• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.135-141
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• 2013

As the country's elderly people who are 65 years or older recently exceeded 10% of the total population with development of medical technology and improvement of living standards, Korea has turned into an aging society. Especially in Gyeonggi-do, as of late December 2012, elderly people who were 65 years or older were 1,135,242 persons, taking up 18.98% of the region's population and registering the largest number of elderly people in the nation's cities or provinces. Due to such a sharp rise in elderly population, support for the elderly is increasing the burden on families and communities. The study aims to take as its subjects elderly people staying at authorized elderly welfare facilities, who are weak in mind and body and have difficulty in daily life with disabilities, or adult day care facilities that take care of elderly people during the day or at night, examine the concept of adult day care facilities and instances in foreign countries, and study the status of the adult day care facilities located in Gyeonggi-do, their services, and safety by figuring out space arrangement based on program implementation. Spacial arrangement in program operation should satisfy fuction and purpose from the manager and user's perspective, and a desirable program operation should provide separate spaces for the elderly with Alzheimer's and those without Alzheimer's. Compared to residential care facilities, adult day care facilities incur less financial burden and, compared to other authorized services, have many right functions that can upgrade the quality of users and satisfy their desires. Major countries like Japan, the UK, and Sweden recognize the right functions of day and night care services and aggressively support and utilize adult day care facilities. For adult day care facilities, quality services should be developed and use and choices should be enhanced as regards services. Development of special programs for the elderly with dementia and stroke, instead of simple protective functions of a program, must be actively promoted, while manpower training is required for program operation, conveniences, and safety. By developing and providing space arrangement models that focus on efficiency, convenience, and safety of program operation, adult day care operation can be revitalized, while quality of elderly care may be enhanced and welfare budget can be saved.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.419-431
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• 2007

The setting of dental hygiene clinics is very important to dental hygiene education, which is the place not only to educate students but also to care clients. The purpose of this study is to provide basic research material for improvement of dental hygiene care system in dental hygiene clinics by analyzing the client satisfaction. A questionnaire survey by means of self-entry method was conducted to find out satisfaction of the client, who was visited to the dental hygiene clinics in the department of dental hygiene, Yonsei University. An analysis of frequency, one way ANOVA and T-Test were performed through SPSS 12.0K program. 1. Most clients were mainly composed of students in Wonju College of Medicine. 2. The clients visited for scaling(85.8%) and oral examination(9.73%) were much than treatment(4.42%). 3. Clients aged 21 to 25 were relatively lower in satisfaction with the facilities, system, attitude than any other ages. 4. The dental hygiene students are the lowest group in satisfaction with the facility, system, attitude than medical and nursing students. 5. The clients satisfaction with dental hygiene clinics was decreased in reverse proportion to visiting frequency. 6. Most of the clients pointed out the problems of appointment system(54.0%) and fee(23.0%), which should be improved than any other operation conditions. 7. Most of the clients were not satisfied with chair time and pain during care. 8. Most clients recognized to receive the better care service than other dental offices(81.3%). Especially, they paid attention to oral health education using phase-contrast microscope. 9. Many clients were dissatisfied with facilities of the dental hygiene clinics(71.7%). The problems of appointment system(54.0%) and chair time of dental hygiene care services(63.6%) had also inconvenienced to clients. The dental hygiene clinics in school play a crucial role in dental hygiene education to foster the student to be competent as a professional dental hygienist in the future. Therefore, well-organized dental hygiene care program based on dental hygiene process is essential. It is also required to improve the environment of dental hygiene clinics including facilities, appointment system and fee etc.

