• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.791-799
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• 2011

Objectives : This study aimed at examining the aspects of utilization of the dental services in some regions and analyzing the related factors with a view to helping the old solve the dental problems and overcome the difficulties. Methods : This investigation was intended for 422 old people living in Jeon-ju city and Jang-su county from July 18, 2006 to August 25 by direct interviewing posing questions. The survey data sets were analyzed by chi-square, correlation, multiple regression and logistic regression. Results : 1. The average number of the existing teeth per an old person was 13.6 and the 28.8% of the old who didn't use denture called for dentures. 2. The annual coefficient of utilization in dental services for an old person was 52.3% and the annual average visits to dental clinics were 3.12 days while 38.6% of the old experienced illegal dental treatments. 3. The affecting factors on the dental utilization for treatment were as follows: family income, dental clinics available, the number of existing teeth, the days of dental trouble, the recognition of the prevention of the dental disease, the knowledge for the dental treatment and the oral health judged by himself. 4. The major variables influencing the utilization of dental services were spouse presence, form of family, income, having a regular dental care, denture presence and the experience of inconvenience in living. Conclusions : To conclude, the following suggestions could be made. First, It was necessary that enforcement practice of free dental prosthesis service and application to the national health insurance in old people's prosthetic therapy for government support because the economic factor was barrier to utilization of the dental services. Second, Dental clinic was required to the health center because availability of common dental services was big impact in utilization of the dental services.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.41-52
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• 2016

Objectives: There are no studies which have investigated the health related quality of life(HRQOL) about stroke patients according to the medical care utilization behavior by longitudinal analysis. The purpose of this study is to analyze the quality of life(QOL) and quality adjusted life years(QALYs) of stroke patients of western and combined treatment group by longitudinal analysis. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted among 37 new patients who initiated diagnosis with stroke in 2009 from Korea Health Panel Data. We analyzed the HRQOL of stroke patients and calculated the QALYs after medical use initiation for up to 3 years according to the medical care utilization behavior. Results: Overall, the quality of life of stroke patients was lowered somewhat from 0.8431 to 0.7864 in 2009~2012. Western treatment group was appeared slightly declined in from 0.8527 to 0.8231 and combined treatment group was shown to be falling from 0.8173 to 0.6875. The QALYs of total patients were calculated 2.3654 and western treatment group were 2.4436, combined treatment group were 2.1542 during the 4 year period. The difference of QALYs between two groups was 0.2894 QALYs. Conclusions: Although there was a small difference in QALYs of the two groups, it is not certain that the difference is come from medical care utilization behavior. Further studies should be needed to confirm the relation of the medical care utilization behavior and quality of life by considering severity of the stroke.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.233-244
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• 2021

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the actual utilization of clinical practice guidelines developed by Hospital Nurses Association. Methods: The subjects were 70 nurses who were in charge of guideline distributions in 70 advanced general hospital and general hospitals with 500 beds or more nationwide. Data were collected between June and August, 2020 by mail (return rate: 88.6%). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, and ANOVA with SPSS/WIN 24.0. Results: Among the clinical practice guidelines developed by Hospital Nurses Association, 72.9~90.1% were placed with book and electronic file in nursing department and 24.3~35.8% were placed with book and electronic file in each nursing unit at hospital. The average number of utilized clinical practice guidelines were 3.96±3.88, and average score of guideline utilization was score 2.85±0.79 which means 'use sometimes'. Conclusion: To improve the distribution and utilization of the clinical practice guidelines, it is necessary to enhance the recognition of values of evidence based nursing practice targeting head of nursing department and to stimulate the distribution and utilization of the clinical practice guidelines using diverse education programs for staff nurses.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.101-107
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• 1999

