• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.38-44
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• 2000

Background: We analyzed the result of the "Off-Pump" Coronary Artery Bypass grafting (OPCAB) performed to minimize inflammatory responses to cardiopulmonary bypass and myocardial ischemia during the aortic cross-clamp period. Material and Method : The preoperative diagnosis operative procedure mortality complication and postoperative course of the 50 patients who underwent OPCAB between January 1998 and September 1998 were analyzed. There were 34 males and 16 females with mean age of 60$\pm$9 years. Preoperative clinical diagnoses were unstable angina in 31(62%) stable angina in 16(32%) and clinical diagnoses were unstable angina in 31(62%) stable angina in 16(32%) and postinfarction angina in 3(6%) patients. Preoperative angiographic diagnoses were three-vessel disease in 25(50%) two-vessel disease in 5(10%) one-vessel disease in 7(14%) and left main disease in 13(26%) patients. There were elective operation in 37 cases and urgent operation in 13 cases. Result: The mean number of grafts was 3.2$\pm$1.2 per patient. Grafts used were unilateral internal thoracic artery in 43 greater saphenous vein in 37 radial artery in 7 bilateral internal thoracic arteries in 4 and right gastroepiploic artery in 2 cases Forty sequential anastomoses were performed in 18 cases. Vessels accessed were left anterior descending artery in 48 diagonal branch in 41 obtuse marginal branch in 30 right coronary artery in 24 posterior descending artery in 9 ramus intermedius in 5 and posterolateral branch in 5 anastomoses. Predischarge coronary angiography performed in 44 patients demonstrated the patency rate of 89.5%(128/143) Operative mortality was 2%(1/150) Postoperative complications were arrhythmia in 5 graft occlusion that needed reoperation in 4. perioperative myocardial infarction in 2 femoral artery thromboembolism developed after the application of IABP in 1 postoperative transient delirium in 1 peripheral compression neuropathy in 1 case. Sixteen patients(32%) were extubated at the operating room and the other patients were extubated at the mean 13$\pm$20 hours after the operation. Mean duration of stay in intensive care unit was 49$\pm$46 hours. Thirteen patients(26%) required blood transfusions perioperatively and the amount of perioperative blood transfusion was mean 0.70$\pm$1.36 pack/patient. Conclusion: OPCAB is suggested to be the ideal technique with less postoperative complication less hospitalization time and less cost.less cost.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2009

In the past, conservative bypass surgery was usually performed for palliation of malignant obstruction of the gastrointestinal tract. However, endoscopic stenting was developed recently, and technical advances and clinical experience have made it possible to establish stent implantation as one of the main treatment options. There are several advantages in stent implantation over bypass surgery, such as high feasibility and technical success rate, non-invasiveness, rapid symptomatic response, short hospitalization, and cost-effect benefits. Complications, such as stent ingrowth, stent injury by bile or acid, and migration, may occur and early re-insertion is frequently needed. Recently, diverse novel stents which are powered to predict stent migration or ingrowth have been developed and are being used in the clinical setting. In general, stent implantation is known to be beneficial in patients who are expected to survive <6 months, and surgical bypass may be more effective in patients who can survive >6 months. In this review, we have compared the technical feasibility, clinical outcomes, complications, and cost-benefit between stent implantation and bypass surgery, and determined the optimal treatment strategy in malignant upper gastrointestinal obstruction.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.12 no.7
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• pp.315-325
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• 2014

This study is investigates decisive factors impacting business profits of regional medical centers by utilizing their environmental characteristics to provide useful basic data to seek for a method to establish financial soundness and profitability. The research objects are medical treatment record and management indicators of 31 regional medical centers for the past three years from 2010 through 2012. The method of analysis are ANOVA and Multiple Regression Analysis. The results revealed the debt and management ratio in the profit rate of total medical liabilities and net worth, current balance in the medical profit on medical revenue, and hospital bed turnover rate, emergency hospitalization rate, rate of labor cost, and rate of material cost in the business profits as the decisive factors. It is recommended to identify financial feedback and establish diversified management strategies through accurate management analysis to secure financial soundness and profitability in medical centers.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.14-21
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• 2009

