• Journal of Digital Convergence
• /
• v.18 no.11
• /
• pp.581-593
• /
• 2020

This study aimed to understand experiences of compassion fatigue reported by nurses providing services to oncology patients and families. We conducted in-depth interviews with 8 nurses currently working in oncology. Three main themes and 13 subthemes were extracted from the thematic analysis suggested by Braun and Clarke. Participants experienced compassion fatigue while feeling the sufferings transferred from patients and caregivers. The stress resulted from unique nature of oncology work added to their compassion fatigue. Participants became running low on empathy towards oncology patients and caregivers because of external work environments and negative perceptions on compassion. The results of the study inform health care professionals about increasing awareness of compassion fatigue of nurses working with oncology patients and families and the importance of providing interventions to promote their individual and professional quality of life.

• Child Health Nursing Research
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.238-246
• /
• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify pediatric nurses' attitudes to, and compliance with, standard precautions in the prevention of hospital infections by enhancing their practice of standard precautions. Methods: The participants were 206 nurses who worked in pediatric nursing departments of a general medical institution in Seoul. The questionnaire was a modification of Kim (2008) and consisted of 18 questions about hand washing, personal protective equipment, sharps, linen and patient care equipment. Collected data were processed using SPSS 15.0 WIN. Results: Mean scores for attitudes to standard precautions and for compliance with standard precautions were 4.43 (${\pm}0.83$) and 4.22 (${\pm}0.44$) respectively. This difference was statistically significant (t=3.368, p=.001). The nurses' compliance with standard precautions differed significantly according to the general characteristics of age (F=8.705, p<.001), total clinical experience (F=9.426, p<.001), current department experience (F=6.555, p<.001), and education experience (t=0.616, p<.043). There was a positive correlation between attitudes to, and compliance with, standard precautions (r=.156, p=.025). Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that educational programs and policy on infection control and standard precautions for pediatric nurses are needed. Also these results should contribute to baseline data for establishing appropriate clinical policy on infection control.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.383-397
• /
• 2012

The incidence of zoonoses in Korea has recently increased. But the study for high risk group such as pig farmers to zoonoses has not been conducted in Korea. Thus we reviewed the articles in order to obtain basic data for zoonoses among pig farmers, especially in rural communities. Pigs are one of the most important domestic livestock in Korea not only from economic standpoint but also from standpoint of food. Pigs also represent a potential reservoir for many novel pathogens, therefore may transmit these to humans via direct contact, vectors such as mosquitos, or contaminated meat. The zoonoses associated with pigs can be classified into bacterial pathogen, viruses and so on. Bacterial zoonoses include brucellosis, leptospirosis, listeriosis, enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli infection, pasteurellosis, salmonellosis, yersiniosis, tuberculosis, anthrax, necrobacillosis, swine erysipelas, erysipeloid, melioidosis, Streptococcus suis infection, Clostrium difficile infection, and campylobactor infection. Viral zoonoses consist of Japanese encephalitis, swine influenza, Nipah virus, Reston ebolavirus, and hepatitis E virus infection. Other type of zoonoses include actinomycosis, toxoplasmosis and Taenia solium infection. These zoonoses were important in Korean health policy but lately they have been overlooked. For effective health policy, we need to study zoonoses associated with pigs, and clinicians and veterinarians must care deeply about these zoonoses.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.427-453
• /
• 2009

This study aims to review legal problems of similar medical practice and suggest methods of improvement. Similar medical practice refers to all medical practices conducted in the state that human qualification is not fulfilled. It may cause serious damages on health and lives of national people. Currently, similar medical practices are recognized as unlicensed medical practices and prohibited based on the Medical law and additionally punished by then special law in Korea. However, the current Medical Law does not provide clear and accurate concept of medical practices so that it is difficult to regulate similar medical practices. The issue of complementary and alternative therapy related to similar medical practices is also in special state different from other countries. In addition, since similar medical practices lack of evidences in terms of safety, the dangerousness of accidents is high and it may affect badly on health of national people and health care policies. Methods of improvement in order to resolve problems regarding similar medical practices are: first, concept and scope of medical practice should be clear, accurate and concrete. Second, complementary and alternative therapies related to similar medical practices need to be strictly examined and the supervisory right should be given to doctors should be given even though a part of it is allowed. Third, research institutes specialized in the field should be established for scientific examination of complementary and alternative therapy and objective research results should be open to the public. Finally, since damage cases caused by similar medical practices by non-medical personnel, national management and supervision for similar medical practices should be reinforced.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
• /
• v.19 no.8
• /
• pp.169-176
• /
• 2014

The rapid development of the current information and communication brings big changes and progress in the health service delivery system. And it is becoming the worldwide trend increasingly. In order to implement established what policy peacefully is sufficient review and dialogue, social consensus are integral components. The government in the telemedicine services, health care industry that is directly related to the public health and development spheres as nations of the society which to vote on new growth policy is a great social health policies of the push ahead with an unconditional side effects. But before it was activated, telemedicine, which is capable of ensuring the health and lives of the people in need of revision of the safety and effectiveness of any kind, and enforces a stretch enough before review and social consensus, must necessarily be a prerequisite. In conclusion, it presently appears to be inappropriate and impossible to conduct telemedicine system through the foreign of telemedicine. It suggested to present the problems on telemedicine in korea.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.18-32
• /
• 2009

