• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.58-67
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• 2023

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the factors associated with long-term hospitalized patients in long-term care hospitals using the quality assessment data for long-term care hospitals by the Health Insurance Review. Methods: Among 1,376 long-term care hospitals, frequency analysis and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the characteristics of these hospitals. Multiple linear regression was conducted to examine the associations between infrastructure characteristics, medical personnel characteristics, health outcomes and the proportion of long-term hospitalized patients. Results: The research findings indicate that the number of patients per doctor, the number of patients per nurse, and the number of patients per nursing staff were positively associated with the proportion of long-term hospitalized patients. Among health outcomes, a higher proportion of patients with more than a 5% weight loss compared to the previous month and the proportion of patients showing improvement in ADL, were more likely to have a lower proportion of long-term hospitalized patients. However the proportion of diabetic patients with HbA1c test results within the appropriate range was positively associated with the proportion of long-term hospitalized patients. Conclusion: The present study results provide fundamental data for the establishment of policies for long-term care hospitals. Based on this study, it is important to suggest screening methods for unnecessary long-term hospitalizations, such as sufficient medical personnel to improve the quality of care in long-term care hospitals. It is also necessary to clearly separate the roles of medical institutions and long-term care facilities and implement policies to support patients' social reintegration.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.436-440
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• 2007

Purpose: TRAM flap surgery has settled down as a common method for breast reconstruction after mastectomy. We investigated how TRAM flap surgery influences on the patients' physical movement capability by observing their capability of sit-ups as well as exercises they usually enjoy. Methods: A total of consecutive 375 patients were investigated who had breast reconstruction with unilateral pedicled TRAM flap surgery at Asan Medical Center from July 2001 to August 2005. The patients were asked to sit up right before the surgery and do it again 6 months later and 1 year later. 221 patients were followed up 6 month after the surgery. And 132 patients were followed up 1 year after the surgery. In addition, 155 patients who used to exercise before the surgery were also asked to show us the change in their physical movement capability one year after their surgery. Results: 139 patients showed decrease in the counted number of sit-ups, 48 increase, and 34 showed no change between 6 months in the first group of 221 patients. Among the second group of 132 patients, 64 showed decrease, 39 increase, and 29 no change a year later. There was a statistical significant decrease in the number of sit-ups between pre-operation and six months later and between pre-operation and one year later. According to the research on the exercise that 155 patients participated, 3 of them showed improvement in athletic ability, 7 showed decrease, while the rest, 145 patients, showed no change at all. Conclusion: Considering no difference in usual exercise ability, some patients' increase in the number of sit-ups and the effect of anticancer treatment, we found that the loss of abdominal wall function on this research is not too serious to exclude TRAM flap surgery in the field of breast reconstruction

• Archives of Craniofacial Surgery
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.87-91
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• 2020

Background: The incidence of skin cancer, which is primarily caused by exposure to ultraviolet radiation, has steadily increased in recent years. The authors of the present study sought to investigate changes in the epidemiology of skin cancer by conducting a retrospective review of patients diagnosed with skin cancer who received related care at a single medical institution. Methods: The present study included patients who were diagnosed with skin cancer and received treatment at Gyeongsang National University Hospital from 2008 to 2018. The site and type of skin cancer, the number of patients with skin cancer each year, the sex and sex ratio of the patients, and changes in patients' age at first diagnosis were examined through retrospective chart reviews. Results: The number of patients with skin cancer significantly increased, but statistically significant changes were not found in patients' sex, skin cancer sites, or the types of skin cancer. However, patients' age at the first diagnosis of skin cancer showed a statistically significant decrease starting in 2015. Conclusion: In this study, the number of patients with skin cancer increased over time. However, patients' age at first diagnosis has decreased since 2015. Therefore, younger patients should take care to prevent skin cancer, and further research on the causes of skin cancer in younger patients is needed.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.49-61
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• 1971

