• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.15-32
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• 2024

Purpose: The number of severely ill patients requiring post-acute care has been increasing. Careful discharge planning minimizes unplanned emergency room visits and readmissions. This study aimed to survey the knowledge, experience, confidence, and obstacles faced by medical residents and fellows regarding the discharge process of severely ill patients. Methods: A survey consisting of 27 questions was sent electronically to residents and fellows who had experience in discharging severely ill patients from a tertiary hospital in Korea. The survey was conducted over a two-week period from September 29, 2022. Results: A total of 98 residents and fellows responded to the survey. Of these, 94% experienced difficulties related to the discharge process. The main obstacle was changes in the patient's condition during discharge planning (92.3%). Although 95% of the respondents acknowledged the need for providing discharge information, only 53.1% of the residents and fellows practiced this. Only 42.9% of the respondents and 20.4% of residents and fellows explained local community healthcare and welfare resources to patients because of a lack of relevant knowledge (69.7%) and feeling no responsibility to explain (40.4%). Conclusion: This study revealed that residents and fellows experienced difficulties in devising discharge plans and providing post-acute care related information, despite recognizing the importance of these. These gaps result from the lack of a discharge planning curriculum regarding critically ill patients and appropriate training in the discharge process. This suggests that an integrated discharge planning curriculum should be developed and adopted in residents' training programs for the differentiated treatment of critically ill patients.

• Informatization Policy
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.28-46
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• 2015

Although the demand for the use of public data increases in accordance with the expansion of Government 3.0, the poor level of data quality and its management currently implemented is becoming obstacles to opening data to the public. To improve the efficiency of management, linkage and usage for data, standardized processes for data quality management have to be prepared and appropriate data quality assessment criteria should be established. In this paper, we propose the organizational maturity model that can assess the public data quality management level. This model consists of the process reference model and the measurement framework. Fifteen processes grouped by the PDCA cycle are defined in the process reference model. The measurement framework measures the organizational maturity level based on process capability levels. The organizational maturity model can be used to establish objectives and directions for public data quality improvement by diagnosis of current level of public data quality management and problem solving. This model can also facilitate open to the private sector and activate usage of stable public data through reliability enhancement.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.2390-2406
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• 2022

Scene text recognition has important application value and attracted the interest of plenty of researchers. At present, many methods have achieved good results, but most of the existing approaches attempt to improve the performance of scene text recognition from the image level. They have a good effect on reading regular scene texts. However, there are still many obstacles to recognizing text on low-quality images such as curved, occlusion, and blur. This exacerbates the difficulty of feature extraction because the image quality is uneven. In addition, the results of model testing are highly dependent on training data, so there is still room for improvement in scene text recognition methods. In this work, we present a natural scene text recognizer to improve the recognition performance from the feature level, which contains feature representation and feature enhancement. In terms of feature representation, we propose an efficient feature extractor combined with Representative Batch Normalization and ResNet. It reduces the dependence of the model on training data and improves the feature representation ability of different instances. In terms of feature enhancement, we use a feature enhancement network to expand the receptive field of feature maps, so that feature maps contain rich feature information. Enhanced feature representation capability helps to improve the recognition performance of the model. We conducted experiments on 7 benchmarks, which shows that this method is highly competitive in recognizing both regular and irregular texts. The method achieved top1 recognition accuracy on four benchmarks of IC03, IC13, IC15, and SVTP.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.391-402
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• 2021

Purpose: By categorizing opinions by subject in the safety certification ecosystem, we want to identify weaknesses in system operation and suggest improvement plans so that the safety certification system can have quick resilience against future variability. Method: Through literature research and data analysis, similar domestic and foreign safety certifications and related cases, as well as the current status of international standards and national standards, etc. were confirmed, and a fact-finding survey was conducted for each stakeholder in the safety certification ecosystem, and problem types and improvement measures were established. Result: We conduct a fact-finding survey of the overall system, such as quality satisfaction with safety certification target products, obstacles in the development, manufacturing and use process, and safety certification-related improvements, targeting workplaces that manufacture, import or use safety certification target machines By discovering and categorizing problems and weaknesses in system operation, detailed implementation tasks were derived to establish improvement directions and improve operability. Conclusion: For the advancement and internationalization of the safety certification system, it is necessary to efficiently carry out the detailed promotion tasks derived from this study. In addition, in order to strengthen the resilience to the variability of the safety certification ecosystem, the operating system of a virtuous cycle structure by improving the mutual relationship between each subject construction is considered important.

• The Journal of Fisheries Business Administration
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.99-110
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• 2014

Flounder was selected as one of the 10 strategic export aquaculture products for seafood export expansion in 2013. The flounder aquaculture industry has promoted export market diversification and product diversification from live to processed goods as a it's main strategy. The purpose of this study is to find an improvement plan for export expansion to the United States, as it emerged as a new target export market for the flounder. A summary of the key findings is as follows. First, the western region of the United States prefers to consume live and fresh flounder, whereas the eastern region prefers to consume fresh flounder. Second, because of it's high quality, Korean flounder is favored in the western region of the United States despite it's high price, whereas in the eastern region of the United States, where production volume is high, Korean flounder has to compete with US flounders because of it's high price. Third, according to the survey results, US consumers tend to enjoy seafood, as well as flounder cuisines. Fourth, the main consumption place of flounders by US consumers are restaurants, and they prefer to consume them in the form of sashimi and sushi. Fifth, 70% of US consumers expressed willingness to consume flounder when eating out. which shows great market potential. However, the high price of Korean flounder and limited size of the live fish market act as major obstacles to expanding export volume. To expand exporting Korean flounder, continuos efforts such as price reduction, exporting highly fresh fish, the co-development of processed food with the US are needed.

