• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.609-613
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• 2018

Babesiosis, caused by Babesia microti and B. divergens, is transmitted by Ixodid ticks. Symptoms of babesiosis vary from a mild flu-like illness to acute, severe, and sometimes fatal and fulminant disease. In Korea, 7 imported babesiosis cases and 1 endemic case have been reported. We report 2 cases of severe babesiosis initially mistaken as malaria. The first patient was complicated by shock and splenic infarction, the other co-infected with Lyme disease. As the population traveling abroad increases every year, physicians should be aware of babesiosis which mimics malaria, co-infection with other diseases, and its complications.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.11 no.11
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• pp.345-352
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• 2020

Under "Emergency Doctor Security Act of 2007", Japanese government focuses on relocating doctors in medically underserved areas and matching supply and demand of manpower in order to resolve the ubiquity of specific treatment departments. Particularly, there are two alternatives to secure the number of local physicians and avoid the regional shortage of doctors in the short term. Firstly, the government attracts existing physicians to the region. Secondly, the government increases the capability of regional clinical training system to prevent the influx of doctors to the larger cities. Also, it seeks solutions from various perspectives, such as cultivating manpower to work in vulnerable areas through the regional frame system and autonomous medical college. This study introduces the case of Japan as a benchmark and suggests that policymakers should focus on the recent conflict between the government and the medical consultation. More specifically, this study provides policy implications on the alternative measures for securing the manpower of regional doctors.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.522-531
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• 1999

This research identifies the ingress to egress primary factors that causes a patient to receive delayed emergency medical care. This material was collected between February 1st to 28th, 1998. Research envolved 4,118 people who visited the college emergency medical center in Kyeongido Province, South Korea. Medical records were examined, using the retrospective method. to determine the length of stay and the main cause for waiting. Results are as follows : 1. The age group with the highest admission rate was 10 and under, approximately 1,394 (33.9%). Followed by an even distribution for ages between 11-50 at 10-15% for their respective ranges. The lowest admission rate was 50 years and above. 2. From the 4,118 records examined, 3,489 received outpatient treatment (84.7%); 601 were admitted for inpatient care (14.6%); 25 arrived dead on arrival (0.6%); and 4 people died at the hospital. 3. Between 7PM to 12AM, 42.9% were admitted to the EMC. The hours from 9PM to 11PM recorded the highest admission rate and 5AM to 8AM was the lowest From 8PM to 12AM, the most beds were occupied. 4. For most patients. the average length of stay was approximately 2.2 hours. By medical department, external medicine was the longest for 2.8 hours. Pediatrics was the shortest for 1.6 hours. The average waiting period for inpatient admission was 2.6 hours. Inpatient admission for pediatrics and external medicine was 3.4 hours and 2.2 hours respectively. 5. Theses are primary factors for delay at EMC: 1) pronged medical consultations to decide between inpatient versus outpatient treatment, and delaying to be inpatient, 2) when you call physicians they are delayed to come 3) Understaffing during peak or critical hours, 4) Excessive consulting with different medical departments, 5) some patients require longer monitoring periods, 6) medical records are delayed in transit between departments, 7) repeated laboratory tests make delay the result, 8) overcrowded emergency x-ray place causes delay taking x-ray and portable x-ray, 9) the distance between EMC and registration and cashier offices is too far. 10) hard to control patient's family members. The best way to reduce EMC waiting and staying time is by cooperation between departments, both medical and administrative. Each department must work beyond their job description or duty and help each other to provide the best medical service and satisfy the patient needs. The most important answer to shortened the EMC point from ingress to egress is to see things from a patient point of view and begin from there to find the solution.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.576-590
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• 1996

Advanced countries such as the USA and Japan are eagerly seeking ways to improve health and welfare of the elderly. One of the services is home health care service using the telephone. Various types of services using the telephone have been developed, improved and are being utilized ranging from the basic consulting to emergency response systems in the area of health care for the elderly. A demonstration project was launched to study the feasibility of a consulting system and telemedicine for the elderly using the public phone system in Korea. For this project, a gathering site for the elderly was selected and those who visited this place were interviewed to find out what kinds of services they wanted and what kind of system they needed to provide the required services. Based on the users' requests and the surrounding environment, a telephone consulting facility was established at the Research Institute of Nursing Science at Seoul National University and consulting personnel was recruited, trained and posted at the center. An Application program for home health care nurses to use when they visited the patients at their homes was developed. This system operates on a notebook Computer and allows nurses to communicate with a doctor at a local hospital through a modem and telecommunication line. These systems were implemented for three months and problems which developed during operation of the systems were identified and progressively modified. Through system evaluation, it was found that a consulting system using phone service will be an invaluable system for the welfare of the elderly in the future. But in order to meet the elderly's need, more services than mere consultation are needed. That is, communication with physicians and hospitals are needed. Thus, when there is any need for physicians' attention, physicians or hospitals should be contacted directly. Similarly for telemedicine, when the home health care nurse visits elderly patients she can assess the patient's problem and provide nursing care, access a physician or hospital to refer her patient to or consult directly using the telecommunication the system. The above mentioned system is a basic form of futuristic telemedicine for the elderly and those who have chronic disease problems. This kind of system will be of great value when it is used on the national information super-highways in the future. In order to get to that stage, of course, this project needs great improvement in the technical, academic, and legal aspects.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.186-193
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• 2015

