• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.3363-3368
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• 2013

Background: The burden due to cancers is an emerging public health concern especially in resource-limited countries like Nigeria. The WHO estimates that cancer kills more people than tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria combined. As people in Nigeria and other developing countries are beginning to survive infectious diseases, there is an observed epidemiologic transition to chronic diseases, such as cancers. In 2008, 75 out of 1,000 Nigerians died of cancer. Despite the rising incidence and public health importance, Nigeria lacks an organized and comprehensive strategy to deal with cancers. Materials and Methods: This article reviewed 30 peer-reviewed manuscripts on cancer care in four countries. It highlights the limitations to cancer care in Nigeria; due to lack of awareness, low health literacy, absence of organized screening programs, inadequate manpower (in terms of quality and quantity) as well as limited treatment options. Results: This review led to the formulation of a proposal for Nigerian National Cancer Policy, mainly drawn from effective strategies used in Canada, Brazil and Kenya. This is a vertical cancer program that is patient-centered with an emphasis on tobacco control and cancer disease screening (similar to Canada and Brazil). Additionally, it emphasizes primary cancer prevention (similar to Kenya). Its horizontal integration with other disease programs like HIV/AIDS will improve affordability in a poor resourced country like Nigeria. Capacity building for health professionals, hub-and-spoke implementation of screening services, as well as investment in effective treatment options and increased research in cancer care are essential. International 'twinning collaborations' between institutions in richer countries and Nigeria will enhance effective knowledge translation and improve the quality of patient care. Conclusions: A national cancer policy must be developed and implemented in Nigeria in order to overcome the present limitations which help contribute to the observed increases in cancer morbidity and mortality rates. Cancer control is feasible in Nigeria if the nation was to consider and employ some of the cost-effective strategies proposed here.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.198-205
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• 2010

The subjects of this study were 100 female cancer patients in wearing wigs. First survey was before wearing wigs for the female cancer patients who started losing their hair due to the side effect of the anti-cancer and second survey was after a month in wearing wigs. This study was purposed to analyze the recognition change before and after wearing wigs of the female cancer patients who started losing their hair due to the side effect of the anti-cancer. The gathered data were examined and analyzed through frequency analysis, paired t-test based on the recognition change which affect the quality of life before and after wearing wigs, and change of recognition related to the wigs. According to the results of this study, it is necessary to add wearing wigs as additional services in national health insurance and to educate desirable support program for life quality of female cancer patients in hospital.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.111-118
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• 2015

Electronic Medical Record(EMR) is medical record that has been saved electronically onto a computer. The standardization activities for EMR is actively underway as it may not only improve the overall quality of the medical services but as the value of medical big data (medical & IT convergence area) is being considered very important. One of the most important issues is ensuring the necessary and effectiveness of EMR standardization to the stakeholder. Researchers did an empirical study to find out how the doctors perceived the EMR standardization from both technical and economical perspective. The results of the empirical analyses showed that system quality and an economical value had a positive effect on perceived usefulness and intention to adopt EMR standardization, yet interoperability have only affected the perceived usefulness. Additionally, the economical value seemed to be the most important variable in forming a consensus in the need of EMR standardization.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-30
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• 2007