Background : In order to improve the quality of life of dying patients, they need to receive not only the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual care, but also systematic and continuous care to die with dignity. However, no adequate medical services are available for these terminal cancer patients. We studied their behavior patterns of health care utilization to understand more of their medical and social needs. Methods : We investigated 108 bereaved families through the telephone interview with structured questionnaires. They were randomly selected through the retrospective chart review of the terminal patients who passed away due to cancer. Results : Most of the terminal cancer patients received their care from proper medical services including admission to hospital (45.4%), outpatient clinic (22.2%), emergency room (16.7%), and oriental medicine (12.0%). But during the terminal phase of their illness, 32.4% of patients never received medical care including oriental medicine, and 28.7% received alterative natural care. 26 bereaved families (24.1%) pointed out the indifference of medical staff as a problem receiving proper hospital care, and 22 (20.4%) emphasized emotional strain of their helplessness with the patients' suffering as a problem of caring at home. Over 90% suggested availability of continuous care, hospice care, home care, and 24 hour telephone service to be improved. Conclusions : Due to various reasons, adequate medical care is not delivered to the terminal cancer patients in our present medical system. These problems can be approached with the establishment of proper education and medical delivery system. The role of comprehensive medical specialty cannot be overly emphasized to accomplish this most effectively.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.81-92
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• 2011

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the influence of depression symptom on the self-rated health status(SRHS), the outpatient health service utilization and quality of life(QOL) also the relationship depression symptom with socio-demographic and health related factors. Methods: We selected 9,550 participants without chronic diseases from a total of 18,104 in the '2009 community health survey in Gyeongnam. They were assessed by using a Korean version of the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale(CES-D). Those with CES-D scores of 21 or greater were defined as having probable depression. Results: A probable depression were associated in bivariate analysis with gender, age, educational status, monthly household income, marital status, current smoking status, drinking habit, physical activities and body mass index. After adjustment for covariates, probable depression groups predicted a lower status in SRHS. Likewise probable depression groups predicted a higher utilization in outpatient health service. Also probable depression groups predicted a lower score in QOL. Conclusions: Probable depression influence SRHS, outpatient health service utilization and QOL even after adjusting for the socio-demographic, health related factors and chronic medical illness. Programs for prevention and management of depression will be helpful to promote health and QOL.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.118-129
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• 1990

Socioeconomic status in this county progressed rapidly, this has brought about many changes in health care fields, namely, pattern of disease prevalence and morbidity, increase of the aged people, and also availability of health care in rural areas. According to the utilization study of medical care, it showed that the oriental medicine is used for the treatment of lasted chronic disease not the minor and common diseases which is quick in its effect. Particularly, in rural areas. prevalence of chronic disease is higher than that in urban areas. Although the health cafe need of the oriental medicine is high in rural areas, the distribution of manpower and facilities is lower than that in urban areas. Therefore the government has planned to implement the demonstration project for the oriental medicine at the designated 3 health centers in rural areas. The purpose of this study was to collect the utilization level of oriental medical care of the people in rural areas. To meet the purpose of this study, patient interview were applied. 790 patients visited to health center in project areas were selected and analyzed by experienced interviewers from 2 April to 21 April 1990. The major findings of this study were as follows ; 1) Of the 790 patients, 32.6 percent of the respondents had experience of using the oriental medicine. As for the utilization by age and sex. 54.8% of those was female and 70.7% was 40 years of age and more. 2) Reaction to the question of educational achievement showed that on schooling and primary school graduates accounted for 63.1%. 3) The most user of oriental medicine resides in country level, where the health center is located, and 80 percent of those users resides within 10Km. 4) More than 50% of the total was the chronic diseases which lingered for more than 3months. 5) 32.6 percent of the total cases used the oriental medicine. 61.2% among those was treated by oriental medical care hospital and 38.8% by oriental drug dispensaries etc. 6) The contont of oriental medical care varied ; 50.1% for prescription of herb drugs for treatment, 25.1% for health maintenance and 23.9% for acupuncture, moxibustion etc. 7) As for the motivation for using the oriental medicine. 56.6% of the respondents was for treatment of diseases and 27.9% wes for strengthening the physical weakness. 8) As for the effectiveness of the oriental medicine. 70.3% of the total cases satisfied with that treatment and 84.2% of the total cases will use the oriental medicine when is provided by health center.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.5
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• pp.589-595
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• 2019

