• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.143-169
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• 2017

The Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment, etc. of Child Abuse Crimes intends to encourage reporting and punishment of child abuse by using the concept of 'crime' in child abuse cases. Article 10 of the Act imposes duty to report child abuse on a number of different professions, including medical professionals. Currently, more than 80% of child abuse cases occur among family members and the detection rate of child abuse is as low as 0.5% in Korea. On the other hand, medical professionals can identify child abuse relatively clearly with specific medical opinions. Therefore, it is necessary that medical professions are informed of this duty and does not bear disincentive from reporting. This paper makes policy suggestions in this regard. First, it is necessary that medical students and medical professionals receive regular education about the obligation to report child abuse. Education should include details of the reporting duty, as well as the fact that there is legal obligation to report even if the child abuse is "suspicious", not certain. Second, it is imperative to establish and implement protective programs for medical professionals who report child abuse. The current law provides a rough framework for protection of people who report child abuse, but it is necessary to produce detailed guidelines that are applicable in the context of medical setting. Education for medical students and medical professionals should include the contents of these guidelines, so that they do not hesitate reporting because they fear the aftermath of reporting. Third, it is highly recommended that physicians use the national Baby/Infant Health Checkup Program as an opportunity to detect child abuse. In Korea, the Baby/Infant Health Checkup Program provides physicians to periodically monitor health condition of all babies and children until the age of 71 months. In order to utilize this program for early detection of child abuse, it is imperative that the bBaby/Infant Health Checkup Program is modified to involve child abuse experts and medical professionals who participate in the program are educated about child abuse.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2001

The Bethesda System (TBS) was first developed in 1988 for the need to enhance the communication of the cytopathologic findings to the referring physician in unambiguous diagnostic terms. The terminology used in this reporting system should reflect current understanding of the pathogenesis of cervical/vaginal disease so the framework of the reporting system should be flexible enough to accommodate advances in medicine including virology, molecular biology, and pathology. Three years after the Introduction of TBS, the second Bethesda workshop was held to set or amend diagnostic criteria for each categories of TBS. TBS 1991 is now widely used. The third Bethesda workshop, The Bethesda System 2001 Workshop, was held in National Cancer institute Bethesda, Maryland from April 30 to May 2, 2001. Again, the goals of this workshop were to promote effective communication and to clarify in reporting cervical cytopathology results to clinicians and to provide with the information to make appropriate decisions about diagnosis and treatment. Nine forum groups were made and there were Web-based bulletin board discussions between October, 2000 and the first week of April, 2001. On the basis of bulletin board comments and discussions, the forum moderators recommended revised terminologies in the Workshop. Hot discussions were followed after the presentation by forum moderators during the workshop. Terminologies confusing clinicians and providing no additional informations regarding patient management were deleted in the workshop to clarify the cervicovaginal cytology results. Any informations related to the patient management were encouraged to add. So 'Satisfactory for evaluation but limited by...' of 'Specimen Adequacy' catergory was deleted. Terminology of 'Unsatisfactory' was further specified as 'Specimen rejected' and 'Specimen processed and examined, but unsatisfactory'. Terminologies of 'Benign Cellular Change' and 'Within Normal Limits' were combined and terminology was changed to 'Negative for intraepithelial lesion or malignancy'. In General categorization, category 'Other' was newly inserted and the presence of 'Endometrial cells' in women over 40 years old can be checked. Although the category 'Benign Cellular Change' was deleted, the organisms or reactive changes of this category can be listed in the descriptive diagnoses. Terminologies of ASCUS and AGUS were changed to atypical squamous cell and atypical glandular cell, respectively. Diagnostic term of 'Adenocarcinoma in situ', which is highly reproducible with reliable diagnostic criteria, was newly Inserted. The category of hormonal evaluation was deleted. Criteria for liquid-based specimen were discussed. Reporting by computer-assisted cytology was discussed and terminology for automated review was newly inserted. This is not the final edition of Bethesda 2001. The final document can be prepared before the ASCCP meeting in which Consensus Guidelines for the Management on Cytology Abnormalities and Cervical Precursors will develop in September 2001.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.139-145
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• 2016

With the development in field of industry and medicine, new machines and techniques are being launched. Moreover, the complexity of the techniques is associated to an increasing risk of incident. Especially, a small error in radiotherapy can lead to a serious patient-related incident, risk management is necessary in radiotherapy in order to reduce the risk of incident. However, in field of radiotherapy, there are no legally binding clauses for risk management and there is an absence of risk management systems at an institutional level. Therefore, we analyzed institutional status of risk management, reporting & classification systems, and risk assessment & analysis in 31 countries. For risk management and reporting systems, 65% of countries investigated had legislation or regulations; however, only 35% of countries used classification systems. It was found that 43% more countries had legislation for risk management in healthcare than those for radiotherapy; 19% more countries had reporting systems for healthcare than those for radiotherapy. For classification systems, 60% more countries had legislation, recommendation, and guidelines in the field of radiotherapy than those for healthcare. Recently, international institutes have published several reports for risk management and patient safety in radiotherapy, owing to which, countries adopting risk management for radiotherapy will gradually increase. Before adopting risk management in Korea, we should precisely understand the procedures and functions of risk management, in order to increase efficiency of risk management because classification & reporting system and risk assessment & analysis are connected organically, and institutional management is needed for high quality of risk management in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.23 no.11
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• pp.1102-1111
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• 2022