The purpose of this study is to observe the administering of analgesics and sedatives to cases of surgery, the influence of the patients'situational variables on the use of these drugs, and the required number of recovery days in relation to the patients'situational variables and general conditions. Fifty patients in the age range of 15 through 65 who had undergone general surgery at Seoul national University Hospital. Woo Sok University Hospital and Koryo Hospital between May and August of 1971 were chosen for this study. They were observed with regard to the frequency of postoperative uses of analgesics and sedatives age, the required period of recovery in comparison with the situational variables of patients such as sex, age, marital status, the type and duration of anesthesia, experience of previous operation, history of other diseases, preoperative period of hospitalizations and the general conditions of patients such as sleep, stomach condition, bowel condition, urination, interest in surroundings, strength and energy, self-assistance and appetite. The study results were reviewed in a statistical method to obtain the following findings: 1. There was a significant decrease in the frequency of analgesic uses according to the number of days passed after operation. 2. The mean postoperative recovery days were 5.31 days and mote than half of the patients have never used analgesics until recovery. 3. There was a significant decrease in the frequency of sedative uses according to the number of days passed after operation. 4. The rank-order correlation between the frequency of analgesic use and that of sedative use following surgery observes in relation to the number of postoperative days was a low and negative one. 5. All of the patients except one hate used sedatives only once a day for the whole recovery period. 6. The longer they stayed in the hospital before surgery, the less have they used analgesics after surgery. 7. There were significant differences in use of analgesics after surgery by age groups; the 25-44 age group used more analgesics than the 15-24 and 45-65 age groups. 8. There were no significant differences in use of analgesics after surgery by all situational variables except the number of days of hospitalization and age. 9. The longer they stayed in the hospital before surgery, the earlier have they recovered from the surgery. 10. There were no significant differences in the number of required recovery days by all situational variables except the length of preoperative hospitalization. 11. There were no significant differences in the number of required postoperative recordedly days by the general conditions of patients.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.314-323
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• 2013

This study analyzed the relationship between the level of hospital caseloads and length of stay for the delivery patients. The differences of hospital caseloads were measured by the Internal Herfindahl Index, which measured the concentration of delivery patient in a hospital. And the structure variables of hospitals such as the number of bed, the number of treatment, and the number of doctors and nurses per 100 beds were included as control variables. And average length of stay of delivery patients was used as the dependent variable. Concentration status of delivery patients was measured in two models: (1) first model represents the concentration level of delivery patient in all hospital patients, (2) second model represents the concentration level of delivery patient in all obstetrics and gynecology patients. In regression analysis, patient concentration index was not statistically significant in explaining the variation of average length of stay in two models. But the number of delivery patients and number of beds were statistically significant. The number of delivery patient variable showed negative regression coefficient with average length of stay and the number of beds showed positive coefficient with average length of stay. This study result indicated that the volume of delivery patients in a hospital will play a significant role in reducing the length of stay of delivery patients. Patient volume could contribute in improving the efficiency of patient care in a hospital.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.21 no.2 s.74
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• pp.121-127
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• 2006

Nursing often requires heavy physical work activities such as lifting heavy loads, working in awkward postures, transferring patients, operating hazardous equipment, etc. Among various nursing tasks, patients transferring is one of the most physically demanding tasks. This study aims to investigate workload of the patients transferring, and to propose its improving methods for reducing high workload. The results showed that irrespective of methods for patients transferring and the number of workers involved, workload for most patients transferring tasks exceeded the action limit represented in terms of L5/SI compressive force of 3,400N or LI of 1.0 by NIOSH. The loads for some tasks were far larger than the maximum permissible limit of 6,400N. It is recommended that the mechanical devices for transferring patients such as ceiling crane, sling lift etc. should be introduced rather than simply increasing the number of workers in the tasks.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1863-1869
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• 2014

