• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.263-269
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• 2006

Objectives: As the number of people with disabilities is increasing and their needs for care are varied, the continuum and comprehensiveness of their rehabilitative care are getting more important. This study was performed to understand the utilization of rehabilitation services and requirements of care among the people with severe disabilities in Korea. Methods: We interviewed 578 disabled persons who had severe extremity and cerebral impairment in the urban and rural areas of Korea. The questionnaire included questions on their general characteristics, the type of disability, their physical function (ADL, IADL), their use of rehabilitation services after discharge and their requirements for rehabilitation care Results: Only 12.6% of people with disability in the community continuously used the available medical rehabilitation care. The associated factors for utilization of rehabilitation services were pain and admission for rehabilitative treatment in the acute phase. There was a great need for rehabilitation services in community and this varied according to gender, the socio-economic status, the functional status and the geographic region. The gap between utilization and need for rehabilitation services was largest in the economic support. The gap of primary health care was larger in the rural area than in the urban area. Conclusions: The needs for rehabilitation service were diverse according to the individual functional status, the regional characteristics and other general characteristics of people with disability. Strategies should be considered to eliminate the barriers to obtain rehabilitation services for the people with disability in the community.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.29-37
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• 2016

Readmission which reflects capacity to manage patients and general level of medical services has been known for one of the causes of medical expenditure due to inefficient service. Compared to disease-specific readmission, hospital wide readmission (HWR) is relatively easy to understand, and has merit to get over limitation of collateral medical services assessment; therefore, a growing interest in development and usage of readmission indicator as quality of care indicator focusing on all-disease is detected. In this study, we investigate current state of risk standardized readmission rate indicator used in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, and examine the considerations when using readmission rate as quality indicator in Korea. Differences in risk-adjustment methods were showed among countries. The United States do not control race not to hide socio-demographic factors on readmission. Canada shows differentiation compared to other countries about reflecting community factors. All three-countries utilize readmission rate as monitoring quality of care rather than incentives or penalty due to the fact that readmission rate could not represent the whole quality of hospital and has a limitation at controlling socio-economic factors. Therefore, for usage readmission rate as quality indicator in Korea, preparing readmission classification standard for Korean medical environment and additional methods for acquiring information by using discharge summary is need. Moreover, continued discussion with clinical specialists is needed for obtain clinical reliability and validity.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2022

Objectives: This study aimed to establish a linkage model involving regional responsible medical institutions after analyzing the existing conditions and deriving problems through qualitative analysis within the community care system. Methods: A total of 14 participants of this study were selected through the snowball sampling method, including 7 community care service providers and 7 service users. As for the research data, primary data were collected through interviews, and as a result of analyzing according to Aday&Anderson' model, a total of 5 catergories, 8 topics, and 22 sub theme were derived. Results: The problem derived from the interview is that division services are provided for each institution due to the absence of a key central institution of community care system, and users' commercial institutions is unclear. The second is the inconsistency between the needs and supply for community care, resulting in a possibility of delay in returning to the community after discharge. Based on these problems, it is necessary to unify it as an community care window of the Dong-community center. In addition, there is a need for public health centers to play an active role, and to establish a public-private joint system with the Health and Living Support Center to establish a model that can play a certain role. Conclusions: Therefore, based on the results of this study, it can be used as basic data when constructing community care model and applying it as an expanded model in the future.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.28-38
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• 2000

Purpose : This study examined characteristics of, problems of and services provided to hospice recipients and their family members at a home hospice organization. Methods : The subjects were 113 people who were discharged from one free-standing home hospice organization between November, 1994 and lune, 1999. Since the opening of the organization in November of 1994, it has provided hospice services at patients' homes with no charge. Data were collected from those subjects' records. Results : The average age of the subjects was 57.1 years; those aged 60 and over were 54%. Spouse was the most frequent(50.9%) primary caregiver followed by daughter-in-law and daughter. All the subjects were diagnosed as having cancer. Of those 41 subjects who did not know their terminal stage in the beginning, 31 subjects came to know their states. Of the subjects, 72.7% were referred from their physicians. On the average, the service duration and the number of home visits were 6.8 weeks and 7.2 times, respectively. Pain was the most prevalent problem of the subjects(89.4%). Medication management was the most frequently provided service followed by psychological supports. The reasons for discharge were death(88.5%) and refusal(8%). Home was the most frequent place of death(60%). Conclusion Home hospice service providers should be trained particularly in working with elders and in managing cancer pain. People need to be referred at an appropriate time for achieving goals of hospice. Community recognition of hospice services needs to be promoted.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.467-473
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• 1997

