• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.312-327
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• 2021

Background: Infection prevention and control (IPC) to manage healthcare-associated infection (HCAI) has emerged as one of the most significant public health issues in Korea. The purpose of this study is to draw implications in IPC policies by analyzing the context, process, and major actors in policy development and comparatively analyzing IPC policy contents of Korea with three other countries. Additionally, IPC policies were analyzed in the context of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to provide implications for future pandemics and HCAI events. Methods: This study incorporates a qualitative approach based on document and content analysis, applying codes and thematic categorization. IPC policy contents are comparatively analyzed by adopting the concept model, developed by the World Health Organization, which consists of core components of IPC structure at the national and facility level. Results: National IPC policies were developed within a complex social and political context, through the involvement of various stakeholders. IPC policies in Korea place a high emphasis on establishing IPC programs and built environments in healthcare facilities, whereas there were potentials for improvement in policies involving patients and promoting a safety culture. IPC policies, which currently focus on general hospitals and certain functions of hospitals, should further be expanded to target all healthcare facilities and functions, to ensure more efficient and sustainable IPC responses in the current and future disease outbreaks. Conclusion: IPC is a complex policy arena and lessons learned from the analysis of existing policies in the context of COVID-19 should provide valuable strategic implications for future policies.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.156-171
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• 1996

Background: Nosocomial infection control is one of important means to assure the quality of medical care in the hospital, however, it has been neglected by most of the hospital personnels. Of nosocomial infections, urinary tract infection is the highest incidence, which is related to the indwelling catheter. It is, therefore, necessary to pay primary attention to the patients with the indwelling catheter in intensive care unit in order to control nosocomial Infection and to improve the quality of medical care in the hospital. Methods : The subjects of this study were patients with indwelling catheter who were admitted to the ICU of Pusan Paik Hospital from March 1994 to May 1995. The author calculated UTI rate among the subjects through the cultivation of the urine, identified the related factors of the UTI through brain storming of study team and head nurses working at ICU, and analized the effectiveness of the proposed approaches through comparing the infection rates of before and after activities. Results : The major activities carried out by the study team were to conduct in-service education programs for the staffs working at ICU about the importance of the nosocomial infection control in QA, and nursing intervention to reduce the UTI rate among the patients with indwelling catether. 1. The major nursing interventions that the study team had implemented were as follows ; 1) Drainage system was changed from partial open system to completely closed system. 2) Bladder irrigation which was routinely practised in all patients stopped among the noninfected patients. 3) Bladder irrigation set was changed to the disposable one. 4) Catheter was inserted under the anesthesia for patients to be operated. 5) Male patient receiving wrapped with gauze after perineal care was not wrapped. 6) Clamp which had not been before was newly attached to drainage tube. 7) Urine bag which had been packed into a lot of pieces was done into each piece. 8) The interval of change of indwelling catheter had regularly been four weeks, however it was used continously until it worked well. 9) Catheter was attached well at the defined site. 10) Paper towel was used instead of cotton towel. 11) Mats at the entrance were removed and cleansing of wards was enhanced. 2. The UTI rate by month was 34.4% in maximum and 9.8% in minimum during the period of this study, however it had gradually decreased. After 6 months from initiating infection control activities, the trend of rates was relatively stable. It was identified that UTI rate was different by season 12.5% in winter and 27.2% in summer. 3. Utilization rate of indwelling catheter was maintained at under 50%, but it was increased above 57% from April 1995. 4. The number of bladder irrigation sets used per day was 33.3 sets in maximum and 2.8 sets in minimum. The number used per day were also remarkably deceased. Conclusion : It was found that a program to control UTI could contribute to nosocomial infection control, and it was, in turn, a mean to assure the quality of medical care in the hospital. The nursing interventions which this study team had implemented were effective in the reduce of UTI rates.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.233-242
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• 2021

Background: The importance of infection with COVID-19 is being emphasized in dentistry with high risks such as aerosols. The purpose of this study is to investigate the knowledge and practice of infection control, stress and coping, and turnover of dental hygienists. Methods: Questionnaire was conducted knowledge and practice of infection control, occupational stress and coping, turnover. Survey data was investigated about 149 dental hygienists from February to March 2021 Data were analyzed t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation using statistical programs of PASW Statistics ver. 21.0. Results: Regarding occupational stress, relationship conflict was higher in the group with less than 2 years of experience (p<0.05). Job anxiety, organizational system, inadequate compensation, and workplace culture were highly surveyed in the 3 to 5 year of experience. The group with more than 6 years of experience had the highest perception of lack of job autonomy (p<0.05). The group with higher knowledge of infection control had lower mean inappropriate rewards and stress (p<0.05). The group with high infection control performance had a lower average in items such as job instability, organizational system, inadequate compensation, workplace culture, and stress. And problem-focused coping ability was found to be high (p<0.05). Infection control knowledge and performance were positively correlated (r=0.251, p<0.01), infection control practice and stress were negatively correlated (r=-0.264, p<0.01), and stress and emotional coping were positively correlated (r=0.367, p<0.01). Stress was positively correlated with turnover rate (r=0.549, p<0.01). Conclusion: Infection control training was required to reduce occupational stress. Occupational stress was highly correlated with turnover, a holistic and systemic organizational operation and improvement of the quality of medical care were required to reduce stress.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.280-292
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• 2016

