• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.593-602
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• 2019

The healthcare industry, a high-value-added business, continues to grow with the aging of the population and the development of convergence medical technology. In particular, the medical tourism industry is being pushed by advanced countries. Korea is also actively supporting projects to attract international patients. However, there is a lack of prior research on Korea's medical interpreter policy. This study analyzes the current status and problems of medical interpreter policy for international patients, and presents the task. Problems include insufficient policy control towers, lack of links with local governments, lack of expertise of medical interpreters, poor quality of medical interpreting services, and poor treatment of medical interpreters. As improvement measures, it is proposed to establish a policy control tower, strengthen the link with local governments, switch to a medical interpreter system, diversify the language of medical interpreting qualification test, improve the quality of medical interpreting service, internalize the training process for medical interpreter, give preferential treatment to medical interpreters, utilize the nurse, and train multicultural medical personnel. I hope that this study will contribute to the development of the medical tourism industry.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.66-94
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• 1994

Hospital Accreditation Programme(HAP) has been introduced in many countries in the world for these recent years. This article reviews the HAP in the aspects of the organization, survey and evaluation process, evaluation criteria, and its impact to the hospital quality improvement. The nations included in this study are USA, UK, Canada, Australia, and Korea. To carry out this comparative study, the authors have reviewed articles and accreditation manuals having been issued in many countries. An expert panel of medical doctor, nurse, pharmacist, administrator, and specialist in health facilities formulated a study framework. The results of this study enhance understanding about hospital accreditation activities according to each nation's health care system. In recent years, the Korean government has launched the plan to improve the quality of health services by strengthening the hospital accreditation programme. This study results can provide useful information in development and implementation of the national hospital accreditation programme in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 1997

The health education in hospitals has many problems including lack of the division specialized in health education, lack of implementation system of health education, insufficient professional health education and insufficient health education materials. Despite these restraints, hospitals should reinforce health education program as a part of active response centered on disease prevention and health promotion targeting healthy people who have potential health risk before the onset of disease, rather than passive approach emphasizing the treatment. Accordingly, health education team should be organized in a hospital, in which health educators can provide the following education services. First of all, hospitals themselves should provide active community services in collaboration with community organizations. In addition, multi-disciplinary approach in cooperation with schools, work places should be reinforced to establish the comprehensive health education system. The establishment of medical service referral system with other medical institutions and the linkage system for medical information exchange are also needed. The utilization of education materials obtained through these system should be open to community residents as well as patients. Finally, medical staff working in hospitals should try to provide the high-quality health education that is as high as the level of medical services. The high-quality health education is possible when its level is based on one required by community residents and the county rather than the international or arbitrary standard.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Esthetic Dentistry
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.95-104
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• 2014

This study is about the basis of satisfactions by patients : One is 'what factors of the marketing by dental medical service have an effect on consumers dental clinic' The other is 'what is the most important part when consumers choose the dental medical ser Seoul and Gyeonggi area unintentionally. Finally 446 people were analyzed. 6 general questions, 5 selective form questions when consumers choose the dental service, 11 satisfactions questions after treating and thought of reuse the dental service 6 (Likert scale) questions. Whether the choice of hospital dental marketing by dental analysis, both male and female hospital medical marketing and use of selected highly suggests that it does not respond. The resulting satisfaction analysis using the Hospital Dental Marketing consumer access to medical care, and then, a full explanation, comfort, quality and level, health care costs, treatment management, and symptom improvement were higher satisfaction with the item, select the dental healthcare after the analysis of the marketing of recycled doctors are otherwise subject the person selected from all entries equal to or higher than the average consumer satisfaction showed a higher medical doctor also higher reuse. Consequently, Through the use of marketing to choose the best dental healthcare need to providing quality care.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.327-335
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• 2011

Purpose: The objective of this study was to analyze the effects of medical staffing level as bed-to-medical staff ratio on patient outcomes as length of stay (LOS) among hospitals in Korea. Methods: Two hundred and fifty one hospitals participated in the study between January and March 2008. Data for the study was requested by an electronic data interchange from the Health Insurance Review Agency in 2008. In data analysis, SPSS WIN 15.0 program was utilized for descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficients, and multiple regression. Results: The mean score for length of stay was 13.6 days. The mean of operating bed-to-nurse ratio was 7.93:1. The predicting factors for LOS were bed-to-nurse's aide ratio, bed-to doctor's ratio, severely ill patient rate, and hospital type. These factors explained 28.9% of the variance in patient outcomes. Conclusion: This study results indicate that the relationship between medical staffing level and patient outcomes is important in the improvement of the quality of patient care. Thus, improvements in the quality of the nurse practice environment could improve patient outcomes for hospitalized patients.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.57-70
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• 2012

Background : The purpose of this study was to understand healthcare workers' perception of patient safety culture and medical error reporting to provide basic resources for the settlement of patient safety culture in medical institutions in Korea. Methods : For this purpose, convenience sampling by self-selection was applied to healthcare workers at a university hospital in Gyeonggi-do and a total of 482 people responded. The survey used the translated version of AHRQ in Korean and distributed through the Intranet system of the hospital. Result : The ratio of positive response was low overall. Among the responses, the response for 'Nonpunitive Response to Error' was the lowest at 17.7%, followed by the responses for 'Staffing' at 21.3%, 'Handoffs & Transitions' at 32.9%, and 'Communication Openness' at 44.3%. In result of surveying whether the responders have reported patient safety incidents during the past 12 months, 68.3% responded 'not once.' Conclusion : The perception of healthcare workers' patient safety culture and medical error reporting, when compared to AHRQ, was lower overall. It is important for healthcare workers to pay greater attention to patient safety to create a safe hospital culture where they do not punish or criticize related individuals or departments.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.114-122
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• 2008