South Korea has been free from endemic malaria by P. vivax since the mid-1980s, but malaria infections, including military outbreak in 1995, have been increasing steadily in the soldiers serving near the western part of Demilitarized Zone(DMZ) since its first resurgence in 1993. We experinced 8 cases of delayed onset P. vivax malaria in young men who had never been abroad and had no history of blood transfusion or parenteral use of drug. All the patients had served near the western part of DMZ during their military life. They were admitted to Yeungnam University hospital due to cyclic fever with chills and the clinical symptoms were developed 2 months to 11months after discharge from military service. Peripheral blood smears showed typical ring forms and trophozoites of P. vivax in red blood cell. Patients were treated with hydroxychloroquine and primaquine showing rapid clinical and hematologic responses in all cases, but 2 cases were relapsed later. We presumed that theses cases were delayed onset of P. vivax infection resulted from the recent outbreak in the western part of DMZ, in 1995. Therefore, we reported theses cases to emphasize the need of active surveillance and prevention.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.10-17
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• 2013

History of Instream Flow Incremental Methodology (IFIM) Following the large reservoir and water development era of the mid-twentieth century in North America, resource agencies became concerned over the loss of many miles of riverine fish and wildlife resources in the arid western United States. Consequently, several western states began issuing rules for protecting existing stream resources from future depletions caused by accelerated water development. Many assessment methods appeared during the 1960's and early 1970's. These techniques were based on hydrologic analysis of the water supply and hydraulic considerations of critical stream channel segments, coupled with empirical observations of habitat quality and an understanding of riverine fish ecology. Following enactment of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1970, attention was shifted from minimum flows to the evaluation of alternative designs and operations of federally funded water projects. Methods capable of quantifying the effect of incremental changes in stream flow to evaluate a series of possible alternative development schemes were needed. This need led to the development of habitat versus discharge functions developed from life stage-specific relations for selected species, that is, fish passage, spawning, and rearing habitat versus flow for trout or salmon. During the late 1970's and early 1980's, an era of small hydropower development began. Hundreds of proposed hydropower sites in the Pacific Northwest and New England regions of the United States came under intensive examination by state and federal fishery management interests. During this transition period from evaluating large federal reservoirs to evaluating license applications for small hydropower, the Instream Flow Incremental Methodology (IFIM) was developed under the guidance of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).

• The Korean Journal of Rehabilitation Nursing
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.257-270
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• 1999

The purpose of this study is to investigate factors related to the intent of using home nursing of chronic disease patients who got out of a university hospital. For the purpose, the study selected 153 patients who were hospitalized and left K university hospital with diagnoses of cancer, hypertension, diabetes and cerebral vascular accident and ordered to be discharged and performed interviews with them and surveys on their medical records to obtain the following results. For this study a direct-interview survey and medical record review was conducted from June 28 to Aug. 30, 1998. The frequency and mean values were computed to find the characteristics of the study subjects, and $X^2$-test, t-test, factor analysis and multiple logistic regession analysis were applied for the analysis of the data. The following results were obtained. 1) When characteristics of the subjects were examined, men and women occupied for 58.8% and 41.2%, respectively. The subjects were 41.3 years old in aver age and had the monthly aver age earning of 0.99 million won or below, which was the most out of the total subjects at 34.6%. Among the total, 87.6% resided in cities and 12.4 in counties. The most left the hospital with diagnosis of cancer at 51.6%, followed by hyper tension at 24.2%, diabetes at 13.7% and cerebral vascular accident at 7.2%. 2) 93.5% of the selected patients had the intent of using home nursing and 6.5%, didn't. Among those patients having the intent, 85.6% had the intent of paying for home nursing and 14.4%, didn't. The subjects expected that the nursing would be paid 9,143 won in aver age and 47.7% of them preferred national authorities as the main servers. 86.3% of the subjects thought that home nursing business had the main advantage of making it possible to learn nursing methods at home and thereby contributing to improving the ability of patients and their facilities to solve health problems. 3) Relations between the intent of use and characteristics of the subjects such as demography-related social, home environment, disease and physical function characteristics did not show statistically significant differences among one another. Compared to those who had no intent of using home nursing, the group having the intent had more cases of male patients, the age of 39 or below, residence in cities, 5 family member s or more, no existence of home nursing servers, leaving the hospital from a non-hospitalized building, disease development for five months or below, hospitalization for ten days or more, non-hospitalization with in the recent one month, two times or over of hospitalization, leaving the hospital with no demand of special treatment, operation underwent, poor results of treatment, leaving the hospital with demand of rehabilitation services, physical disablement and high evaluation point of daily life. 4) Among those patients having the intent of using home nursing, 47.6% demanded technical nursing and 55.9%, supportive nursing. As technical nursing,' inject into a blood vessel ' and 'treat pustule and teach basic prevention methods occupied for 57.4%, respectively, topping the list. Among demands of supportive nursing, 'observe patients 'status and refer them to hospitals or community resources as available, if necessary' was the most with percent age point of 59.5. Regarding the intent of paying for home nursing, 39.2% of those patients wishing to use the nursing responded paying for technical services and 20.2, supportive services. In detail, 70.0% wanted to pay for a service stated as 'inject into a blood vessel', highest among the former services and 30.7%, a service referred to as 'teaching exercises needed to make the body of patients move', highest among the latter. When this was analyzed in terms of a relation between the need(the need for home nursing) and the demand(the intent of paying for home nursing), The rate of the need to the demand was found two or three times higher in technical nursing(0.82) than in supportive nursing(0.35). In aspects of tech ical nursing, muscle injection(1.26, the 1st rank) was highest in the rate while among aspects of supportive nursing, a service referred to as 'teach exercises needed for making patients move their bodies normally'(0.58, the 1st rank). 5) factors I(satisfaction with hospital services), II(recognition of disease state), III(economy) and IV(period of disease) occupied for 34.4, 13.8, 11.9 and 9.2 percents, respectively among factors related to the intent by the subjects of using home nursing, totaled 59.3%. In conclusion, most of chronic disease patients have the intent of using hospital-based home nursing and satisfaction with hospital services is a factor affecting the intent most. Thus a post-management system is needed to continue providing health management to those patients after they leave the hospital. Further, supportive services should be provided in order that those who are satisfied with hospital services return to their community and live their in dependent lives. Based on these results, the researcher would make the following recommendation. 1) Because home nursing becomes more and more needed due to a sharp increase in chronic disease patients and elderly people, related rules and regulations should be made and implemented. 2) Hospital nurses specializing in home nursing should be cultivated.

