• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.1504-1510
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• 2010

According to a research analysis of the factors which affect the medical utilization fee after an increase of health insurance benefits for patients with serious illnesses based on 225 patients over 6 months, both before and after the increase of benefits, from January, 1st, 2005 to June 30th, and also from January, 1st, 2006 to June 30th. In terms of genders, 67.8% of males were affected, whereas only 32.2% of females were effected, a much higher rate of men than women. Men also had higher rates before and after the increase of benefits. Out of 5 categories related to medication and treatment, radiation testing was the most expensive at about 5,300,000, operation fees were 590,000, and costs of other testing approximately 200,000 with the least expensive category being 120,000 for medication. By looking at the relationship between the fees and increase of benefits, medication was a hospital charge (p<0.01), injection fees were hospital charges (p<0.01), operation fees were hospital charges (p<0.01). Medication fees (p<0.01) and injection fees (p<0.01) were found to be related.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.63-83
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• 2002

This study is to survey the materials purchasing and inventory management status and the characteristics and opinions of the staff in charge of purchasing and inventory of the general hospitals in Busan area in order to contribute to the rationalization of its management through the grasp of actual situation and the presentation of desirable improvement plan for the materials purchasing and inventory management. The status of medical institute had been surveyed by the purchasing/ administration managers of total 26 general hospitals, and the purchasing/ management questionnaires had been commenced with 86 staff of the 26 hospitals. Its major survey results, after the analysis of 24 medical institute statuses (return rate of 92.30%) and 60 staff questionnaires (return rate of 69.76%), are as follows. First, post-purchasing evaluation system is not used actively, orders are being placed by phone or fax, and general merchandise is being purchased through free contracts in most of the hospitals participated in the survey. Second, as per the materials supplying methods, the requisition and delivery system is currently the most popular in the hospitals surveyed, however, both the requisition and delivery system and the par level transfer system are the most desired in the hospitals of more than 500 beds, and the par level transfer system is the most desired in the hospitals under 500 beds for the materials supplying system in the future. Third, as per the inventory management system that is desired the most in the future, the SPD and JIT types are preferred in the hospitals of more than 500 beds, the stockless strategy is preferred in the hospitals under 500 beds, the senior staff above section chief grade prefer the stockless strategy, and the junior staff prefer the ABC classification and SPD types. Fourth, The necessity of purchasing staff's training for the materials management is highly recognized but the effectiveness is not so much acknowledged, which is because such a training is thought to be so superficial and formal that it is not helpful much in the actual field. When summarizing the survey results as above, the materials purchasing and management system is differed for each group of hospitals according to the size of beds, and the more scientific management system is largely required by the general hospitals in Busan city. They also hope the introduction of joint purchasing system, materials management by the bar-code system, and positive execution of the market survey and training of the relevant staff for the management of purchasing affairs. So the more systematic purchasing and inventory management is regarded to be necessary through the introduction of scientific and specialized education of materials management, market survey, and post-purchasing evaluation system also through the computerization of materials purchasing and inventory management as soon as possible.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.11-18
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• 2017

Objectives : In an effort to suggest a developmental plan of Traditional Korean Medicine health promotion project(TKM-HPP), this study was conducted to identify the problems experienced by public health Traditional Korean Medicine(PH-TKM) doctors in duty and to analyze successful cases of the health promotion project. Methods : Two PH-TKM doctors in duty at the Public Health Centre branch and Public Health Centre respectively, and one TKM doctor in charge of Public Health Centre participated in the in-depth interview. The research procedure was as follows; 1) inform study objectives and interview questions to participants, 2) in-depth interview with semi-structured questions, and 3) post-confirmation and verification. The interview was recorded and transcripted. In-depth interview was composed of 6 subsections: 1) Introducing participants and share purpose of interview, 2) Confirmation of the job status and difficulty of public health centre, 3) Reflecting and sharing experiences of public health clinic job performance cases, 4) Current status and improvement needs of TKM-HPP, 5) Discussions on improvement of TKM-HPP in public health center, 6) Sharing and reconfirmation of interview results. Thematic analysis was conducted from the narratives. Results : The study showed that; 1) the support from the local government was critical for the successful TKM-HPP and participation of the PH-TKMs; 2) the major problems experienced by PH-TKMs were lack of training for TKM-HPP in the field and lack of knowledge at local government level; 3) the suggestions to provide PH-TKMs with manual to educate residents effectively and redefine roles of PH-TKMs in the project. It also suggests that TKM-HPP model should be developed by the district in a way of reflecting regional characteristics. Conclusions : Firstly, more efforts should be made on the projects rather than medical treatment in public health centers, except for areas where medical institutions are scarce. Secondly, in order to facilitate participation of PH-TKM doctors, each local office should reduce medical care and increase efforts related with projects. Thirdly, the institution has to develop feasible TKM-HPP plans that can be carried out by PH-TKMs by the manual. Lastly, pre-training should be provided to PH-TKMs to understand contents of TKM-HPP related to public health centre work before the placement.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.42-57
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• 1998

