• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.26-42
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• 2021

Purpose: This study aimed to explore frontline nurses' experience of patient-centered care and understand the factors affecting its implementation in hospitals. Methods: Four focus group interviews were conducted with 30 nurses in two university hospitals. The following theoretical framework of patient-centered care was used: 1) Respect for patients' values, preferences, and expressed needs, 2) Care coordination and integration, 3) Information, communication, and education, 4) Physical comfort, 5) Emotional support and alleviation of fear and anxiety, 6) Involvement of family and friends, 7) Care transition and continuity, and 8) System issues. We performed a directed content analysis. Results: The most frequent patient-centered nursing practices of the hospital nurses were "promoting physical comfort" in inpatient settings and "providing information and communicating" in outpatient settings. The factors influencing patient-centered nursing included the health professionals' mindfulness, work overload and staff shortage, and unreasonable social demands and regulations. Conclusion: A more comprehensive patient-centered nursing practice should be implemented by improving "care transition and continuity," "family/caregiver involvement," and "system building." Health professionals' mindfulness is significant, and organizational supports addressing work overload and staff shortage are needed alongside change in social awareness.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.153-163
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• 2022

Purpose: A care coordinator is an emerging nursing professional role in South Korea. The purpose of this study was to identify educational needs and priorities for care coordinators among nurses. Methods: An online survey was conducted on 661 current or retired nurses from January 30 to February 28, 2021. A total of 17 essential competencies for care coordinators, recognized based on literature review, were used to analyze the educational needs. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a paired t-test, and one-way analysis of variance with SPSS 25.0. The educational needs analysis was conducted by using a paired t-test, the Borich Needs Assessment Model, and the Locus for Focus Model. Results: Five contents were identified as the first priorities for educational needs: 'Health program planning and evaluation', 'Care planning', 'Coordinating community-based services', 'Case management', and 'Transitional care'. The second priorities for educational needs included 'Population health management' and 'Welfare resource linkages via communicating with social workers'. Conclusion: The priority items derived from this study offer underpinning insights for the development of care coordination training program.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.545-557
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• 2014

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop a patient classification system based on nursing care intensity for patients with acute stroke-related symptoms and verify its validity and reliability. Methods: Data were collected between November, 2013 and February, 2014. The verification for content validity of the patient classification system was conducted by a group of seven professionals. Both interrater reliability and concurrent validity were verified at stroke units in tertiary hospitals. Results: The intensive nursing care for acute stroke patients consisted of 14 classified domains and 56 classified contents by adding 'neurological assessment and observation' and 'respiratory care': 'hygiene', 'nutrition', 'elimination', 'mobility and exercise', 'education or counselling', 'emotional support', 'communication', 'treatment and examination', 'medication', 'assessment and observation', 'neurological assessment and observation', 'respiratory care', 'coordination between departments', and 'discharge or transfer care'. Each domain was classified into four levels such as Class I, Class II, Class III, and Class IV. Conclusion: The results show that this patient classification system has satisfactory validity for content and concurrent and verified reliability and can be used to accurately estimate the demand for nursing care for patients in stroke units.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.196-204
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• 2008

Purpose: To examine factors affecting long-term care hospital patients' intention of transfer to a nursing home. Method: A questionnaire survey was conducted in Aug. 2007 that included 655 patients from 49 long-term care hospitals. The survey aimed to assess the patients' health status, family status, cost and intention of transfer to a nursing home. Institutional characteristics were analyzed from the nationwide database of Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service. The affecting factors were examined by employing chi-square test and logistic regression using SAS 8.2. Result: Of the subjects, 32.4% had intention of transfer to a nursing home. The intention of transfer to a nursing home was affected by moderate or severe pain, living together with the primary carer, high cost uncovered by insurance, and recognition of nursing home. Conclusion; For appropriate service utilization. a higher level of care is needed to satisfy patients at nursing homes and a balanced fee schedule is needed between long term care hospitals and nursing homes. It is desirable to encourage transfer to a nursing home at which nurses support patients and their families by giving information, coordination, and to make efforts to establish a reference system.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.535-545
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• 2009

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of earring(nothing, small, medium, large), neckline(round, low), and hairstyle(bound, unbound) on image formation. Sets of stimulus and response scales(7 point semantic) were used as experimental materials. The stimuli were 16 pictures manipulated with the combination of earring, neckline, and hairstyle. The objects of the study were 192 female undergraduates living in Gyeongsangnam-do. The results of this study were as follows. Image factor of the stimulus was composed of 4 different components, concentration of attention, attractiveness, gracefulness, and cuteness. In the concentration of attention, earring and neckline showed independent effect. In the attractiveness, neckline showed independent effect. In the gracefulness, earring and hairstyle showed independent effect. Significant interaction effects of earring and neckline on concentration of attention, attractiveness and gracefulness were found. Interaction effects of neckline and hairstyle on cuteness were found. The study results are highly expected to be used as useful sources in developing total coordination.

• Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.176-182
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• 2018

Background: Family physicians (FPs) play an important role in cancer control. The aim of this study was to understand the functions of FPs in cancer control and to explore FPs' perceptions of their own roles and the difficulties they face in cancer control in Karabuk province, Turkey. Methods: The study consisted of two methodological parts. The qualitative part included a descriptive study in which data were collected from 87.5% (n=56) out of all FPs in Karabuk using a questionnaire. In the quantitative part, in-depth interviews with 15 FPs were conducted and analyzed through content analysis. Results: Half of the FPs (50.0%) provided cancer prevention information for their registered people, focusing on especially smoking cessation. In the last three months, the proportion of FPs who had not invited anyone to screenings was 37.5% for the pap test, 26.8% for the mammography, 19.0% for the fecal occult blood test and 34.5% for the colonoscopy. Only 16.1% of them reported that they made home visits for cancer patients. In the qualitative part of study, the following themes were highlighted: the perceived responsibilities of FPs regarding cancer control; the effect of geographically undefined working area of FPs; the issues with coordination between FPs and specialists; the effect of the number of primary care team members. Conclusions: Cancer control services provided by FPs have significant problems in terms of the FPs' approach to the services and their content, continuity and coordination.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.595-599
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• 2013

The coordination of pyridyl-N to pentacyanoferrate for the detection of small organic antigens in solution is presented. The unique contribution of this paper is the direct conjugation of pyridyl-N in small organic antigens to pentacyanoferrate. Pentacyanoferrate is promising as an electrochemical label owing to its good electro-chemical properties, which can be utilized to generate an electrical signal in homogeneous electrochemical immunoassays. The facilely synthesized pyridyl-N to pentacyanoferrate was characterized by the electrochemical and spectroscopic methods. Hippuric acid (HA) has been detected competitively on the interaction of free HA and pentacyanoferrate-(4-aminomethylpyridine-hippuric acid) (Fe-HA) to its antibody, with the detection limit of 0.50 ${\mu}g\;mL^{-1}$. While pentacyanoferrate-based immunoassay is in its simplicity and infancy, the proposed immunoassay offers attractive opportunities for developing pyridyl-N-based the electrochemical detection of small organic antigens in the health care area.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.100-106
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• 2014

Background: There is no consensus on the definition of primary care in South Korea. This study's objective was to define the concept of primary care using a Delphi method. Methods: Three expert panels were formed, consisting of 16 primary care policy researchers, 45 stakeholders, and 16 primary care physicians. Three rounds of voting, using 9-point appropriateness scales, were conducted. The first round involved rating the appropriateness of 20 previously established attributes of primary care. In the second round, panelists received a summary of the first-round results and were asked to once again vote on the 10 undetermined attributes and the provisional definition. The final round involved voting on the appropriateness of the revised definition. The Korean Language Society reviewed the revised definition. Results: Four core (first-contact care, comprehensiveness, coordination, and longitudinality) and three ancillary (personalized care, family and community context, and community base) attributes were selected. The Korean definition of primary care was accomplished with all three panel groups arriving at a 'very good' level of consensus. Conclusion: The Korean definition of primary care will provide a framework for evaluating performance of primary care in South Korea. It will also contribute to resolving confusion about the concept of primary care.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.513-522
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• 2020

Purpose: This study aimed to utilize concept analysis to obtain a better understanding of the concept of "continuity of care" in chronic diseases. Methods: The concept of continuity of care was analyzed using the Walker and Avant method. Covering literature in English from 1930 to 2018, the data sources included CINAHL Complete, Academic Search Complete, MEDLINE, PsyARTICLES, Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition, Google Scholar, Science Direct, and the Cochrane Library. Results: A comprehensive definition of concept of continuity of care was developed based on a systematic search and synthesis. The key defining attributes were identified as (a) care over time, (b) the relationship between an individual patient and a care team, (c) information transfer, (d) coordination, and (e) meeting changing needs. The antecedents of continuity of care were having a chronic disease, inexperienced with disease management, a poorly coordinated healthcare system, and medical care limitations. The consequences of continuity of care were decreasing hospital admissions, reducing costs, reducing emergency room visits, improving the quality of life, improving patient satisfaction, and delivering good healthcare. Conclusion: The thorough concept analysis provides insight into the nature of "continuity of care" in chronic diseases and also helps ground the concept in healthcare.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.16-25
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• 2019

Purpose:The healthcare system of South Korea is at the extreme of the dispersed system. Few regulations limit patients from directly visiting higher-level medical institutions for primary care sensitive conditions. As a result, similar to local clinics, general and tertiary teaching hospitals also provide diverse primary care services. Our study aimed to examine the general public's perceptions of their primary care performance. Methods: Face-to-face surveys were conducted with 1000 adults who were living in South Korea with the aid of a questionnaire that included the Korean Primary Care Assessment Tool (KPCAT). The KPCAT consists of five domains, which are the main indicators of primary care performance: first contact, comprehensiveness, coordination, personalized care, and family/community orientation. One-way analysis of variance and post hoc tests were used to compare the KPCAT scores across the three types of medical institutions. Results: Domain-wise analyses revealed two different patterns. With regard to first contact and its subdomains, the highest and lowest scores emerged for local clinics and tertiary teaching hospitals, respectively. However, the other four domain scores were significantly lower for local clinics than for the other two types of medical institutions. Conclusions: Local clinics were perceived to be medical institutions that are responsible for providing primary care. However, the general public perceived only one domain of their primary care to be superior to that of the other two types of medical institutions: first contact. National efforts should be taken to strengthen their other four domains of primary care by training their workforce and providing appropriate incentives.