• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.49-66
• /
• 1998

The general objectives of this study were to develop a health education management information system to effectively deal with community health problems. This study aimed at 1) to development an health education management information system, and 2) to offer computer-based communication channels among the District Health System components such as health center, health subcenters, and community hospital, 3) lastly, to identify the key issues and effectiveness of health education. Major findings of the study were as follows: The major benefits and significances of this information system included: improvement of quality of health education statistics by reducing manual data processing, improvement of productivity of health educators by reducing paper works, improvement of decision-making capability of managers by providing more information for planning, organizing, and evaluating health education programes, and improvement of communication flow among health institutions. Based on the findings of the study, the following are recommended: (1) The health education information system will connect with computerized information systems of various health-related institutions in a district and computer-based communication channels among them, and of the superior agencies in the future. (2) The major functions of the computerized health education program are: to keep client medical records, to inquire about information on the client and his family's history. (3) The program will provide outputs in various forms, such as files for patient records, data on some chronic diseases, information on the patient and his family members, and various kinds of statistics.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.37-55
• /
• 2012

Objectives : This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of fixed critical pathway with emr (electronic medical record) on the length of hospital stay, the cost and quality of care provided to gastrectomy patients in a university hospital and to develop flexible critical pathway with emr which can be used excluded or drop-out patients. Methods : Thirty-eight patients with gastrectomy were included as case group and Thirty-four patients included as control group. The comparison between control and case with using fixed critical pathway were done. To develop and to evaluate usefulness of flexible critical pathway with flexible data base, simulation was done for flexible critical pathway with drop-out patients. Result : The major results of this study were as follows: There were no significant differences in patient clinical conditions and no sign of deterioration of quality from critical pathway. The length of hospital stay was 11 days in control group, 8 days in path group(P<0.01). The total costs during the hospital stay were reduced in path group. However the cost per day was significantly increased from reduction of hospital stay(554,352 won in control, 645,669 won in path group). One hundred percentage of drop out patients(60) in the simulation of flexible critical pathway was successful. Conclusion : Computerized critical pathway reduced the length of hospital stay, total hospital costs and resource utilization without harming quality of patient care. The flexible critical pathway program can be used as one of the powerful management tools for reducing the practice variations and increasing the efficiency of care process and decreasing the workload of doctors and nurses in Korean hospital settings.

• Proceedings of the Korea Information Processing Society Conference
• /
• 2012.11a
• /
• pp.450-451
• /
• 2012

The need of Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) in healthcare setup is increasing day by day. EHR Meaningful Use advocates CDSS as an important component of EHR/EMR systems. CDSS can be ranged from a simple to a very sophisticated system. The more complex CDSS systems need more attention to develop because of many reasons including its Knowledge Base (KB) structure/maintenance/evolution, inference capabilities and usability. Above all the KB maintenance and evolution is very crucial and important from the perspective of useful decision capabilities. Also the richness of the KB is important to cover the decision gaps handling a particular situation in the course of patient care. It cannot be expected from the clinicians to remember everything in regard to patient diagnosis and treatment. Similarly, it is also crucial for clinicians to keep themselves updated with the new research in the area. That is the reason they frequently require accessing to the online knowledge resources. Literature proved that online knowledge resources are capable providing answers to questions that might not be answered rely only on clinician wisdom and experience. This paper provides the theme of meaningful utilization of online knowledge resources in the context of diagnosis and treatment process for cancer patients more specifically Head and Neck cancer.

• Neonatal Medicine
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.41-47
• /
• 2021

Neonatal diabetes mellitus can be categorized as transient, permanent, or syndromic, and approximately half of the cases are transient. We present a case involving a term newborn who showed overt progression of transient neonatal diabetes mellitus, with complete remission within 6 months. On the second day of life, the patient presented with tachypnea, hyperglycemia, and decreased serum levels of C-peptide and insulin. Continuous subcutaneous infusion of insulin and continuous glucose monitoring were well tolerated. The patient showed a normal growth pattern, with no hyperglycemic or hypoglycemic episodes at 6 months of age. As it is rare and often asymptomatic, hyperglycemia may be attributed to various factors, including intrauterine environment, perinatal stress, and diverse genetic background. Therefore, consistent blood glucose monitoring and prompt early insulin therapy are crucial for any term newborns with persistent hyperglycemia, to prevent further diabetic complications. Moreover, continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion and the utilization of continuous glucose monitoring devices are the most effective and practical management strategies.