Background : It is increasing the concern for patient satisfaction as a customer information. This study was planned to investigate the activities related to patient satisfaction survey at the Korean hospitals. Methods : We performed the nationwide survey on 235 general hospitals by using the self-administrated checklist from Sep. 9 to Oct. 9, 1996. The response rate were 50.2%. We analyzed the descriptive statistics and chi-square test by SAS software on 118 hospitals. Results : First of all, 62.7% of study hospitals showed to conduct the patient satisfaction survey, and most of hospitals which did not conduct it had a plan to do it within 5 years. The reason that hospitals did not conduct satisfaction survey was due to a lack of administrator's interest or adequate questionnaire form. Second, the bigger, public and being more located in the big city or opened more than 10 years, the more hospitals conducted the patient satisfaction survey. Also, patient satisfaction survey was mainly handled by planning dept. or administrative team. Third, most hospitals had their own way of making questionnaires without proving reliability and validity. The results of the survey were applied to hospital management timely, and were mostly reported to top manager level. Most CEO concerned about the results of satisfaction survey. Fourth, the staffs in charge of survey had problems such as skill related to data analysis and development of questionnaire and they suggested that this problems could be solved through inducing the implementation of the survey results on hospital management, support for the development of standardized questionnaires and increasing the top manager's interests. Fifth, most questionnaires composed of lots of questioning items on hospital equipments and environment, and kindness of hospital employee to patients. Conclusions : Although this study had some limitations in generalization due to low response rate in big hospitals, it is meaningful to find the present state and the problems related to patient satisfaction survey of the general hospitals. We can conclude that there are increasing the concern for patient satisfaction survey among the hospitals nationwide, and it can be needed for technical support related to development of survey tool or method.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.329-329
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• 2007

Photoconductive poly crystalline lead oxide coated on amorphous thin film transistor (TFT) arrays is the best candidate for direct digital x-ray detector for medical imaging. Thicker films with lessening density often show lower x-ray induced charge generation and collection becomes less efficient. In this work, we present a new methodology used for the high density deposition of PbO. We investigate the structural properties of the films using X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy experiments. The film coatings of approximately $200\;{\mu}m$ thickness were deposited on $2"{\times}2"$ conductive-coated glass substrates for measurements of dark current and x-ray sensitivity. The lead oxide (PbO) films of $200\;{\mu}m$ thickness were deposited on glass substrates using a wet coating process in room temperature. The influence of post-deposition annealing on the characteristics of the lead oxide films was investigated in detail. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy have been employed to obtain information on the morphology and crystallization of the films. Also we measured dark current, x-ray sensitivity and linearity for investigation of the electrical characteristics of films. It was found that the annealing conditions strongly affect the electrical properties of the films. The x-ray induced output charges of films annealed in oxygen gas increases dramatically with increasing annealing temperatures up to $500^{\circ}C$ but then drops for higher temperature anneals. Consequently, the more we increase the annealing temperatures, the better density and film quality of the lead oxide. Analysis of this data suggests that incorporation and decomposition reactions of oxygen can be controlled to change the detection properties of the lead oxide film significantly. Post-deposition thermal annealing is also used for densely film. The PbO films that are grown by new methodology exhibit good morphology of high density structure and provide less than $10\;pA/mm^2$ dark currents as they show saturation in gain (at approximate fields of $4\;V/{\mu}m$). The ability to operate at low voltage gives adequate dark currents for most applications and allows voltage electronics designs.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.397-405
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• 2019

Quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) has been widely used in research and clinical fields. QEEG has been widely used to objectively document cerebral changes for the purpose of identifying the electrophysiological biomarkers across various clinical symptoms and for the stimulation of specific cortical regions associated with cognitive function. In electroencephalography (EEG), the difference in quantitative and qualitative analyses is discriminated not by its measurement methods and relevant clinical or research environments, but by its analysis methods. When performing a qualitative analysis, it is possible for a medical technologist or experienced researchers to read the EEG waveforms to exclude artifacts. However, the quantitative analysis is still based on mathematical modeling, and all EEG data are included for the analysis, leading the results to be affected by unexpected artifacts. In the hospital setting, the case that the medical technologists in charge of the EEG test perform academic research has been little reported, compared to other clinical physiological measurement-based research. This is because there are few laboratories specialized in clinical physiological research. In this respect, this study is expected to be utilized as a basic reference material for medical technologists, students, and academic researchers, all of whom would like to conduct a quantitative analysis.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.530-535
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• 2021

