• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.22-32
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the occurrence of toxic exposure cases in Korean emergency centers using a toxic exposure surveillance system-based report form and to provide guidelines for the prevention and treatment of toxic exposures. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of toxic exposure patients who had visited emergency centers from January 2009 to December 2009. Epidemiology data points for the toxic exposure cases included age, gender, type of exposure, number and kind of substances involved, reason and route of poison exposure, management of the patients in the emergency departments, and the clinical outcome. Results: A total of 3,501 patients from 12 emergency departments were enrolled in the study. 50.0% of the total exposure patients were male and 63.0% of the total cases were fatal. Acute intoxication occurred in 91.3% of the total patients and suicidal intent was the most common (43.3%) reason for exposure. The most common route of exposure was ingestion (75.9%). Of the total cases, pesticides were involved in 26.3%, sedatives/hypnotics/antipsychotics were involved in 22.0%, and bites and envenomations were involved in 15.7%. Conclusion: We provided a database of patients who were admitted to emergency departments after poisoning incidents. We recommend that toxicology professionals develop a classification scheme for toxicants which is adequate for Korean domestic circumstances and initiate a toxic surveillance system for all types of exposures. With support of a psychiatric surveillance system for suicidal patients and establishment of social mediation for pesticide poisoning, major reductions in poison exposures can be achieved.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.481-487
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• 2013

Following breast cancer diagnosis, women often attempt to modify their lifestyles to improve their health and prevent recurrence. These behavioral changes typically involve diet and physical activity modification. The aim of this study was to determine association between healthy eating habits and physical activity with quality of life among Iranian breast cancer survivors. A total of 100 Iranian women, aged between 32 to 61 years were recruited to participate in this cross-sectional study. Eating practices were evaluated by a validated questionnaire modified from the Women's Healthy Eating and Living (WHEL) study. Physical activity was assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). A standardized questionnaire by the European Organization of Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life and its breast cancer module (EORTC QLQ-C30/+BR-23) were applied to determine quality of life. Approximately 29% of the cancer survivors were categorized as having healthy eating practices, 34% had moderate eating practices and 37% had poor eating practices based on nutrition guidelines. The study found positive changes in the decreased intake of fast foods (90%), red meat (70%) and increased intake of fruits (85%) and vegetables (78%). Generally, breast cancer survivors with healthy eating practices had better global quality of life, social, emotional, cognitive and role functions. Results showed that only 12 women (12%) met the criteria for regular vigorous exercise, 22% had regular moderate-intensity exercise while the majority (65%) had low-intensity physical activity. Breast cancer survivors with higher level of physical activity had better emotional and cognitive functions. Healthy eating practices and physical activity can improve quality of life of cancer survivors. Health care professionals should promote good dietary habits and physical activity to improve survivor's health and quality of life.

• Journal of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.109-120
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• 2001

This study has been done in order to help the people understand the cancer patients and provide the basic materials for the care of cancer patients by deeply understanding the living experience of the practice of alternative therapy for cancer patients. Data were collected with several in depth interviews and observations. Collected datas were analyzed by using phenomenological method of study by Giorgi (1970). The trial experience of alternative therapy for cancer patients has been classified into the one of having concerns, following, being infatuated, and coming out by pushing, and the experience of having concerns appeared as the meaning of the limit of modern medicine, despair, loneliness. hope, emotional support. dissolution of the feeling of uneasiness. the feeling of burden of the medical expense, self-treating, the subject of treatment. and indifference while the experience of following appeared as the meaning of blind following, temptation, going outside to look for something, wandering. following unconditionally, advise of the professionals, mistaken belief. self-abandonment, powerlessness. disconnection of dialogue with the medical staff. elevation of immunity, strengthening the physical power, absence of the source of examined information, clinging, self-responsibility. the experience of being infatuated appeared as the meaning of thorough trial. affirmative experience. devotion. diverse efforts, faithful trial. affirmative self-suggestion. change of the style of life. the feeling of burden of expense, being envious, bitter feeling toward the family, considering family, family discords, and difficulty of enforcement. The experience of coming out by pushing appeared as the meaning of waiting. self-reflection. maintaining the distance. cutting attachment, throwing the greed away, coming out by pushing. being thoughtful. accepting disease. individual difference of physical quality, and ambivalence. But they return to the experience of being concerned all over again in case of recurrence or metastasis of the disease even though they come out of such stage, and they always have ambivalence even in the condition with no recurrence and metastasis. In conclusion, the trial of alternative therapy for cancer patients could be explained as the adaptive behavior to the disease which is difficult to be cured. the cancer. The cancer patients are exposed to the side effects and harm without the examined information resources. Therefore the nurse should well aware of the alternative therapy and be able to do the appropriative management through the open communication with the patients who are under the trial of alternative therapy.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.11 no.9
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• pp.407-413
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• 2011

