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A Study on the Determinants of Consumer-Oriented Nursing Service Quality;SERVQUAL Model based (소비자 중심의 간호서비스 질 결정요인에 관한 연구;SERVQUAL모형을 중심으로)

  • Joo, Mee-Kyoung
    • Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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    • v.8 no.1
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    • pp.169-191
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    • 2002
  • As the tendency of the society is centralized into consumers and services, patients are getting to ask better medical services. The consumers influenced from various social surroundings became to have some expectation of nursing service. Compared with their expectation, the quality of the services which they virtually get may be recognized and evaluated. So it is necessary to know exactly what the consumers want in nursing services. The purpose of this study is to examine the determinants which can evaluate the quality of nursing services by researching into consumers' expectation and perception of the nursing services depending on the consumer-oriented attributions on the basis of the model of SERVQUAL. 1,144 of outpatients were selected as the subjects for this research. They used to continuously visit the same hospital after being hospitalized and nursed in 9 hospitals randomly selected among the second-level medical organizations in Seoul from January to February, 2001. The collected data are analyzed into the Descriptive Statistics, t-test, GLM and Multiple Regression through the SAS program. Delphi was used for the research tool and the results of the research are as follows; the determinants in evaluating the quality of nursing services consist of 5 categories such as Tangibility, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, Empathy. The values of Cronbach' $\alpha$ appeared to be 0.96 in the expectation of nursing services, 0.94 in the perception of nursing services and 0.96 in the importance of nursing services. The determinants in the expectation of nursing services were ranged in the order of Assurance, Empathy, Reliability, Responsiveness and Tangibility. And those in the perception of nursing services were in the order of Assurance, Empathy, Reliability, Tangibility and Responsiveness. Those in the importance of nursing service were in the order of Empathy, Assurance, Reliability, Tangibility and Responsiveness. Finally, those in the quality of nursing service were in the order of Tangibility, Responsiveness, Empathy, Reliability and Assurance. Each expectation of nursing services appeared different depending on the subjects' age, gender, clinical department and reason for hospitalization. The hypothesis examined in this research shows that the group having higher personal needs shows meaningful differences in the expectation of nursing services, and the subjects who have had external communication show higher perception of nursing service than uncommunicative ones. After all, we can see that the statistical differences in the perception of nursing services depend on whether the subjects have external communications or not. The determinants in the expectation of nursing services can explain the quality of nursing service up to 14.96%. The statistically meaningful determinants in the expectation could be arranged in the order of Reliability, Assurance and Tangibility. And the more expectation brings about the lower evaluation of the quality of nursing services. The determinants in the perception of nursing service can explain the quality of nursing services up to 29.85%. The statistically meaningful determinants in the perception could be arranged in the order of Responsiveness, Reliability, Tangibility, Empathy, and Assurance. And the more perception brings about the higher evaluation of the quality of nursing services. According to the result of the above research, I would like to propose as follows. As long as this research is oriented to get knowledge of the consumer-oriented nursing services, it should be continued to draw the other elements determining the quality of the nursing services. Furthermore, this research is based upon the Parasuraman, A., et al.'s SERVQUAL Model(1991), which deals only expectation, perception and quality of consumer-oriented nursing services, so it will be necessary to inspect and verify it through the other models containing the offerers of nursing services in the future. On the other hand, as this research evaluates the actual quality of nursing services based on the expectation and perception of nursing services, it can be utilized as fundamental data to develop the marketing strategies and to estimate the qualities as well. I hope this research will be periodically estimated to be the useful data to develop the marketing strategies in the nursing service area.

