• Health Policy and Management
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.451-459
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• 2020

Background: Although Korean government have been adopting several policies to expand coverage of National Health Insurance (NHI) program, the coverage rate is still below average across Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries. This study was to identify public perception on appropriateness of coinsurance rate and factors associated with coinsurance rate in National Health Insurance. Methods: For this cross-sectional study, 507 participants over aged 20 years were recruited from telephone surveys. Respondents experienced at least one and more visiting medical facilities due to medical problems in last 12 months. Demographic factors, socioeconomic positions, and experiences on medical utilization were measured in order to identify factors associated with perception appropriateness of coinsurance rate. Results: The 49.9% (n=209) of the public responded that the coinsurance rate of NHI program was appropriate. There were no differences in positive perception according to socio-demographic factors and experiences on medical utilization except for gender, residential area, and felt expensive when using medical services. People who felt burden of medical expenditure were more likely to perceive coinsurance rate inappropriate (odds ratio, 2.33; 95% confidence interval, 1.52-3.58) Conclusion: In spite of the relatively low coverage rate of NHI, this study identified that 49.9% of the public perceived the current coinsurance rate was adequate. However, people who felt the burden of medical expenditure were still had a negative perception of the coinsurance rate needed to decrease the coinsurance rate.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.539-548
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• 2022

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the organizational effectiveness of the introduction of a healthcare information system (electronic medical records and databases) in healthcare in Kazakhstan. Methods: The authors used a combination of 2 methods: expert assessment and strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis. SWOT analysis is a necessary element of research, constituting a mandatory preliminary stage both when drawing up strategic plans and for taking corrective measures in the future. The expert survey was conducted using 2 questionnaires. Results: The study involved 40 experts drawn from specialists in primary healthcare in Aktobe: 15 representatives of administrative and managerial personnel (chief doctors and their deputies, heads of medical statistics offices, organizational and methodological offices, and internal audit services) and 25 general practitioners. Conclusions: The following functional indicators of the medical and organizational effectiveness of the introduction of information systems in polyclinics were highlighted: first, improvement of administrative control, followed in descending order by registration and movement of medical documentation, statistical reporting and process results, and the cost of employees' working time. There has been no reduction in financial costs, namely in terms of the costs of copying, delivery of information in paper form, technical equipment, and paper.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.75-98
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• 2018

Recently, the antitrust tribunal of Seoul High Court revoked the disposition of Korea Fair Trade Commission(hereafter 'KFTC'). While KFTC determined that the restriction of Korea Pediatrician Association violated article 26 of the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act(Korean antitrust law), Seoul High court viewed that KFTC failed to prove the compulsory measures and the restraint of competition required in article 26. The 'restriction' of article 26 should be interpreted as 'excessive restriction'. Since entrepeneurs' organization is allowed to limit its member's activities, KFTC could regulate entrepeneurs' organization on a very exceptional basis. In addition, though entrepeneurs' organization did not use compulsory measures to enforce its resolution, its 'excessive restriction' could fit into the notion of 'restriction' of article 26. Under the current medical care system, the price of medical care is decided by Korean government. Therefore the restriction of Korea Pediatrician Association is not likely to have effect on the price. However, the resolution of Korea Pediatrician Association was aimed to decrease the supply of medical care. Therefore the resolution is capable of having effect on the competition. In this sense, though KFTC failed to submit direct evidence to support the decrease of quantity, there could be possibility of restraint of competition. The Seoul High Court's decision has important implications. The leading case on restraint of competition(Supreme Court 2002Du8628, Posco case) was delivered in 2007. However the remaining issue such as the standard and scope of restraint of competition is not clear. Through reappeal case of this decision, Supreme Court has to decide the line between competition and its restraint.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.735-742
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• 2014

