• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.234-242
• /
• 2019

Purpose: This study tries to comprehend older adults' perspectives of community supports and health services in a South Korean city and identify important sociodemographic and health characteristics that affect their perspectives. Methods: 166 older adults were involved in this cross-sectional study. Questions on background characteristics and community supports and health services criteria (categorized as service accessibility, offer of services, voluntary support, or emergency care planning) based upon the WHO's Age-Friendly Cities Guide were used. The data were analyzed using paired and independent t-tests, one-way ANOVA, and hierarchical multiple regression analyses. Results: emergency care planning was rated as the most important by the participants (mean age=76.24 years, 22.9% male), while its current level of performance was lowly appraised (p<.001). The rated importance for each category differed based on individual characteristics. Depression (p=.016), older age (p=.012), and restricted network type (p=.039) were significantly related to ascribing a higher degree of importance to community services. Conclusion: Community initiatives are warranted to optimize emergency care for older adults. This planning must be based on the unique characteristics of older adults in coordination with supportive resources. In addition, comprehensive assessments are warranted before implementing action plans to ensure that the multi-dimensional problems of older adults are incorporated.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Rural Health Nursing
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.59-66
• /
• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the work status of community health practitioners in island areas. Methods: Participants in this study were 59 community health practitioners in primary health care posts located on islands in J Province. Data were collected during December, 2011 and analyzed using SPSS 17.0 program. Results: Characteristics of the majority of community health practitioners in the island areas was that they were over 50 years old, married, and had 10 years job experience, The population under their jurisdiction was less than 200 and they had an average of 6-10 patients/day and worked less than 10 hours/day. Health education and practice were the most common of task, and they had various types of paperwork to complete. They visited senior citizens living alone, managed medications, gathered health data for research, waited for night treatment of emergency patients, carried out health promotion programs, and visited seriously ill patients at home after work hours. Conclusion: Results of the study indicate that in order to improve the role and function of the primary health care posts and to boost morale, the practitioners' opinions should be actively accepted by the community health practitioner association and competent government agencies.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.101-126
• /
• 1999

As the WTO system launches through the agreement of Uruguay Round, the Government has to revise the office regulations or reform the system. Also, Integrating and Coordinating the like affair in health care (i. e., children's home, industry health, school health, health manpower, the administration of health center, the administration on food hygiene, health environmental education, and so on.) which is now scattered into some government departments like the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Ministry of Environment, the Government has to prevent unspecialty, inefficiency, inconsistency, and uneconomy. The Government has to review and adopt above suggested the Proposal 1),2),3),4) of the Health Centers on the basis of the local autonomy law and it will help the successive settlement of the local autonomy system in Korea. According to the suggested proposal, the Central Government mainly takes charge of the Macro affairs as hardware, and transfer the Micro affairs as software into the Local Governments to attempt the appropriate functional allocation. To achieve it successfully, the Central Government also has to do the financial support, manpower training and technical support, allocation of health care resources, direction and control, research and development and the health care plan on the macro level. Local Governments which divided into the wide local government and basic local government also have to do their best for health improvement of the community societies like plan of health care program, implementation of health care service program, taking charge of the affairs of health insurance, activation of community residents' participation and security of health care resources etc. To achieve this goal, the Government have to be more active and reformative, the related social and health agencies and educational agencies have to cooperate and support for the goals, and especially, the community residents have to participate actively and voluntarily, When all these conditions promote, local health care administration will be developed, and health level of community residents will be secured. And going one step forward, the country and people will be more healthy