Purpose: The aim of study was to estimate the hand hygiene (HH) compliance of healthcare workers (HCWs) in a children's hospital. Methods: This study was conducted in a hospital which is a tertiary and educational children's hospital with 313 beds and 533 HCWs. Data were collected by direct observation methods from November 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010. Results: A total of 2,999 opportunities for HH were observed, and the overall HH rate was 95.3%. HH rate of the registered nurse, physicians and transferer was 97.7%, 89.2%, and 72.1%, respectively (P<0.001). Among physicians, HH rate of the fellows, professors, residents and interns was 97.5%, 93.9%, 89.7%, and 80.9%, respectively (P<0.001). HH rate in the emergency room, operation room, outpatient department (OPD), and the intensive care unit (ICU) was 97.2%, 97.2%, 95.4%, and 92.5%, respectively (P<0.001). Hand rubbing was the most frequently used (81.1%), and hand washing was frequently used in the case of 'after body fluids exposure risk' (37.7%) and 'after touching patient surroundings' (28.5%). HH methods were not statistically different from each departments (P =0.083), however, they were significantly different according to the World Health Organization (WHO) 5 Moments (P<0.001). Distributions in WHO 5 Moments by the job titles were significantly different (P<0.001). The odds ratio of physicians, ICU and OPD was 0.353 (95% CI, 0.241-0.519), 0.291 (95% CI, 0.174-0.487), and 0.484 (95% CI, 0.281-0.834), respectively. Conclusions: Compliance of HH was different by the job titles and departments. Effective custom-tailored HH programs for each job title and department need to be developed.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.411-422
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• 2018

Background: Whether there is a difference in outcomes for trauma patients transferring to the helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) according to their previous team composition is controversial. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of trauma team-staffed-HEMS (TTS-HEMS) when transferring to a trauma center. Methods: A retrospective comparison was conducted on patients transported to a trauma center over a 6-year period by the TTS-HEMS and paramedic-staffed-HEMS (119-HEMS). Inclusion criteria were blunt trauma with age ${\geq}15years$. Patient outcomes were compared with the Trauma and Injury Severity Score (TRISS) (30-day mortality) and the Cox proportional hazard ratio of mortality (in hospital). Results: There were 321 patients of TTS-HEMS and 92 patients of 119-HEMS. The TTS-HEMS group had a higher Injury Severity Score and longer transport time but a significantly shorter time to emergency surgery. The prehospital data showed that the trauma team performed more aggressive interventions during transport. An additional 7.6 lives were saved per 100 TTS-HEMS deployments. However, the TRISS results in the 119-HEMS group were not significant. In addition, after adjusting for confounders, the hazard ratio of mortality in the 119-HEMS group was 2.83 times higher than that in the TTS-HEMS group. Conclusion: HEMS was likely to improve the survival rate of injured patients when physicians were involved in TTS-HEMS. Survival benefits in the TTS-HEMS group appeared to be related to the fact that the trauma team performed both more aggressive prehospital resuscitation and clinical decision making during transportation.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.6-11
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• 2018

Purpose: The diagnosis of pelvic fractures pattern has become to be essential in the decision making of treatment modality and reducing morbidity and mortality in multiple trauma patients. Sacroiliac joint (SIJ) disruption can cause life-threatening massive arterial bleeding. This study aimed to determine a method of predicting the prognosis and treatment direction with pelvis X-ray alone in the emergency room. We investigated whether SIJ disruption can be used alone as a poor prognostic factor. Methods: We analyzed the medical records and radiologic examination results of 167 patients with pelvic fractures from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2016 retrospectively. Patients with pathologic fractures, thoraco-abdominal bleeding, and acetabulum fractures and pediatric patients (n=63) were excluded. Factors related to the clinical manifestations and treatments, such as transfusion and surgery, were statistically compared. Results: The cross-sectional analysis showed that there was no correlation between SIJ injury and sex; there were statistically significant relationships between occurrences of shock, conjoined fractures, transfusion, and surgeries. The hospitalization period and partial thromboplastin time and prothrombin time values increased. The logistic regression analysis showed that when an SIJ injury occurred, blood transfusion and hypotension possibilities increased. Conclusions: When pelvic fractures occur near the SIJ, blood transfusion and shock possibilities increase. Physicians must be aware of the high severity and poor prognosis of such fractures when these are diagnosed in the emergency room. And furthermore, the physician has to predict and prepare the intensive care and multidisciplinary approaches.