• Korean Journal of Hospice Care
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.14-25
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• 2005

This study was conducted to examine the present state, types of services, difficulties, education programs, motivation, satisfaction and attitude of hospice volunteers and also to suggest supporting programs for the volunteer. For these purposes, a questionnaire was distributed among the 200 hospice volunteers in ten hospice organizations in Daejeon and Chungcheong province. In this research, 85.5% of the respondents were women and most of them were housewives in their forties and fifties. The majority of hospice volunteers had an education background of more than high school. Christianity (94%) was the dominant religion of volunteers. Among the service area of the hospice, emotional caring, such as listening closely and establishing empathy were the most frequently done by the respondents and the next one was spiritual care. Hospice volunteers who had started with altruistic motivation show more dynamic activities in emotional, spiritual, physical caring and so on, than those with non-altruistic motivation. Most of the respondents expressed that they felt a hospice volunteer was valuable. However they had a hard time to overcome the sorrow coming from sharing empathy with the dying patients. Those who had started with altruistic motivation usually took part in two times per a week and had more positive attitude. Volunteers who had been working more than five years showed better attitude than those who had been working less than three years. The longer the voluntary services, the more positive attitude experienced by volunteers. Hospice volunteers encountered the most considerable difficulty with lack of background knowledge and their actual capability. Insufficiency of time was the next reason for the considerable difficulty of the hospice volunteer. On the other hand, those who served more than twice per week replied that lack of background knowledge and their capability were the least considerable difficulty. Insufficiency of time was the reason of difficulty for male volunteers, as well as for females under thirty and those in their forties and fifties respectively. Generally most of the hospice volunteers (70%) were satisfied with their services and they usually satisfied with physical caring, spiritual caring, hospice's family caring. The less difficulty in voluntary services, more satisfaction for the volunteers in the end. There is a positive correlation between a attitude of the hospice volunteer and frequency of voluntary services while the volunteers' difficulty affect negatively their attitude as well as the frequency of voluntary services. Most of the hospice volunteers want to have more education about basic skills, volunteer's attitude and role, spirituality, the way of attending on the hospice and so on. Most of them considered discussion and sharing different cases as the most effective method. They also wish to had more supporting programs for the hospice volunteers(in the order of their needs) such as regular events, newsletters, personal concern, social meetings among the volunteers, insurance and minimum expenses. Based on the study results, more programs should be run in order to activate the voluntary services regardless of their gender and education background. A continuous practical supporting policy and education programs are required in order to provide special education and training courses considering every field of voluntary services. Expanding the role of the volunteers allows them more opportunities to take part in voluntary services and th activate participation. It is necessary to establish a new hospice system as a part public medical system, which can not only facilitate the voluntary services for a hospice but also enhance professional hospice volunteers. Finally, experts are needed to operate the voluntary services effectively.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.857-864
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• 2019

Many countries, including Canada, operate a sonographer license system separately from a radiological technologist license. However, in Korea, radiological technologists perform ultrasound imaging under the guidance of doctors. Therefore, in order to have the opportunity to provide a systematic education by analyzing the job competency of the radiological technologist's ultrasound imaging, based on the Canadian National Competency Profile (NCP) lists, this study measured the job content validity of the job competences and detailed competencies required for performing ultrasonography in Korea. From the results of comparing and analyzing the importance of the core competencies included in the Korean radiological technologist's job competencies and the degree of job performance, the average overall importance was 4.087, the average of overall performance was 3.640, showing that the importance was higher than the performance and that there was a statistically significant difference. In conclusion, 'A Communication', 'B Professional responsibilities', 'D Operation of equipment' and 'G Workplace health and safety' showed high job content validity. However, it is said that as 'C Patient assessment and care', 'E Critical thinking and problem solving', and 'H Image' showed low job content validity, it is necessary to seek ways to strengthen and complement these competencies.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.64-72
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• 2004