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A Study on the Mobile Medical Service Program -Based on the Community Diagnosis of a Remote Farm Area- (순회진료사업(巡回診療事業)의 문제점(問題点)과 개선방향(改善方向) (일부(一部) 무의지역에 대(對)한 지역사진단(地域社診斷)을 중심(中心)으로))

  • Park, Hung-Bae;Choi, Dong-Wook
    • Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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    • v.11 no.1
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    • pp.86-97
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    • 1978
  • The mobile medical service has been operated for many years by a number of medical schools and hospitals as a most convenient means of medical service delivery to the people residing in such area where the geographical and socioeconomic conditions are not good enough to enjoy modern medical care. Despite of official appraisal showing off simply with numbers of outpatients treated and medical persons participated, however, as well recognized, the capability (in respect of budget, equipment and time) of those mobile medical teams is so limitted that it often discourages the recipients as well as medical participants themselves. In the midst of rising need to secure medical service of good quality to all parts of the country, and of developing concept of primary health care system, authors evaluated the effectiveness of and problems associated with mobile medical servies program through the community diagnosis of a village (Opo-myun, Kwangju-gun) to obtain the information which may be halpful for future improvement. 1. Owing to the nationwide Sae-Maul movement powerfully practiced during last several years, living environment of farm villages generally and remarkably improved including houses, water supply and wastes disposal etc. Neverthless, due to limitations in budget time and lack of knowledge (probably the most important), these improvements tend to keep up appearances only and are far from the goal which may being practical benefit in promoting the health of the community. 2. As a result of intensive population policy led by the government since 1962, there has been considerable advances in understanding and the rate of practicing family planning through out the villages and yet, one should see many things, especially education, to be done. Fifty eight per cent of mothers have not received prenatal check and the care for most (72%) delivery was offered by laymen at home. 3. Approximately seven per cent of the population was reported to have chronic illness but since only a few (practically none) of the people has had physical check up by doctors, the actual prevalence of chronic diseases may reach many times of the reported. The same fact was observed also in prevalence of tuberculosis; the patients registered at local health center totaled 31 comprising only 0.51% while the numbers in two neighboring villages (designated as demonstration area of tuberculosis control and mass examination was done recently) were 3.5 and 4.0% respectively. Prevalence rate of all dieseses and injuries expereinced during one month (July, 1977) was 15.8%. Only one tenth of those patients received treatment by physicians and one fifth was not treated at all. The situation was worse as for the chronic patients; 84% of all cases either have never been treated or discontinued therapy, and the main reasons were known to be financial difficulty and ignorance or indifference. 4. Among the patients treated by our mobile clinic, one third was chronic cases and 45% of all patients, by the opinion of doctors attended, were those who may be treated by specially trained nurses or other paramedics (objects of primary care). Besides, 20% of the cases required professional managements of level beyond the mobile team's capability and in this sense one may conclude that the effectiveness (performance) of present mobile medical team is quite limitted. According to above findings, the authors would like to suggest following for mobile medical service and overall medicare program for the people living in remote country side. 1. Establishment of primary health care system secured with effective communication and evacuation (between villages and local medical center) measures. 2. Nationwide enforcement of medical insurance system. 3. Simple outpatient care which now constitutes the main part of the most mobile medical services should largely be yielded up to primary health care unit of the village and the mobile team itself should be assigned on new and more urgent missions such as mass screening health examination of the villagers, health education with modern and effective audiovisual aids, professional training and consultant services for the primary health care organization.

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A Study on Health Aspects of Daily Life of Elementary School Children in an Urban Area (일부도시국민학교취학아동의 보건생활에 관한 실태조사연구)