Purpose: This study was performed to assess the reliability and validity of the Korean version of European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire - Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy 20 items (EORTC QLQ-CIPN20) in patients receiving neurotoxic chemotherapy. Methods: A convenience sample of 249 Korean cancer patients, previously or currently, being treated with peripheral neurotoxic chemotherapeutic agents were asked to fill in the questionnaire. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS 21.0 and AMOS 21.0. Construct validity, known-group validity, concurrent validity, and internal consistency reliability of the Korean version of the QLQ-CIPN20 were evaluated. Results: Factor analysis confirmed 3 dimensions of CIPN: sensory, motor, and autonomic. The factor loadings of the 20 items on the 3 subscales ranged from .38 to .85. The 3 subscale-model was validated by confirmatory factor analysis (GFI=.90, AGFI=.86, RMSR=.05, NFI=.87, and CFI=.94), and concurrent validity was demonstrated with the EORTC QLQ-C30. Furthermore, the QLQ-CIPN20 established known-group validity. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients for internal consistency of the subscales ranged from .73 to .89. Conclusion: The Korean version of the EORTC QLQ-CIPN20 showed satisfactory construct, concurrent, and known-group validity, as well as internal reliability.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.44 no.4 s.140
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• pp.285-294
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• 2006

Changing patterns of the reemerging Plasmodium vivax malaria in the Republic of Korea (South Korea) during the period 1993 to 2005 are briefly analyzed with emphasis on the control measures used and the effects of meteorological and entomological factors. Data were obtained from the Communicable Diseases Monthly Reports published by the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and webpages of World Health Organization and United Nations. Meteorological data of Kangwon-do (Province) were obtained from local weather stations. After its first reemergence in 1993, the prevalence of malaria increased exponentially, peaking in 2000, and then decreased. In total, 21,419 cases were reported between 1993 and 2005 in South Korea. In North Korea, a total of 916,225 cases were reported between 1999 and 2004. The occurrence of malaria in high risk areas of South Korea was significantly (P < 0.05) correlated with the mosquito population but not with temperature and rainfall, Control programs, including early case detection and treatment, mass chemoprophylaxis of soldiers, and international financial aids to North Korea for malaria control have been instituted. The situation of the reemerging vivax malaria in the Republic of Korea is remarkably improving during the recent years, at least in part, due to the control activities undertaken in South and North Korea.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.326-335
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• 1996

Background: Though a number of studies have described the distribution of substance P(SP)-like immunoreactivity in the spinal cord, they have been focused on lamina I and II of the dorsal horn and there are little morphological studies on the topographic distribution and ultrastructure of the SP immunoreactive neurons especially in the ventral horn of the spinal cord. this study was conducted to identify distribution pattern of SP immunoreactive neurons and to difine the synaptic organization of their processes in ventral horn of the thoracic cord of the cat by preembbeding immunocytochemical method using SP antiserum. Methods: Five adults cats of either sex were used and deeply anesthetized by intramuscular injection of ketamine. After removal of the spinal cord, samples of thoracic cord were taken and placed in fresh fixative at $4^{\circ}C$ for 2 hours. Transverse sections $50{\mu}m$ thick were processed using the preembbeding immunocytochemical method and incubated consecutively in the specific primary antibody and the 10% normal goat serum, the rabbit anti-substance P antiserum, the biotin-labelled goat anti-rabbit IgG and finally the avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex. The processed tissue sections were throughly washed and stained in the black with 1% uranyl acetate. Section were examined on a electron microscope. Results: 1) SP immunoreactive neurons were observed in the gray matter around central canal. 2) In lamina I and II SP immunoreactivity was observed in both myelinated and unmyelinated nerve fibers, but in ventral horn only in the unmyelinated nerve fibers. 3) SP immunoreactive axon terminals with small round and large dense core vesicles made chemical synapses onto the dendrites of motor neurons in the ventral horn. Conclusion: SP immunoreactive neurons might play an important role in modulation of motor neurons in the ventral horn of the thoracic cord of the cat.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.49-58
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• 2009

Healthcare organizations need mutual cooperation among various medical professionals in order to carry out the performance of their duties spite of haying a strong job specialization and independence based on license. However, spite of the importance of leadership roles, there have not been enough researches dealt with leadership effect under the complex duties' relationship of a healthcare organization. This study suggested a new model by combining characteristics of leadership style, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment using Structural Equation Model (SEM). The data were self-administered questionnaires collected in 2006 from 437 employees (nurses, medical technicians, and administrative staffs) of 5 hospitals located in Seoul. The items of questionnaire were composed as a method of choosing new leadership style based on the Bass's standardized questionnaire on a Iransactionaljtransformational leadership combining the Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire-XII (LBDQ-XII) of the Ohio State University and Graen and Uhl-Bien's LMK scale through simulation techniques responding to organizational commitment. As a result, the leadership style increasing employees' self-confidence and having continuous response relationship between managers and employees improved their discretion and empowerment as well as worthwhileness and pride. However, the leadership style emphasizing reward and a sense of duty brought about a bed result that was not able to effectively respond to employees' discretion and empowerment and even weakened their worthwhileness and pride. After all, the leadership style based on vision and change had an effect on organizational commitment but the other one based on reward and a sense of duty seemed to be unsuccessful in organizational commitment. Therefore, the desirable leadership in a healthcare organization should be based on employees' self-confidence and continuous response relationship between managers and employees.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.sup1
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• pp.11-15
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• 2016

