• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.51 no.4
• /
• pp.231-240
• /
• 2018

Background: Analyses of the efficacy and safety of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) in most countries have been based on outcomes obtained in accordance with national practice guidelines and monitoring protocols. The purpose of this study is to share our experience regarding the process for establishing guidelines and monitoring protocols for the use of TAVR in Korea, in the hopes that it may be helpful to others undergoing a similar process in their own country. Methods: The Korean guidelines for TAVR were established on June 1, 2015 in through a tri-party agreement involving the Department of Health and Welfare, the Korean Society of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery and the Korean Society of Cardiology. We agreed to monitor the guidelines transparently and to exchange opinions regarding amendments or continuation of its contents after 3 years of monitoring. Results: The monitoring meetings were not held as regularly as agreed, and monitoring was also made difficult by insufficient and incomplete data. Nevertheless, during the meetings, measures to improve the monitoring process were discussed, and accordingly, an agreement was made to continue the monitoring process, with the aim of completing data collection by 2018. Conclusion: Compliance with guidelines is critical for assessing the efficacy and safety of TAVR. Moreover, the TAVR monitoring process must be properly conducted for an accurate evaluation to be made. Any country planning to introduce TAVR may encounter difficulties with regards to the optimal initiation strategy and subsequent monitoring. Nevertheless, continued efforts should be made to persuade the government and the corresponding medical societies to facilitate the optimal application of TAVR.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.307-314
• /
• 2017

In this study, we propose a method to improve the guideline for accessibility of mobile applications based on the results of manual evaluation of 8 mobile online shopping applications which are widely used in Korea. 13 items of mobile online shopping application were found to have low compliance rate, and 5 items such as response time control were observed and there was no corresponding items. In the current mobile application accessibility guidelines, it is necessary to delete the check items that are not relevant or meaningless, and to provide additional logical items such as logical ordering and form creation, and to improve the accessibility of mobile applications, The government should make efforts to develop and disseminate the development guide, and to resolve the digital devides.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.187-198
• /
• 2017

In this study, we analyzed the accessibility of open platform Android mobile banking applications, based on Korean mobile application accessibility KS standard, Section 508 technical standard of Rehabilitation Act, and European BBC guidelines. Experimental result showed that there are no mobile banking applications of 8 commercial banks in Korea that satisfy all guidelines of three standards. Typical violations included missing alternative text, keyboard focus violations, control size and spacing non-compliance, and low contrast ratio. These violations are fatal in that they make the accessibility of the blind, the disabled and the low vision and the elderly impossible. The reason that mobile banking applications do not comply with accessibility is that mobile application developers and providers have low awareness of accessibility and do not know how to implement accessibility properly. Comparing Korea mobile application accessibility guidelines with the revised standard of the Section 508 of Rehabilitation Act and the BBC standard, many guidelines are missing. Also, evaluation criteria are ambiguous and abstract, making it difficult for developers to refer specifically. Therefore, improving mobile application accessibility requires developer and government efforts and complementation of standards.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.54-61
• /
• 2018

Objective: The current study aimed to investigate the accessibility and usability of the disabled person while using the everyday facility. Background: The national laws regulated accommodation of persons with disabilities, but our knowledge on the practical usefulness of the laws and acceptance by the users is still far from complete. Method: Compliance with laws was checked throughout the actual measurement of 87 engineering designs in the facilities of a national university, and the practical usability of the facilities was investigated by in-depth interviews with eight disabled persons. New design solutions were developed by the anthropometric methodology for better accommodation. The target-specific anthropometry database such as sitting knee height with wheelchair was employed. Results: First, the statistic showed that 28.7% of facility designs comply with the law, 29.9% of facility designs doesn't comply with the law, and 41.4% of facility designs doesn't have related law or regulation. Second, the law of table height(71cm in current) can accommodate only 49.3% of wheelchaired population. The following test for 95% accommodation revealed that the table with 80cm high is required. Third, the current law in the door width(90cm) can only accommodate 82.6% of disabled persons, so the new design solution was calculated and suggested that 100cm in the door width is necessary for 99% accommodation of disabled persons. Conclusion: Even with the laws and regulations for the disabilities it was clear that the accessibility and usability of the disabled persons in everyday facilities was still limited. An investigation for the new solutions about a wide range of facilities is necessary for better practical accessibility and usability of the handicapped persons. Application: The results of current study can be a basement of developing a new guideline or regulation of the facility design for the disabled persons.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.689-733
• /
• 2011