Objective: To evaluate the ultrasonography (US) features for diagnosing metastasis in cervical lymph nodes (LNs) in patients with thyroid cancer and compare the US classification of risk of LN metastasis between European and Korean guidelines. Materials and Methods: From January 2014 to December 2018, US-guided fine-needle aspiration was performed on 836 LNs from 714 patients for the preoperative nodal staging of thyroid cancer. The US features of LNs were retrospectively reviewed for the following features: size, presence of hilum, margin, orientation, cystic change, punctate echogenic foci (PEF), large echogenic foci, eccentric cortical thickening, abnormal vascularity, and cortical hyperechogenicity. A multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the independent US features for the diagnosis of metastatic LNs. The diagnostic performance of independent US features was subsequently evaluated. LNs were categorized according to the Korean Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System (K-TIRADS) and European Thyroid Association (ETA) guidelines, and the correlation between the two sets of classifications was assessed. Results: Absence of the hilum, presence of cystic changes, PEF, abnormal vascularity, and cortical hyperechogenicity were independent US features of metastatic LNs. Cystic changes, PEF, abnormal vascularity, and cortical hyperechogenicity showed high specificity (86.8%-99.6%). The absence of the hilum had the highest sensitivity yet low specificity (66.4%). When LNs were classified according to the ETA guidelines and K-TIRADS, they yielded similar categorizations of malignancy risks and were strongly correlated (Spearman coefficient, 0.9766 [95% confidence interval, 0.973-0.979]). According to the ETA guidelines, 9.8% (82/836) of LNs were classified as "not specified." Conclusion: Absence of hilum, cystic changes, PEF, abnormal vascularity, and cortical hyperechogenicity were independent US features suggestive of metastatic LNs in thyroid cancer. Both K-TIRADS and the ETA guidelines provided similar risk stratification for metastatic LNs with a high correlation; however, the ETA guidelines failed to classify 9.8% of LNs into a specific risk stratum. These results may provide a basis for revising LN classification in future guidelines.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.9
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• pp.53-66
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• 2021

The global financial crisis in 2008 eroded trust towards the banking industry overall. To make such institutions more transparent, the International Accounting Standard Board developed the International Financial Reporting Standard 9 (IFRS 9). After the announcement of IFRS 9, academic research has primarily focused on examining the stability of banks due to early loan-loss recognition guidelines under the new system. There appears to be a lack of understanding of how IFRS 9 has influenced institutional depositors' opinions of bank trustworthiness. Hence the goal of this study is to determine how the adoption of IFRS 9 by banks has impacted perceptions of transparency, trust, and skepticism, from the perspective of large institutional depositors. This research was conducted in the context of Malaysian banks that follow the IFRS 9 guidelines. A framework is proposed using the signaling theory, leading to the development of a set of hypotheses. The hypotheses are tested with data collected from 654 financial analysts working in Malaysian companies that are large institutional depositors. The results indicate that the adoption of IFRS 9 has led to higher levels of perceptions of bank transparency and trust, and lower levels of skepticism towards such banks.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.313-324
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• 2022

The goal of this research is to see how closely accounting programs in Saudi Arabian colleges comply with the International Accounting Education Standards (IESs). Further, it aims to assess the level of awareness and knowledge of IESs among accounting academics and to examine the possible explanatory factors for their variation. A structured questionnaire was sent to accounting faculty members at 37 Saudi universities. Out of 541 distributed questionnaires, a total of 102 usable responses were received from 26 universities. The findings show that accounting programs in Saudi universities are partially compliant with the guidelines of IESs and accounting academics in those universities are moderately aware of IESs. High variation in the level of academics' knowledge of IESs was detected and was significantly influenced by industry work experience, academic ranks, and professional qualification. The findings of this study suggest that Saudi Universities should work closely with the local and international accounting professional bodies, i.e. the Saudi Organization for Chartered and Professional Accountants (SOCPA) and the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) to improve accounting programs based on the guidelines of IESs to cope with the recent changes in the capital market of the kingdom and the adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.47-56
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• 2023