Distinguishing aphasia in stroke patients and observing the subtle linguistic characteristics associated with it primarily requires the use of instruments that provide reliable assessment results. Additionally, examiners should be fully aware of how to use those instruments. This study examined 46 stroke patients for aphasia and assessed the reliability of their diagnoses according to examiners whose medical fields were different from each other. Furthermore, a comparison was made between the reliability before training and that after training. To this end, 46 stroke patients were tested for aphasia and in terms of their speech disorder degree by 3 groups, each of which consisted of 12 professionals (3 SLP, 3 neurologist, and 3 nurse). In the result, a rating of 'acceptable' was given for speech intelligibility tasks and the voice quality of /ah-/ prolongation, and other sub-tests were marked as 'good-excellent' by the experts with different areas of medical expertise. For the tasks marked as 'acceptable', the subjects were video-trained for 3 weeks and the differences were compared before and after their training. Consequently, the differences in the examiners' ratings in the speech intelligibility tasks showed a significant decrease and the accuracy of their voice quality ratings showed a significant increase. In the result of research on the correlation between the accuracy of the sub-test ratings and the amount of clinic experience, speech therapists developed more accuracy in rating a picture description task and a speech intelligibility task as their experience accumulated. Meanwhile, doctors and nurses showed more accurate ratings in picture description tasks with greater clinical experience. The results of this study suggest that assessing the neurologic-communicative disorders of stroke patients requires ongoing training and experience, especially for speech disorders. It was also found that the rating reliability in this case could be improved by training.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.138-152
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• 1995

