• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.90-97
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• 2013

Purpose: Ten years have passed since the Korean government announced its plan to institutionally support hospice and palliative care in 2002. In line with that, this study aims to suggest future directions for Korea's hospice and palliative care policy. Methods: We conducted a survey on people's perception and acceptance of well-dying. Data were collected from 1,000 participants aged 19~69 years between June 1 and June 11, 2012 via computer-assisted telephone interviews. Results: The most important factor for well-dying was placing no burden of care on others (36.7%) and the second most important factor was staying with their family and loved ones (19.1%). Among nine suggestions of policy support for well-dying, the most popular was the promotion of voluntary care sharing (88.3%), followed by the palliative care training support for healthcare providers (83.7%) and the support for palliative care facilities instead of funeral halls (81.7%). The idea of formulating a five-year national plan for end-of-life care drew strong support (91%). According to the survey, the plan should be implemented by the central government (47.5%), the National Assembly (20.2%) or civic groups (10%). Conclusion: This study demonstrated the public consensus and their consistent direction toward policy support for well-dying. Results of this study may serve as a foundation for the establishment of policy support for people's well-dying and palliative care at the national-level.

• Korea Science and Art Forum
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.249-260
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• 2019

Recently, the proportion of single-person households is on the increase in Korea, expected to reach 34.6% in 2035. Among the single-person households, Young single family households are facing greater difficulties due to high house prices in Korea. The government is expanding its support to Young single family, executing various policies such as public lease housings, private lease housings for youth, youth dormitory, etc. The purpose of this study is to understand the exact housing requirement of Young single family households who have different lifestyles with other age groups and provide base line data for youth house planning which will be in use later on. Study methods are shown below. First, this research studied the status and characteristics of Young single family households by looking into literature. Second, by studying previous studies concerned with life style and housing preferences of youth, the tool for investigating preferences and needs of housing environment by Young single family households was composed. Third, survey on characterstics of space usage, preferences and needs on flat composition, and preferences of interior design were conducted based on lifestyle of Young single family-households. The survey was conducted as an online survey using SNS for 150 Young single family holds from the age of 20 and 39, including students and office workers from December 2018 to January 2019. The results are as following. (1) Looking into the space usage characteristics, considering that various activities other than basic functions take place in bedroom and living room of small-sized Young single family households, we need to consider this additionally when planning the housing. (2) Looking into the preferences and composite needs of flat composition, the subjects demand separate bed room and more living room space, and also demand expansion of living room space where various activities take place and additional storage such as dress room in bed room (3) The preferences toward interior design show preferences toward modern style and achromatic color, a representative color. The subjects also prefer floor finishing materials normally used for living spaces, and indirect, soft lighting that uses wall. Also, there are differences between interior design preferences between students (20's) and office workers(30's) due to their different lifestyles. Research is needed to propose practical residential environment requirements and plans through a case study of actual public rental housing and a wider range of users.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.137-143
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• 2023

This study was conducted to analyze factors affecting the length of stay in children with injuries by determining relationships between length of stay and characteristics of children(aged 0 to 12) with injuries. 7,804 patients aged 0 to 12 who participated in the Korea Nation Hospital Discharge In-Depth Injury Surveys, got a diagnosis of sequelae of injuries and of other consequences of external causes(S00-T98), and were discharged between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2020 were investigated. A frequency analysis, independent samples t-test, and ANOVA were performed. Also, to identify factors affecting the length of stay, a regression analysis was performed. The average length of stay for the patients investigated in this study was 5.5 days. The length of stay for school-age children(aged 7 to 12) and children who had either public or private coverage was higher than that for preschoolers(aged 0 to 6) and children who didn't have public or private coverage, respectively. The length of stay for children admitted to a hospital in a rural area(Jeolla-do or Gyeongsang-do) was higher than that for children admitted to a hospital in a metropolitan area and the length of stay for children admitted to a hospital that had 100-299 hospital beds was relatively long. However, children who first visited a hospital for outpatient care stayed relatively short in hospital and children who had been burned or injured in traffic crashes stayed relatively long in hospital. Children who got a secondary diagnosis and had a principal procedure or who died after being discharged were in hospital for a long time. The findings of this study shall be useful, as they identified characteristics related to the length of stay for Korean children with injuries and factors that determine the length of stay for those children by analyzing the national dataset, or more specifically, the data from the Korea National Hospital Discharge In-Depth Injury Surveys. The risk of child injuries can be easily reduced by taking actions to prevent them and providing safety education programs. The present study has provided essential baseline data for the provision of aggressive care for child injuries and the establishment of a range of policies for child injury prevention.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.27-40
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• 2014