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.42 no.7
• /
• pp.965-973
• /
• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate a self-care program for elders with osteoarthritis managed by primary health care workers, Community Health Practitioners (CHPs), in rural Korea. Methods: The self-care program, consisting of 7 areas, was evaluated with a randomized experimental study for patients over age 60 with osteoarthritis in which 150 participants in the experimental group and 140 in the control group were compared. The self-care program was implemented for six weeks, 2 hours per week, at community health posts by CHPs. Data were collected using an interview questionnaire given by the CHPs and laboratory tests before and after the intervention for both groups. Propensity score matching analysis was done to test effectiveness after controlling for confounding variables. Results: The intervention group showed a significant decrease in the number of painful joints (p<.001) and a significant increase in self-care ability (p<.05) compared to the control group. Conclusion: Study results indicate that training and utilizing primary health care workers in rural areas is valuable in increasing the generalization and continuity of intervention programs. As arthritis should be managed life-long, CHP directed self-care programs are useful interventions for rural elders with arthritis to learn self-care management.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.30-71
• /
• 1999

There has been a dramatic increase in public awareness regarding dementia during recent years. However, dementia remains a family affair and patients do not receive adequate care in Korea. This study aims to assist patients and their caregivers by establishing Home and Community based Long-Term Care in a city. The data collected for analysis include five main categories: dementia prevalence, limitations of daily activities of patients, burden of caregivers, the services that patient's family want to utilize, the resources that handle dementia in the community. Major findings can be summarized as follows: 1)The prevalence rate of dementia for elderly people is 13.1 per 100 persons. Alzheimer's disease amount to 38.9% of dementia patients and vascular dementia account for 36.7% of them 2)Eight out of ten patients have mild dementia. Almost all patients have normal ADL. IADL, however, shows different picture. In every items of IADL, about 60% of patients reveals some limitations. 3)The proportion of patients who had medical diagnosis is as low as 20%. Families of patients think dementia as normal aging process and medical doctors in the community do not give special concern to dementia patients. 4)Caregivers does not have proper social support. They suffer from long care time, experience large obstacles in respect of health, daily living, and social activity. 5)Health center and Community welfare center have launched some programs-consultation, home-visiting nursing, day care center, voluntary force mobilization and so on-for dementia patients. But they do not perform expected roles and functions because of lack of skilled personnels and inadequate coordination of relevant organizations for dementia care. 6)Families of dementia patients prefer home helper and home-visiting nurse to hospitalization. For the future, however, demand for institution-based long-term services will increase. We develope community dementia care model based on above findings as follows: 1)Health center execute community cardiovascular control program for the prevention of vascular dementia. 2)Refer to epidemiologic characteristics of patients and preference of family, the most urgent task for dementia care in this city is to expand and organize Home and Community based Long-Term Care. 3)For the continuous and comprehensive care, care plan for a patient must be prepared. Case management team should be builded to prepare this plan and coordinate relevant resources. 4)Special long-term care unit for dementia will be needed in a near future. This unit should have multiple functions, such as day-care center, short stay facility, training center for relevant personnels, besides long-term nursing home considering effective care of dementia and efficient operation of the facility. 5)Voluntary workers deserve their due efforts. Incentive mechanisms must be developed to activate voluntary activities.

• Journal of Korean Academic Society of Home Health Care Nursing
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.37-45
• /
• 2002

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to suggest the projected workforce of home health care specialists in Korea. Method: Need model. ratio methods and expert opinion were used for projecting the number of home health care specialists. Result: 1) In 2002. there are 13 programs which offer one year home health specialist training. From those programs. they produced 3860 registered home health care specialists. 2) In 2002. there are 89 hospitalbased home health service units and 220 active home health care specialists. 3) In case of hospital- based home health service. average of 4 services per month for average of 3 months was assumed as workforce standard. 4) In case of community-based home health service. average of 4 services per month for 12 months was assumed as workforce standard. 5) The number of home health care specialists required to meet the demands for home health care population in 2000 and 2005 was estimated at minimum of 20.361 to maximum of 31.360 and 21.989 to 34.080. respectively. Conclusion: Community home health care agencies are needed to meet the demands of home health care.