Background: Postoperative atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common complication after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. Although postoperative AF is regarded as benign, transient and self-limited, it has been associated with increased morbidity, thromboembolic events and an increased duration and cost of hospitalization. Material and Method: From January 1994 to December 2007, 190 patients that had isolated CABG surgery were divided into two groups. Group 1 (n=139) involved those who had postoperative atrial fibrillation, and group 2 (n=51) did not have any such events. We reviewed the medical records retrospectively including the incidence of postoperative AF, patient characteristics, surgery related factors and the outcome of the patients with postoperative AF. Result: The frequency of postoperative AF was 26.8%, the conversion rate to regular sinus rhythm before discharge was 82.4%; 82.4% of the AF developed within the first three postoperative days. Although the postoperative AF group was significantly older and had a prolonged postoperative Intensive care unit (ICU) stay, there was no difference in the aortic crossclamp time or duration of hospitalization. No spontaneous defibrillation at declamping, and longer duration of cardiopulmonary bypass were significantly related to the development of postoperative AF. However, postoperative treatment with a beta blocker was associated with a decreased incidence of postoperative AF. The multivariate analysis showed that age and ICU stay were significantly associated with the development of POAF. Spontaneous defibrillation and postoperative beta blocker treatment were significantly associated with a decreased frequency of POAF. Conclusion: AF after CABG surgery is a common complication associated with increased morbidity and a longer ICU stay. Therefore, various strategies aimed at reducing AF, and its complications, such as postoperative treatment with a beta blocker should be considered.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.545-556
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• 1994

Medical insurance and health care delivery system enabled Korean people to get the necessary medical service, but it caused increased needs for medical service, and resulted in the occurence of some problems such as a lack of manpower and medical facilities. In order to solve these problems, many countries, which already had medical insurance system had developed home care system and it has been regarded effective both in reducing costs and in increasing the rates of turnover of bed. Recently, Korea has included home nursing care in its health care delivery system, and some models of the hospital based home nursing care had been tried and its effects had been evaluated. So, author tried to run a home nursing care for the Cesarean section mothers and evaluate Its effects both in the mother's health and costs. This study was designed as a Quasi-experimental study. Subjects were thirty mothers who got Cesarean section operation in hospital in Seoul. Experimental group consisted of 15 volunteers, and control group were selected by means of matching technique. Data were gathered from February 1st to March 26th by two assistants who were trained by author. Experimental group were discharged on the 4th day after their operation, and got nursing care and assessment about their home three times on the 5th, 6th, and 7th day. Control group stayed in the hospital until 7th day as usual and were checked on the same day as above mentioned To evaluate the state of physiological recovery, vital signs, H.O.F, presence of edema in the legs, bathing, appetite, sleep, presence of pain or discomfort in the breasts, amount of lochia, color of lochia, defecation urination. To compare incidence of complication in experimental group with that in control group, specific assessment was done such variables as smell of lochia, presence of inflammation of operation wound, dizziness, and presence of immobilization in the extremities. The activities of daily living were checked Satisfaction of nursing were checked To calculate costs, author asked subjects to specify expenditure including hospital charge, traffic enpenses, and food expenses. The results were as fellows. 1. On effectiveness of home nursing careThere were n significant differences between experimental and control group in incidence of abnormal symptoms and any complication. The number of taking a bath [POD #5 P=0.001, #6 P=0.0003, #7 P=0.001] and the degree of appetite [POD #5 P=0.03, #6 P=0.02, #7 P=0.013] were significantly higher in experimental group than in control group. Contrary to author's expectation, the degree of the activities of daily living in experimental group was not higher than that of control group. All of the experimental group said they were satisfied with the home nursing care. 2. Cost analysis 1) Hospital charge of experimental group was lower than that of control group. ［P=0.009］ By taking home nursing care, average period of hospitalization was shortened to 3.1 days, and family members could save 22.8 hours. Total amount of money saved by early discharge was 3,443,093 Won. It is estimated that total amount of money saved by early discharge in a year will be 40,398,956 Won. 2) Home nursing care charge of 15 mothers was 1,781,633 Won. It is estimated that total amount of money Saved by it in a year Will be 20,904,493 Won. It was lower altogether than hospital charge of the three days which is 5th, 6th, 7th day of operation. The average cost of single home visit was calculated 10,940 Won. It took 87 minutes per round and it costed 1,017.3 Won. The average hour of home care was 39.0 minutes. 3) It is expected that early discharge can bring forth the increase of hospital income. On the condition that the rate of running bed is 100%, the expected increase of hospital income will be 202,374, 026 Won in a year. Suggestions for further study and nursing practice are as follows : 1. For the welfare of patients and the increased rates of running bed, home nursing care system should be included in the hospital nursing care system. 2. Studies to test effect of home nursing care on the patients with other diseases are needed. 3. Establishment of law on the practice of home nursing care is strongly recommended.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.82 no.3
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• pp.234-241
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• 2019

