• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.49 no.sup1
• /
• pp.14-19
• /
• 2016

Background: This study uses the relevance index to understand the condition of regional medical service use for cardiovascular surgery and to identify the medical service use imbalance between regions. Methods: This study calculated the relevance index of 16 metropolitan cities and provinces using resident registration address data from the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs and the 2010-2014 health insurance, medical care assistance, and medical benefits claims data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. We identified developments over the 5-year time period and analyzed the level of regional imbalance regarding cardiovascular surgery through the relative comparison of relevance indexes between cardiovascular and other types of surgery. Results: The relevance index was high in large cities such as Seoul, Daegu, and Gwangju, but low in regions that were geographically far from the capital area, such as the Gangwon and Jeju areas. Relevance indexes also fell as the years passed. Cardiovascular surgery has a relatively low relevance index compared to key types of surgery of other fields, such as neurosurgery and colorectal surgery. Conclusion: This study identified medical service use imbalance between regions for cardiovascular surgery. Results of this study demonstrate the need for political intervention to enhance the accessibility of necessary special treatment, such as cardiovascular surgery.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
• /
• v.35 no.2
• /
• pp.209-223
• /
• 2022

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused significant changes. This study aimed to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on patients with chronic pain. Methods: Patients with chronic pain from 23 university hospitals in South Korea participated in this study. The anonymous survey questionnaire consisted of 25 questions regarding the following: demographic data, diagnosis, hospital visit frequency, exercise duration, time outside, sleep duration, weight change, nervousness and anxiety, depression, interest or pleasure, fatigue, daily life difficulties, and self-harm thoughts. Depression severity was evaluated using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the relationship between increased pain and patient factors. Results: A total of 914 patients completed the survey, 35.9% of whom had decreased their number of visits to the hospital, mostly due to COVID-19. The pain level of 200 patients has worsened since the COVID-19 outbreak, which was more prominent in complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). Noticeable post-COVID-19 changes such as exercise duration, time spent outside, sleep patterns, mood, and weight affected patients with chronic pain. Depression severity was more significant in patients with CRPS. The total PHQ-9 average score of patients with CRPS was 15.5, corresponding to major depressive orders. The patients' decreased exercise duration, decreased sleep duration, and increased depression were significantly associated with increased pain. Conclusions: COVID-19 has caused several changes in patients with chronic pain. During the pandemic, decreased exercise and sleep duration and increased depression were associated with patients' increasing pain.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.34 no.1
• /
• pp.94-102
• /
• 2024

Background: There is controversy surrounding the claim that current nursing workforce policies exacerbate the geographic imbalance of nurses in Korea, but very few studies have confirmed this assertion. Therefore, this study aimed to identify factors influencing the distribution of nurses at the regional level, including variables related to nursing workforce policies. Methods: This study analyzed the distribution of 225,462 practicing nurses across 250 regions in Korea as of 2020. National statistics were collected for these 250 regions, and regression analysis was conducted. Results: Factors influencing the distribution of practicing nurses included the number of annual inpatient days, integrated nursing care service beds, public healthcare institutions, tertiary hospitals, and general hospitals. Additionally, the number of nursing graduates and healthcare institutions with nurse staffing grade 1 and 2 had an impact on nurse distribution in non-capital regions. Conclusion: To prevent exacerbating the geographic imbalance of nurses, careful decisions should be made regarding the expansion of integrated nursing care service beds. Furthermore, it is necessary to increase the number of nursing students in non-capital regions and prioritize the improvement of wages and working conditions for nurses in those areas.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.6
• /
• pp.2923-2927
• /
• 2014

Background: Hepatocellular cancer (HCC) is one of the important health problems in Turkey, being very common and highly lethal. The aim of this study was to determine clinical, demographic features and risk factors. Materials and Methods: Nine hundred and sixth-three patients with HCC from 13 cities in Turkey were included in this study. Results: Only 205 (21%) of the 963 patients were women, with a male:female predominance of 4.8:1 and a median age of 61 years. The etiologic risk factors for HCC were hepatitis B in 555 patients (57.6%), 453 (81%) in men, and 102 (19%) in women, again with male predominance, hepatitis C in 159 (16.5%), (14.9% and 22.4%, with a higher incidence in women), and chronic alcohol abuse (more than ten years) in 137 (14.2%) (16.8% and 4.9%, higher in males). The Child-Pugh score paralleled with advanced disease stage amd also a high level of AFP. Conclusions: According to our findings the viral etiology (hepatitis B and hepatitis C infections) in the Turkish population was the most important factor in HCC development, with alcohol abuse as the third risk factor. The Child-Pugh classification and AFP levels were determined to be important prognostic factors in HCC patients.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.19
• /
• pp.8115-8119
• /
• 2014

Background: Breast cancer continues to be the most common type of cancer afflicting many women worldwide. Presently, educational campaigns and research target only women as if men have no role in the management of this disease. The study examined the willingness of male partners to assist in early female breast cancer detection as well as their awareness and knowledge levels. Materials and Methods: Using a semi-structured questionnaire, data was collected from 500 public servants within the Tamale Metropolis and analyzed in SPSS. Results: The level of awareness of breast cancer was very high (98.8%) but there was a low level of knowledge of breast cancer among the male population. Marital status and religion had no effect on attitude, but increasing educational status significantly increased knowledge and positive attitude towards breast cancer examination (${\chi}^2$=4.255, p=0.0391). The majority (92.0%) agreed that men can assist in early breast cancer detection and 96.2% were willing to be provided with breast examination skills. Conclusions: Although level of awareness on female breast cancers among the men was high, they generally lack knowledge of the disease. Majority of male partners want to assist in early breast cancer detection if provided with the necessary skills.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.1093-1098
• /
• 2014