The functions of urban open space, which embraces community revitalization, are diverse. It is the means of public healthcare, learning centers for children, hub of arts and cultural programs, as well as promoter of urban tourism. However, in-depth discourse and research on the topic of urban open spaces has been limited so far. Hence, this study aims to investigate the motivations and satisfaction of visitation based on four representative waterfront open space in Seoul; Cheongyecheon Waterfront, Seoul Forest Park, Seonyudo Park and Banpo Hangang Park. The methods of study are literature review, observation investigation, and questionnaire survey. The findings are analyzed through the Exploratory Factor Analysis, Reliability Analysis, ANOVA Analysis and Regression Analysis by SPSS 18.0. The results of the study are as follows. First, urban waterfront open spaces in Seoul has 5 factors of visitor motivation; community amenity, nature access, cultural and educational assets, aesthetic enjoyment, and lastly means of escape. Second, factors of recognizing urban waterfront open spaces as community amenity and nature access indicate meaningful differences in visitor's perception by spatial characteristics. Third, distances between the destination and the visitor's residence influence significantly their perceived motivation. Close-range visitors perceived nature access as a principal factor, whilst medium to long-range visitors perceived visitation for aesthetic purposes more importantly. Lastly, the will to escape was shown as the influential factor in visitor satisfaction. Visiting open spaces for the enjoyment of nature and aesthetic purposes were factors that also closely relate to visitor satisfaction. In addition, it was found that there are different visitor motivations that influence visitor satisfaction in accordance with the spatial characteristics of each open space. In summary, it can be said that urban waterfront open space is a hybrid space connected to various types of urban contents beyond daily experiences. It was found that several visitor motivations including community development, design aesthetics, education and culture, entertainment, enjoyment of natural landscape, and relaxation, affect the overall satisfaction of the visiting experience. It is anticipated that the results of the study will be used by the local government in setting up strategies for the creation and management of successful urban waterfront open space, and for those involved in planning and design act as a starting point for spatial programming and amenities arrangement in accordance to the city's tourism and urban marketing approach.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.11 no.11
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• pp.321-335
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• 2020

Given that with the development of the 4th industry, interest and desire for smart cities are gradually increasing and related technologies are developed as a way to strengthen urban competitiveness by utilizing big data, information and communication technology, IoT, M2M, and AI, the purpose of this study is to find out how to achieve this goal on the premise of the idea of smart well fair city. In other words, the purpose is to devise a smart well-fair city in the care area, such as health care, medical care, and welfare, and see if it is feasible. With this recognition, the paper aimed to review the concept and scope of smart city, the discussions that have been made so far and the issues or limitations on its connection to social security and social welfare, and based on it, come up with the concept of welfare city. As a method of realizing the smart welfare city, the paper reviewed characteristics and features of a social security platform as well as the applicability of smart city, especially care services. Furthermore, the paper developed discussions on the standardization of the city in terms of political and institutional improvements, utilization of personal information and public data as well as ways of institutional improvement centering on social security information system. This paper highlights the importance of implementing the digitally based community care and smart welfare city that our society is seeking to achieve. With regard to the social security platform based on behavioral design and the 7 principles(6W1H method), the present paper has the limitation of dealing only with smart cities in the fields of healthcare, medicine, and welfare. Therefore, further studies are needed to investigate the effects of smart cities in other fields and to consider the application and utilization of technologies in various aspects and the corresponding impact on our society. It is expected that this paper will suggest the future course and vision not only for smart cities but also for the social security and welfare system and thereby make some contribution to improving the quality of people's lives through the requisite adjustments made in each relevant field.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.109-132
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• 2019

