• The Journal of Korean Orthopaedic Ultrasound Society
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.94-100
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• 2013

Musculoskeletal ultrasound has unique advantages that may be free from exposure to radiation, low price compared to MRI, outpatient procedure that can be easily accessible, and better accuracy combined with physical examination. Dynamic ultrasound performed with stress tests are known to be useful for detecting the hidden lesions in the tendons, ligaments, nerves. Ultrasound in the elbow can be used easily in the outpatient for evaluation of the joint surface and synovial space; diagnosis for tendon diseases such as lateral epicondylitis, medial epicondylitis and morbidity of peripheral nerves; guide for anterior-posterior bursal and intra-articular injections.

• Journal of The Korean Dental Society of Anesthesiology
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• v.4 no.1 s.6
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• pp.17-20
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• 2004

Chronic periodontitis is one of the most common disease in clinical dentistry, which needs various surgical interventions to treat the moderate to severe destruction of supporting periodontium. Most patients have fear and anxiety to these surgical procedures and some dentists also have problems to deal with these patients. Applying the conscious sedation technique in outpatient units, periodontists have become to manage their patients successfully without any fear and anxiety and increased the level of patients' satisfaction. Particularly, periodontal treatments require relative long chair-time and patients are usually reluctant to the periodontal instruments used in the oral cavity. This study is focused on the sedation procedure with intravenous midazolam infusioon performed in Department of Periodontology, Ewha Womans University Hospital. The whole procedure of intravenous midazolam sedation is briefly reviewed from patient selection to patient discharge.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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• v.14 no.4 s.51
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• pp.114-121
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• 2005

Recently, it is not too much to say that the world of hospital architecture in Korea is in a time of transition that undergo big changes. Each hospital .pursues their transformation not only for patiences' changing demands on medical services but to cope with rapid environmental changes that pouring like boundless competition, opening tendency and to get an advantage of competition to attract patiences with other hospitals. It is because national expectations and standards on medical services have risen and they are not satisfied with hospitals that run for doctors and medical care that served technically any more. With rising interests in health, it is emphasized not the functions of hospitals to prevent diseases but the purpose of treatment and securing other facilities according to rising economical incomes except medical facilities.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.118-128
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• 2024

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the health concerns of parents regarding their premature infants and to identify changes in these concerns during perinatal period and after discharge. Methods: This was a retrospective study performed at a single tertiary center that enrolled 119 premature infants who were discharged from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and visited the outpatient pediatrics department between December 2018 and October 2021. Data on the concerns of 176 parents regarding enrolled premature infants' health from before birth to 1 week after NICU discharge were obtained from outpatient records. The t test and with the chi-squared test were used to analyze the data for this study. Results: The consistently greatest focus of parents' health concerns was the respiratory system. The second focus of parents' health concerns before discharge was the central nervous system. However, during the first week after NICU discharge, the gastrointestinal system was the second-most frequent focus of parents' health concerns among parents of infants without diseases related to prematurity and infants with older gestational ages. Conclusion: The results of this study offer insights into the health concerns among parents of premature infants. Parental health concerns about premature infants vary over time, from before birth to post-discharge, necessitating supportive interventions to enhance parental understanding of their child's health status.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.31-45
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• 2014