Background: The utility of computed tomography (CT) in the differential diagnosis of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbation remains uncertain. However, due to the low cost associated with CT scan along with the impact of Koreas' health insurance system, there has been a rise in the number of CT scans in the patients with initial diagnosis of COPD exacerbations. Therefore, the utility of CT in the differential diagnosis was investigated to determine whether performing CT scans affect the clinical outcomes of the patients with an initial diagnosis of COPD exacerbation. Methods: This study involved 202 COPD patients hospitalized with an initial diagnosis of COPD exacerbation. We evaluated the change in diagnosis or treatment after performing a CT scan, and compared the clinical outcomes of patient groups with vs. without performing CT (non-CT group vs. CT group). Results: After performing CT, the diagnosis was changed for two (3.0%) while additional diagnoses were made for 27 of the 64 patients (42.1%). However, the treatment changed for only one (1.5%), and six patients (9.3%) received supplementary medication. There were no difference in the median length of hospital stay (8 [6-13] days vs. 8 [6-12] days, p=0.786) and intensive care unit care (14 [10.1%] vs. 11 [16.7%], p=0.236) between the CT and non-CT groups, respectively. These findings remained consistent even after the propensity score matching. Conclusion: Utility of CT in patients with acute COPD exacerbation might not be helpful; therefore, we do not recommend chest CT scan as a routine initial diagnostic tool.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.127-134
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• 1994

The aim of this study was to identify the usefulness of pelviscopy in treatment besides its diagnostic value. The advantages of pelviscopic surgery are low cost, rapid recovery, good cosmetic effect, low incidence of complication and postoperative adhesion. So most of the pelvic exploration in gynecologic patients are replaced by the pelviscopic surgery these days. Pelviscopic surgery was performed on 136 patients at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University from May 1991 to July 1993. The results obtained were as follows : The age distribution of the patients was from 19 to 55 with age of 31.2 years, and the mean parity was 0.96, the most common indication of pelviscopic surgery was tubal pregnancy(66.9%), the second most common indications was ovarian cyst(10.3%) and the other indications were endometriosis, corpus luteum cyst rupture, parovarian cyst, foreign body, tubal ligation, hydrosalpinx, uterine myoma and diagnostic procedure. The main types of surgery were salpingectomy in 58.8% and salpingoophorectomy in 16.3%. The mean duration of hospitalization was 2.1 days without specific complications. According to these results, it was postulated that the pelviscopic surgery was a useful operative tool in gynecologic treatment and its application could be extended to many other areas of gynecology with safety by the development of surgical techniques and instruments.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.297-305
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• 1998

Recently, several alternatives have been attempted in the management of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) to reduce morbidity of traditional transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP). Among new modalities, transurethral electrovaporization (TEVP) is considered as a promising alternative. To evaluate the safety and initial efficacy of JEVP using the roller loop electrode (ProSurg Inc. USA) on BPH patients, we compared the results of TEVP with those of TURP and visual laser ablation of the prostate (VLAP). In this study, a total of 115 patients with symptomatic BPH were underwent TEVP (n=17), TURP (n=59) or VLAP (n=39) since 1995. Before treatment, patients were evaluated with an International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) and the measurement of maximal uroflow rate (MFR) and postvoid residual urine (PVR). After treatment, the operative and hospital records were reviewed. The uroflowmetry and IPSS were re-evaluated 3-10 months after treatment. In clinical outcome of re-evaluation compared to the preoperative parameters, there was a clinically significant improvement in three procedures. TEVP resulted in 62% reduction in IPSS (TURP, 73% : VLAP, 69%), 84% improvement in MFR (TURP, 113% : VLAP, 91%), and 74% reduction in PVR (TURP, 88% : VLAP, 78%). TEVP had shorter duration of hospitalization and catheterization than the others. TEVP was associated with lower rates of treatment-related complication than TURP. In conclusions, TEVP is considered as a useful procedure to treat symptomatic BPH. And, the advantages of TEVP over TURP include excellent intraoperative hemostasis, lower morbidity, shorter hospital stay and simple technique. In addition the advantages over VLAP include lower cost, shorter duration of catheterization and early symptom improvement.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.99-107
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• 2008