Despite the commercialization of Next generation sequencing (NGS) gene testing, only a few studies have addressed the various ethical and legal problems associated with NGS testing in Korea Here, we reviewed the normative issues that emerged at each stage of the wet analysis and bioinformatics analysis of NGS gene testing. In particular, it was in mind to apply various international guidelines and the principles of bioethics to actual clinical practice. Considering the characteristics of NGS testing, wet analysis of additional testing can be justified if presumptive consent is recognized. Furthermore, the medical relationship between diseases needs to be established and it should be clear that the patient would have given consent if the patient had been aware of the correlation between genes. At the stage of bioinformatics analysis, the question of unsolicited findings arises. In case of unsolicited and relevant findings, according to American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG), a recognized relationship between genes and diseases needs to be established. In case of unsolicited and not-relevant findings, it is almost impossible to determine whether knowing or not knowing the findings is more beneficial to the patient. However, it seems to be certain that the psychological harm an individual may suffer from such information is likely to be greater if the disease is severe and if there is no cure. The list of genes for which the ACMG guidelines impose reporting obligations is a good reference for judgment.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.61-68
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• 2023

Objective : The purpose of this study was to investigate the associations between psychosocial factors and the mask-wearing behavior after deregulation of COVID-19 quarantine guidelines among adults in Korea. Methods : We collected data (345 subjects) from online questionnaire survey. The questionnaire included the Korean version of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, the Korean version of fear of COVID-19 Scale, the Korean version of the Patient Health Questionnaire-15, Korean versions of the Perceived Stress Scale, and measurement tools adapted from previous studies for COVID-19 risk perception, social stigma, and appearance interest of subjects. We analysed data using SPSS version 23.0 for descriptive statistics, chi-square test, and logistic regression analysis. Results : People with cohabitant or mask-wearing tendency before COVID-19 pandemic had a higher rate of mask-wearing than those who were not. Subjects reporting higher level of social stigma (OR=1.154, 95% CI 1.049-1.270) and COVID-19 anxiety (OR=1.072, 95% CI 1.007-1.141) were more likely to report maskwearing behavior. Conclusion : From the results, appropriate intervention to those who fear social stigma and are anxious to the infectious diseases will be needed. Additionally, providing policies and guidelines that consider cohabitants and offering continuous education with information of disease to the public are also expected to helpful for recovery of daily life from infectious diseases.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.7179-7186
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• 2014

This study examined the interrelationship between the evaluation indicators of communicable disease control and prevention activities, and the communicable disease incidence data. This study analyzed the incidence data of communicable disease in local governments of south Korea and evaluated the data of communicable disease control and prevention activities by the Ministry of Health of the central government in South Korea during 2004-2005. Frequency analysis was carried out to understand the character of the participant, t-test to compare the mean value between the two groups and stepwise multiple regression analysis to understand the significance between the dependent and independent variables. In this study, the finance related to communicable diseases (group I diseases in both city and rural center), keep rate of periodic reports on notifiable communicable diseases based on the law for communicable disease control and prevention (group II in city), the level of education on personal hygiene (group II in rural center), level of education on AIDS prevention and the reporting rate of cases of tuberculosis (group III in city), and reporting rate of incident cases of tuberculosis (tuberculosis and Hansen disease in both rural and city) were significant indicators. The level of education on AIDS prevention and the reporting rate of the cases of tuberculosis (in city), and number of adverse reactions after immunization (in rural area), reporting rate of cases of tuberculosis (in total center) were significant indicators in total communicable disease and all types of public health centers. The authors verified core evaluation indicators as actual proof. This study provides useful data for a summative evaluation, standardization, and guidelines on communicable disease control and prevention activities of public health centers and local government.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.3123-3129
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• 2016

Background: Cancer is the fourth leading cause of death in Sabah Malaysia with a reported age-standardized incidence rate was 104.9 per 100,000 in 2007. The incidence rate depends on non-mandatory notification in the registry. Under-reporting will provide the false picture of cancer control program effectiveness. The present study was to evaluate the performance of the cancer registry system in terms of representativeness, data quality, simplicity, acceptability and timeliness and provision of recommendations for improvement. Materials and Methods: The evaluation was conducted among key informants in the National Cancer Registry (NCR) and reporting facilities from Feb-May 2012 and was based on US CDC guidelines. Representativeness was assessed by matching cancer case in the Health Information System (HIS) and state pathology records with those in NCR. Data quality was measured through case finding and re-abstracting of medical records by independent auditors. The re-abstracting portion comprised 15 data items. Self-administered questionnaires were used to assess simplicity and acceptability. Timeliness was measured from date of diagnosis to date of notification received and data dissemination. Results: Of 4613 cancer cases reported in HIS, 83.3% were matched with cancer registry. In the state pathology centre, 99.8% was notified to registry. Duplication of notification was 3%. Data completeness calculated for 104 samples was 63.4%. Registrars perceived simplicity in coding diagnosis as moderate. Notification process was moderately acceptable. Median duration of interval 1 was 5.7 months. Conclusions: The performances of registry's attributes are fairly positive in terms of simplicity, case reporting sensitivity, and predictive value positive. It is moderately acceptable, data completeness and inflexible. The usefulness of registry is the area of concern to achieve registry objectives. Timeliness of reporting is within international standard, whereas timeliness to data dissemination was longer up to 4 years. Integration between existing HIS and national registration department will improve data quality.