• Journal of Clinical Nutrition
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.38-44
• /
• 2018

Purpose: Parenteral nutrition (PN) is known to provide therapeutic beneficial improvements in malnourished patients for whom enteral nutrition is not feasible. The objective of this study was to investigate the current clinical characteristics and utilization of PN in Korea. Methods: We analyzed the Health Insurance Review Agency National Inpatients Sample database from 2014 to 2016, which included 13% of all hospitalized patients in Korea. Adult patients aged 20 years or older and receiving premixed multi-chamber bag containing PN were included for this study. Patient characteristics, admission type, primary diagnosis, and hospital demographics were evaluated. SAS version 9.4 was used for data analysis. Results: From 2014 to 2016, 149,504 patients received premixed PN, with 226,281 PN prescriptions being written. The mean patient age was 65.0 years, and 81,876 patients (54.8%) were male. Premixed 3-chamber bag and 2-chamber bag PN solutions were utilized in 131,808 (88.2%) and 32,033 (21.4%) patients, respectively. The number of patients hospitalized through the emergency department were 70,693 (47.3%), whereas 43,125 patients (28.8%) were administered PN in intensive care units. In the adult PN patients, the highest primary diagnosis was malignant neoplasm of the stomach (8,911, 6.0%), followed by organism unspecified pneumonia (7,008, 4.7%), and gastroenteritis and colitis of unspecified origin (6,381, 4.3%). Overall, 34% of adult PN patients were diagnosed with malignancies, the most common being neoplasm of the stomach (17.7%), neoplasm of bronchus/lung (11.2%), neoplasm of colon (11.1%), and neoplasm of liver/intrahepatic bile ducts (10.0%). PN solutions were most frequently administered in the metropolitan area (55.0%) and in hospitals with more than 1,000 beds (23.6%). Conclusion: PN was commonly administered in older patients, with primary diagnosis of malignancy in a significant number of cases. This study is the first large-scale description of PN-prescribing patterns in real-world clinical practice in South Korea.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.228-236
• /
• 2019

Background: This study investigates the impact of weekend admission with a patient safety indicator (PSI) on 30-day mortality among long-term insurance beneficiaries. Methods: Data were obtained from the National Health Insurance Service-Senior claim database from 2002 to 2013. To obtain unbiased estimates of odds ratio, we used a nested case-control study design. The cases were individuals who had a 30-day mortality event after their last medical utilization, while controls were selected by incidence density sampling based on age and sex. We examined the interaction between the main independent variables of weekend admission and PSI by categorizing cases into four groups: weekend admission/PSI, weekend admission/non-PSI, weekday admission/PSI, and weekday admission/non-PSI. Results: Of the 83,400 individuals in the database, there were 20,854 cases (25.0%) and 62,546 controls (75.0%). After adjusting for socioeconomic, health status, seasonality, and hospital-level factors, the odds ratios (ORs) of 30-day mortality for weekend admission/PSI (OR, 1.484; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.371-1.606) and weekday admission/PSI (OR, 1.357; 95% CI, 1.298-1.419) were greater than for patients with weekday admission/non-PSI. Conclusion: This study indicated that there is an increased risk of mortality after weekend admission among patients with PSI as compared with patients admitted during the weekday without a PSI. Therefore, our findings suggest that recognizing these different patterns is important to identify at-risk diagnosis to minimize the excess mortality associated with weekend admission in those with PSI.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.31-39
• /
• 2019

Objectives To obtain future research basis of Korean Medicine for total knee arthroplasty patient by analyzing medical and Korean Medical service utilization and treatment duration. Methods Data sampling was performed on Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service patient data of 2015 (Confidence level of 97%) to analyze patients' medical and Korean Medical service tendency. Sampling groups were divided into two groups; i) Patients who completed their treatment within 5 months of total knee arthroplasty, ii) Patients who continued their treatment after 5 months of total knee arthroplasty, to investigate patients' medical and Korean Medical service tendency and individual characteristics were carefully monitored. Results It was confirmed that total of 1,655 patients had gone through total knee arthroplasty out of 1,453,486 patients who were gathered for sampling. First sampling group (Patients who completed their treatment within 5 months of total knee arthroplasty) was 287 patients and second sampling group (Patients who continued their treatment after 5 months of total knee arthroplasty) was 385 patients. The proportion of patients who visited Korean Medical service in first sampling group was lower than that of second sampling group. Conclusions It was confirmed that medical and Korean Medical service and cost consumed by second group (Patients who continued their treatment after 5 months of total knee arthroplasty) was higher than that of first group (Patients who continued their treatment after 5 months of total knee arthroplasty). It is highly recommended to continue with further study for efficient medical and Korean Medical service and reduced cost.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.132-141
• /
• 2019