Recently, medical accidents related to surgical procedures have increased. In addition, the media reported that some of these accidents were involved in health crimes. Patient-advocate groups have called for mandatory establishment and management of CCTV in operating rooms. There is a lot of discussion among the interested parties, so it is necessary to review the relevant laws and regulations. The purpose of this study is to identify the characteristics of CCTV in operating rooms and to review legislations related to establishment and management of the CCTV in operating rooms. Medical institutions use CCTV for management of facilities and patient safety and install it in operating rooms optionally. The Constitution guarantees the privacy and the privacy of correspondence of every citizen, but it can be limited by the law for public welfare. Currently, however, there is no existing law about establishment and management of the CCTV in operating rooms and it can be defect of legal system. Under the current legislations, it is likely that the Self-determination can be violated due to the characteristic of healthcare provider when CCTV is mandatorily installed in operating room. In addition, the regulations on access and leakage of confidential information known by operator are insufficient. So that, the safety of the visual data might be threatened. Furthermore, unless the period and the place of storage of the visual data are clearly defined, it is highly unlikely to meet the original purpose of patient safety and prevention of medical accidents. This study is meaningful as there is few previous study on this topic although the need for legal review about this is growing and several bills are being proposed. It is expected that the results of this study can be utilized as basic data for enactment or amendment of the laws and regulations about establishment and management of CCTV in operating rooms.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.128-135
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• 2015

Purpose: As the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) began to cover home oxygen therapy (HOT) services from 2006, it is expected that the new services have contributed to overall positive outcome of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We examined whether the usage of HOT has helped slow down the progression of COPD. Methods: We examined hospital claim data (N=10,798) of COPD inpatients who were treated in 2007~2012. We performed ${\chi}^2$ tests to analyze the differences in the changes to respiratory impairment grades. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors that are associated with the use of HOT. Finally, a generalized linear mixed model was used to examine association between the HOT treatment and changes to respiratory impairment grades. Results: A total of 2,490 patients had grade 1 respiratory impairment, and patients with grades 2 or 3 totaled 8,308. The OR for use of HOT was lower in grade 3 patients than others (OR: 0.33, 95% CI: 0.30~0.37). The maintenance/mitigation in all grades, those who used HOT had a higher OR than non-users (OR: 1.41, 95% CI: 1.23~1.61). Conclusion: HOT was effective in maintaining or mitigating the respiratory impairment in COPD patients.

• Journal of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.58-72
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• 2003

The purpose of this study was to describe the perceived burden of the terminally III patients's caregiver and to analyze relationship between the perceived burden and the various demographics, illness characteristics, family relationships, and economic factor of the family & patients. The sample of 132 caregivers who care for the terminally III patients Kyung-Gi province, Seoul, Korea. The period of this study was from August to September, 2002. The perceived burden of the family caregiver was measured by the burden scale(20 items, 4 point scale) developed by Montgomery et al. (1985). The Data was analyzed using SAS-program by t-test and ANOVA. The results were as follows; 1. The mean of the family caregiver's burden score was 3.02. The score showed that caregivers perceive severe the level of burden. The hight items of the family caregiver's burden were' I feel it is painful to watch patient's diseases'(3.77). 'I feel afraid for what the future holds for my patients'(3.66), 'I feel it reduced to amount of privacy time'(3.64). 2. The caregiver's burden was significantly related to patient's gender(F=3.17, p= 0.0020), patient's job(F=2.49, p=0.0476), caregiver's age(F=4.29, p=0.0030), and caregiver's job(F=2.49, p=0.0476). 3. The caregiver's burden according to illness characteristics showed no significant difference. 4. The caregiver's burden was significantly associated with patient's family relationship (F=4.05, p=0.0041), patient's care mean period in a day(F=47.18,

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.9
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• pp.975-985
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• 2017

To investigate the beneficial effects of an agar gel mask (AGM) on UV-induced photoaging, SKH-1 hairless mice were treated with a topical application of AGM and an AGM dipped in essence (AGMdE). The mice were divided into an no radiation group, UV + AGM, UV + AGMdE, and UV + vehicle (PBS) treatment groups. Alterations in skin wrinkles, skin phenotype, histological structures, oxidative status, and toxicity were then evaluated during 4 weeks of exposure. The topical application of AGM and AGMdE inhibited wrinkle formation, suppressed the erythema index, prevented transepidermal water loss, and enhanced skin hydration. In addition, epidermal thickness recovered to a similar level as that in the no irradiation group in the UV + AGM and UV + AGMdE treatment groups compared with the UV + vehicle (distilled water) group. Furthermore, the expression levels of matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) and tyrosinase were reduced in the UV + AGM and UV + AGMdE treatment groups, although the highest level varied. Moreover, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity was significantly lower in the UV + AGM and UV + AGMdE treatment groups as compared with the UV + vehicle group. No significant alterations induced by most toxic compounds were measured in serum biochemical markers and liver and kidney histological features of the UV + AGM and UV + AGMdE treatment groups. These results suggest that AGM may protect against skin aging by regulating skin morphology, histopathological structures, and oxidative conditions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.88-89
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• 2013