This study evaluates a novel scheme to trade sulfur dioxide emission permits subject to non-uniform rates. These rates are based on generators' marginal costs of compliance with environmental policy in a hypothesized least social-cost solution. This scheme is compared against the existing trading program used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, featuring permits tradable one for one. Both policies are modeled to yield identical aggregate emissions. A numerical partial-equilibrium model of the U.S. energy industry is used to infer sulfur dioxide concentrations and health damages, as well as producer and consumer surplus, under the two policies. Regional pollution levels are found to vary across the two policies significantly. The system of exchange rates is estimated to outperform the uniform-trading scheme by $2.2 billion in industry profits and $2.1 billion in health damages, but to reduce consumer surplus by $6.7 billion. Paradoxically, exchange rates are thus estimated to lower total welfare by $2.5 billion. This is due to conceptual mechanism-design problems, as well as empirical issues.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.63 no.6
• /
• pp.491-496
• /
• 2007

Background: The best way of delivering drugs for the treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is via the inhaled route of administration. However, many patients use inhaler devices incorrectly. To augment the proper use of inhalation medicine and to improve knowledge of the disease and compliance, we have developed a "Computerized Respiratory Service Program" and applied the use of this program to educate patients. Methods: Prospectively, this study was performed in 164 patients with asthma or COPD prescribed with inhaled medication. When inhalation medication was first prescribed, education using a drug model was conducted two times and thereafter every month. In addition, education using a drug model was conducted and the ability of the patient to use inhalation medicine properly was evaluated. Results: A total of 164 patients participated in the sessions more than two times and received education. Fifty-seven patients participated in three sesions. After the patients received education one time, the ability of these patients to use an inhaler had an average score of 20.6. After the patients received education two times, the average score was 21.9. After the patients received education three times, the average score was 22.3, a further increase. The compliance of using the inhaler was 70.1% at the second session and increased to 81.8% at the third session. Conclusion: Feedback education using the "Computerized Respiratory Service Program" will increase the ability of the patient to use an inhaler and consistent education can maintain patient compliance with inhaler use.

• Journal of the Korean BIBLIA Society for library and Information Science
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.283-304
• /
• 2015

The purpose of this study was to identify Web accessibility issues of healthcare websites of the Korean government and public agencies by evaluating these websites' accessibility in accordance with the Korean Web Contents Accessibility Guideline. This study conducted both automated and expert testing to assess the accessibility of a total of 27 health-related websites. The results of the assessment which was conducted in two stages indicated that institutions such as the National Hospital and National Rehabilitation Center demonstrated almost no Web accessibility error. In addition, the Korea Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Health Services Agency, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, and the Korea Medical Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Agency attained very high web accessibility. However, the results of an expert evaluation highlighted that there were considerable errors in providing appropriate alternative text, which was not found in the automated test, and the color contrast of the text content did not comply with Web accessibility standard. Therefore, these websites did not support web accessibility for the sight-impaired. Furthermore, the present study found that it was difficult to deliver accurate information to users due to errors in the default language display and markup, and also, issues of skipping repeated content, content linearization, and compliance with keyboard use were considered as challenges that might arise for people with sight, cognitive and mobility impairments with respect to Web accessibility. It is the first study that evaluated accessibility of healthcare websites of the Korean government and public agencies based on the Korean Web Contents Accessibility Guideline. The present study made a contribution to research on Web accessibility by conducting expert testing, which provided a more complete assessment that identified the degree and specific issues of accessibility errors when compared to automated testing.

• Korean journal of food and cookery science
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.219-227
• /
• 2014

The objective of this study was to research the health status of the elderly population and their perception and compliance to cook medicated juk. The results from this research will be used as basic data for medicated juk development. In addition, the purpose of this study was to find a way to popularize the juk and improve their usage as medicated juk in communal feeding and convalescent hospital for elderly. The study surveyed 300 elderly residents of age over 65, in Daejeon. The following data were collected: general characteristic, health status, perception of medicated juk, and preferred kind of juk for cooking. Moreover, the study researched the constraints in cooking the juk. Data were analyzed by SPSS Windows V. 18.0 and t-test verified the differences among the questions, according to frequency analysis of each item and characteristics of the aged. You might want to specify this characteristic. Within the surveyed elderly population, 80.6% had various existing diseases with circulatory diseases being the most prevalent with 68.9%. This emphasizes on the significance of proper diet, but this recognition is not put into practice. The survey also showed that as the individuals age, they tend to care less about the necessity of proper diet. Despite of this lack of perception, 84.5% of the elderly population responded positively to the question, "Would you like to have medicated juk for curing diseases, if such juk is available?" In addition, the elderly population was in favor of developing the juk that helps to prevent and cure diseases, and many were willing to cook them. The reasons behind their will to cook are arranged in the following order: higher efficacy in curing disease than regular juk, excellence in nutrition, and unavailability of the medicated juk in the stores that requires them to cook. The sources constraining the elderly population in cooking are arranged in the following order: not knowing how to cook the juk, lack of physical strength, financial burden, and lack of information order. Please clarify this part. Suggested change: not knowing what medicated juk is. Furthermore, the main obstacle in cooking the juk is lack of cooking technique, followed by inaccessibility to the ingredients and the financial burden to purchase the ingredients.

