• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.8 no.7
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• pp.131-139
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of public health center's Integrated Health Promotion Program for the public officials who provide health promotion services to local residents. The survey was conducted from September 10 to October 5, 2015 using a structured questionnaire. Each of the 254 public health centers were sent two questionnaires but I only received 348 and 339 were used for the final analysis. As a result of this study, the all subjects were showed the average level of efficiency, autonomy, accountability, and the support of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the related organizations. Also, the evaluation of all the variables were positive when there was a dedicated department for integrated health promotion program within the health center and when the proportion of essential program was high. However, after the Integrated Health Promotion Program was included in the Health centers, the workload has increased and the implementation of the essential program does not fully reflect the regional health problems or local conditions. Based on these results, it is necessary to find a plan for the successful operation of the Integrated Health Promotion Program.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.19-35
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• 2001

This study was conducted to investigate the internal changes and the countermeasure for performance improvement by Separation of Prescribing and Dispensing Practice (SPDP) in Health Center. Data were collected from two sources: Performance report before and after SPDP of 25 Health Centers in Kyongsangbuk-do and 6 Health Centers in Daegu-City and self-administerd questionnaire survey of 221 officials at health center. The results of this study were summarized as follows: Twenty-four health centers(77.4%) of 31 health centers took convenience measures for medical treatment of citizens and convenience measures were getting map of pharmacy, improvement of health center interior, introduction of order communication system in order. After the SPDP in health centers, 19.4% of health centers increased doctors and 25.8% decreased pharmacists. 58.1% of health centers showed that number of medical treatments were decreased. 96.4%, 80.6% 80.6% 96.7% of health centers showed that number of prescriptions, total medical treatment expenses, amounts paid by the insureds and the expenses to purchase drugs, respectively, were decreased. More than fifty percent(54.2%) of health centers responded that the relative importance of health works increased compared to medical treatments after the SPDP, and number of patients decreased compared to those in before the SPDP. And there was a drastic reduction in number of prescriptions, total medical treatment expenses, amounts paid by insureds, the expenses to purchase drugs after the SPDP. Above fifty percent(57.6%) of officers at health center responded that the function of medical treatment should be reduced after the SPDP. Fields requested improvement in health centers were 'development of heath works contents'(62.4%), 'rearrangement of health center personnel'(51.6%), 'priority setting for health works'(48.4%), 'restructuring the organization'(36.2%), 'quality impro­vement for medical services'(32.1%), 'replaning the budgets'(23.1%) in order. And to better the image of health centers, health center officers replied that 'health information management'(60.7%), 'public relations for health center'(15.8%), 'kindness of health center officers'(15.3%) were necessary in order. Health center officers suggested that 'vaccination program', 'health promotion', 'maternal and children health', 'communicable disease management', 'community health planning' were relatively important works, in order, performed by health center after SPDP. In the future, medical services in health centers should be cut down with a momentum of the SPDP so that health centers might reestablish their functions and roles as public health organizations, but quality of medical services must be improved. Also health centers should pay attention to residents for improving health through 'vaccination program', 'health promotion', 'mother-children health', 'acute and chronic communicable disease management', 'community health planning', 'oral health', 'chronic degenerative disease management', etc. And there should be a differentiation of relative importance between health promotion services and medical treatment services by character of areas(metropolitan, city, county).

• Journal of Medicine and Life Science
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2024

The purpose of this study is to determine the issues of supplementation and improvement to prepare for the outbreak of new infectious diseases such as new variants of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to guide work for a strategic new response to infectious disease. Public officials of Jeju Special Self-governing Province and health personnel responding to COVID-19, working at six public health centers in Jeju-do region were administered a survey about additional preparations to be made in the future, based on the period when COVID-19 was treated legally as a first-class infectious disease. Frequency analysis was conducted on the collected data. The Likert 5-point scale and Kruskal-Wallis test were used to compare the scores for effective response to emerging infectious diseases according to demographics. Among the important factors identified for effective response to new infectious diseases, 'facilitation of cooperation with public institutions' and 'facilitation of cooperation with private institutions' had the highest scores. In the future, when a patient presents with a new infectious disease, the step that needs to be supplemented in each phase of the public health center's response is 'immediate response team operation'. Further, public health centers responded that 'expansion of dedicated personnel related to infectious diseases' needs to be improved to respond to new infectious diseases. Along with the results of this study, considering the difficulties experienced by health personnel responding to new infectious diseases in preparation for future outbreaks of new infectious diseases, and to respond effectively, detailed and clear guidelines for responding to quarantine of patients of new infectious diseases will be needed.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.67-76
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• 2022