The goal of this study was to predict the health outcomes of lung cancer surgery based on the Charlson comorbidity index (CCI). An attempt was likewise made to assess the prognostic value of such data for predicting mortality, survival rate, and length of hospital stay. A medical-record review of 389 patients with non-small-cell lung cancer was performed. To evaluate the agreement, the kappa coefficient was tested. Logistic-regression analysis was also conducted within two years after the surgery to determine the association of CCI with death. Survival and multiple-regression analyses were used to evaluate the relationship between CCI and the hospital care outcomes within two-year survival after lung cancer surgery and the length of hospital stay. The results of the study showed that CCI is a valid prognostic indicator of two-year mortality and length of hospital stay, and that it shows the health outcomes, such as death, survival rate, and length of hospital stay, after the surgery, thus enabling the development and application of the methodology using a systematic and objective scale for the results.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.69-88
• /
• 2010

The effective administration of hospital with innovation and human resource practices is a matter of grave concern because hospitals are becoming bigger and more specialized. Biomedical engineers who manage medical machineries and tools used to deliver healthcare services in a hospital setting play an important role in providing customers good quality services. Maintaining job satisfaction of biomedical engineers is, thus, important in the delivery of quality care. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study aiming to determine factors affecting job satisfaction of biomedical engineers working in general hospitals. The study population consisted of biomedical engineers at 79 general hospitals of 26 regions based on the registry of the Korea Medical Engineering Association (KMEA). The data were collected using a self-administerd questionnaire between May and July of 2009. Job satisfaction was assessed with 19 items covering 3 dimensions of work-external, work-internal, and organizational aspects (Cronbach's ${\alpha}=0.884$), resulting in an average summary score. Statistical analysis was conducted with SPSS for Windows version 15.0. The mean score of job satisfaction was 3.50 (${\pm}0.04$). There were statistically significant differences in job satisfaction according to age, health status, job position, duration of work as a biomedical engineer, years in the current workplace, difficulty at work, intent to change job, and the amount of support from superiors and colleagues. In multiple regression analysis, the factors affecting job satisfaction of biomedical engineers were salary, health status, and support of superiors and colleagues ($r^2=0.512$). Effective motivation-plans, taking into account organizational characteristics and the working environment of the hospital, may help to improve the job satisfaction of biomedical engineers.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.1-16
• /
• 2010

Background : Clinical practice guidelines are an increasingly familiar part of clinical practice. Moreover, rigorously developed evidence based guidelines has been widely used. However, in Korea, some of published documents as clinical practice guidelines have shown considerable disparity in structure, contents and quality. This is mainly because there is no consensus on the definition and quality standard of clinical practice guidelines. The purpose of this study was to draw consensus on the definition and the quality standard about clinical practice guidelines. Method : We developed a questionnaire about the definition of clinical practice guidelines with inclusion criteria(23 items) and the quality standard(30 items). We selected 9 experts who had prior experience in developing and implementing guidelines. Rating methods for appropriateness of items were adopted from the RAND method. Consensus was drawn in three rounds. Results : Of the 47 items agreed, 40 items were determined to be appropriate. Clinical practice guidelines were defined as "scientifically and systematically developed statements to assist practitioners and patients on making decisions about appropriate health care for specific clinical circumstances." Narrative reviews, systematic reviews or health technology assessment without recommendations, translation of foreign guidelines, guidelines for patients only and training manuals were not considered as clinical practice guidelines. For the quality standard of clinical practice guidelines, 27 items were deemed necessary. Conclusions : The consensus on the definition with inclusion criteria and the quality standard of clinical practice guidelines carries an important meaning as the first attempt to draw a general agreement in our society. The unique achievement of the consensus reflects the current status of clinical practice guidelines that there has been a high tendency to adapt foreign guidelines. We hope efforts of this kind will continue to bring improvement in clinical practice guidelines.

• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.3-8
• /
• 1997

The basic aim of the current policy is to achieve and preserve a sustainable soil quality. This means that soil must retain all its functions for years to come. The Soil Protection Act lays down a statutory "duty of care", which means that soil contamination occurring during certain activities must be cleaned up by the person who cause it. The Soil Cleanup (Interim Measures) Act(1983) was repeated on 15 May 1994, and its provisions, together with some ammendments and additions, were assimilated into the Soil Protection Act. These cleanup regulations are intended to deal with "old cases" of soil contamination, i.e. cases that came to light before 1 January 1987, when the Soil Protection Act entered into force. The urgency for cleanups is dependent upon the actual exposure. In most cases actual exposure win be less than potential exposure (underlying C-values) because only a few exposure routes are present. Cleanup of sites where exposure exceeds maximum tolerable risk levels are considered urgent, and the actual risk level is used to prioritize the cleanup.oritize the cleanup.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
• /
• v.37
• /
• pp.307-326
• /
• 1999

The primary purpose of this study is to analyze changes, if any, in the financial status and the intensity of health care service utilization of the regional health insurance societies following the 1995 merger of some rural and urban regional health insurance societies. Ultimately, this study is aiming at providing an empirical basis for predicting the impact of the 1998 merger of the Regional Health Insurance Program and the Health Insurance Program for Government Employees and Teachers and, further, predicting the impact of the merger of the entire health insurance programs scheduled for the year 2000. The study results did not suggest that the 1995 merger had brought about notable changes in the rate of increase in the total expenditures or the insurance payment of the merged regional insurance societies in comparison to non-merged ones. Neither did it show that the merger had resulted in significant changes in the intensity of the use of health services. The study, however, found that the 1995 merger had reduced the rate of increase in the management and operational cost of the merged insurance societies. Based on these findings, some policy implications are discussed, and suggestions are made for the total merger plan scheduled for the year 2000.