Background: Despite the lack of official COVID-19 statistics, various workplaces and occupations have been at the center of COVID-19 outbreaks. We aimed to compare legal measures and governance established for managing COVID-19 infection risks at workplaces in nine Asia and Pacific countries and to recommend key administrative measures. Methods: We collected information on legal measures and governance from both general citizens and workers regarding infection risks such as COVID-19 from industrial hygiene professionals in nine countries (Indonesia, India, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Republic of the Philippines, Republic of Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand) using a structured questionnaire. Results: A governmental body overseeing public health and welfare was in charge of containing the spread and occurrence of infectious diseases under an infectious disease control and prevention act or another special act, although the name of the pertinent organizations and legislation vary among countries. Unlike in the case of other traditional hazards, there have been no specific articles or clauses describing the means of mitigating virus risk in the workplace that are legally required of employers, making it difficult to define the responsibilities of the employer. Each country maintains own legal systems regarding access to the duration, administration, and financing of paid sick leave. Many workers may not have access to paid sick leave even if it is legally guaranteed.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.359-365
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• 2021

A heavy particle accelerator is a device that accelerates particles using high energy and is used in various fields such as medical and industrial fields as well as research. However, secondary neutrons and particle fragments are generated by the high-energy particle beam, and among them, the neutrons do not have an electric charge and directly interact with the nucleus to cause radiation of the material. Quantitative evaluation of the radioactive material produced in this way is necessary, but there are many difficulties in actual measurement during or after operation. Therefore, this study compared and evaluated the generated radioactive material in the concrete shield for protons and carbon ions of specific energy by using the simulation code FLUKA. For the evaluation of each energy of proton beam and carbon ion, the reliability of the source term was secured within 2% of the relative error with the data of the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory(NSRL), which is an internationally standardized data. In the evaluation, carbon ions exhibited higher neutron flux than protons. Afterwards, in the evaluation of radioactive materials under actual operating conditions for disposal, a large amount of short-lived beta-decay nuclides occurred immediately after the operation was terminated, and in the case of protons with a high beam speed, more radioactive products were generated than carbon ions. At this time, radionuclides of ⁴⁴Sc, ³H and ²²Na were observed at a high rate. In addition, as the cooling time elapsed, the ratio of long-lived nuclides increased. For nonparticulate radionuclides, ³H, ²²Na, and for particulate radionuclides, ⁴⁴Ti, ⁵⁵Fe, ⁶⁰Co, ¹⁵²Eu, and ¹⁵⁴Eu nuclides showed a high ratio. In this study, it is judged that it is possible to use the particle accelerator as basic data for facility maintenance, repair and dismantling through the prediction of radioactive materials in concrete according to the cooling time after operation and termination of operation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.8 no.7
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• pp.423-428
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• 2014

Digital X-ray imaging devices using a TFT based flat panel array has been used in medical field. But, recently, lots of research on the photon counting sensor has been reported. In this study, we evaluated the physical properties of the photoconductor by suggesting the standard and testing method for quantitative performance evaluation of photon counting x-ray imaging sensor. First, we measured the leakage current and the sensitivity of photon counting x-ray imaging sensor and we evaluated the characteristic of rising time for determining the signal shaping time. In addition, the set-up study was conducted on the basis of the IEC 62220-1-2 recommendations to define the number of incident photons per unit area. And the efficiency of the charge collection was also evaluated. As a result, the characteristic was measured as $200pA/mm^2$ of the leakage current, $7{\mu}C/cm^2R $ of the X-ray sensitivity, and $0.765{\mu}s$ of the rising time.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.420-427
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• 2020

A repebody, an artificial non-immunoglobulin protein scaffold, is expected to be a solution in the search for faster, cheaper, and customizable antibodies. However, the production of medical repebodies remains difficult due to their low yield and the complex purification processes required. The Pseudomonas fluorescens ABC transporter system has been suggested as an efficient and cost-effective method for repebody production, but the total yield is low because of the secreted protein's positive charge; thus, a repebody with a high isoelectric point needs to be changed into a more negatively charged protein for better secretion. To achieve this, we first attached oligo-aspartic acids to the N- and C-terminals of the repebody, but secretion efficiency was not enhanced significantly. Subsequently, we devised an alternative method for improved secretion efficiency by engineering fifteen positively charged amino acids to aspartic acid in the non-antigen binding sites of the repebody to give a high net negative charge. As a result, secretion efficiency was greatly enhanced from 21.2% (wildtype) to 58.5% (negatively supercharged). The negatively supercharged repebody was succussfully produced extracellularly by ABC transporter secretion system in P. fluorescens.