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to find stress mediation strategies for pandemic task forces in the future by identifying role stress experienced by local officials in public health centers working as COVID-19 response task force. Whether they suffered from trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to COVID-19 was also determined. Methods: Subjects for this research were 185 public health center workers in 7 northern Gyeonggi cities with at least three months of COVID-19 response task force experience. The investigation lasted for two months, from February to March of 2021. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. Results: The average role stress of research subjects was 2.79±0.60. There were 64 subjects (34.6%) who answered 'yes' for trauma experience due to COVID-19. Subjects' role stress by sociodemographic and role characteristics displayed statistically significant differences in gender (t = -2.74, p= .007), age (F = 6.41, p= .002), profession (F = 0.01, p= .014), and COVID-19 response task (F= 3.01, p= .019). Specifically, role stress was higher for females than for males, those who were in their 20's (than 40's), a nursing profession (rather than others). Role stress was also higher in COVID-19 confirmed response work or in a self-quarantine work. There was a significant difference in trauma according to COVID-19 response roles (χ² = 26.59, p= < .001) and other tasks given or not (χ²= 9.48, p= .002). Conclusion: It is necessary to take measures to reduce COVID-19 response task force's role stress and trauma.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2012

The need for evidence-based decision making in immunization programs has increased due to the presence of multiple health priorities, limited human resources, expensive vaccines, and limited funds. Countries should establish a group of national experts to advise their Ministries of Health. So far, many nations have formed their own National Immunization Technical Advisory Groups (NITAGs). In the Republic of Korea, the Korea Expert Committee on Immunization Practices (KECIP), established by law in the early 1990s, has made many important technical recommendations to contribute to the decline in vaccine preventable diseases and currently functions as a NITAG. It includes 13 core members and 2 non-core members, including a chairperson. Core members usually come from affiliated organizations in internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics, microbiology, preventive medicine, nursing and a representative from a consumer group, all of whom serve two year terms. Non-core members comprise two government officials belonging to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) and the Korea Food and Drug Administration. Meetings are held as needed, but at least twice a year, and sub-committees are formed as a resource for gathering, analyzing, and preparing information for the KECIP meetings. Once the sub-committees or the KCDC review the available data, the KECIP members discuss each issue in depth and develop recommendations, usually by a consensus in the meeting. The KECIP publishes national guidelines and immunization schedules that are updated regularly. KECIP's role is essentially consultative and the implementation of their recommendations may depend on the budget or current laws.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.83-92
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• 2024

It is a common observation that whenever any patient arrives at the front desk of a hospital, outpatient clinic, or other health-associated centers, they have to first queue up in a line and wait to fill in their registration form to get admitted. The long waiting time without any status updates is the most common complaint, worrying health officials. In this paper, UrNext, a location-aware mobile-based solution using Bluetooth low-energy (BLE) technology, is presented to solve the problem. Recently, a technology-oriented method has been gaining popularity in solving the healthcare sector's problems, namely the Internet of Things (IoT). The implementation of this solution could be explained through a simple example that when a patient arrives at a clinic for her consultation. There, instead of having to wait in long lines, she will be greeted automatically, receive a push notification telling her that she has been admitted along with an estimated waiting time for her consultation session. This will not only provide the patients with a sense of freedom but would also reduce uncertainty levels that are generally observed, thus saving both time and money. This work aimed to improve clinics' quality of services and organize queues and minimize waiting times in clinics, leading to patient comfortability and reducing the burden on nurses and receptionists. The results demonstrated that the presented system was successful in its performance and helped achieve high usability.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.256-268
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• 2020