  • 구외행
    • Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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    • v.3 no.3
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    • pp.36-49
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    • 1973
  • This study was carried out for the objectives to collect the basic informations on the health behaviors of the elementary school children in an urban area in Korea. Seven hundred students were drawn to fill in the designed questionnaire which carries variety of Questions on health re-lated behaviors in general, eating habits, disease history, mental health, and sex education. Questionnaire were filled in by their parents. Major findings are as follows: ① 55.7% had habits of washing the hands before eating whereas 59.8% trashing their hands after toilet. The others had no idea of washing hands before eating and after toilet. ② 26,5% had habits of brushing the teeth twice a day 54.7% only once in the morning, and 2.6% once only in the evening. Thus, the idea of prevention from decayed teeth seems to be lacking among the school children. ③ Bathing habits were also inquired to get 40.3% of bathing more than once a week, 43.1% once every two weeks, and the rest of 16.6% once every one to three months. ④ 41.7% keep the regular bedding time whereas 58.3% irregular. Physical exercises were con-ducted by 76.6% on the ground while 23.5% did not practice any physical exercises at all. Of those physical exercises, rope skipping occupied 37.5%, and the other 66.9% consisted of 14 different kinds of individual type physical exercises such as gymnastic exercise. The main reasons for not enjoying exercises were different by sex; boys largely complained the inadequacy and lack of gymnastic facilities and girls felt in short of friends who could join the exercises. ⑤ 31.9% of the school children had been taking not much of food while 28.3% had unbalanced diets. Of these unbalanced diets, meat occupied 33.2% to be the priority to have an order of the following items such as vegetables, bread or noodle, and fishes as next to each. For eating habits, 88.5% take simple snack such as bread (38.4%, cookies, fruits, and candies in order. 25.8% of the children were provided such snacks or their parents regularly. Breakfast was sufficiently taken by 45.0% whereas 8.4% had never sufficiently. As to the lunch, 63.6% had sufficiently while 16.8% insufficiently. 70.6% take breakfast with all family members together and 30.4% separately. Correlation of sufficient taking of breakfast and eating together of tile family member's seems to be significant when we compare 72.5% of sufficient takers who enjoy breakfast together with the family members with 55.6% of insufficient takers who enjoy it with the family. This finding allows the investigator to point out the importance of table circumstances for children's eating. ⑥ The most common disease was catching a cold (38.8%), and the second was stomach trouble to be followed by the frequency of car sickness, headache, and skin infection. Doctors are consulted only by 23.9% when they are sick whereas 59.7% resorted to the drug stores. The lower the educational attainment of the parents, the lower the rate of visiting clinics. ⑦ 36.7% of their parents pointed out the problems of personality guidance as the most difficult thing at home 71.3% of their parents worried about and unsatisfied with their children's personality traits. Of these complains of the parents, impatience stood at the top to be tabulated at 24.1%, and 21.1% indicated narrow-mindedness. In line with this primary socialization at home, the most crucial problem seems to be related with the lack or recognition of the parents'own role when we find only 43.1% of the parents understood the importance of their own role for the home education of children; the latter group attributed tile responsibility of personality formation to the children themselves. ⑧ As to the sex educational aspects, 30.9% of children have ever asked about the physiology of reproduction or sexual matters to their parents, of those parents only 17.0% could give the constructive responses to the inquiries of the children. In companies on with these data, 25.6% recognized their own role in sex education for their own children while the large segments of the parents (51.1%) attributed the responsibility of sex education to tile low level of 38.3% who recognized the importance of sex education in the school curriculum and 25.1% of the parents insisted to wait until they get to know naturally about sex. 38.1% of the parents said they had some knowledge on sex from books while 16.9% through mass media. The next groups had common senses of sex from their own parents, school friends and other sources.

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A Study of Industrial Patients from Selected General Hospitals in the Kyung Pook and Taegu City Areas (일부지역 산업재해환자 실태 연구 -대구, 경북지역 일부 종합병원 중심으로-)