Objective : This study was intended to provide information pertaining to reasonable consumption of medical services based on comparative analysis of the characteristics of musculoskeletal diseases(MSDs) among outpatients of Korean medical institutes, and furthermore help lay groundwork for mapping out effective Korean medical policies. Method : Based on the data of 3,889 outpatients of Korean medical institutions which were obtained from the Ministry of Health and Welfare's 2011 Report on usage of Korean medicine, the analysis was carried out by using the SAS 9.2. Results : 68.2% of subjects were found to use Korean medicine(KM) for the treatment of MSDs. Patients with MSDs were older than those with nonmusculoskeletal diseases(NMSDs). And married state, education, employed state and incomes are effected on MSDs and NMSDs. Subjective health status, number of outpatient treatments, medical cost, medical treatment satisfaction, and habitue status are depend on MSDs or NMSDs. Acupuncture and physical therapy is Major treatments of subjects investigated to have the highest treatment effect. It was found that they had high degree of satisfaction with Korean medicinal outpatient treatments, and those with MSDs were found to have significantly greater satisfaction than those with NMSDs. Conclusion : Although aforesaid results suggest significant satisfaction with KM and high treatment effects for MSDs. Accordingly it is considered necessary to develop various services related to KM for treatment of MSDs and to plan for cost down of KM. Moreover, in-depth research into NMSDs is required for utilization growth of KM.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.71 no.4
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• pp.271-277
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• 2011

Background: A chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) assessment test (CAT) has recently been developed as a short and simple method for assessing the quality of life in COPD patients. The object of this study was to assess the usefulness of the Korean version of the CAT for assessing COPD patients in an outpatient clinic. Methods: The study included 60 COPD patients in a stable state from an outpatient clinic. The authors investigated the frequency of acute exacerbation during aprevious year through reviewing medical records. We evaluated the spirometry test, a 6-min walk distance test, and obtained the MMRC dyspnea scale, the Korean version of the CAT, and the BODE index at the time of visit. To assess the usefulness of the CAT, correlations between the CAT and other methods were evaluated. Results: The mean age of patients was $68.3{\pm}8.6$ years and 95% of patients were male. There was a significant correlation between the CAT score and $FEV_1%$ (r=-0.323, p=0.012), the frequency of acute exacerbation (r=0.292, p=0.024), the MMRC dyspnea scale (r=0.554, p<0.001), the BODE index (r=0.380, p=0.003), and 6 MWD (r=-0.372, p=0.004). The mean CAT score increased according to the GOLD stage (stage 1, $10.7{\pm}4.5$; stage 2, $13.1{\pm}7.9$; stage 3, $16.3{\pm}6.2$; stage 4, $16.5{\pm}14.8$; p=0.746). Conclusion: The CAT was shown to be useful for the assessment of COPD severity. Therefore, the CAT is an easily applied and simple method for assessing COPD severity in an outpatient clinic.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.1122-1133
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• 2022

Objectives: The aim of this study was to retrospectively evaluate the efficacy and safety of Ongyeong-tang (OGT) in the treatment of insomnia in patients afflicted with neurological diseases, according to the medical records of one medical institution. OGT is a herbal prescription that originates from the "Synopsis of Prescriptions of the Golden Chamber" and has been used for menopausal symptoms, uterine diseases, skin diseases, insomnia, and other neuropsychiatric symptoms. Methods: Medical records of patients who visited Kyung Hee University Korean Medicine Hospital from January 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022, received outpatient or inpatient treatment, and met the inclusion criteria were used in this study. Results: Twenty-four patients satisfied the inclusion criteria and were included. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index-Korean version (PSQI-K) score was used to evaluate the outcomes before and after treatment. After an average of 14.42±9.2 days of OGT extract intake, 20 patients (83.3%) experienced improvement. The remaining four (16.7%) had no change in their symptoms, but none demonstrated worsening of symptoms. The total PSQI-K score showed a statistically significant decrease from 13.08±4.54 to 10.42±4.58 (p<0.001). Sleep quality, sleep duration, sleep disturbance, use of sleeping medications, and daytime dysfunction also showed statistically significant improvements. Conclusions: Administration of OGT extract may be a relatively safe and effective therapeutic option for insomnia in patients with neurological diseases.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.110-122
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• 2024