Objectives: To determine the factors affecting the assessment of Oriental medical institutions under the Oriental Medical Institution Assessment System and thereupon, provide for some basic data and alternative measures for assessment of Oriental medical institutions. Methods: The researcher sampled 320 people employed by 26 Oriental medical institutions designated as model Oriental medical institutions subject to assessment in 2008 and 2009 and thereupon, used a structured and open-ended survey table for them to collect the data. The size of the final sample was n=302. Results: The Oriental medical institution staff were highly aware of the Oriental medical institution assessment (OMIA), After adjusting the other factors by multiple regression, the factors affecting such recognition were different significantly depending on age (those in their 30's), types of job (nurses and treatment assistants) and locations of hospital (GyeongSang-do). The staff expected the OMIA could helpful for improving facilities and system of hospitals, thus promoting satisfaction of patients. To do so, they felt it necessary to develop an assessment scale reflecting the special conditions besetting the Oriental medical institutions as well as the indices for improvement of Oriental medical service quality. Conclusion: It is hoped that this study will be followed up by future studies which will comparatively analyze Oriental medical institution staff's perception of the assessment system before and after its operation and thereby, suggest some ideal policy alternatives for assessment of the Oriental medical institutions. Furthermore, future studies are requested to research into Oriental medical institution staff's needs and consumers' needs as well in consideration of the characteristics of the Oriental medical institutions and thereupon, suggest some alternatives for continued education, development of the assessment tools, methods and policies.

• IEMEK Journal of Embedded Systems and Applications
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.219-226
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• 2012

The rises of the life index quality together with the medical technology improvement lead to a longer life expectancy. Then a better health care program, especially for elderly, is needed. The common health problems facing those senior citizens are changed from acute diseases to chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension. Then u-Health takes center stage in medical industry. Although u- Health medical device manufacturers have been improving their instruments, these instruments still rely on proprietary technologies without fixed platform. Even if the interface has been provided by the manufacturer, there is no widely-accepted uniform data model to access data of various u-Health devices. IEEE 11073 is a standard attempting to unify the interfaces of all medical devices. In this paper we have proposed a conversion software platform that assures interoperability among medical devices for ubiquitous sensor network. This module uses in order to develop a standard platform of medical system.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.346-368
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• 2021

Background: Recalcitrant disc herniation may result in chronic lumbar radiculopathy or sciatica. Fluoroscopically directed epidural injections and other conservative modalities may provide inadequate improvement in some patients. In these cases, percutaneous neurolysis with targeted delivery of medications is often the next step in pain management. Methods: An evidence-based system of methodologic assessment, namely, the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) was used. Multiple databases were searched from 1966 to January 2021. Principles of the best evidence synthesis were incorporated into qualitative evidence synthesis. The primary outcome measure was the proportion of patients with significant pain relief and functional improvement (≥ 50%). Duration of relief was categorized as short-term (< 6 months) and long-term (≥ 6 months). Results: This assessment identified one high-quality randomized controlled trial (RCT) and 5 moderate-quality non-randomized studies with an application of percutaneous neurolysis in disc herniation. Overall, the results were positive, with level II evidence. Conclusions: Based on the present systematic review, with one RCT and 5 non-randomized studies, the evidence level is II for percutaneous neurolysis in managing lumbar disc herniation.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.34-42
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• 2021

Objectives: This study investigated sleep quality in female full-time homemakers and evaluated the relationship of sleep disturbance with psychological and socio-environmental factors. Methods: This cross-sectional study adopted a structured survey and sequential recruitment method for randomized participation of community-dwelling full-time female homemakers. Sleep quality and mental health were measured using the Korean version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (K-PSQI), Korean version of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (K-BDI-II), Korean version of the Beck Anxiety Inventory (K-BAI), and Korean version of the Beck Hopelessness Scale (K-BHS). The willingness-to-pay (WTP) method was selected to measure the self-evaluated monetary value of household service work. The relationship among the main relevant factors was statistically analyzed through a mediation model. Results: A total of 166 participants were analyzed and classified having poor versus good sleep quality (poor : 24.1%, n = 40 ; good : 75.9%, n = 126 ; cut-off point = 9 on the K-PSQI). Significant between-group differences were observed in mental health status (K-BDI-II, p < 0.001 ; K-BAI, p < 0.001 ; K-BHS, p = 0.003). The moderated mediation model was verified, indicating that depression may mediate the association between nurturing burden and sleep disturbance. The path from nurturing burden to depression may be moderated by average monthly household income. Conclusion: A relatively high portion of full-time female homemakers may suffer from sleep disturbance and interactions between psychological and socio-environmental factors might determine sleep quality, suggesting the need for public health policies targeting improvement of sleep quality and mental health among full-time homemakers.