Background: Cancer is a major public health problem both in our country and worldwide due to its disease burden, fatality and tendency for increased incidence. In Turkey, breast cancer ranks first with an incidence of 41.6% and cervical cancer is the tenth most common cancer with an incidence of 4.4%. Objectives and Design: This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted with 240 women aged from 15 to 65 years admitted to a gynecology-obstetrics outpatient clinic of a private hospital in Gaziantep. Study data were collected by the investigators through a 36-item questionnaire form which was generated using information gathered from similar surveys in the literature. Results: It was determined that 34.6% of women were high-school graduates, and 64.2% had a medium income level. The majority (79.2%) stated that they never performed BSE and 49.5% of them said that they did not know how to do it. Some 79.2% did not know what a Pap smear was and 73.3% had not experienced a smear test ever. Conclusions: In this study, we found that most of the women had insufficient knowledge of breast and cervical cancer, while knowledge and practices increased with the education level. Based on these findings, we suggest that there is a need for planning, implementation and assessment of health policies and healthcare services at the national and regional level and we believe that nurses working in the field of protective health services should develop educational programmes for women with a primary focus on cancer in order to increase awareness among the female population in Turkey.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• v.14 no.5
• /
• pp.532-539
• /
• 2020

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess the effect of nutrition education received by fourth- and fifth-grade teachers in state schools in Famagusta, Northern Cyprus, on their students. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The aim of this study is to assess the effect of nutrition education received by fourth- and fifth-grade teachers (n = 27) in state schools in Famagusta on their students. Participants (n = 718) were selected through a regional pilot scheme. The teachers were instructed on nutrition by the researcher and provided with a researcher-prepared nutrition education book "I Am Learning about Healthy Nutrition". Before receiving their nutrition education, the teachers were pretested to assess their baseline nutrition knowledge. Following receipt of their nutrition education, a posttest, which included the same questions as those in the pretest, was administered to the teachers to assess the effectiveness of the training session. Similarly, students were asked pretest researcher-prepared questions to evaluate their baseline nutrition knowledge level. The teachers were then given a period of three to four weeks to instruct the students in nutrition education. Following this instructional period, a posttest that included the same questions as those in the pretest was administered to the students. RESULTS: The results showed that there were significant differences between the pre- and posttest scores of both teachers and students; in both groups, the nutrition knowledge level increased (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: These results show that the provision of nutrition education training to teachers positively affected the nutrition knowledge level of both teachers and students.

• Journal of the International Relations & Interdisciplinary Education
• /
• v.1 no.2
• /
• pp.12-30
• /
• 2021

To narrow the educational gap and balance the development of education, the Chinese Ministry of Education and various regional education offices are actively promoting government-funded normal education policies. In this study, the background, purpose, and main contents of government-funded normal education policy were identified through a literature review. Furthermore we tried to make an in-depth understanding of the motivation behind government-funded normal students' admission. The results of the analysis were classified as "unexpected motivation" at the individual level, "interim motivation" at the home and school level, and "mirror motivation" at the national policy and social level. "Parents and teachers' opinions" topped the list, followed by securing teaching positions, double-sided dailies (excluding tuition and dormitory fees, paying living allowances), teacher dominance and social status. Parents and teachers had a strong involvement in the admission of government-funded students. Economic factors are relatively more influential than the ideal job as a teacher, and it seems contrary to the original intention of the policy. In response, efforts should be made such as regarding the guidance of state-funded education policies and vocational identity education.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.43 no.2
• /
• pp.246-253
• /
• 2019

Background: Water use efficiency (WUE) is an indicator of the trade-off between carbon uptake and water loss to the atmosphere at the plant or ecosystem level. Understanding temporal dynamics and the response of WUE to climatic variability is an essential part of land degradation assessments in water-limited dryland regions. Alternative definitions of and/or alternative methodologies used to measure WUE, however, have hampered intercomparisons among previous studies of different biomes and regions. The present study aims to clarify semantic differences among WUE parameters applied in previous studies and summarize these parameters in terms of their definition and methodology. Additionally, the consistency of the responses of alternative WUE parameters to interannual changes in moisture levels in Northeast Asia dryland regions (NADRs) was tested. Results: The literature review identified more than five different WUE parameters defined at leaf and ecosystem levels and indicates that major conclusions regarding the WUE response to climatic variability were partly inconsistent depending on the parameters used. Our demonstration of WUE in NADR again confirmed regional inconsistencies and further showed that inconsistencies were more distinct in hyper- and semi-arid climates than in arid climates, which might reflect the different relative roles of physical and biological processes in the coupled carbon-water process. Conclusions: The responses of alternative WUE parameters to drying and wetting may be different in different regions, and regionally different response seems to be related to aridity, which determines vegetation coverage.

• Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
• /
• v.45 no.1
• /
• pp.197-215
• /
• 2014

This research attempted to analyze the measurement of users' recognition level which is based on the theoretical background of social capital created in public libraries. The path of structural model was set among the factors of social capital and their causal relationships were verified. The users' awareness of social capital created in public libraries is to prove the value of their existence and sustainability in the region. It was clear that social capital affected the various benefit and social impact for regional people and local community. Finally, the findings of this research will be positively expected to affect the assessment of public libraries.