• Child Health Nursing Research
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.129-140
• /
• 2002

The article reports the process, contents and strategies in the development of community based-heath care management program for high-risk infants and family, which was based on literature review, empirical needs assessment from pilot study. The program was divided into two emphasis areas: (1) identification and home visiting nursing care program, and (2) the construction of self-supporting group. The contents of home visiting nursing care were developed from the pilot study of the direct home visiting to premature infants after discharge. The documentation form for home care was standardized, including the demographic data, birth history, home care services, education and counsels, and visiting schedules. The integrated education protocol was elaborated to enhance the body of knowledge as well as clinical competency in caring high-risk infants and family by the supports of neonatologists, nursing scholar, and clinical specialists. In addition, the process and strategies in developing self-supporting group, consisting the high-risk infants and family, and any significant others were addressed. Emphases were given to the role of public health center and the recycling health care referral system to maximize the growth and development of high-risk infants on the community-base, which in turn, contributing to decrease the postneonatal mortality rate.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Rural Health Nursing
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.17-22
• /
• 2019

Purpose: This study was done to describe a community health practitioner's nursing case study for a hypertension patient. Methods: For this purpose, data were collected through interviews and nursing records. The nursing process was carried out from January to March in 2019. Results: For this patient, blood pressure was checked 5 times and total cholesterol test was performed 5 times over 41 consultations. Even though the patient was 84 years old, he was very interested in health. When the blood pressure and cholesterol level measured by community health practitioner were high, he was embarrassed by the recommendation to get a hospital checkup. After referral to a medical clinic and hospital, he was satisfied with the results of the tests and medical treatment, and constantly practiced daily walking exercise. Conclusion: It is very important for community health practitioners to assess patient symptoms correctly and refer the patient timely to manage complications.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.83-90
• /
• 2019

Purpose: This study is a repetitive comparative analysis of a qualitative case study that carried out a home visiting oral health education program. Method: This study conducted an interview survey through medical examination by interview before and after the home visiting oral health education and measured some pathogenic microorganism counts in the denture. Results: There was a positive change in the self oral care ability of the elderly at home after home visiting oral health education, including the behavior of self management of dentures, and some pathogenic microorganism counts in the dentures. Conclusion: The home visiting oral health education of home care service centers can improve oral health care for the elderly at home.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.167-176
• /
• 2017

Background: This study aimed to analyze the impact of community health care resources on the place of death of older adults with dementia compared to those with cancer in South Korea, using public administrative big data. Methods: Based on a literature review, we selected person- and community-level variables that can affect older people's decisions about where to die. Data on place-of-death and person-level attributes were obtained from the 2013 death certification micro data from Statistics Korea. Data on the population and economic and health care resources in the community where the older deceased resided were obtained from various open public administrative big data including databases on the local tax and resident population statistics, health care resources and infrastructure statistics, and long-term care (LTC) insurance statistics. Community-level data were linked to the death certificate micro data through the town (si-gun-gu) code of the residence of the deceased. Multi-level logistic regression models were used to simultaneously estimate the impacts of community as well as individual-level factors on the place of death. Results: In both the dementia (76.1%) and cancer (87.1%) decedent groups, most older people died in the hospital. Among the older deceased with dementia, hospital death was less likely to occur when the older person resided in a community with a higher supply of LTC facility beds, but hospital death was more likely to occur in communities with a higher supply of LTC hospital beds. Similarly, among the cancer group, the likelihood of a hospital death was significantly lower in communities with a higher supply of LTC facility beds, but was higher in communities with a higher supply of acute care hospital beds. As for individual-level factors, being female and having no spouse were associated with the likelihood of hospital death among older people with dementia. Conclusion: More than three in four older people with dementia die in the hospital, while home is reported to be the place of death preferred by Koreans. To decrease this gap, an increase in the supply of end-of-life (EOL) care at home and in community-based service settings is necessary. EOL care should also be incorporated as an essential part of LTC. Changes in the perception of EOL care by older people and their families are also critical in their decisions about the place of death, and should be supported by public education and other related non-medical, social approaches.