  • 허춘복;남철현
    • Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.78-94
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    • 1991
  • The purpose of this study is to research the actual conditions of industrial accident patients and to produce worker satisfaction and a rational and effective counter measure pain. Direct interviews with 179 cases (in and out patients) were carried out during a three month period from April to July 1990, at six hospitals two general hospitals Sun Lin and Sung Mo in Po Hang, and four general hospitals in Taegu Kyung Pook University Hospital, Dong San Medical Center, Young Nam Medical Center and Catholic Hospital. The results of this study are summarized as follows: 1. Among the 179 cases, 51.6 % were male and 48.4 % were female. The two largest age groups were 30~39, 31.8 % and 20~29, 27.4 %. Among the 179 cases, 51.6% were married, the largest family number was 2 to 3, 41.1% and 4 to 5, 25.6%. Educationally, graduation from high school was the largest group, 46.4% among the patients, followed by middle school and primary school. The largest group income level was from 40~69만원, 45.2%. The largest group of patients who worked over 50 hrs. a week was 52.0%. The largest group of patients who worked less than 1 year was 44.7%, of the patients in work places of less than 100 people, 60.3% were injured and in work places of 100~299 people, 20.1% were injured. In manufacturing, the lagest group injured was 55.3%, the next group was transport, stroage, communication. The largest group of production workers injured was 40.2%. 2. The cause of injury in the largest group was facility problems, 33.5%. The next group was unsafe habits, 30.2% a lack of safety knowledge, 17.9% and insufficient supervision, 12.3%. The 30~39 year age group was head the highest number of injuries, 40.4% work places with more than 10 yeras of work, 44.4% work palces with more than 1000 people, 56.3% and mining accidents, 80.0%. Among these groups the highest cause of injury was due to facility problems. 3. The accident pattern showed machinery injuries 28.5% as the largest group, followed by falls & falling objects 17.3%, fire & electric 15.1%, struke by an object 14.5%, followed by overaction and vehicular accidents. The accident pattern showed 46.4 % among workers over the 50 year age group, workers in the 5~10 year group, 50.0 % places employing more than 1000 workers, 35.3 % : construction 73.7%, and construction workers 57.1%, among these fall & falling objects caused the greatest number of injuries. 4. The largest group of injuries was fractures 54.8%, trauma 14.5%, amputation 11.7%, open wound, and burns. The largest number of fractures occurred in people in the 30~39 year age group, 63.2 % over 10 years of work, 55.6% in work places of 300~400 people, 63.6% construction 63.2% and general workers 57.2 %. 5. The largest group of injuries was upper extremity 45.3%, lower extremity 24.0%, trunk 18.5 % and head or neck 12.2%. Of these groups, upper extremity injuries were the highest in those less 20 years old 75.0%, less than 1 years of work 59.5%, in work places of 500~999 people 60.0%, manufacturing 56.6 % and production workers 55.6%. 6. Periods of injury showed 34 people injured in September, to be the largest followed by October, 32 August, 22 people July, 19 people and the lowest December, 2 people. During the week, Friday had the largest group injured, 35 people followed by Saturday, 26 people and the lowest was Wednesday, 17 people, During the day 1400 hours had the largest group injured, 38 people followed by 800 hours, 31 people. 7. On a basis of 5 as the highest mark, the average, according to worker satisfaction showed facility safety 3.55, work environment 3.47, income 3.44, job 3.21 and treatment 2.98. 8. The correlation between general characteristics and injury showed that age was directly correlated to the duration of work(r=.2591) p<0.01, age was directly correlated to industry (r=2311) p<0.01, and the duration was directly correlated to occupation(r =.4372) p<0.001.

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Manganese and Iron Interaction: a Mechanism of Manganese-Induced Parkinsonism