Purpose: This study aimed to explore ecological factors and strategies for childhood obesity prevention targeting vulnerable children using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) methodology. Methods: The CBPR was conducted by following basic process steps. Participants were 12 community stakeholders such as community child center directors (n=4), vulnerable children's mothers (n=3), community health center officials (n=2), and lay health advisors (n=4); they were purposively sampled from K municipal county in Seoul, South Korea. The qualitative content analysis was performed to explore main themes of the ecological factors and strategies by using data obtained from 5 times of focus group interview. Results: Twelve ecological factors associated with childhood obesity prevention were identified: Intrapersonal factors including emotional overeating; interpersonal factors including permissive parenting style of children's eating behaviors; organizational factors including social workers' less educational opportunities; and community/policy factors including less government financial support. Four ecological strategies for childhood obesity prevention were addressed: Developing obesity prevention programs targeting vulnerable children' lifestyles; promoting parents' active participation in education; building healthy meal service environments through empowering social workers; and building supportive community environment and securing community resources for child obesity prevention. Conclusion: Our findings may be informative in terms of providing a comprehensive understanding of multi-level ecological barriers against vulnerable children' obesity prevention and, moreover, guiding multi-level strategies for preventing childhood obesity targeting children enrolled in community child centers.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.2913-2921
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• 2012

Introduction: The impact of cervical cancer prevention programs depends on persuading women to go for screening and, if needed, treatment. As part of an evaluation of a pilot project in Indonesia, qualitative research was conducted to explore the factors that influence women's decisions regarding screening and treatment and to generate practical recommendations to increase service coverage and reduce loss to follow up. Methods: Research was conducted at 7 of the 17 public health centers in Karawang District that implemented the pilot project. Interviews and focus group discussions were held with 20 women, 20 husbands, 10 doctors, 18 midwives, 3 district health officials, and 16 advocacy team members. Results: Free services and mobile outreach events encouraged women to go for screening, along with promotional efforts by community health workers, advocacy teams, and the mass media. Knowledge and perceptions were the most important barriers to screening: women were not aware of cervical cancer risks, did not know the disease was treatable, and were fatalistic. Factors facilitating treatment were social support from husbands, relatives, and friends and the encouragement and role modeling of health workers. Barriers to prompt treatment included limited access to services and the requirement for husband's consent for cryotherapy. Conclusion: As cervical cancer prevention services are scaled up throughout Indonesia, the findings suggest three strategies to expand screening coverage and ensure prompt treatment: strengthening community mobilization and advocacy activities, modifying the service delivery model to encourage a single visit approach to screening and treatment, and working to gain men's support.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.334-345
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• 2009

Objectives: This study was performed to investigate the management status of chronic disease at community health centers. Methods: The study subjects were 450 employed persons at community health centers in Jeonlanamdo. General characteristics, status of chronic disease management and health education were collected for statistical analysis. The differences on management status among working areas were assessed with chi-square test and ANOVA. Results: The mean values of work duration were 18.7 years in rural, 14.4 years in fishing village, and 17.4 years in urban-rural, respectively. The number of management registration was highest in hypertension. The ways of disease management were medication check-up, diet stopping smoking. The contents of group health education were exercise, diet and prohibition of smoking. The place of health education was town assembling hall. The fields which officials wanted to be educated were symptom, diagnosis, treatment and complication. The most important field was early detection of chronic disease patients and health education. Finally, the field requiring support was work standardization. Conclusions: Community health workers have worked positively in chronic disease management. The barriers to work were the lack of professional and preliminary data. The support system with other health organ and health education were needed for the improvement of working ability.

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.585-596
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to elucidate public health nurses' empowerment to public health center managers' transformational leadership and public health nurses' social capital. From Feb. 29 to Apr. 8, 2016, a questionnaire survey was conducted with 303 public health nurses, the public nursing officials working at public health centers in Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do. Data were analyzed using SPSS 21.0 program and factors affecting the health-related quality of life were analyzed by t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe test, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and multiple regression analysis. Public health nurses' empowerment had a positive correlation with transformational leadership and social capital. The managers' transformational leadership perceived by the public health nurses and the social capital of the public health nurses were included in the factors affecting their empowerment. The results of the study indicate that these variables should be considered in developing nursing intervention programs to increase empowerment in public health nurses.