The study carried out a survey with employees of hospitals located in Daejeon, Chungnam, and Chungbuk from Sep. 12 to Sep. 30, 2005 in order to derive primary elements that affect the improvement of hospital's competitiveness. The study investigated and analyzed the employees' recognition on the change of competitive environment caused by the change of medical environment. The study also analyzed the elements that affect the hospital's competitiveness and the competitive strategies of the hospitals. The conclusion of this study can be summarized as follows. 1. Summary 1) Most of the employees responded that there is a rival in the competitive environment and the competitive is intense. Especially when the employees are married, live in urban areas, have an education level of university graduate or are managers, they tend to think the competitive is very intense. Also, they said that the competitive is based upon the quality of medical service. They mentioned the element that has the biggest effect on the competitiveness is the element of medical consumer and they recognized that the medical services in university and general hospitals have more competitiveness than the one-department hospitals. 2) It was investigated that the medical technique service has the most effect on the hospital's competitiveness. Also, the external service of medical techniques also has a large effect on the hospital's competitiveness. 3) When they were asked for the factors that affect the patients' decision on selecting a hospital, most of them responded "capability and technique of the medical staffs." Also, they said that "sufficient explanation from doctors" and "special center and clinic" are the factors that have big effects on the patients' decision. 4) In the SWOT analysis, most of them responded that the strength is the hospital's characteristics and the weakness is insufficient and obsolete equipment. They said the opportunity is the demands for professional medical service and the risk is the intense competitive among the hospitals. 5) In the SWOT strategy, they emphasized the strategy that uses the opportunity and the strength and the strategy that uses the opportunity while overcoming the weakness. 6) As for the basic competition strategy, most of them thought of the strategy of professionalizing the medical service most importantly. Next, they focused on the strategy of distinct service and the strategy of lower prime cost. 2. Conclusion 1) Because service competition between hospitals is happening seriously, need competitiveness security through right awareness transfer and satisfaction upgrade about medical consumer. 2) For medical technique service upgrade that equip Hospital's competitiveness but affects most, must solidify the countermeasure because professionalizing the medical service and newest medical technique induction should be achieved first, and compose task force for the external service of medical techniques improvement. 3) To improve SWOT of hospital, opportunity and the strength strategy choice that rescue hospital's characteristics heightening professionalizing the medical service level is fancied. 4) As for the basic competition strategy, will have to try in phase triangular position of hospital which is trusted medical level upgrade and excellent manpower security and finance independence through upgrade. The study was only done with hospitals in Daejeon, Chungnam and Chungbuk. Also, it is a study from the side of suppliers of medical service so there are limitations. However, the significance of the study is to present the basic data for improvement of hospital's competitiveness by examining the importance of medical techniques and external service of medical techniques that are the main effects on the improvement of hospital's competitiveness.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.33-51
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• 2017

With the advent of 'The Forth Industrial Revolution' and the growing demand for quality of life due to economic growth, needs for the quality of medical services are increasing. Artificial intelligence has been introduced in the medical field, but it is rarely used in chronic skin diseases that directly affect the quality of life. Also, atopic dermatitis, a representative disease among chronic skin diseases, has a disadvantage in that it is difficult to make an objective diagnosis of the severity of lesions. The aim of this study is to establish an intelligent severity recognition model of atopic dermatitis for improving the quality of patient's life. For this, the following steps were performed. First, image data of patients with atopic dermatitis were collected from the Catholic University of Korea Seoul Saint Mary's Hospital. Refinement and labeling were performed on the collected image data to obtain training and verification data that suitable for the objective intelligent atopic dermatitis severity recognition model. Second, learning and verification of various CNN algorithms are performed to select an image recognition algorithm that suitable for the objective intelligent atopic dermatitis severity recognition model. Experimental results showed that 'ResNet V1 101' and 'ResNet V2 50' were measured the highest performance with Erythema and Excoriation over 90% accuracy, and 'VGG-NET' was measured 89% accuracy lower than the two lesions due to lack of training data. The proposed methodology demonstrates that the image recognition algorithm has high performance not only in the field of object recognition but also in the medical field requiring expert knowledge. In addition, this study is expected to be highly applicable in the field of atopic dermatitis due to it uses image data of actual atopic dermatitis patients.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.32-48
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• 2003