• Korea journal of population studies
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.125-139
• /
• 1993

Korea has successfully achieved a lowered fertility level owing to the strong population control policy and effective family planning program. Along with fertility decline and decreased number of children in family, average number of household members has decreased and nontraditional households such as one person household and households composed of unrelated individuals have prolifirated, even though the absolute number of them are found minimal in Korea. However in recent years several data and survey results suggest that one person households are gradually in the increasing trend. The study aimed at investigating the real state of one person households in Korea and next analyzing the proportional distribution of one person households by a few socioeconomic characteristics, thus providing basic for eatablishing far-singhted population and social welfare policy in the future. Korea has experienced high growth rate of economy through government-led development plans starting from the 1960s. During the past three decades, Korea has shifted from the agricultural state to the industrialized one. In compliance with the economic growth, urbanization and industrialization have brought about rural-to-urban migration and a great bulk of young population migrated to urban areas, who are seeking for educational and job opportunities. Korean society has also been under drastic change in every aspect of life involving norms, tradition, and attitude, etc. Therefore, in spite of the prejudice on 'living alone' still remaining, young people gradually leave parents and home, and further form nontraditional households in urban areas. Current increase in the number of one person households is partly attributable to the increase in high female educational attainment and female participation in economic activities. As the industrial structure in Korea changes from primary into secondary and tertiary industries, job opportunities for service/sales and manufacturing are opened to young female labor force in the process of industrialization. Contrary to the formation of one person households by young people, the aged single households are composed when children in family leave one by one because of marriage, education, employment. In particular, a higher proportion of aged female single households occur in rural areas due to the mortality difference by sex. Based on the data released form the 1990 Population and Housing Census and National Fertility and Family Health Survey in 1985 and 1991, the study tried to examine the state of one person households in Korea. According to Census data, the number of one person households increased to 1, 021, 000 in 1990, comprising 9.0 percent of total households. And the survey reveal that among total 11, 540 households, 8.0 percent, 923 households, are composed of one person households. Generally, the proportion of female single households is greater than that of male ones, and a big proportion of one person households is concentrated in the 25-34 age bracket in urban areas and 65 years and more in rural areas. It is shown than one person householders in urban areas have higher educational attainment with 59.2 percent high schooling and over in 1991, Job seeking proved to be the main reason for leaving home and forming one person households. The number of young female single households with higher education and economic self-reliance are found nil and the study did not allow to analyze the causal realtionship between female education and employment and one person household formation. However more research and deep analysis on the causal facors on one person household formation using statistical method are believed to be necessary.

• The KIPS Transactions:PartA
• /
• v.14A no.1 s.105
• /
• pp.25-30
• /
• 2007

Korea has deeper digital divide between disabled and non-disabled people than other industrialized countries have. This study attributes the deep divide to policy factors and attempts to discern differences in policies concerning IT assistive devices between Korea and America. This study finds that major differences in policy exist between the two countries, and the differences account for Korea's unsatisfactory state of digital divide. Firstly, Korra has different 'perception' of assistive devices. While IT assistive devices are perceived as rehabilitation tools as well as bridges over digital divide in America, they are still foreign to social welfare and rehabilitation of disabled people in Korea. Secondly, the two countries differ in 'enforcement of policy.' In Korea, unlike in America, compliance with regulations on assistive devises is not compulsory. Besides, laws and regulations do not clarify possible sources of financing and legal sanctions, thus their enforcement is hardly effective. Thirdly, Korea's strategy for assistive device 'market' is very different from America's. America has long-term strategies to enliven the market for IT assistive devices. But Korea provided a lump sum of device development fund, and then gave out the assistive devices free of charge. As a result, the IT assistive device market has not been formed, and the foundation for further device development is yet to be constructed.