Purpose: This research aims to assess the effect of a single session of group education of hospice program at Seoul National University Hospital for the advanced and terminal cancer patients and their family members. Methods: Response to questionnaires from 89 participants were evaluated using SAS and CHISQ analysis. The questionnaires included the following items: 1) the characteristics of participants; 2) the characteristics of patients; 3) the difficulties of patient care; 4) the satisfaction with the program Results: The participants consist of 33 patients (37.5%) and 56 family members (56.2%). Diagnosis included mainly stomach, lung, breast, and colon cancer. Participants of family members consisted of spouse, parent, children, daughter-in-law, and siblings (in decreasing order). The participants were interested in the medical information, nutrition, pain and symptom management, and psychosocial adaptation. They had difficulties in emotional problem, nutrition and symptom management. Even though it was a single session of group education, the level of satisfaction was high (95%). Conclusion: This research shows that even the single session of the group education for the advanced and terminal cancer patients and their family members is very helpful by giving them the necessary information. In order to develop comprehensive care-giving services, more specific informations, more opportunities to participate in such sessions and longer question-answer time is required.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.24 no.10
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• pp.183-188
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• 2019

This study is a descriptive research to compare and analyze the current status of disaster-related curriculum between emergency department and nursing department Research and analysis targets were 41 universities which include the emergency department in South Korean by using the universities' internet homepage, finally 30 universities were researched by removing the universities which doesn't upload the curriculum on their homepage, have emergency department or have nursing department. The research data were collected and analyzed by using the universities' internet homepage. The Keyword is 'Disaster', 'Catastrophe', and 'Emergency' to search the name of the subjects. The curriculum calculated as a percentage of frequency by using the status of disaster-related subjects opening, classification of major education, grade, credit, number of class, practical hours, and the total number of subjects. According to the study, 29 universities (96.7%) of emergency department and 19 universities (63.3%) of nursing department has the disaster-related subjects in their curriculum. The current status of the class opening is emergency department at second grade and nursing department as fourth grade. As a subject of major, two credits are the common class credits. Based on the results of the study, knowledge and skills and training courses are necessary to develop the ability to cope with disasters in the disaster field. The curriculum that matches the role of health care resources will be required.

• Clinical Psychopharmacology and Neuroscience
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.398-406
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• 2018

Objective: Hospitalization of patients with delirium after visiting the emergency department (ED) is often required. However, the readmission risk after discharge from the ED should also be considered. This study aimed to explore whether (i) immediate hospitalization influences the readmission risk of patients with delirium; (ii) the readmission risk is affected by various risk factors; and (iii) the healthcare cost differs between groups within 28 days of the first ED visit. Methods: Using the National Health Insurance Research Database, the data of 2,780 subjects presenting with delirium at an ED visit from 2000 to 2008 were examined. The readmission risks of the groups of patients (i.e., patients who were and were not admitted within 24 hours of an ED visit) within 28 days were compared, and the effects of the severities of different comorbidities (using Charlson's comorbidity index, CCI), age, gender, diagnosis and differences in medical healthcare cost were analyzed. Results: Patients without immediate hospitalization had a higher risk of readmission within 3, 7, 14, or 28 days of discharge from the ED, especially subjects with more severe comorbidities ($CCI{\geq}3$) or older patients (${\geq}65years$). Subjects with more severe comorbidities or older subjects who were not admitted immediately also incurred a greater healthcare cost for re-hospitalization within the 28-day follow-up period. Conclusion: Patients with delirium with a higher CCI or of a greater age should be carefully considered for immediate hospitalization from ED for further examination in order to reduce the risk of re-hospitalization and cost of healthcare.

• KIPS Transactions on Computer and Communication Systems
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.175-184
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• 2022

Blockchain is being studied in various fields such as logistics, fintech, medical care, and the public sector. In the public information software project, some deliverables are omitted because the developed deliverables and the deliverables requested by the project management methodology do not match, and an additional process is required for payment. In this paper, we propose the deliverables management system for public information software project which is configured a distributed environment using the Ethereum blockchain and which has an automatic payment system only when all deliverables are approved. This system can keep the service available in case of system failure, provide transparency and traceability of deliverables management, and can reduce conflicts between the ordering company and the contractor through automatic payment. In this system, the information of deliverables is stored in the blockchain, and the deliverables that their file name is the hash value calculated by using the version information and the hash value of the previous version deliverable, are stored in the SFTP server. Experimental results show that the hash value of the deliverables registered by the contractor is correct, the file name of the deliverables stored in the SFTP server is the same as the hash value registered in the Ethereum blockchain, and the payment is made automatically to the Ethereum address of the contractor when all deliverables are approved.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.130-137
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• 2019