Korea is to open its medical markets to foreign hospitals starting in the year 2006 regardless of our will(DDA, Doha Development Agenda). To accurately understand the characteristics of Korean medical users, their detailed and various needs, their attitudes toward the opening of Korean medical markets, and factors affecting these users in choosing foreign medical service providers would be first step needs to be taken by the Korean medical facilities that need to survive and develope through the fiercely competitive era coming with the opening of Korean medical markets to foreign medical service providers and would be very important in hospital management. The subjects of this study were 500 patients randomly selected from the outpatients who visited one of university hospitals in Seoul on the 14th-16th days of April 2003, and conducted a self-completion questionnaire. The answers of 463 respondents among the selected patients(93% of a responding rate)were analyzed through the Excel and statistics programs. The attitudes on the opening of the medical markets were shown in agreement 56.5%(247 persons), disagreement 6.9%(30 persons), and no idea 36.6%(160 persons). In consideration of only the answers as agreement and disagreement exclusive of the answer as no idea, 89.2% of the respondents agreed to the opening of the medical markets while 10.8% objected to the opening. The approval rate was higher with the higher education and income levels. Moreover, The approval rate for the opening of the medical markets was relatively high regardless of the satisfaction in the medical service, and the most important reason of the agreement was the guarantee of the patients(national)option. The main reason of the disagreement was high medical fee(50.5%), and the other reasons showing low rates were outflow of the domestic fund to the foreign countries(13.6%), damage of medical influences on the public(11.4%), lack of competition of the domestic medical industry(9.1%)and so on. As for the factors of selecting the foreign hospitals in the opening of the medical markets, the patients considered the authority(competency)of doctors firstly, and the other principal factors were worldwide fame and reliance, specific explanation of doctors, modernized medical instruments, convenient consultation procedure, etc. The patients agreed to the opening of the medical markets at a high rate regardless of the satisfaction in the medical service, and the most principal reason of the agreement was the guarantee of the patients(national)option for the medical care. Connected with the factors to select the hospitals, the approval reasons for the opening of the medical markets were the authority(competency)of the doctors as the first one, and then fame and tradition, reliance, overall diagnosis and modernized medical instruments, doctors specific explanation, and so on. However, these factors are actually associated with the Quality of the medical care, and consequently the approval reasons for the opening of the medical markets are connected with the security of the medical care. Accordingly, the guarantee of the patients(national)option answered as the main reason of the agreement can be also understood as the awareness of the right to have a variety of options for the security of the medical quality.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.482-492
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• 2016

Purpose This study is to investigate regional characteristics of 119 ambulance dispatch and the relationship between the distance and response time to the scene. Methods This study was retrospectively conducted 119 running sheets with 1,321 patients who had been transferred to the hospital by 119 ambulance during ambulance attendant training. The training was performed at two, five and three fire station in Seoul, Daejeon and Chungnam respectively, from June 24, 2013 to July 19, 2014. Results Almost the emergency medical services provided were no more than basic first aid in all regions. The patients transferred by 119 ambulance in Seoul were more than other region. The time of call to scene and scene to hospital were the slowest in Chungnam. The major reason of call 119 was due to disease in Seoul and Daejeon, however due to injury in Chungnam. Conclusion Our study suggests that learning from ambulance attendant training course could diverse from region to region. It is, therefore, needed that standardization of ambulance attendant training course, appropriate logistics and resource allocation for providing universal quality of emergency medical services.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.443-451
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to examine the views of dental hygiene students about the possible countermeasure of domestic hospitals for the opening of the medical market. The subjects in this study were 269 dental hygiene sophomores, juniors and seniors at two different colleges in the region of Busan. The findings of the study were as follows: The opening of the medical market and views of possible countermove, whether they agreed to that or not made a statistically significant difference to their opinions on the necessity of customer-oriented marketing strategy(p=0.023), analysis of foreign medical markets/attempt to make inroads into the markets(p<0.000) and the improvement of the quality of medical services/the diversification of the services(p=0.025). As to an intention of going to a foreign hospital, they had a statistically significantly different intention about whether to go to a foreign hospital regardless of medical bills(p<0.000), whether to consult a doctor in a foreign hospital after going to a domestic hospital first (p<0.000), whether to consider the distance between their houses and a foreign hospital(p=0.05) and whether to take considerations on the assistance of an interpreter(p=0.023). In regard to preference for foreign hospitals, American hospitals ranked first(41.9), followed by Australian hospitals(19.9) and Canadian ones(14.2).