The condition of nutrition during infancy will greatly affect infants' physical, emotional growth, especially breast feeding is important in their growth and development, and emotional stability, too. Despite such advantages of breast-feeding, its rate has continued to fall year after year in Korea : the 95% rate in 1960's has fallen to 25.4% in 1990. It is known that such a downfall of breast-feeding rate is associated with various factors. The purpose of the study is to examine mother's and nurses' in nursery perception of the impediment factors of breast-feeding : to compare those between of breast-feeding : to compare those between two groups : to provide fundamental data for developing strategies for increasing breast-feeding. The subjects were 45 new mothers from one hospital and the same number of nurses sampled from 3 university hospitals, in Seoul. The data were collected for 11 days from April 12 to April 23, 1994 and a questionnaire was developed based on the interview with 14 nurses and 10 mothers and the literature reviews. Liker's Five-Point Scale was used as measurement. The Data were analyzed using SPSS / PC and descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA. The results of study are as follows : 1) Most new mothers get the information about breast-feeding from their mothers, books or newspaper, and relatives in rank than professionals(nurses or doctors). 2) The impediment factors the breast-feeding are categorized as mothers, hospital system, medical personnels and social factors. The most frequently mentioned impediment factors from mothers are 'Difficulty by operational wounds'(3.13), 'Lack of will for breast-feeding'(3.47), 'Insufficient rest and sleep'(3.52) and 'Opposition from husband or his family members'(4.77)in rank. On the other hand those factors from nurses are 'Inadequate nipple condition'(2.37), 'Decreasing milk secretion given medicine after operation'(2.63), 'Mothers knowledge deficit by poorly prepared education'(2.79) and 'Mothers abhorance of breast-feeing'(3.87) in rank. 3) As for the hospital system, the highly perceived impediment factors by mothers are 'Seperation of baby from mother after birth'(2.78), 'Lack of space for breast-feeding in the hospital'(2.93), 'Lack of facility for informing the time for breast-feeding'(3.18) and 'Because of babys' preference artificial nipple by being accustomed to it in hospital(3.97), in rank. Meanwhile, those from nurses are "Seperation of baby from mother after birth",(1.92), "Inconsistency between hospital's nursing time and mother's breast secretion time" scretion time(2.97), "Lack of space for breast-feeding in the hospital"(3.39), and "Lack of facility for informing the time for breast-feeding"(3.74) 4) As for the medical personnels, the highestly perceived Impediment factor from mothers in "Lack of professional nurses for breast-feeding"(2.96), and the lowestly perceived one is "Doctors' reluctance"(4.75). Nurses perceived same as mothers, too. 5) As for the social factors, the highestly perceived impediment factor by mothers and nurses is "Inconvience of social activities"(2.83) and the lowestly ones are "The sense of self-sacrifice"(4.22) by mothers, and "The sense of old fashioned"(4.13) by nurses. 6) The difference of the perception of impediment factors between mothers and nurses is statistically significant only in mother factor.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.11 no.7
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• pp.2497-2507
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• 2010

The objectives of this study were to identify recognition, intention and practice to premarital examination of women and to define the predictors of intention and compliance to examination. The subjects for this study were 257 women at a university, college, a bank worker and health clinic visitor in Busan city. The date for this study was collected from August 25th to September 24th 2006 by structured questionaries, and were analyzed mean, standard deviations(SD), $x^2$-test, t-test and multiple Logistic regression using SPSS/WIN 12.0. The mean performance of the premarital examination was 28.4%. Thirty-five point five percent of unmarried women and 71.6 percent of married women had experience of heard premarital examination. The score of attitude toward premarital examination were that single women was 23.04 and married women was 22.55, respectively. The scores of behavioral control cognition between unmarried women and married women were statistically significant different. The predictor of premarital examination intention was necessity of premarital examination, and the predictors of examination compliance were experience of hearing examination and behavioral control cognition. Based on the results of this study, promoting recognition and behavioral control cognition by community healthcare organization and health professionals for empowering the premarital examination of women were needed.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.8
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• pp.313-320
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• 2019

This study compared and analyzed the levels of expectations of specialized hospitals, and the recognition of professional competency in specialized hospitals for the general public aged 20 years or older and those professionals on the hospital staffs who had more than three years of experience. The research period ran from July 2018 to May 2019. T-test and regression analysis were used for the analysis of the data. Research result; There was no difference in the level of expectations for the specialized hospitals between the general public and the hospital staffs. It was shown that the professional factor affecting subjective expectations of the specialized hospitals was a difference in the way of thinking between the general public and the hospital staff. The professional factor affecting the expected level of hospital use for the general public and hospital staffs was confidence in the doctors. However, the professional factors affecting the credibility of doctors differed between the general public and the hospital staff. The factor for the general public was excellent technical skill in the field, and the factor for the hospital staff was the specialized ability of doctor and their years of medical service. It is thought that efforts are needed to reduce the difference between the perception of hospital staff and that of the general public in order for specialized hospitals to continue to develop.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.77-86
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• 2022