Objective : The objective of this review was to provide reliable comparative results regarding the effectiveness of any interventions either open or closed that can be used in the management of fractured mandibular condyle Patients and Methods : Research of studies from MEDLINE and Cochrane since 1990 was done. Controlled vocabulary terms were used. MeSH Terms were "Mandibular condyle" AND "Fractures, bone". Only comparative study were considered in this review using the "limit" function. According to the criteria, two review authors independently assessed the abstracts of studies resulting from the searches. The studies were divided according to some criteria, and following were measured: Ramus height, condyle sagittal displacement, condyle Towns's image displacement, Maximum open length, Protrusion & Lateral excursion, TMJ pain, Malocclusion, and TMJ disorder. Results : Many studies were analyzed to review the post-operative result of the two methods of treatment. Ramus height decreased more in when treated by closed reduction as opposed to open reduction. Sagittal condyle displacement was shown to be greater in closed reduction. Condyle Town's image condyle displacement had greater values in closed reduction. Maximum open length showed lower values in closed reduction. In protrusive and lateral movement, closed reduction was less than ORIF. Closed reduction showed greater occurrence of malocclusion than ORIF. However, post-operative pain and discomfort was greater in ORIF. Conclusion : In almost all categories, ORIF showed better results than CRIF. However, the use of the open reduction method should be considered due to the potential surgical morbidity and increased hospitalization time and cost. To these days, Endoscopic surgical techniques for ORIF (EORIF) are now in their infancy with the specific aims of eliminating concern for damage to the facial nerve and of reducing or eliminating facial scars. Before performing any types of treatment, patients must be understood of both of the treatment methods, and the best treatment method should be taken on permission.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.116-133
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• 2002

Background : It is very common in Korea to take care of non-acute patients in an acute setting, due to the lack of long-term facilities. Long term hospitalization increase medical expenses and decreases the bed utilization, which can affect the urgent and emergent admissions, and eventually jeopardize the hospital financially. In this study, strategies for effective transfers to the lower levels of care, and to decrease the length of stay were presented by surveying and analyzing the patient's knowledge of the transfer needs, and the willingness to transfer those whose hospital length of stay was more than 30days. Method : The survey is subject to a group of 251 patients who have been hospitalized over 30 days in a general hospital in Seoul. Excluding those that were in the Intensive Care Unit and psychiatric ward, 214 in-patients were used as participants. They were surveyed from April 9, 2002 to April 17, 2002. One hundred and thirty seven out of 214 were responded which made the response rate 64%. Data were analyzed by SAS and SPSS. Result : Multi-variable Logistic Regression Analysis showed a significant effect in medical expenses, knowledge of referral system and the information of the receiving hospital. The financial burden in medical expenses made the patient 10.7 times more willing to be transferred, knowledge of the referral system made them 5 times more willing to be transferred, and the information of receiving hospital makes 6.5 times more willing to be transferred. Reasons for willing to be transferred to a lower level of care were the phase of physical therapy, the distance from home, the attending physician's advice and being unable to be treated as an out patient. Reasons for refusing to be transferred were the following. The attending physician's competency, not being ready to be discharged, not trusting the receiving hospital's competency due to the lack of information, or never hearing about the referring system by the attending physician. Conclusion : Based on this, strategies for the effective transfer to the lower levels of care were suggested. It is desirable for the attending physician to be actively involved by making an effort to explain the transfer need, and referring to the Healthcare Coordinating Center, which can help the patient make the right decision. Nationwide networking for the referral system is the another key factor that may need to be suggested as an alternative to decrease the medical expenses. Collaborating with the Home Health Agency for the early discharge planning and the Social Service Department for financial aid are also needed. It is recommended that the hospital should expedite the transfer process by prioritizing the cost and the information as medical expenses, knowledge of referring system and the information of the receiving hospital, are the most important factors to the willingness to transfer to a lower level of care.