• The Korean Journal of Rehabilitation Nursing
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.112-121
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• 2013

Purpose: This study aimed to describe Korean nursing home nurses' perceptions on dysphagia management and their working experiences of older adults with dysphagia. Methods: Using a purposive sampling design, 23 eligible nurses were interviewed as four focus groups from 4 facilities out of nursing homes. The qualitative data from focus group interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis to classify common themes into larger categories. Results: Two main themes on the attributes of caring nursing home residents with dysphagia were 'Need for nursing resources' and 'Need for support'. In addition, four subthemes emerged as a result of analysis: 'need for nursing protocols for assessing and managing dysphagia', 'need for emergency care skills of nurses and nurse assistants', 'need for prompt and accurate management by cooperation of physicians and therapists', and 'need for partnership upon comprehension of visiting family members concerning dysphagia'. Conclusion: Nursing home nurses fully recognized the importance of dysphagia management; however, they experienced substantial barriers due to lack of adequate nursing protocols or partnership with family caregivers, insufficient training for emergency care, and deficient support from medical staff. Development of nursing guidelines tailored to the nursing home context and based on partnership among medical experts and family caregivers is needed.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2008

When man first walked on this planet, injury must have been a close encounter of the first kind. The outbreak of World War I, during a period of rapid scientific growth in the basic sciences, demonstrated the need to develop better methods of care for the wounded, methods that were later applicable to the civilian population. Trauma is a multisystem disease and, as such, benefits from almost any advance in medical science. As we learn more about the physiology and the biochemistry of various organ systems, we can provide better management for trauma victims. Improved imaging techniques, better appreciation of physiologic tolerance, and increased understanding of the side effects of specific surgical procedures have combined to reduce operative intervention as a component of trauma patient care. On the other hand, because of this rapid development of medical science, only a few doctors still have the ability to treat multisystem injuries because almost doctor has his or her specialty, which means a doctor tends to see only patients with diagnoses in the doctor's specialty. Trauma Surgeons are physicians who have completed the typical general surgery residency and who usually continue with a one to two year fellowship leading to additional board certification in Surgical Critical Care. It is important to note that trauma surgeons do not need to do all kinds of operations, such as neurosurgery and orthopedic surgery. Trauma surgeons are not only a surgeon but also general medical practitioners who are very good at critical care and coordination of patient. In order to achieve the best patient outcomes, trauma surgeons should be involved in prehospital Emergency Medical Services, the Trauma Resuscitation Room, the Operating Room, the Surgical Intensive Care and Trauma Unit, the Trauma Ward, the Rehabilitation Department, and the Trauma Outpatient Clinic. In conclusion, according to worldwide experience and research, the trauma surgeon is the key factor in the trauma care system, so the trauma surgeon should receive strong support to accomplish his or her role successfully.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.28-35
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• 2008

Purpose: This study was conducted to examine the clinical significance IV-contrasted helical abdomen computed tomography (CT) as a diagnostic screening tool to evaluate hollow viscus injury in blunt abdominal trauma patients. Methods: This is a retrospective study encompassing 108 patients, presenting to Korea University Medical Center (KUMC) Emergency Department (ED) from January 2007 to December 2007, with an initial CT finding suggestive of intra-abdominal injury. An initial non-enhanced abdomen CT was taken, followed by an enhanced CT with intravenous contrast. Patients' demographic data, as well as the mechanisms of injury, were inquired upon and obtained, initial diagnosis, as dictated by specialized radiologists, were added to post-operational (post-OP) findings and to additional CT findings acquired during their hospital stays, and all were combined to arrive at final diagnosis. Initial CT findings were further compared with the final diagnosis, yielding values for sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy, as well as positive and negative predictive values. Patients were further divided into two groups, namely, those that underwent operational intervention and those that did not. The initial CT findings of each group were subsequently compared and analyzed. Results: Initial CT scans revealed abnormal findings in a total of 212 cases - solid organ injuries being the most common finding, as was observed in 97 cases. Free fluid accumulation was evident in another 69 cases. Based on the CT findings, 77 cases (71.3%) were initially diagnosed as having a solid organ injury, 20 cases (18.5%) as having a combined (solid organ + hollow viscus) injury, and 11 cases (10.2%), as having an isolated hollow viscus injury. The final diagnosis however, were somewhat different, with only 67 cases (62.0%) attributed to solid organ injury, 31 cases (28.7%) to combined injury (solid + hollow), and 10 cases (9.3%) to hollow viscus injury. The sensitivity (CI 95%) of the initial helical CT in diagnosing hollow viscus injury was 75.6%, and its specificity was 100%. The accuracy in diagnosing hollow viscus injury was also meaningfully lower compared to that in diagnosis of solid organ injury. Among patients initially diagnosed with solid organ injuries, 10 patients (2 from follow-up CT and 8 from post-OP finding) turned out to have combined injuries. A total of 38 patients underwent an operation, and the proportion of initial CT findings suggesting free air, mesenteric hematoma or bowel wall thickening turned out to be significantly higher in the operation group. Conclusion: Abdominal CT was a meaningful screening test for hollow viscus injury, but the sensitivity of abdominal CT was significantly lower in detecting hollow viscus injury as compared to solid organ injury. This calls for special consideration and careful observation by the ED physicians when dealing with cases of blunt abdominal trauma.