The amplification of telomerase component (TERC) gene could play an important role in generation and treatment of haematological malignancies. This present study was aimed to investigate copy number amplification status of TERC gene in chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) patients who were being treated with imatinib mesylate (IM). Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood of CML-IM Resistant (n=63), CML-IM Respond (n=63) and healthy individuals (n=30). TERC gene copy number predicted (CNP) and copy number calculated (CNC) were determined based on $Taqman^{(R)}$ Copy Number Assay. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis was performed to confirm the normal signal pattern in C4 (calibrator) for TERC gene. Nine of CML patients showed TERC gene amplification (CNP=3), others had 2 CNP. A total of 17 CML patients expressed CNC>2.31 and the rest had 2.31>CNC>1.5. TERC gene CNP value in healthy individuals was 2 and their CNC value showed in range 1.59-2.31. The average CNC TERC gene copy number was 2.07, 1.99 and 1.94 in CML-IM Resistant patients, CML-IM Respond and healthy groups, respectively. No significant difference of TERC gene amplification observed between CML-IM Resistant and CML-IM Respond patients. Low levels of TERC gene amplification might not have a huge impact in haematological disorders especially in terms of resistance towards IM treatment.

• The Journal of Korea Assosiation for Disability and Oral Health
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2019

There are increasing number of patients having dental treatment under outpatient general anesthesia. There were researches that studied patients treated under outpatient general anesthesia in Chonbuk National University Dental hospital between 2005~2013. However, there has been an absence of research since 2013. Therefore, the aim of this research is to study cases regarding outpatient general anesthesia visiting Chonbuk National University hospital between 2014~2017 and analyze the trends of these patients. The medical records of 409 cases from January, 2014 to December, 2017 were reviewed. From the patients' charts, data on sex, residence, visiting dates, disability status, and types and number of treatments was collected and investigated. The number of cases has increased from 86 in 2014 to 140 in 2017. Among 409 cases, 275 cases(67.2%) had disabilities, with mental disabilities consisting most of the disabilities. 192 cases were aged under 20 years old mostly with no disabilities, 142 cases were 20~39 years old mostly with mental disabilities, and 75 cases were 40 years old or more mostly with physical disabilities. The conservative treatment was performed most frequently in both disabled and non-disabled patient groups. There was an increasing trend in the number of patients treated under outpatient general anesthesia, and more than half were disabled patients. In order to meet this demand, Chonbuk National University Dental Hospital increased the number of general anesthesia pracrice. To follow this trends, the implementation of safe outpatient general anesthesia system and cooperation among teams is needed to improve the quality of treatments.

• The Journal of the Korean dental association
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.231-237
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• 2018

The number of patients with dementia in Korea is estimated to be 576,000 in 2013 and 648,000 in 2015, and 840,000 in 2020 and 2,710,000 in 2050. Therefore, it can be expected that the number of patients with dementia will increase among the elderly patients who are looking for dentistry. Dementia and oral hygiene are closely related, so the future role of the dentist is very important. In order to treat effectively the patients with cognitive disorders, we should consider effective communication methods with them. Xerostomia is another important factor affecting oral health of dementia patients. In establishing the dental treatment plan, the most appropriate treatment method should be selected considering the characteristics of individual dementia patients and all possible efforts should be made for successful treatment results.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.315-323
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• 2017

Background: This study was purposed to analyze the effect of spatial accessibility to the psychiatry department in general hospital on the outpatient visit of mental patients. Methods: Data was provided from the Statistics Korea and Statistical Geographic Information Service, National Health Insurance Service, Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, and Korea Transport Institute in 2015. The study regions were 103 administrative regions such as Si and Gu. The 103 regions had at least one general hospitals with a psychiatry department. The number of outpatient visit of mental patients in regions was used as the dependent variable. Spatial accessibility to mental general hospital was used as the independent variable. Control variables included such as demographic, economic, and health medical factors. This study used network analysis and multi-variate regression analysis. Network analysis by ArcGIS ver. 10.0 (ESRI, Redlands, CA, USA) was used to evaluate the average travel time and travel distance in Korea. Multi-variate regression analysis was conducted by SAS ver. 9.4 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA). Results: Travel distance and time had significant effects on the number of outpatient visits in mental patients in general hospital. Average travel time and travel distance had negative effects on the number of visits. Variables such as (number of total population, percentage of aged population over 65, and number of mental general hospital) had significant effects on the number of visit in mental patients. Conclusion: Health policy makers will need to consider the spatial accessibility to the mental healthcare organization in conducting regional health planning.