• Journal of Practical Agriculture & Fisheries Research
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.21-43
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• 2015

Korean floricultural industry has grown under the full backing of government, as it placed itself as the main export item since 2000s. Despite its high-speed growth after the domestic production scale of trillion won, the floricultural industry lost its pace after 2005, due to the market-opening of agricultural product and global economic depression. Although the national income is growing and the level of civilized living is following, spending on flowers is faltering. As of such circumstances, necessity for analyzing flower consumption trend and behavior has came out, along with the calls for expansion plan of flower consumption, under the basis of result analysis on consumer reports. The result of the research contains the trend/consumption behavior analysis on domestic and foreign flower industry to boost floricultural industry, along with reviews on various studies of the developmental process of domestic and foreign cut-flowers/pot-plants consumption trend. Also this study has reached to the various recognition of people toward flower, through a public survey. Through such results, this study would like to propose the measures for diffusion of flower-consumption culture, achieving the improvement of life-quality of public along. First, efforts on reviewing the customer accessibility is essential to create flower- culture and the consumption. Second, to eliminate the obstacles that prevents flowers from public's daily life is essential. Third is the effective public-relations on flowers. To create consuming culture and to adhere the positive images, it is essential to research and systematically organize categories of color, scent, and elements of flower and utilize them. Last proposal is the organization of flower-concerned personnels and the leading groups. The change is affected by the economical, social environment, along with the emotions of consumers. Therefore the necessity for the leading group to be the control-tower of such changes are very clear.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.53-63
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• 2006

Since 2005, the government began to introduce and promote a new project delivery system, BTL(Build, Transfer, and Lease), in order to provide high level of public services for the upgraded quality of life and to boost the domestic and local construction economy. However, the lack of experiences in the new system by the constituents from diverse economic sectors brought a number of drawbacks from each constituent's perspective such as improperly low earning rate, excessive expenses for preparation of the project proposal, imbalanced regulations, heavy cost and procedures to establish SPC, the ineffective structure of the consortium, the short-term oriented evaluation criteria for the selection and so forth. These drawbacks turned out to be obstacles for the successful BTL projects. Hence, this paper analyzes the above issues and conducts the interviews with the professionals from the diverse sectors in order to propose the changes to resolve those for the improvement and finally to deliver the successful BTL projects for the diverse public owners.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.1-16
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• 2012