Objectives: This study analyzed the Korea Health Panel Annual Data 2019 to investigate factors related to the use of non-insured Korean medicine (KM) treatment in individuals with chronic diseases. The non-insured KM treatments of interest were herbal decoction (HD) and pharmacopuncture (PA). Methods: Among adults aged 19 or older, 6,159 individuals with chronic diseases who received outpatient KM treatment at least once in 2019 were included. They were divided into three groups according to the KM treatment used: (1) basic insured KM non-pharmacological treatment (BT) group (n = 629); (2) HD group (n = 256); (3) PA group (n = 184). Logistic regression analysis was used to explore factors associated with favoring HD or PA use over BT. Potentially relevant candidate factors were classified using the Andersen Behavior Model. Results: Compared to BT, the 1st to 3rd quartiles of income compared to the 4th quartile (odds ratio: 1.50 to 2.06 for HD; 2.03 to 2.83 for PA), health insurance subscribers compared to medical aid (odds ratio: 2.51; 13.43), and presence of musculoskeletal diseases (odds ratio: 1.66; 1.91) were significantly positively associated with HD and PA use. Moreover, the presence of cardiovascular disease (odds ratio: 1.46) and neuropsychiatric disease (odds ratio: 1.97) were also significantly positively associated with HD use. Conclusion: The presence of some chronic diseases, especially musculoskeletal diseases, was significantly positively associated with HD and PA use, while low economic status was significantly negatively associated with HD and PA use, indicating the potential existence of unmet medical needs in this population. Since chronic diseases impose a considerable health burden, the results of this study can be used for reference for future health insurance coverage policies in South Korea.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.36-61
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• 2009

This study focused on finding the variation of medical service utilization, paths of medical service utilization and medical payments of the patients died by cerebrovascular diseases. For this study, data of the one-year episodes of the health insurance subscribers died in 2004 were selected. The frequency of medical visits, the lengths of stays, the days of outpatient visits, the total period of medical services and the total medical payments were compared by the characteristics of the suppliers and utilizers. This study is useful in reviewing the equity of medical service utilization because it analyzed variance in utilization by episodes. In oder to collect accurate data of the patients died by cerebrovascular diseases in 2004 the 2004 reimbursement data of all medical institutions were matched to the data of funeral fee payment by the National Health Insurance Corporation from January 2004 to May 2005. The major results of the study are as follows. The variation of medical service utilization of cerebrovascular diseases was influenced by supplier factors suppliers, such as types and locations of medical institutions and user factors such as sex and age. It was suspected that the reimbursement by fee-for-service contributed to the variation quite a lot, but we could not compare the variation between the different reimbursement systems in Korea. On the basis of analyzing results this study suggests that the factors of suppliers and utilizers should be reviewed to reduce the under use and over use expressed by variations of medical service. The processes of care, effective communication and management system should be investigated for the equity of medical service utilization and also. alternative medical services would be recommended to reduce the high medical payment. Additionally to find other causes of variation further in depth study controling the severity of diseases, socio-economic status of the users and the system factors is required.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.435-445
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• 2017

This study was conducted to overcome the limitations of prior research on the equity of medical care performed by identifying simple differences in the use of medical care or using limited medical needs and medical utilization indicators. Specifically, we used activity limits, chronic diseases, and subjective health status as medical needs, and used outpatient, inpatient, and emergency services as medical uses. In addition, we used concentration index, concentration curve, and Le Grand factor to analyze the equity of medical use considering medical needs. The main results are as follows. First, the amount of medical care for the low-income class is higher than that of the high-income class when considering the concentration of medical use. In particular, the number of hospitalization days for low-income households and hospitalization fees were higher than the fees of outpatient medical consultation and emergency room usage. Second, medical needs were concentrated in the low income class. In other words, low-income group is not as healthy as the high-income group. Third, the Le Grand factor was calculated in order to confirm the fairness of the medical uses considering the medical needs. Even if medical needs are taken into consideration, the high-income earners will have a large amount of medical care. In addition, when considering the limitation of activity and the number of chronic diseases, the medical use of the high income class was more frequent. However, when the subjective health condition and the chronic illness were considered, medical use of the low income class was more frequent. This may be due to the underestimation of the medical needs of the low-income earners by neglecting their own health status and perception of chronic diseases.