  • Zheng, Wei
    • Proceedings of the Korea Environmental Mutagen Society Conference
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    • 2003.10a
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    • pp.34-63
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    • 2003
  • Occupational and environmental exposure to manganese continue to represent a realistic public health problem in both developed and developing countries. Increased utility of MMT as a replacement for lead in gasoline creates a new source of environmental exposure to manganese. It is, therefore, imperative that further attention be directed at molecular neurotoxicology of manganese. A Need for a more complete understanding of manganese functions both in health and disease, and for a better defined role of manganese in iron metabolism is well substantiated. The in-depth studies in this area should provide novel information on the potential public health risk associated with manganese exposure. It will also explore novel mechanism(s) of manganese-induced neurotoxicity from the angle of Mn-Fe interaction at both systemic and cellular levels. More importantly, the result of these studies will offer clues to the etiology of IPD and its associated abnormal iron and energy metabolism. To achieve these goals, however, a number of outstanding questions remain to be resolved. First, one must understand what species of manganese in the biological matrices plays critical role in the induction of neurotoxicity, Mn(II) or Mn(III)? In our own studies with aconitase, Cpx-I, and Cpx-II, manganese was added to the buffers as the divalent salt, i.e., $MnCl_2$. While it is quite reasonable to suggest that the effect on aconitase and/or Cpx-I activites was associated with the divalent species of manganese, the experimental design does not preclude the possibility that a manganese species of higher oxidation state, such as Mn(III), is required for the induction of these effects. The ionic radius of Mn(III) is 65 ppm, which is similar to the ionic size to Fe(III) (65 ppm at the high spin state) in aconitase (Nieboer and Fletcher, 1996; Sneed et al., 1953). Thus it is plausible that the higher oxidation state of manganese optimally fits into the geometric space of aconitase, serving as the active species in this enzymatic reaction. In the current literature, most of the studies on manganese toxicity have used Mn(II) as $MnCl_2$ rather than Mn(III). The obvious advantage of Mn(II) is its good water solubility, which allows effortless preparation in either in vivo or in vitro investigation, whereas almost all of the Mn(III) salt products on the comparison between two valent manganese species nearly infeasible. Thus a more intimate collaboration with physiochemists to develop a better way to study Mn(III) species in biological matrices is pressingly needed. Second, In spite of the special affinity of manganese for mitochondria and its similar chemical properties to iron, there is a sound reason to postulate that manganese may act as an iron surrogate in certain iron-requiring enzymes. It is, therefore, imperative to design the physiochemical studies to determine whether manganese can indeed exchange with iron in proteins, and to understand how manganese interacts with tertiary structure of proteins. The studies on binding properties (such as affinity constant, dissociation parameter, etc.) of manganese and iron to key enzymes associated with iron and energy regulation would add additional information to our knowledge of Mn-Fe neurotoxicity. Third, manganese exposure, either in vivo or in vitro, promotes cellular overload of iron. It is still unclear, however, how exactly manganese interacts with cellular iron regulatory processes and what is the mechanism underlying this cellular iron overload. As discussed above, the binding of IRP-I to TfR mRNA leads to the expression of TfR, thereby increasing cellular iron uptake. The sequence encoding TfR mRNA, in particular IRE fragments, has been well-documented in literature. It is therefore possible to use molecular technique to elaborate whether manganese cytotoxicity influences the mRNA expression of iron regulatory proteins and how manganese exposure alters the binding activity of IPRs to TfR mRNA. Finally, the current manganese investigation has largely focused on the issues ranging from disposition/toxicity study to the characterization of clinical symptoms. Much less has been done regarding the risk assessment of environmenta/occupational exposure. One of the unsolved, pressing puzzles is the lack of reliable biomarker(s) for manganese-induced neurologic lesions in long-term, low-level exposure situation. Lack of such a diagnostic means renders it impossible to assess the human health risk and long-term social impact associated with potentially elevated manganese in environment. The biochemical interaction between manganese and iron, particularly the ensuing subtle changes of certain relevant proteins, provides the opportunity to identify and develop such a specific biomarker for manganese-induced neuronal damage. By learning the molecular mechanism of cytotoxicity, one will be able to find a better way for prediction and treatment of manganese-initiated neurodegenerative diseases.

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The Effect of Home economic education teaching plans for students in academic and those in vocational high schools' 'Preparation for Successful aging' in the 'Family life in old age' unit -A comparative study between practical problem-teaching lesson plans and instructor-led teaching and learning plans- (인문계와 가사.실업 전문계 고등학생의 '성공적인 노후생활 준비교육'을 위한 가정과 수업의 적용과 효과 -실천적 문제 중심 수업과 강의식 수업을 중심으로-)

  • Lee, Jong-Hui;Cho, Byung-Eun
    • Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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    • v.23 no.4
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    • pp.105-124
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    • 2011
  • To achieve this objective, practical problem-teaching lesson plans and instructor-led teaching and learning plans were developed and integrated into the Technology Home Economics, and Human Development curricula at both academic and vocational high schools. The impact of these plans was examined, as were connections between the teaching methods and types of schools. As part of this study, a survey was conducted on 1,263 students in 46 classes at 6 randomly selected high schools: 4 academic and 2 vocational. A total of 9 teachers conducted classes for both experimental and comparative groups between October 2009 and November 2010. Pre- and post-tests were used to study the impact of the lessons on the experimental and comparative groups. In terms of data analysis and statistics processing, this study implemented mean and standard deviations, t-test, and analysis of covariance using the SPSS 12.0 program. The results of this study are as follows. The practical problem-teaching lessons produced more positive results in the students than the instructor-led lessons, in terms of their image of the elderly, their level of knowledge about them, their understanding of their need for welfare services, and preparation for Successful aging. When comparing the results by type of school, the experimental groups at academic high schools appeared to have a more positive image and better understanding of the elderly and their need for welfare services, and were better prepared for Successful aging than during their previous lessons. They also showed an increase in independence from their children in aging. As for the comparative groups, students at academic high schools showed an increase in preparation for Successful aging compared to the previous lessons. Finally, as for future research on preparation for aging in high schools, more schools should include this subject in their regular curriculum for Technology Home Economics, Human Development and Home Economics in order to generalize the results, and they need to evaluate the content. Additionally, this study suggests that new high school curricula should include lessons on preparation for aging so that students can deal successfully with our aging society.