Objective : To investigate the current status of prescription drugs in Oriental medical institutes and to draw up a future plan for the revitalization of Oriental medical health insurance, this survey has been performed. Method : The survey has been made with 321 doctors working at Oriental medical institutes in Daegu and Kyungbuk areas for a period of 3 month from June 1, 2010 until September 1, 2010. Result : 1. When it comes to the current status of the use of herbal drugs in Oriental Health insurance, most of doctors surveyed prescribe insurance drugs, and they prescribe insurance drugs to patients, who are less than 20% of total patients visiting their clinics. 2. The awareness of Herbal Health Care Drugs is investigated. When it comes to the understanding of the difference between insurance drugs(powder type drugs) and granular type drugs, doctors admit that they differ only in one aspect, whether or not their being covered by health insurance. Based on the survey results on the understanding of insurance coverage of granular type drugs, doctors, even though they long for granular type drugs to be accepted as insurance drugs, are worrying whether the number of outpatients might dwindle due to increased insurance co-payments. They also point out that the biggest obstacles in the expansion of the granular type drugs as insurance drugs are the lack of understanding of the government and the objection of the Health Insurance Review and Assesment service (HIRA) for fear of increased insurance claims. 3. Upon investigation on Oriental medicine doctors' understandings of herbal pharmaceutical industry, it is found that doctors' responses on pharmaceutical industry are not all positive ones('new product development and neglect of R&D infrastructure' and 'smallness of industry'). When it is investigated what area needs the greatest improvement in herbal pharmaceutical industry, 'securing sufficient capital, good manufacturing, and strengthening quality control', is the highest. 4. When it is asked what are the most needed in order to improve herbal health insurance medicine, responses such as 'the increase in the accessibility to and the utilization of Oriental medical clinics through the diversification of the means of prescriptions', 'the improvement of insurance benefits(cap adjustments)', 'increase the proportion of high quality medicinal plants', 'the ceiling of co-payments(deductible) at 20,000 won or more', 'expansion of the choices of formulations', 'formulational expansions of tablets and pills', and finally 'admittance and expansion of granular type drug as insurance drug' are the highest. 5. Upon investigating the general characteristics of the current status of the usage of Oriental health care herbal drugs, the followings are observed. First, the frequency of use of health insurance drugs by the doctors who use health insurance with general characteristics shows similar differences in case of total monthly sales amount (p<0.001), average number of daily patients (p<0.05). Secondly, as to the willingness of the expanded usage of insurance drugs, similar differences are observed in case of total monthly sales amount (p<0.05). 6. Upon investigating the general characteristics of the perception of Herbal health care drugs, the followings are observed. First, inspecting general characteristics and insurance claims due to increased co-payments(deductible amount) reveals similar differences in case of working period (p<0.01) and in case of total monthly sales amount (p <0.01). Secondly, inspecting general characteristics and the obstacles that hinder granular type drugs from being accepted as health care insurance drugs shows similar differences in case of working period (p<0.05). 7. Upon investigating the general characteristics of the understanding of Oriental Herbal pharmaceutical companies, the followings are observed. First, opinions on the general characteristics of pharmaceutical companies, when examined with variance analysis, shows similar differences in case of total monthly sales amount (p<0.05). Secondly, when opinions are examined on general characteristics and the problems of herbal pharmaceutical companies, similar differences are found in case of working period (p<0.01) and in case of total monthly sales amount (p<0.001). Lastly, opinions on the general characteristics and reforms of pharmaceutical companies, similar differences are observed in case of working period (p<0.001). 8. Upon investigating the general characteristics of the improvement of insurance Herbal drugs, the followings are observed. First, regarding general characteristics and insurance benefits, similar differences are observed in case of working period (p<0.05), in case of total monthly sales amount (p<0.05), and in case of average number of daily patients (p<0.01). Secondly, opinions on the general characteristics and the needs for the improvement of Herbal insurance drugs are examined in 5 different aspects, which are the approval of granular type drugs as insurance drugs, the expanded practices of the number of prescription insurance drugs, the needs of a variety of formulations, the needs of TFT of which numbers of Oriental medical doctors are members for the revision of the existing system, and the needs of adjusting the current ceiling of the fixed amount and the fixed rate. When processed by the analysis of variance, the results show similar differences in case of average number of daily patients (p<0.01). Conclusion : From the results of this study the first measures to take are, to reform overall insurance benefit system, including insurance co-payment system(fixed rate cap adjustment), to expand the number of the herbal drugs to be prescribed matching with insurance benefit accordingly, and to revitalize herbal medicine insurance system through the change of various formulations. In addition, it is recommended to improve the effectiveness of herbal medicine by making plans to enhance the efficacy of herbal medicine and by enabling small pharmaceutical companies to outgrow themselves.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.59-73
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• 2023

Objectives: The role of physician-scientists who bridge the gap between basic science and clinical medicine is crucial in advancing medical innovation. This study aims to examine the educational and research environment and career satisfaction of graduate students in Korean Medicine among those who are Korean medicine doctor (KMD). Methods: This study analyzed the results of a survey consisting of respondents' composition, job status, graduate education and job satisfaction, economic conditions, career determinants, and obstacles to the career path of KMD-scientists from 65 participants including both full-time and part-time graduate students. Results: The results revealed significant differences between full-time and part-time graduate students in terms of weekly hours spent and job priorities, motivation for entering graduate school, career preferences, and desired career paths. The study highlights the need for tailored support for full-time and part-time graduate students and the importance of economic assistance in fostering KM scientists. Economic difficulties were identified as a major obstacle for full-time graduate students pursuing research careers. Tuition fees were found to be a significant burden for all graduate students. Furthermore, it emphasizes the importance of enhancing the research capabilities of part-time graduate students and improving the quality of education to foster KMD-scientists. Conclusion: This research provides essential insights for Korean Medicine colleges and graduate schools to develop targeted improvement plans and effectively train KMD-scientist.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.36-51
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• 1997

Background : Clinical practice guidelines define "systematically developed statements to assist practitioner and patient decisions about appropriate health care for specific clinical circumstances" and help to improve patient care. The purpose of this study is to develop a clinical practice guideline for the most effective diagnoses and treatments of benign prostatic hyperplasia based on patient preference and clinical need. Methods : For this research project, extensive literature searches (208 articles) were conducted. As well, critical reviews and syntheses (meta-analysis) were used to evaluate empirical evidence and significant outcomes of the BPH literature. Questionnaires about clinical practice for BPH patients were distributed and consensus meetings were undertaken to grasp variations in clinical practice and to reach agreement on the guideline's development. The guideline was promoted under the sponsorship of the Korean Medical Association and the Korean urological Cancer. Society. For the task, the Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia Guideline Panel was composed of multidisciplinary experts in the field. Results : BPH is a disease that affects a patient's quality of life. This Clinical Practice Guideline was developed for the typical man over age 50 with symptoms of prostatism, but with no significant medical morbidities such as diabetes or other known causes of voiding dysfunction, such as urethral stricture or neurogenic bladder. The guidelines detail the relative benefits and obstacles associated with all diagnostic and treatment approaches, including watchful waiting. Conclusion : This guideline provides a cornerstone for our medical association. It represents the most current scientific knowledge regarding the development, diagnosis, and treatment of BPH. It will be revised and updated as needed.