• The Korean Nurse
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.48-65
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• 1990

The government has adopted a policy to introduce Home Health Care Program, and has established a three stage plan to implement it. The three stage plan is : First, to amend Article 54 (Nurses for Different Types of Services) of the Regulations for Implementing the Law of Medical Services; Second, to tryout the new system through pilot projects established in public hospitals and clinics; and third, to implement at all hospitals and equivalent medical institutions. In accordance with the plan, the Regulation has been amend and it was promulgated on January 9,1990, thus establishing a legal ground for implementing the policy. Subsequently, however, the Medical Association raised its objection to the policy, causing a delay in moving into the second stage of the plan. Under these circumstances, a study was conducted by collecting and evaluating the opinions of physicians, nurses, non-medical personnel and patients on the need and expected result from the home health care for the purpose of help facilitating the implementation of the new system. As a result of this study, it was revealed that: 1. Except the physicians, absolute majority of all other three groups - nurses, non-medical personnel and patients -gave positive answers to all 11 items related to the need for establishing a program for Home Health Care. Among the physicians, the opinions on the need for the new services were different depending on their field of specialty, and those who have been treating long term patients were more positive in supporting the new system. 2. The respondents in all four groups held very positive view for the effectiveness and the expected result of the program. The composite total of scores for all of 17 items, however, re-veals that the physicians were least positive for the- effectiveness of the new system. The people in all four groups held high expectation on the system on the ground that: it will help continued medical care after the discharge from hospitals; that it will alleviate physical and economic burden of patient's family; that it will offer nursing services at home for the patients who are suffering from chronic disease, for those early discharge from hospital, or those who are without family members to look after the patients at home. 3. Opinions were different between patients( who will receive services) and nurses (who will provide services) on the types of services home visiting nurses should offer. The patients wanted "education on how to take care patients at home", "making arrangement to be admitted into hospital when need arises", "IV injection", "checking blood pressure", and "administering medications." On the other hand, nurses believed that they can offer all 16 types of services except "Controlling pain of patients", 4. For the question of "what types of patients are suitable for Home Health Care Program; " the physicians, the nurses and non-medical personnel all gave high score on the cases of "patients of chronic disease", "patients of old age", "terminal cases", and the "patients who require long-term stay in hospital". 5. On the question of who should control Home Health Care Program, only physicians proposed that it should be done through hospitals, while remaining three groups recommended that it should be done through public institutions such as public health center. 6. On the question of home health care fee, the respondents in all four groups believed that the most desireable way is to charge a fixed amount of visiting fee plus treatment service fee and cost of material. 7. In the case when the Home Health Care Program is to be operated through hospitals, it is recommended that a new section be created in the out-patient department for an exclusive handling of the services, instead of assigning it to an existing section. 8. For the qualification of the nurses for-home visiting, the majority of respondents recommended that they should be "registered nurses who have had clinical experiences and who have attended training courses for home health care". 9. On the question of if the program should be implemented; 74.0% of physicians, 87.5% of non-medical personnel, and 93.0% of nurses surveyed expressed positive support. 10. Among the respondents, 74.5% of -physicians, 81.3% of non-medical personnel and 90.9% of nurses said that they would refer patients' to home health care. 11. To the question addressed to patients if they would take advantage of home health care; 82.7% said they would if the fee is applicable to the Health Insurance, and 86.9% said they would follow advises of physicians in case they were decided for early discharge from hospitals. 12. While 93.5% of nurses surveyed had heard about the Home Health Care Program, only 38.6% of physicians surveyed, 50.9% of non-medical personnel, and 35.7% of patients surveyed had heard about the program. In view of above findings, the following measures are deemed prerequisite for an effective implementation of Home Health Care Program. 1. The fee for home health care to be included in the public health insurance. 2. Clearly define the types and scope of services to be offered in the Home Health Care Program. 3. Develop special programs for training nurses who will be assigned to the Home Health Care Program. 4. Train those nurses by consigning them at hospitals and educational institutions. 5. Government conducts publicity campaign toward the public and the hospitals so that the hospitals support the program and patients take advantage of them. 6. Systematic and effective publicity and educational programs for home heath care must be developed and exercises for the people of medical professions in hospitals as well as patients and their families. 7. Establish and operate pilot projects for home health care, to evaluate and refine their programs.