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Factors Analysis Related to Health Administration Students' Satisfaction on Hospital Practice (보건행정 전공 대학생들의 병원실습 만족도에 영향을 미치는 요인분석)

  • Park, Eun-Young;Jang, Young-Jin;Hong, Jong-Pil
    • Journal of Korean Clinical Health Science
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    • v.5 no.1
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    • pp.825-833
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    • 2017
  • Purpose .This study aims to assess the influence factors on the level of satisfaction with hospital training and to provide basic data for more efficient hospital practice of students' public health administration . Methods . We have conducted a survey on students satisfaction with their hands on practice against 200 students in Busan, Kyeongnam and Kyungbook area, who have completed their practice in public health administration. We have identified the general characteristics of the target respondents, the current training status of the department for the hospital practice and training venue; also analyzed the characteristics composed of the apprentice student's attitude before the practice, satisfaction with the department training program and hospital for practice, as well as their practice at hospital. The general characteristics of the target respondents and clinic practice status at the hospital were measured in percentage and frequency analysis; the average and standard deviations of hospital size were also measured; and the correlations between satisfaction with the department, attitude towards the practice and satisfaction with the hospital were analyzed. Results . Most public health administration students experienced their practice at the hospital after the first semester on the $2^{nd}$year and they have received the foundation training for the practice. The survey allowed multiple responses and the results are as follows: medical terminology 49.5%, medical coordinator 36.7%, Hospital administration 26.5%, Health insurance 17.3%, and medical recording and practice 13.8% respectively. In terms of each individual student's attitude towards the practice at the hospital, the respondents answered as follows: I have completed the obligatory subjects for the practice before the practice 89.5%; I have been fully informed on the hospital for my practice. 74.5%; I responsibly practiced and worked with professionalism and sense of belonging to the hospital as a member of staff 90%; I have actively learned and adopted 95%; My knowledge and skills from the practice was relevant to the theory and practice from my course 83.5%. The findings of satisfaction by size of hospital were in order of a small clinic($3.24{\pm}0.63$), medium sized clinic($3.27{\pm}0.65$), hospital ($3.20{\pm}0.61$), and large sized comprehensive hospital ($2.93{\pm}0.74$). Consequently the satisfaction rate shows no significant difference by size of hospital. In relations between practice attitude and satisfaction with subject, the matter of acquiring information and fully understanding of the hospital for practice before practice(p=0.04), the matter of a sense of belonging and responsibility at hospital during practice(p=0.33). the matter of active adaptation attitude during practice (p=0.42), and the matter of correlations with school curriculum during practice(p=0.00) showed significant results. In relations between practice attitude and satisfaction with the hospital for practice, the matter of acquiring information and fully understanding of the hospital for practice before practice(p=0.01), the matter of a sense of belonging and responsibility at hospital during practice(p=0.04), and the matter of correlations with school curriculum during practice(p=0.00) showed significant results. Conclusion . The most essential subject for the practice in public health administration is medical terminology and there is no significance in satisfaction with the practice by size of hospital. Students were content with the hospital where they can experience as much as possible. Students content with their major show positive attitude towards the practice and so do those content with the hospital. Those with the positive attitude towards the practice show the high correlation of satisfaction with both the major and hospital. As a result, the satisfaction with the major is the significant attribute to the practice in the hospital.

