional classification III or IV (p=0.002), low aortic oxygen saturation (<90%) (p=0.003), and ventricular dysfunction (p=0.032) at the time of PLE diagnosis were found as predictors of mortality. PLE was resolved in 10 of the 38 patients after treatment. Among medical managements, an initial heparin response was associated with survival (p=0.043). Heparin treatment resulted in resolution in 4 patients. We found no evidence on pulmonary vasodilator therapy alone. PLE was also resolved after surgical Fontan fenestration (2/6), aortopulmonary collateral ligation (1/1), and transplantation (1/1). Conclusions: The survival rate of patients with Fontan-associated PLE has improved with the advancement of conservative care. Although there is no definitive method, some treatments led to the resolution of PLE in one-fourth of the patients. Further investigations are needed to develop the best prevention and therapeutic strategies for PLE.