• Journal of Korea Trade
• /
• 제26권8호
• /
• pp.37-57
• /
• 2022

Purpose -International diplomacy is key for the cohesive economic growth of countries around the world. This study aims to identify the major topics discussed and make sense of word pairs used in sentences by Chinese senior leaders during their diplomatic visits. It also compares the differences between key topics addressed during diplomatic visits to developed and developing countries. Design/methodology - We employed three methods: word frequency, co-word, and semantic network analysis. Text data are crawling state and official visit news released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China regarding diplomatic visits undertaken from 2015-2019. Findings - The results show economic and diplomatic relations most prominently during state and official visits. The discussion topics were classified according to nine centrality keywords most central to the structure and had the maximum influence in China. Moreover, the results showed that China's diplomatic issues and strategies differ between developed and developing countries. The topics mentioned in developing countries were more diverse. Originality/value - Our study proposes an effective approach to identify key topics in Chinese diplomatic talks with other countries. Moreover, it shows that discussion topics differ for developed and developing countries. The findings of this research can help researchers conduct empirical studies on diplomacy relationships and extend our method to other countries. Additionally, it can significantly help key policymakers gain insights into negotiations and establish a good diplomatic relationship with China.

• 한국경영과학회지
• /
• 제25권3호
• /
• pp.35-39
• /
• 2000

Expected number of visits in the steady state of the regenerative process is one of the most useful characteristics. The formula for this expected number of visits in the steady state of the regenerative process is presented in this paper. Because this formula is for the general model, it can be applied to many special systems including 2-unit redundant system. An example for this formula is also presented.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• 제34권3호
• /
• pp.253-261
• /
• 2001

Objectives : To evaluate the hypothesis that air pollution could increase emergency room visits for respiratory diseases, and if so, to quantify the strength of association between those. Methods : We compiled daily records of hospital emergency room visits for respiratory diseases in Seoul, from November 1. 1955 to October 31. 1996, by using medical utilization data of unscheduled visits. In addition, air quality and weather data for the same period was collected. And a case-crossover design was applied by adopting conditional logistic regression analysis to determine the relationship between air pollutants and emergency room visits for respiratory diseases. In particular, the control periods were chosen by a bidirectional paired matching technique 7, 14, and 21 days before and after the case periods. Results : Only ozone was associated with the increased number of emergency room visits for respiratory diseases. The relative risk according to a 30ppb increase of ozone concentration (24hr mean, lagged 1day) was 1.91(95% confidence interval = 1.78-2.05). Conclusion : There was a statistically significant association between the ambient ozone and daily emergency room visits for respiratory diseases.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• 제39권5호
• /
• pp.397-403
• /
• 2006

Objectives: We estimated the asthma-related health care utilization and costs in Korea from the insurer's and societal perspective. Methods: We extracted the insurance claims records from the Korea National Health Insurance claims database for determining the health care services provided to patients with asthma in 2003. Patients were defined as having asthma if they had ${\geq}$2 medical claims with diagnosis of asthma and they had been prescribed anti-asthma medicines, Annual claims records were aggeregated for each patient to produce patient-specific information on the total utilization and costs. The total asthma-related cost was the sum of the direct healthcare costs, the transportation costs for visits to health care providers and the patient's or caregivers' costs for the time spent on hospital or outpatient visits. Results: A total of 699,603people were identified as asthma patients, yielding an asthma prevalence of 1.47%. Each asthma patient had 7.56 outpatient visits, 0.01 ED visits and 0.02 admissions per year to treat asthma. The per-capita insurance-covered costs increased with age, from 128,276 Won for children aged 1 to 14 years to 270,729 Won for those aged 75 or older. The total cost in the nation varied from 121,865 million to 174,949 million Won depending on the perspectives. From a societal perspective, direct health care costs accounted for 84.9%, transportation costs for 15.1 % and time costs for 9.2% of the total costs. Conclusions: Hospitalizations and ED visits represented only a small portion of the asthma-related costs. Most of the societal burden was attributed to direct medical expenditures, with outpatient visits and medications emerging as the single largest cost components.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• 제15권20호
• /
• pp.8749-8752
• /
• 2014