The policies and researches for the reduction of greenhouses gases have been performed according to"Paris Agreement". Because South Korea is the $6^{th}$ biggest greenhouses gas emitter in the world, the Korea government has prepared the strategies for the reduction of greenhouse gases. The development of CCUS (Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage) technology is necessary to reduce greenhouse gases. Therefore, the CCUS has been studied by many contries in the world. In this work, the trends of CCUS technologies R&D has been shortly investigated.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.495-503
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• 2023

Objectives: While older adults using community care services are known to be vulnerable for depression, community care utilization (CCU) may help to improve the mental health of these elderly. To date, however, it is much less clear how CCU affects depressive symptoms in the elderly population. This study focuses on the trajectory of depressive symptoms across years of CCU among older adults in Korea. Methods: Using the 2006-2019 Korean Welfare Panel Survey, this study is focused on elderly born in 1940 or earlier and selected 3281 persons for baseline interviews in 2006. This consisted of 35 800 person-year observations during a period of 14 years. Panel data analysis were employed to construct years of CCU. Results: After controlling for covariates, linear term of years using community care was negatively associated with depressive symptoms, but a quadratic term was positively significant. The trajectory of depressive symptoms across the years of CCU follows a U-shaped curve. Older adults in the first year of using community care reported the highest level of depressive symptoms. However, a significant and steady decrease in depressive symptoms was observed during the following 9 years of CCU, which then gradually increased. The level of depressive symptoms at the 14th year of using community care remains significantly lower than the level at the outset of its utilization. Conclusions: This finding implies that CCU could be beneficial for improving mental health among older adults.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.98-110
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• 2015

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to analyze the medical cost of facial paralysis in payer perspective and to estimate the practice pattern of patient using 2011 Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service-National Patients Sample(HIRA-NPS). Methods: Basic statistical system was used for descriptive analysis of NPS dataset. A table for general information (table20) was extracted by disease code, and social demographic characteristics, distribution of the use among inpatients and outpatients, utilization of each kind of medical care institutions, medical cost were analyzed. Subgroup analysis was conducted for assuming the practice pattern of korean medicine and western medicine. Results: A total of 8,219 people and 64,345 claims data were identified as having facial paralysis. Proportion of outpatient was 95.23%, inpatient 0.84% and patient using both services 3.93%. Mean patient charges was 44,229 won per outpatient, 178,886 won per inpatient and 523,542 won per patient using both services. Utilization of korean medical care institutions was 68.81%(claims), 40.46%(patients), utilization of western medical care institutions was 31.19%(claims), 59.54%(patients). The amount charged by korean medical care institutions was 52.61% and western medical care institutions was 47.39%. Cost per claim was higher than those of the korean treatment and cost per patient of western treatment was lower than those of the korean treatment. Conclusions: The research assessed the medical cost and practice pattern associated with facial paralysis. These findings could be used in health care policy and subsequent studies.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.4400-4419
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• 2021

In the 4th Industrial Revolution, the healthcare industry is undergoing a paradigm shift from post-care and management systems based on diagnosis and treatment to disease prevention and management based on personal precision medicine. To optimize medical services for individual patients, an open ecosystem for the healthcare industry that allows the exchange and utilization of personal health records (PHRs) is required. However, under the current system of hospital-centered data management, it is difficult to implement the linking and sharing of PHRs in practice. To address this problem, in this study, we present the design and implementation of a patient-centered PHR platform using blockchain technology. This platform achieved transparency and reliability in information management by eliminating the risk of leakage and tampering/altering personal information, which could occur when using a PHR. In addition, the patient-consent system was applied to a PHR; thus, the patient acted as the user with ownership. The proposed blockchain-based PHR platform enables the integration of personal medical information with scattered distribution across multiple hospitals, and allows patients to freely use their health records in their daily lives and emergencies. The proposed platform is expected to serve as a stepping stone for patient-centered healthcare data management and utilization.