Foreign body (FB) ingestion of children is a common pediatric emergency requiring medical attention. Pediatric emergency physicians and gastroenterologists often encounter nervous and distressed situations, because of children presenting with this condition in the common clinical practice. When determining the appropriate timing and indications for intervention, physicians should consider multiple patient- and FB-related factors. The utilization of a flexible endoscopy is considered safe and effective to use in these cases, with a high success rate, for the effective extraction of FBs from the gastrointestinal tract of a child. Additionally, a Foley catheter and a magnet-attached Levin tube have been used for decades in the case of FB removal. Although their use has decreased significantly in recent times, these instruments continue to be used for several indications. Using a Foley catheter for this purpose does not require special training and does not necessarily require sedation of the patient or fluoroscopy, which serve as advantages of utilizing this method for foreign object retrieval. An ingested magnet or iron-containing FB can be retrieved using a magnet-attached tube, and can be effective to retrieve an object from any section of the upper gastrointestinal tract that can be reached. Simple and inexpensive devices such as Foley catheters and magnetattached tubes can be used in emergencies such as with the esophageal impaction of disk batteries if endoscopy cannot be performed immediately (e.g., in rural areas and/or in patients presenting at midnight in a facility, especially in those without access to endoscopes or emergency services, or in any situation that warrants urgent removal of a foreign object).

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.57 no.3
• /
• pp.260-268
• /
• 2024

Objectives: Regional disparities in cardiovascular care in Korea have led to uneven patient outcomes. Despite the growing need for and access to procedures, few studies have linked regional service availability to mortality rates. This study analyzed regional variation in the utilization of major cardiovascular procedures and their associations with short-term mortality to provide better evidence regarding the relationship between healthcare resource distribution and patient survival. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using nationwide claims data for patients who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), stent insertion, or aortic aneurysm resection in 2022. Regional variation was assessed by the relevance index (RI). The associations between the regional RI and 30-day mortality were analyzed. Results: The RI was lowest for aortic aneurysm resection (mean, 26.2; standard deviation, 26.1), indicating the most uneven regional distribution among the surgical procedures. Patients undergoing this procedure in regions with higher RIs showed significantly lower 30-day mortality (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.73; 95% confidence interval, 0.55 to 0.96; p=0.026) versus those with lower RIs. This suggests that cardiovascular surgery regional availability, as measured by RI, has an impact on mortality rates for certain complex surgical procedures. The RI was not associated with significant mortality differences for more widely available procedures like CABG (aOR, 0.96), PCI (aOR, 1.00), or stent insertion (aOR, 0.91). Conclusions: Significant regional variation and underutilization of cardiovascular surgery were found, with reduced access linked to worse mortality for complex procedures. Disparities should be addressed through collaboration among hospitals and policy efforts to improve outcomes.

• Journal of Cerebrovascular and Endovascular Neurosurgery
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.51-57
• /
• 2024

Since the first description of the possible utilization of the internal maxillary artery for bypass surgery, there are some reports of its use in aneurysm cases; however, there is no information about the possible advantages of this type of bypass for cerebral ischemic disease. We present a 77-year-old man with a history of diabetes, hypertension, systemic atherosclerosis, and two acute myocardial infarctions with left hemiparesis. Imaging studies reported total occlusion of the right internal carotid artery and 75% occlusion on the left side, with an old opercular infarction and repeated transient ischemic attacks in the right middle cerebral artery territory despite medical treatment. After a consensus, we decided to perform a bypass from the internal maxillary artery to the M2 segment of the middle cerebral artery using a radial artery graft. After performing the proximal anastomosis, the calculated graft's free flow was 216 ml/min. Subsequently, after completing the bypass, the patency was confirmed with fluorescein videoangiography and intraoperative Doppler. Postoperatively, imaging studies showed improvement in the perfusion values and the hemiparesis from 3/5 to 4+/5. The patient was discharged one week after the operation, with a modified Rankin scale of 1, without added deficits. The use of revascularization techniques in steno-occlusive disease indicates a select group of patients that may benefit from this procedure. In addition, internal maxillary artery bypass has provided a safe option for large areas of ischemia that cannot be supplied with a superficial temporal artery - middle cerebral artery bypass.