Viet Nam is a country with the highest rate of adult male smokers in the world. In 2010, the percentage of adult male smokers was 47.4%. Each year in Viet Nam, there are 40,000 lives lost from tobacco-related diseases. The Global Tobacco Youth Survey is an international standardized survey that has been conducted in more than 140 countries. To provide evidence for tobacco control, Viet Nam already conducted two rounds of GYTS in 2003 and 2007. The GYTS in 2014 is the survey's third iteration. This paper aims to document key methodological details and socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents included in the 2014 GYTS in Viet Nam. This survey followed international protocol and was conducted in 13 provinces representative of 6 geographical regions. A total of 3,430 school children, aged 13 to 15 years used a standardized answer sheet to answer 76 questions about seven tobacco-related topics, including prevalence of tobacco use, environmental tobacco smoke, access and availability, media and advertisement, cessation, knowledge and attitudes, tobacco-related school curriculum. This GYTS provides valid and reliable data for monitoring tobacco use among youth in Vietnam and is recommended to be regularly repeated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Medical Physics Conference
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• 2002.09a
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• pp.411-414
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• 2002

The CdTe semiconductor detector has a higher detection efficiency for x-rays and $\square$amma rays and a wider energy band gap compared with Si and Ge semiconductor detectors. Therefore, the size of the detector element can be made small, and can be operated at room temperature. The interaction between a CdTe detector and incident x-rays is mainly photoelectric absorption in the photon energy range of up to 100 keV. In this energy range, Compton effects are almost negligible. We have developed a 256 channel CdTe array detector system for monochromatic x-ray CT using synchrotron radiation. The CdTe array detector system, the element size of which is 1.98 mm (h) x 1.98 mm (w) x 0.5 mm (t), was operated in photon counting mode. In order to improve the spatial resolution, we tilted the CdTe array detector against the incident parallel monochromatic x-ray beam. The experiments were performed at the BL20B2 experimental hutch in SPring-8. The energy of incident monochromatic x-rays was set at 55 keV. Phantom measurements were performed at the detector angle of 0, 30 and 45 degrees against the incident parallel monochromatic x-rays. The linear attenuation coefficients were calculated from the reconstructed CT images. By increasing the detector angle, the spatial resolutions were improved. There was no significant difference between the linear attenuation coefficients which were corrected by the detector angle. It was found that this method was useful for improving the spatial resolution in a parallel monochromatic x-ray CT system.

• The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.345-358
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• 2000

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the preceptorship on nursing performance and job satisfaction of the preceptor. This study was as a one group pretest-posttest study. The subjects were 33 nurses who was selected as preceptors in 1998. This study was carried out from 16 April 1998 to 25 May 1998. Nursing performance was measured on a 6-D scale developed by Schwirian (1978) and job satisfaction was measured by a tool developed by Slavitt et al.(1978) and interpreted by Yoon (1990). The collected data were analyzed by paired t-test with SPSSWIN. The results were summarized as follows: 1. After the preceptorship, nursing performance of the preceptor increased significantly compared to before the preceptorship. All of the score of subscales was increased. 2. After the preceptorship, job satisfaction of the preceptor was increased slightly compared with before the preceptorship, but it was not statistically significant. The scores of the subscales increased in job status, interaction, autonomy, and organization. However, the score of the task requirement was decreased. Through the results of this study, increase in nursing performance, but only a slight increase in job satisfaction can be observed(not statistically significant). It seems that the content of preceptor program, the principle of adult learning, scientific problem solving, communication, feedback, and direct teaching experience affect the individual nursing performance of the preceptor. The preceptorship was useful with personnel development in terms of organization. To fully carry out the role of educating the preceptee, it is important to motivate the preceptor and to induce job satisfaction of the preceptor.