Effects of stimulus similarity on P300 amplitude in P300-based concealed information test (P300-기반 숨긴정보검사에서 자극유사성이 P300의 진폭에 미치는 영향)

  • Eom, Jin-Sup;Han, Yu-Hwa;Sohn, Jin-Hun;Park, Kwang-Bai
    • Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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    • v.13 no.3
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    • pp.541-550
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    • 2010
  • The present study examined whether the physical similarity of test stimuli affects P300 amplitude and detection accuracy for the P300-based concealed information test (P300 CIT). As the participant pretended suffering from memory impairment by an accident, own name was used as a concealed information to be probed by the P300 CIT in which the participant discriminated between a target and other (probe, irrelevant) stimuli. One group of participants was tested in the easy task condition with low physical similarity among stimuli, the other group was tested in the difficult task condition with high physical similarity among stimuli. Using the base-to-peak P300 amplitude, the interaction effect of task difficulty and stimulus type was significant at $\alpha$=.1 level (p=.052). In the easy task condition the difference of P300 amplitude between the probe and the irrelevant stimuli was significant, while in the difficult task condition the difference was not significant. Using peak-to-peak P300 amplitude, on the other hand, the interaction effect of task difficulty and stimulus type was not significant with significant differences of P300 amplitude between the probe and the irrelevant stimuli in both task difficulty conditions. The difference of detection accuracy between task conditions was not significant with both measures of P300 amplitude although the difference was much smaller when peak-to-peak P300 amplitude was used. The results suggest that the efficiency of P300 CIT would not decrease even when the perceptual similarity among test stimuli is high.

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The Age-related Microstructural Changes of the Cortical Gray and White Matter Ratios on T2-, FLAIR and T1- weighted MR Images (T2, FLAIR, T1 강조 MR영상에서 나이에 따른 뇌피질의 회질과 백질의 미세구조 변화)

  • Choi, Sun-Seob;Kim, Whi-Young;Lee, Ki-Nam;Ha, Dong-Ho;Kang, Myong-Jin;Lee, Jin-Hwa;Yoon, Seong-Kuk
    • Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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    • v.15 no.1
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    • pp.32-40
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    • 2011
  • Purpose : The purpose of this study was to investigate the microstructural changes according to aging on the thickness and signal intensity (SI) of the cortical gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) on the T2-, fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) and T1-weighted MR images in normal subjects. Materials and Methods : The 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90 year age groups of men and women (each 10 individuals) who underwent routine brain MRI, including the T2-, FLAIR and T1-weighted images, were selected for this study. We measured the thickness and the SI of the cortical GM and WM at the postcentral gyrus, which has an even thickness at the level of centrum semiovale, on the axial scans and we calculated the mean values of the thickness ratio of the gray/white matter (TRGW) and the signal intensity ratio of the gray/white matter (SRGW), and we compared the ratios of each age group. Results : On the T2-weighted images, the TRGWs were 0.81 and 0.79 at the age of 10 and they were 0.73 and 0.71 at the age of 90 in the men and women, respectively. So, the GM thickness was decreased more than the WM thickness was with aging. On the FLAIR images, the TRGWs were 1.09 and 1.00 at the age of 10 and they were 1.11 and 0.95 at the age of 70 in the men and women, respectively. On the T1-weighted images, the TRGWs were 0.66 and 0.80 at the age of 10, and the ratio was changed to 0.90 and 0.78 at the age of 90 in the men and women, respectively. On the T2-weighted image, the SRGWs were 1.53 and 1.43 at the age of 10, and they were 1.23 and 1.27 at the age of 90 in the men and women, respectively. On the FLAIR images, the SRGWs were 1.23 and 1.25 at the age of 10 and they were 1.06 and 1.05 at the age of 90 in the men and women, respectively. On the T1-weighted images, the SRGWs were 0.86 and 0.85 at the age of 10, and they were 0.90 and 0.87 at the age of 90 in the men and women, respectively. Conclusion : We suggest that the age-related microstructural changes of the thickness and the SI of the cortical GM and WM on the T2-, FLAIR and T1-weighted images are unique, and so this knowledge will be helpful to differentiate neurodegenerative disease from normal aging of the brain.