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.519-529
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• 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore whether or not there is a relationship between doctor's awareness of clinical nutrition service and needs for a clinical dietitian. Methods: A cross-sectional survey design was used. The research was carried out by using questionnaires that had been specifically designed for the study. The research was conducted from September to October, 2013 for 311 doctors at 43 hospitals (with over 400 beds). Frequency analysis, factor analysis, reliability analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and bootstrapping analysis were conducted using SPSS 21.0. Results: 'Implementation of clinical nutritional service' (p < 0.001) and 'usefulness on clinical nutrition service' (p < 0.001) were found to be correlated with 'importance of clinical nutrition service' as an independent variable. The correlation between 'importance of clinical nutrition service' as a mediating variable and 'needs for clinical dietitian' as a dependent variable was also confirmed (p < 0.001). The results of the bootstrapping test showed that the mediating effect of 'importance of clinical nutrition service' was significant. The indirect effect value between 'implementation of clinical nutrition service' and 'needs for clinical dietitian' was 0.040, indirect effect value between 'usefulness on clinical nutrition service' and 'needs for clinical dietitian' was 0.095. Conclusion: The frequency of providing clinical nutritional services, the quality of clinical nutritional services, and the degree of implementation of clinical nutritional services were found to be important for positive perception of clinical nutrition services by doctors. Therefore, proper provision of clinical nutrition services and effective therapeutic effects will be continuously highlighted, which will increase the awareness of the physician and ultimately increase the demand for clinical nutrition service.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.1156-1169
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• 2000

The study was aimed at developing an independent hospice center model that would be best suited for Korea based on a literature review and the current status of local and international hospices. For the study, five local and six international hospice organizations were surveyed. Components of the hospice center model include philosophy, purpose, resources (workers, facilities, and equipment), allocation of resources, management, financial support and hospice team service. The following is a summary of the developed model: Philosophies for the hospice center were set as follows: based on the dignity of human life and humanism, help patients spend the rest of their days in a meaningful way and accept life positively. On the staff side, to pursue a team-oriented holistic approach to improve comfort and quality of life for terminally ill persons and their families. The hospice center should have 20 beds with single, two, and four bed rooms. The center should employ, either on a part-time or full-time basis, a center director, nurses, doctors, chaplains, social workers, pharmacists, dieticians, therapists, and volunteers. In addition, it will need an administrative staff, facility managers and nurses aides. The hospice should also be equipped with facilities for patients, their families, and team members, furnished with equipment and goods at the same level of a hospital. represented by a center director who reports to a board and an advisory committee. Also, the center director administers a steering committee and five departments, namely, Administration, Nursing Service, Social Welfare, Religious Services, and Medical Service. Furthermore, the center should be able to utilize a direct and support delivery systems. The direct delivery system allows the hospice center to receive requests from, or transfer patients to, hospitals, clinics, other hospice organizations (by type), public health centers, religious organizations, social welfare organizations, patients, and their guardians. On the other hand, the support delivery system provides a link to outside facilities of various medical suppliers. In terms of management, details were made with regards to personnel management, records, infection control, safety, supplies and quality management. For financial support, some form of medical insurance coverage for hospice services, ways to promote a donation system and fund raising were examined. Hospice team service to be provided by the hospice center was categorized into assessment, physical care, emotional care, spiritual care, bereavement service, medication, education and demonstrations, medical supplies rental, request service, volunteer service, and respite service. Based on the results, the study has drawn up the following suggestions: 1. The proposed model for a hospice center as presented in the study needs to be tested with a pilot project. 2. Studies on criteria for legal approval and license for a hospice center need to be conducted to develop policies. 3. Studies on developing a hospice charge system and hospice standards that meet local conditions in Korea need to be conducted.