A variety of influenza A viruses from animal hosts are continuously prevalent throughout the world which cause human epidemics resulting millions of human infections and enormous industrial and economic damages. Thus, early diagnosis of such pathogen is of paramount importance for biomedical examination and public healthcare screening. To approach this issue, here we propose a fully integrated Rotary genetic analysis system, called Rotary Genetic Analyzer, for on-site detection of influenza A viruses with high speed. The Rotary Genetic Analyzer is made up of four parts including a disposable microchip, a servo motor for precise and high rate spinning of the chip, thermal blocks for temperature control, and a miniaturized optical fluorescence detector as shown Fig. 1. A thermal block made from duralumin is integrated with a film heater at the bottom and a resistance temperature detector (RTD) in the middle. For the efficient performance of RT-PCR, three thermal blocks are placed on the Rotary stage and the temperature of each block is corresponded to the thermal cycling, namely $95^{\circ}C$ (denature), $58^{\circ}C$ (annealing), and $72^{\circ}C$ (extension). Rotary RT-PCR was performed to amplify the target gene which was monitored by an optical fluorescent detector above the extension block. A disposable microdevice (10 cm diameter) consists of a solid-phase extraction based sample pretreatment unit, bead chamber, and 4 ${\mu}L$ of the PCR chamber as shown Fig. 2. The microchip is fabricated using a patterned polycarbonate (PC) sheet with 1 mm thickness and a PC film with 130 ${\mu}m$ thickness, which layers are thermally bonded at $138^{\circ}C$ using acetone vapour. Silicatreated microglass beads with 150~212 ${\mu}L$ diameter are introduced into the sample pretreatment chambers and held in place by weir structure for construction of solid-phase extraction system. Fig. 3 shows strobed images of sequential loading of three samples. Three samples were loaded into the reservoir simultaneously (Fig. 3A), then the influenza A H3N2 viral RNA sample was loaded at 5000 RPM for 10 sec (Fig. 3B). Washing buffer was followed at 5000 RPM for 5 min (Fig. 3C), and angular frequency was decreased to 100 RPM for siphon priming of PCR cocktail to the channel as shown in Figure 3D. Finally the PCR cocktail was loaded to the bead chamber at 2000 RPM for 10 sec, and then RPM was increased up to 5000 RPM for 1 min to obtain the as much as PCR cocktail containing the RNA template (Fig. 3E). In this system, the wastes from RNA samples and washing buffer were transported to the waste chamber, which is fully filled to the chamber with precise optimization. Then, the PCR cocktail was able to transport to the PCR chamber. Fig. 3F shows the final image of the sample pretreatment. PCR cocktail containing RNA template is successfully isolated from waste. To detect the influenza A H3N2 virus, the purified RNA with PCR cocktail in the PCR chamber was amplified by using performed the RNA capture on the proposed microdevice. The fluorescence images were described in Figure 4A at the 0, 40 cycles. The fluorescence signal (40 cycle) was drastically increased confirming the influenza A H3N2 virus. The real-time profiles were successfully obtained using the optical fluorescence detector as shown in Figure 4B. The Rotary PCR and off-chip PCR were compared with same amount of influenza A H3N2 virus. The Ct value of Rotary PCR was smaller than the off-chip PCR without contamination. The whole process of the sample pretreatment and RT-PCR could be accomplished in 30 min on the fully integrated Rotary Genetic Analyzer system. We have demonstrated a fully integrated and portable Rotary Genetic Analyzer for detection of the gene expression of influenza A virus, which has 'Sample-in-answer-out' capability including sample pretreatment, rotary amplification, and optical detection. Target gene amplification was real-time monitored using the integrated Rotary Genetic Analyzer system.