• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• 제19권2호
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• pp.99-108
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• 2016

Hospice palliative care (HPC) in Korea has developed steadily since its introduction in 1965. Currently, HPC in Korea is targeted only towards terminal cancer patients and their families, and the national health insurance scheme covers only inpatient hospice care for said patients. In recent years, healthcare professionals and policy makers began to recognize the need for HPC services in diverse settings including outside hospital boundaries, and for all terminally-ill patients. A law on HPC passed in January 2016 allows terminally-ill patients to refuse life-sustaining treatments, and will likely facilitate further development of HPC services. It is critical for the government and all interested parties in the medical, academic and social sectors to collaborate to ensure its success once it takes effect in 2017. This article will briefly review the half-century history of HPC in Korea, and discuss how to prepare for and cope with death and, thereby, improve the quality of death.

• 한국컴퓨터정보학회논문지
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• 제24권5호
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• pp.121-130
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to explore the level of the moral distress for nurses working in long-term care hospitals or nursing homes, and identify factors that influence the moral distress. Data were collected through self-reported questionnaires including the Korean version of Moral Distress Scale-Revised (KMDS-R), Jefferson Empathy Scale for Health professionals (K-JSE-HP), Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire (K-MSQ), and the Hospital Ethical Climate Survey (HECS). A total of 194 nurses from 11 long-term care hospitals or 27 nursing homes completed the structured questionnaires. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 25. As results, the mean score for moral distress was $73.81{\pm}51.29$ in this study. The moral distress of nurses working at nursing homes was higher than that of nurses working in long-term care hospitals. Among the sub-factors of moral distress, the 'futile care' was the highest score and the 'limit to claim the ethical issue' was the lowest. The main factor affecting moral distress among nurses in this study was the ethical climate of organization. In this paper, we propose that in order to effectively reduce the moral distress of nurses working in a long-term care hospital or a nursing home, it is more impactful to address structural issues related to the caregiver workplace than to adjust individual factors.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• 제7권1호
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• pp.5-14
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• 2005

Since the Human Genome Project(HGP) has begun in the mid 1980s, the sequencing of the human genome has been finally completed in 2001. The knowledge developed from the HGP has revolutionized how health care professionals think about patient care, mandating a new paradigm of patient care in totally inconceivable ways from the past. For instance, the patients at risk for disease can be identified early enough for intervention; the medicine can be tailored for individual patients based on their own genetic information ; the gene therapy could be a common procedure in the near future. The advancement in genetics, therefore, requires the shift of paradigm not only in nursing education, practice, but also in nursing research. It is attempted, in this article to introduce briefly the basic knowledge of genetics, the pharmacogenomics, and the overview of national genetic research initiated and organized by the Center for Functional Analysis of Human Genome in Korea. The current state of nursing genetic knowledge and its implications on nursing education, practice, and research has examined. Furthermore, the visions and the opportunities for nursing science and practice to participate in this genetic revolution were also explored.

• 대한치과의사협회지
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• 제48권1호
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• pp.6-11
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• 2010

Amid the rapid transitions in both local and international markets, the Korean dental industry is facing more challenges than at any time in its history. This paper tried to address some of the key issues faced by the industry as well as the policy issues and I direction of implementation that the Korean Dental Association (KDA) is expected to tackle. First, the direction of reforming the country's health insurance system was examined with emphasis on the expected changes in and improvement of the fee-for-service reimbursement system (FFSRS) and medical reimbursement system (MRS). With FFSRS, the most urgent issue would be ameliorating the current lop-sided, unreasonable reimbursement system that prevents suppliers from voicing their opinions. To help achieve that goal, the limited authority and responsibility of the president of National Health Insurance Corporation (NHIC) as one of the contract-making parties must be clarified. In addition, the functions of NHIC's Health Insurance Finance Committee must be restricted; at the same time, the panel organization of the Health Insurance Policy Review Committee needs to be reformed to embrace greater democracy. As with MRS, the government is considering a block budget bill to help promote efficiency in employing and managing the health insurance fund. Policymakers must understand that the implementation of such proposal could exacerbate an already dire situation. Improving MRS requires meeting the following preconditions: (a) the structurally vicious cycle of small charge-small salary needs to be resolved, and a certain percentage of fee raise must be guaranteed on a yearly basis to help adjust the fee system to a more realistic level; (b) the supply-and-demand balance in producing health care professionals must be improved including the prevention of oversupply of doctors, nurses, etc., and; (c) institutional strategies must be provided to enhance the quality of medical care and ensure academic advancement in health care disciplines.

• 보건의료산업학회지
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• 제1권1호
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• pp.138-153
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• 2007

As the level of the national income has been improved and the whole nation health insurance project has been spread, medical demand for dental health is also increasing. To cope with the increased medical demand, the need of dental health education and preventive dental care is recognized, and the number of dental hygienists is being increased with increase in dental clinics and hospitals. While more weight is actually given to treatment than prevention in hospitals, emphasis is placed on prevention in public health centers of state-run organizations and dental hygienists are performing the duty. According to this, dental hygienists shall be treated and recognized as professionals, who instruct people in dental health and assist the dentists in hospitals. Therefore to suggest vision to the students of department of dental hygiene, give them a solid motive, and inspire them with professional sense so that they can devote themselves to their duty with pride and self-confidence in the field can lead to contribution to dental health of each individual and the whole nation, in order to train them to be dental hygienists who are active and strive for change and development as professionals and capable of adapting themselves to the field of dental medicine. In this study, the professional sense and the recognition of the way of students belonging to department of dental hygiene were examined and based on this, a new direction for department of dental hygiene of three-year college was suggested.