• 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.

• Journal of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.3
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• pp.53-66
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• 1996

Home Health Care is one part of the total health care system. It includes health care services that link the hospital to the community. While it is important for early discharge patients, home care is also important for people with chronic illnesses or handicapping conditions. In 1989 the Korean government passed a law that opened the way for formal development of home health care services beginning with education programs to certify nurses for home care, and then demonstration home care services. Part of the mandate of the demonstration projects was evaluation of home care services. This study was done in order to provide basic data that would contribute to the development of records that could be used for evaluation through a retrospective audit and to examine the care that had been given in Home Care at Wonju Christian Hospital over a twenty year period from 1974 to 1994. The purposes of the study were : to identify to characteristics of the clients who had received home care, to identify the reasons for client referrals, to identify the nursing problems of these clients, to identify the nursing care provided to these clients, and to identify differences in these areas over the twenty year period. The study was a descriptive study involving a retrospective audit of the client records. Demographic data on all clients were included : 4,171 clients from 2,564 families. Data on referrals, nursing diagnosis and nursing interventions were from even numbered records which had a patient problem list included in the record, 2,801 clients, Frequencies and ANOVA were used in the analysis. The results of the study showed that the majority of the clients were from Wonju city /county. There were more women than men related to the high number of postpartum clients(1,300). The high number of postparttum clients and newborns was also evident in the age distribution. An the number of maternal-child clients decreased over the 20 years, the mean age of the clients increased significantly. Other factors also contributed to this change ; as increasing number of clients with brain injuries or with cancer, and fewer children with burns, osteomyelitis and tuberculosis. There was a decrease in the mean number of visits and mean length of coverage, reflecting a movement towards a short term acute care model. The number of new clents dropped sharply after 1985. The reasons for this are : the development of other treatment alternatives for clients, the establishment of an active wellbaby clinic, many more options plus a decreasing number of new cases of Hansen's Disase, and insurance that allows people with burns to be kept in hospital until skin grafts are healed. Socioeconomic changes have resulted in an increase in the number of cases of cancer, stroke, head injuries following car accidents, and of diabetes. Of the 2,801 client records, 2,541(60.9%) contained a written referral but for 1,802 it contained only the medical diagnosis. The number of records with a referral requesting specific nursing care was 739(29.1%). Many family members who were identified as in need of nursing care had no written referral. Analysis of the patient problem list showed that 41.9% of the enteries were nursing diagnoses. Others incuded medical diagnosis, symptoms, and plans. The most frequently used diagnoses were alteration in nutrition, less than body requirements(115 entries), alteration in skin integrity(114), knowledge deficit(111), pain(78), self-care deficit(66), and alteration in pattern of urinary elimination(50). These are reflected in the NANDA categories for which the highest number of diagnosis was in the Exchanging pattern(446), followed by Moving(178), Feeling(136) and Knowing (115). Analysis of the frequency of interventions showed that exercise and teaching about exercise was the most frequent intervention, followed by teaching concering the need for follow-up care, checking vital signs, managing nutritional problems, managing catheters, giving emotional support, changing dressings, teaching about medication, teaching (subject not specified), teaching about diet, IM and IV medications or fluid, and skin care, in that order. Recommendations included: development of a record that would allow for efficient recording of frequently used nursing diagnoses and nursing interventions: expansion of the catchment area for Home Care at Wonju Christian Hospital ; expansion of the service to provide complication prevention, rehabilitation services, and support to increase the health maintenance /health promotion of the people being served as well as providing client dentered care ; and development of a clinical record that will allow efficient data collection from records, even though the recording is done by a variety of health care providers.