This study is a descriptive research study to understand the level of communication awareness between doctors and nurses, who are professional medical professionals, and the detailed areas and satisfaction of communication. Data were collected from 372 doctors and nurses at general hospitals located in C city from March to May 2021. The collected data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, mean and standard deviation, t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe test, and correlation analysis, using the SPSS/WIN 20.0 program. As a result, there was a difference in the awareness level of communication between doctor and nurse groups. Specifically, out of the detailed areas of communication recognized by doctors and nurses, there were statistically significant differences in openness(t=9.91), mutual understanding between occupations(t=5.25), and satisfaction(t=8.13) between the two groups. In addition, a positive correlation was found between the detailed areas and the communication satisfaction in both groups, showing that nurses have higher communication satisfaction with the higher openness(r=.72, p<.001), mutual understanding between occupations(r=.71, p<.001) and similarly, doctors also have higher communication satisfaction with the higher mutual understanding between occupations(r=.79, p<.001), timeliness(r=.73, p<.001). Therefore, these result suggest that it is necessary to develop a communication program that can effectively improve the weak areas such as mutual understanding between occupations and openness in nurses and doctors in order to ensure patient safety and provide quality medical care.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.22-31
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• 2022

Objectives Recently, weight loss has emerged as a national concern in South Korea, and this has resulted in an increase in the frequency of use of central nervous system (CNS)-stimulating appetite suppressants. This study aimed to collect cases of psychotic disorders and bipolar disorders triggered by phentermine and phendimetrazine and explore the clinical features and courses. Methods In this retrospective study, we analyzed the electronic medical records of patients and selected eight patients who developed psychotic symptoms and manic symptoms for the first time after taking phentermine and phendimetrazine. All cases were reviewed, and their clinical features and course were summarized. Results All eight patients developed psychotic symptoms, and one had accompanying manic symptoms. The final diagnosis was appetite-suppressant-induced psychotic disorder in four patients, schizophrenia in three, and appetite-suppressant-induced bipolar disorder in one. In addition, three patients were diagnosed as having substance-use disorder. The key psychotic symptoms of these patients were hallucinations and paranoia. Conclusions These case findings suggest that phentermine and phendimetrazine can cause psychotic disorder, bipolar disorder, or substance use disorder and that medical professionals and the public should practice caution when prescribing and using these drugs.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.66 no.5
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• pp.573-581
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• 2023

Objective : Due to the implementation of vaccinations and the development of therapeutic agents, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that started at the end of 2019 has entered a new phase. As a result, neurosurgeons should reconsider the way they treat their patients. As the COVID-19 situation prolongs, the change in neurosurgical emergency patients according to the number of confirmed cases is no longer clear. Outpatient treatment by telephone was permitted according to government policy. In addition, visits to caregivers in the intensive care unit were limited. Methods : The electronic medical records of patients who had been treated over the phone for a month (during April 2020, while the hospital was closing) were reviewed. Meanwhile, according to the limited visits to the intensive care unit, a video meeting was held with the caregivers. After the video meeting, satisfaction was evaluated using a questionnaire. Results : During April 2020, 1021 patients received non-face-to-face care over the telephone. Among the patients, no critical medical problem occurred due to non-face-to-face care. From July 2021 to December 2021, 321 patients were admitted to the neurosurgical intensive care unit and 107 patients (33.3%) including their caregivers agreed to video visits. Twice a week, advance notice was given that access would be made through a mobile device and the nurse explained to caregivers how to use the mobile device. The time for the video meeting was approximately 20 minutes per patient. Based on the questionnaire, 81 respondents (75.7%) answered that they agreed, and 26 respondents (24.3%) answered that they strongly agreed that was easy to communicate through video meetings. Fifty-two (48.6%) agreed and 55 (51.4%) strongly agreed that they were easy to understand the doctor's explanation. For overall satisfaction with this video meeting, three respondents (2.8%) gave 4/5 points and 95 respondents (88.8%) gave 5/5 points, and nine (8.4%) gave 3/5 points. Their reason was that there was not enough time. Conclusion : In situations where patient visits are limited, video meetings through a mobile device can provide sufficient satisfaction to caregivers. Telemedicine will likely become common in the near future. Health care professionals should prepare and respond to these needs and changes. Therefore, establishing a system with institutional support is necessary.