Objectives : When a patient who attempts suicide visits the emergency room, it is important that the departments of emergency medicine, internal medicine, and psychiatry communicate with each other and prioritize treatment. This study was conducted to verify the effectiveness of the multidisciplinary emergency consultation system (ECS) for drug intoxicated patients. Methods : We retrospectively analyzed the data from medical records prior to the ECS, from July 2017 to May 2018, and after the ECS, from July 2018 to May 2019, to verify the effectiveness of the system. Results : After the ECS, admission to open wards was significantly higher than to the intensive care units (χ²=8.567, p=0.014). In addition, the proportion of consultations to the department of psychiatry among patients admitted to other departments tended to increase (χ²=4.202, p=0.053), and the time required for consultation response decreased (Z=-2.031, p=0.042). As a result of the consultation, the proportion of the patients who had been transferred to the department of psychiatry was increased (χ²=4.692, p=0.043), and the time spent to transfer tended to decrease (Z=-1.941, p=0.052). Conclusions : After implementing the ECS for drug intoxicated patients, unnecessary intensive care unit admissions, consultation response time, and the time spent to transfer were reduced, and the rate of consultation referrals and transfer rates increased. This means that the multidisciplinary consultation system rapidly provided essential medical services to patients at lower medical costs.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.99-128
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• 2008

Nearly all Koreans are insured through National Health Insurance(NHI). While NHI coverage is nearly universal, it is not complete. Coverage is largely limited to minimal level of hospital and physician expenses, and copayments are required in each case. As a result, Korea's public insurance system covers roughly 50% of overall individual health expenditures, and the remaining 50% consists of copayments for basic services, spending on services that are either not covered or poorly covered by the public system. In response to these gaps in the public system, 64% of the Korean population has supplemental private health insurance. Expansion of private health insurance raises negative externality issue. Like public financing schemes in other countries, the Korean system imposes cost-sharing on patients as a strategy for controlling utilization. Because most insurance policies reimburse patients for their out-of-pocket payments, supplemental insurance is likely to negate the impact of the policy, raising both total and public sector health spending. So far, most empirical analysis of supplemental health insurance to date has focused on the US Medigap programme. It is found that those with supplements apparently consume more health care. Two reasons for higher health care consumption by those with supplements suggest themselves. One is the moral hazard effect: by eliminating copayments and deductibles, supplements reduce the marginal price of care and induce additional consumption. The other explanation is that supplements are purchased by those who anticipate high health expenditures - adverse effect. The main issue addressed has been the separation of the moral hazard effect from the adverse selection one. The general conclusion is that the evidence on adverse selection based on observable variables is mixed. This article investigates the extent to which private supplementary insurance affect use of health care services by public health insurance enrollees, using Korean administrative data and private supplements related data collected through all relevant private insurance companies. I applied a multivariate two-part model to analyze the effects of various types of supplements on the likelihood and level of public health insurance spending and estimated marginal effects of supplements. Separate models were estimated for inpatients and outpatients in public insurance spending. The first part of the model estimated the likelihood of positive spending using probit regression, and the second part estimated the log of spending for those with positive spending. Use of a detailed information of individuals' public health insurance from administration data and of private insurance status from insurance companies made it possible to control for health status, the types of supplemental insurance owned by theses individuals, and other factors that explain spending variations across supplemental insurance categories in isolating the effects of supplemental insurance. Data from 2004 to 2006 were used, and this study found that private insurance increased the probability of a physician visit by less than 1 percent and a hospital admission by about 1 percent. However, supplemental insurance was not found to be associated with a bigger health care service utilization. Two-part models of health care utilization and expenditures showed that those without supplemental insurance had higher inpatient and outpatient expenditures than those with supplements, even after controlling for observable differences.