This descriptive survey assessed knowledge of intensive care unit (ICU) nurses regarding compliance with infection control for six kinds of multi-drug resistant organisms to assist in development of effective intervention strategies. Participants included 210 nurses working in the ICUs of general hospitals who completed a structured questionnaire. The results showed that the nurses' knowledge level and infection control compliance was 10.54 and 3.39 for MRSA; 11.25 and 3.69 for VRE; and 9.60 and 3.49 for CRGNB, respectively[ED highlight - consider providing additional information to describe what these values indicate.]. Knowledge regarding MRSA infection control differed significantly based on age, clinical experience, and experience as a trainee, while compliance with MRSA infection control differed based on age. Knowledge regarding VRE infection control was significantly different based on academic qualification level, experience as a trainee, and whether guidelines existed, while compliance with VRE infection control differed based on academic qualification level and the presence of an isolation environment. Knowledge regarding CRGNB infection control differed significantly based on academic qualification level and experience as a trainee, while compliance with CRGNB infection control differed based on the presence of an isolation environment. Thus, intervention strategies should include education programs for enhancing ICU nurse' knowledge regarding strategies for creating isolation environments.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.181-192
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• 2001

The purpose of this was to evaluate the level of knowledge about Hepatitis B and AIDS among dental hygiene students at six dental hygiene educational programs in nationwide, compare the findings to those of Song's study. 1703 dental hygiene students surveyed by mail and answered a questionnaire, using the questionnaire used developed by DiClemente el al., on Hepatitis B vaccination, antibody production, experience of unintentional needle stick injuries, experience of surgical operation and blood transfusion, personal risk factors for HBV and HIV, management of HBV and HIV postexposure management et al. The data indicated that dental hygiene students (79.0%) in this study had more HIV vaccination than dental hygiene(74.3%) in Song's study. As for recognition of antibody production after Hepatitis B vaccination, only 34.6% of respondents answered they knew having antibody production and 95% of respondents knew not having antibody production. Over one-half of the respondents (55%) answered they didn't even recognize having antibody production. 52.3 percent of dental hygiene students experienced unintentional needle stick injuries. The findings on the knowledge about Hepatitis B and AIDS were that dental hygienists (76.5 points) received higher mean score than those of dental hygiene students (71.0 points) and that the distribution of right answer rate also showed wider range in dental hygiene students (27.7~97.5%) than those of dental hygienist (41.2~99.5%). There were no statistical differences among dental hygiene education programs. Finding of this study support that the curriculum of dental hygiene program should include instruction on sources and methods of transmission of infectious diseases, risk of virus transmission in the workplace and principles of infection control. Furthermore, infection-control practices should be utilized routinely and their application to dental personnel, management of HBV and HIV postexposure management. Furthermore, for preventing the further spread of infectious diseases (HBV, HIV and AIDS${\cdots}$) caused by bloodborne viruses, imposing an obligation rather than recommendation on Hepatitis B vaccination to all dental personnel and routinely utilizing infection-control guidelines for all dental patients in dental practices (include dental educational programs) should be accomplished by coordination the government agency.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.7039-7043
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• 2013

A liver fluke, Opisthorchis viverrrini (OV), is the major cause of the high incidence of cholangiocarcinoma in North-eastern Thailand. The prevalence of OV infection remains high in various parts of the country, especially in wetland rural areas where a large proportion of the community work in agriculture and continue the traditional practice of eating raw or uncooked cyprinoid fish products. The national control program seems to have had little impact in many of these areas, and it has been difficult to make precise assessments of the overall effectiveness of the program. Therefore there is a need for a community-based approach to prevent infection with the parasite, ideally involving as many players as possible. Here we document an attempt to assess the best means to prevention on the basis of a community intervention in three villages in north-east Thailand, with participation of representatives of Health Promotion Hospitals of the Ministry of Public Health with dedicated staff, but also school teachers, independent government sponsored village health volunteers, and housewives responsible for cooking and diet selection. An action plan was followed, allowing detailed discussions of practical proposals, their introduction and then repeated reflection and further proposals at the individual village level.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.159-166
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• 2021

This study was an attempt to develop a multidrug resistant organisms infection control simulation program for nurses at small and medium sized hospitals and to evaluate the effectiveness of said simulation program. This is a single-group, pre-post experimental design study conducted on 33 nurses working at small and medium sized hospitals. Data obtained were analyzed using the IBM SPSS 21.0 program, along with the use of descriptive statistics and paired t-test. Regarding the results of the study, multdrug resistant organisms infecion control knowledge(t=-10.764, p<.001)and performance levels(t=-4.215, p<.001) of the nurses displayed statistically significant increases following application of the simulation program. There is a need for the development of more diversified simulation programs in the future since the improvement in the infection control knowledge and performance levels of nurses is important to block the spread of multidrug resistant organisms and prevent infection outbreak thereof with medical institutions.