Purpose: This study aimed to determine the patterns of follow-up visits for cervix cancer in a national cancer center in Mexico. Materials and Methods: The National Cancer Institute of Mexico is cancer center with 119 beds that mostly cares for an underserved and socially disadvantaged population. The medical records of cases of cervical cancer that had at least one year of clinical follow-up after being in complete response at the end of primary treatment were analyzed. We recorded the numbers of total and yearly follow-up visits and these were compared with the number of follow-up visits recommended by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network 2013, version 2 for cervical cancer. Results: Between March and June 2007, the medical records of 96 consecutive patients were reviewed. Twenty (21%) of these met inclusion criteria and were selected. In the first year the median number of visits was 11 (4-20). In the ensuing years, $2^{nd}$, $3^{rd}$, $4^{th}$ and $5^{th}$, the number of analyzed patients remaining in follow-up decreased to 17, 14, 13 and 9 respectively. There were 462 follow-up visits to primary treating services (Gynecology Oncology, Radiation Oncology and Medical Oncology) as compared to 220 suggested by the NCCN guidelines ($X^2$ test p<0.0001). There were 150 additional visits to other services. Conclusions: Our results suggest that in our institution there is an overuse of oncological services by cervical cancer patients once treatment is completed.

• 보건행정학회지
• /
• 제26권3호
• /
• pp.233-241
• /
• 2016

Background: This study purposed to analyze and understand how spatial accessibility of patients influenced the number of outpatient visits for the internal medicine of a hospital. Methods: A hospital with 100 beds in Seoul, South Korea provided data from 2013 January 1 to 2013 June 30. Euclidean distance and road ares were used to represent the spatial accessibility. Patient level data and dong level data were collected and used in spatial analysis. Dong level data was converted into grid level ($500{\times}500m$) for the multivariate analysis. Hot-spot analysis and generalized linear model were applied to the data collected. Results: Hot-spots of outpatient visits were found around the study hospital, and cold-spots were not found. Number of outpatient visits was varied by the distance between patient resident and hospitals, and about 80% of total outpatient visits was occurred in within the 5 km from study hospital, and 50% was occurred in within 1.6 km. Spatial accessibility had significant influences on the outpatient visits. Conclusion: Findings provide evidences that spatial accessibility had influences on the patients' behaviors in utilizing the outpatient care of internal medicine in a hospital. Results can provide useful information to health policy makers as well as hospital managers for their decision making.

• 한국병원경영학회지
• /
• 제7권1호
• /
• pp.19-40
• /
• 2002

The purpose of this study is to find out if there has been any change in the outpatient visit to tertiary care hospitals after the introduction of the new healthcare program that divides the roles of doctors and pharmacists and the reason for the change if there is any. Two tertiary care hospitals with the largest capacity of 1200 beds and two tertiary care hospitals with the lowest capacity of 600-700 beds were randomly selected. Data of the outpatient visits from March-May 2(xx), before the new healthcare system was adopted, were compared with the data from March-May 2001, after the new policy was adopted. Outpatient visits have decreased 5.8% after the new system. There has been a dramatic decrease, especially, in the department of OB-GYN and Pediatrics of tertiary hospitals. Decrease in re-visits is much higher than the first visits. Female patients decreased more than the male patients. Outpatient visits by economically active patients group aged 25-44 declined much. Tertiary hospitals in Seoul and Kyonggi Province, as well. Outpatient income of tertiary hospitals has dropped up to 14.7% due to the decline in outpatient visits and pharmaceutical income, and resell price system which in turn has caused the hospital financial deficits. While the new program has succeeded in lowering the use of antibiotics and injections, it has the pitfall of prescribing long days and expensive drugs. A full-fledged review of the system should be conducted for the establishment of the new system and I believe this study may be a useful references. Furthermore, more profound and overall studies on the chance in the patients use of hospitals are needed.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• 제34권1호
• /
• pp.61-72
• /
• 2001