Analysis on the trends and causes of inhabitant's behavioral changes in medical institutions's utilization after enforcement of regional medical insurance. (pilot-project area of regional medical insurance; mainly Kun-wi and Kwang-hwa county) (의료보험(醫療保險) 실시이후(實施以後) 지역주민(地域住民)의 의료기관이용행태(醫療機關利用行態) 변화(變化) 추이(推移)와 그 요인(要因)에 관한 조사연구(調査硏究))

  • Park, Jung-Yeon
    • Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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    • v.3 no.2
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    • pp.47-76
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    • 1989
  • The objectives of this study was to analyze the major causes of decreasing utilization rate of health care institutios in pilot-project area of regional medical insurance, Kwang-hwa and Kun-wi country. After the implementation of medical insurance, utilization rate of health institutions turned out' to be lower than it was estimated, when the pilot-project of regional medical insurance was planned. It might be due to changes in inhabitant's behavioral attitude toward medical insurance. So this study was made to find measures for financial stability by increasing utilization rate of health care institutions and to be available for basic demand-supply program of medical care. The hypothesis of this study was as follows; First. there is difference in understanding health care institutions between Kun-wi and Kwang-hwa. Second. respondesnts of inquiry survey have exact knowledge of their past experience of treatment taken prior to enforcement of medical insurance, Questionaire survey was made as to each 700 household among total 11, 884 households in Kun-wi and 20,919 households in Kwang-hwa. In case of Kun-wi, 70% of inquired households (491) gave their answers. In Kwang-hwa, the number was 560 households (80% of inquireds). Dollected data was processed and analyzed by way of using SPSS batch system. To evaluate facto rs distribution aspects of data and to make comparison between two area, percentage and $X^2$ distribution were applied. The results were as follows; L The utilization rate of health care institutions in Kun-wi and Kwang-hwa was lower than it was estimated. when pilot-project of medical insurance was planned. 2. Prior to the implementation of medical insurance. inhabitants in two area chose the medical institutions considering such factors. First was medical care fee cheap. second in habitant's residence, Third was the institutions conveniently easy of access. 3. After the implementation of medical insurance. 26.1% of inqurieds in Kun-wi and 41.6% in Kwang-hwa, changed medical institutions. In case of Kwn-wi, from health care institution (p 0.05), and in case of Kwang-hwa, vice versa, from general medical institutions to health care institutions. 4. Evaluation by factors were made such as follows. Inquired gave high marks to following facts: In case of Kun-wi, general medical institutions were difficult of access and relation between patients: was not friendly, but burden of medical expenditure was light. Effects of treatment and facilities was good. In case of Kwang-hwa, inquired gave high evaluation marks to the follow ing facts; facilities of medical institutions was not good, but the burden of medical expenditure was light. 5. After the implementation of medical insurance, the services was evaluated as good, but inquired hopec for lessening the burden of medical expenditure. 6. In case of exact understanding of cost-sharing, the evaluation rate in Kwang-hwa was higher than that of Kun-wi (p < 0.005). And positive attitude toward necessity of medical insurance was also good in Kwang-hwa (p < 0.05). 7. In case of inquired's attitude toward medical institutions, Kwang-hwa showed positive response (p < 0.05) 8. In the case of comparison between general medical institution and health care institution, two area showed similar positive response; medical manpower, facilities of medical institutions and effest: of treatement was good. 9. In comprehensive evaluation of benefit-service; the general medical institution's positiveness was higher than that of health care institutions in Kun-wi. But in Kwang-hwa vice-versa. 10. If the medical expenditure of general medical institution and health care institutions was equal 77% of inquireds in Kun-wi and 59.1% in Kwang-hwa answered that they chose general medical insurance. Considering results above mentioned, the conclusion of this study was made as follows. 1. In Kwang-hwa county, where the understanding of health care institutions's was good, the utilization's of health care institutions was shown high. Therefore, in case of Kwang-hwa, betterment: should be made to induce increasing utilization rate for negative factors of health care institutions. 2. In case of Kun-wi, where the understanding of health care institutions was on the decrease, measures for changing such negative factors should be taken by way of strengthening public relations. And cases of Kwang-hwa should also be studied. 3. On the side of financial stabilization and establishing health care delivery system, primary health care should be available. Therefore, the major cause of inhabitant's avoiding health care institutions should be known. And measures for activating that institutions have to be taken. So, the facilities of health care institution have to be improved up to the level of clinic. And supportive measures for securing equipment and improving health care services should also be taken. It is necessary that strategy for public relations should be employed with policy considerations and supports.

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