• Journal of Korean Academic Society of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.5-14
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• 2023

Purpose: This study aims to identify the degree of anxiety and depression related to infection control and job stress in clinical nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, it seeks to identify the effects of depression. Finally, it intends to develop intervention measures to prevent depression in clinical nurses during epidemics of new infectious diseases and prepare basic data for developing educational programs. Methods: Data were collected using a self-report questionnaire survey administered to 208 nurses. The data were analyzed using the IBM SPSS (Version 26.0) statistics program. Results: The correlation analysis between participant depression, anxiety, and infection control job stress found that depression had a positive correlation with anxiety (r=.63, p<.001) and infection control work stress (r=.26, p<.001). Anxiety (β=0.60, p<.001) was found to significantly affect participant depression with an explanatory power of 40.2%, confirming that higher anxiety levels induce increased depression. Conclusion: Based on the above results, anxiety is confirmed to be a factor that affects depression. Accordingly, education is required to strengthen individuals' physical and mental capabilities and promote a safe working environment, including providing sufficient personal protective devices and other appropriate gear to defend clinical nurses against outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases at medical institutions and through healthcare policies. Other considerations should include sufficient rest hours and paying additional benefits for nurses caring for patients with severe confirmed COVID-19.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.12 no.12
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• pp.313-320
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• 2012

A dental treatment room is always exposed to diverse kinds of pathogenic bacteria, and may be a mediating place of cross-infection given being contaminated the interior of a room through several routes in the form of patient's secretion and aerosol. The main agent of preventing cross-infection is a dental hygienist in the dental treatment and the dental treatment room where are scattered about a risk of cross-infection. A dental hygienist needs to have right recognition on infection control before being active as a clinical expert. This infection-control recognition level is influenced from the clinical practice. Accordingly, to survey recognition of infection control, a self-administered questionnaire research was conducted targeting 314 students who are fixed the clinical practice as regular subject in the junior course out of curriculum for the Department of Dental Hygiene at some of 4-year universities. Data collection was performed from December 9, 2011 to February 22, 2012. Except 11 copies of questionnaire with insincere response among the collected materials, 303 copies were finally analyzed by using SPSS WIN 20.0. The following conclusions were obtained. In the infection disease section, both on and off campus showed 4.89 points from 'the importance of recognizing the infections prevention', 4.65 points from 'recognizing the compulsory preventative injection for hepatitis type B', 4.77 points from 'recognizing the necessity of the preventative injection for hepatitis type B', 4.71 points from 'whether practice the prevention in reality or not', and 4.76 points from 'the educational helps to the prevention'. In other words, the section recorded the highest and meaningful points. It is considered to be needed the development in systematic and diverse infection-control educational programs and the differentiated education depending on school year for dental hygiene students.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.559-565
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• 2018

The identification and characterization of pathogenic and zoonotic tick-borne diseases like granulocytic anaplasmosis are essential for developing effective control programs. The differential diagnosis of pathogenic Anaplasma phagocytophilum and non-pathogenic A. phagocytophilum-like Anaplasma spp. is important for implementing effective treatment from control programs. The objective of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of Anaplasma spp. in horses in Korea by nucleotide sequencing and restriction enzyme fragment length polymorphism assay. Of the 627 horses included in the study, only 1 (0.2%) was infected with A. phagocytophilum. Co-infection with A. phagocytophilumlike Anaplasma spp. was not detected in the study. The 16S rRNA sequence of A. phagocytophilum was similar (99.5-100%) to A. phagocytophilum 16S rRNA isolated from horses in other countries. PCR adapted to amplify A. phagocytophilum groEL and msp2 genes failed to generate amplicons, suggesting genetic diversity in these genes. This study is the first molecular detection of A. phagocytophilum in horses in Korea. Human granulocytic anaplasmosis and animal infection of A. phagocytophilum have been reported in Korea recently. Because of vector tick distribution, global warming, and the increase of the horse industry, horses should be considered as a potential reservoir for A. phagocytophilum, and cross infectivity should be evaluated even though a low prevalence of infection was detected in this study. Furthermore, continuous surveillance and effective control measures for A. phagocytophilum should be established to prevent disease distribution and possible transmission to humans.