• 기본간호학회지
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• 제16권3호
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• pp.316-324
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• 2009

Purpose: The aim of the study was to identify the relationships among age, activities of daily living and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) for centenarians in Busan. Methods: Forty-nine centenarians (2 males and 47 females) participated in the study, done from April to July, 2006. Pace-to-face interviews were used to collect data. Activities of daily living were measured using K-ADL, K-IADL and health-related quality of life, using the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). Results: Over 50% of the centenarians reported independence for six-items but not for bathing. With regard to type of dependency, 77.6% were independent in transferring, 71.4%, in using the toilet, 67.3%, in feeding and in continence and 57.1% in dressing but just 24.5% were independent in bathing. Age was significantly associated with K-IADL (r= -.303, p= .03). The centenarians were more impaired in physical health components compared to mental health components for health-related quality of life. Conclusion: These results may contribute to a better understanding of activities of daily living and health-related quality of life of centenarians. The findings are relevant to health professionals, in particular professionals who are developing wellness programs to optimize health-related quality of life and functional status for the extremely old age population.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제13권8호
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• pp.3569-3572
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• 2012

Social support is regarded as a complex construct which has long been suggested to have direct and buffering effects on patients' wellbeing and emotional adjustment to cancer. Cross-sectional and prospective studies show a positive association between perceived social support and psychological adjustment following cancer treatment. Research findings suggest that the evidence for the relationship between social support and cancer progression is sufficiently strong. This report points out the importance of social support in cancer and provides recommendations for health care professionals.

• 보건행정학회지
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• 제18권4호
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• pp.125-147
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to propose the factors affecting collaboration between community nurses and social workers in Korea. Data that is used in this study, were collected from 295 provider respondents by questionnaire, additionally from telephone survey and secondary data review. This study focuses on the working relationship between professionals in the field of health and social care. Based on the literature review, this study proposes a conceptual framework for collaboration between nurses and social workers in community health and social care. The dependent variable in this study is collaboration. It reveals whether or not the inter-professional works and shows the level of collaboration. The independent variables are categorized in: the client characteristics (frailty of client, client-provider relationship); the provider characteristics (specialization, perception of interdependence, perception of the other professional); the organization characteristics (closeness of the other professional, autonomy, on-the-job training, evaluation-reward); and the community characteristics (urbanization, capacity of resources). Major findings are as follows: First, the factors that appear to have the strongest impact on whether or not inter-professional working of respondent sampled are: the perception of other professional; the perception of interdependence; closeness of, the, other professional; and the frailty of client. Secondly, the factors that found to have the most significant effect on level of cooperation are: the perception of, the other professional; on-the-job training; evaluation-reward; and the closeness of the other professional.

• 부모자녀건강학회지
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• 제14권1호
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• pp.36-44
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• 2011

Purpose: This study was conducted to explore foreign immigrant mothers' experiences of pregnancy, childbirth, and child rearing. Methods: Ten married female migrants were selected by a purposive and snowball sampling method. Data were collected during the period from September to November, 2009 by individual in-depth interviews and all interviews were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. Results: Ten categories were induced: In pregnancy and childbirth domain, social support-request help to their own parents, social support-depending on husband and mother's in law, Enduring emesis-gravidarum in strange environment were extracted. In Chid-rearing domain, child-rearing overburden, lack of self-confidence on maternal role, child-rearing difficulties due to language barrier, lack of information and education on child-rearing, lack of accessibility to public health care services, expectation of child's assimilation in Korea, financial strain in child-rearing. Conclusion: This study provides basic knowledge regarding married female migrants' experiences related to pregnancy, childbirth, and child rearing. The findings of the study will help health professionals designing effective interventions for married female migrants with difficulties related to child care, parenting, rearing.

• Journal of Audiology & Otology
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• 제24권1호
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• pp.40-47
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• 2020

Because the psychophysical symptoms of hearing loss and dementia in the elderly are very similar, untrained healthcare professionals in dementia facilities can easily overlook a severity of hearing loss in their patients. The present study identifies their knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) on hearing loss using a survey whether they may help hearing problem of the patients with dementia. A total of 29 health-care professionals responded to the KAP survey. Also, 2 family members participated. The results showed that most of the nurses and caregivers in elderly medical welfare facilities who worked with dementia patients did not have knowledge of their hearing loss. Even the facility managers did not know how to conduct hearing tests for their patients although they did recognize that some of their patients had a hearing loss. Eventually, actual practice was not possible at this moment by the professionals. However, our respondents did have a positive attitude toward screening for hearing loss and help their patients with dementia wear hearing aids if a clinical guideline was provided. We suggest to develop clear and precise clinical guidelines of the hearing screening test for the dementia patients due to the interrelationship between dementia and hearing loss. When these guidelines apply to elderly residents in a medical welfare facility, early diagnosis and treatment of their sensory loss will help alleviate their dementia as well.