Objectives : To evaluate the hypothesis that increasing ambient levels of ozone or particulate matter are associated with increased emergency room visits for asthma and to quantify the strength of association, if any, between these. Methods : Daily counts of emergency room visits for asthma, air quality, and weather data were collected from hospitals with over 200 beds and from monitoring Stations in Seoul, Korea from 1994 through 1997. Daily counts of emergency mom visits for asthma attack were analyzed using a general additive Poisson model, with adjustment for the effects of secular trend, seasonal variation, Sunday and holiday, temperature, and humidly, according to levels of ozone and particulate matter. Results : The association between daily counts of emergency room visits for asthma attack and ozone levels was statistically significant in summer(from June to August), and the RR by unit inclement of 100 ppb ozone was 1.30(95% CI = $1.11\sim1.52$) without lag time. With restriction of the period from April to September in 1996, the RR was 1.37(95% CI = $1.06\sim1.76$), and from June to August in 1995, the RR was 1.62(95% CI = $1.12\sim2.35$). In the data for children$(5\sim14yr)$, the RR was 2.57(95% CI = $1.31\sim5.05$) with restriction of the period from April to September in 1997. There was no Significant association between TSP levels and asthma attacks, but a slight association was seen between PM10 levels and asthma attacks in a very restricted period. Conclusion : There was a statistically significant association between ambient levels of ozone and daily counts of emergency room visits for asthma attack. Therefore, we must make efforts to effectively minimize air pollution, in order to protect public health.

• Clinics in Shoulder and Elbow
• /
• 제25권2호
• /
• pp.106-111
• /
• 2022

Background: The use of telemedicine for postoperative visits is increasing, especially in rural areas. Few studies have investigated its use for arthroscopic shoulder patients. This study aims to evaluate patient satisfaction with telemedicine for postoperative clinic visits following arthroscopic shoulder procedures in a rural setting. Methods: Patients were prospectively enrolled using the following exclusion criteria: <18 years, open procedures, and non-compliance follow-up at 6 weeks postoperatively. All patients completed a 13-question satisfaction survey, while telemedicine patients completed an additional, separate seven-question survey. Patients who switched groups completed a four-question prompt to determine the reasons for switching. Differences between groups were evaluated by either Student t-test or Mann-Whitney U-test. Results: The study enrolled 32 patients, with five patients following up by telemedicine and 27 in person. Age and distance from clinic were similar between patients who were assigned to the telemedicine group, completed the telemedicine visit, and opted for in-person visits (all p>0.05). Patient satisfaction did not vary significantly based on care by the surgeon, concerns being addressed, thoroughness of visit, overall clinical assessment at a prior visit, and improvements in pain and physical function (all p>0.05). Among patients who opted out of telemedicine visits, the most common reason was a preference to meet in-person but these patients agreed that telemedicine visits are a good idea. Conclusions: Regardless of type of follow-up, individuals reported similar levels of satisfaction with treatment during the visit and improvements in pain and physical function.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• 제49권5호
• /
• pp.329-341
• /
• 2016

Objectives: The goal of this study was to investigate the short-term effect of ambient air pollution on emergency department (ED) visits in Seoul for asthma according to patients' prior history of allergic diseases. Methods: Data on ED visits from 2005 to 2009 were obtained from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. To evaluate the risk of ED visits for asthma related to ambient air pollutants (carbon monoxide [CO], nitrogen dioxide [$NO_2$], ozone [$O_3$], sulfur dioxide [$SO_2$], and particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter <$10{\mu}m$ [$PM_{10}$]), a generalized additive model with a Poisson distribution was used; a single-lag model and a cumulative-effect model (average concentration over the previous 1-7 days) were also explored. The percent increase and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated for each interquartile range (IQR) increment in the concentration of each air pollutant. Subgroup analyses were done by age, gender, the presence of allergic disease, and season. Results: A total of 33 751 asthma attack cases were observed during the study period. The strongest association was a 9.6% increase (95% CI, 6.9% to 12.3%) in the risk of ED visits for asthma per IQR increase in $O_3$ concentration. IQR changes in $NO_2$ and $PM_{10}$ concentrations were also significantly associated with ED visits in the cumulative lag 7 model. Among patients with a prior history of allergic rhinitis or atopic dermatitis, the risk of ED visits for asthma per IQR increase in $PM_{10}$ concentration was higher (3.9%; 95% CI, 1.2% to 6.7%) than in patients with no such history. Conclusions: Ambient air pollutants were positively associated with ED visits for asthma, especially among subjects with a prior history of allergic rhinitis or atopic dermatitis.