• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.288-302
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• 2022

Objective: Community pharmacists are frontline health care providers, but have been considered as underutilized professionals on a daily basis. The purpose of this scoping review was to identify information about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on community pharmacy services and to evaluate new services that could be applicable. Methods: We searched MEDLINE and EMBASE for studies published up to January 10, 2020. Search terms consisted of keywords relevant to this review, including "COVID-19", "community pharmacy", and "community pharmacist". This review targeted studies of pharmacist services provided by community pharmacies in OECD member countries during the COVID-19 pandemic period. Results: Twenty-seven studies were included in this review. Changes in community pharmacist services due to the COVID-19 pandemic were broadly classified into four categories. First, as the face-to-face services became challenging, various non-face-to-face services were being tried. Second, community pharmacists directly participated in the services to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Third, community pharmacists made efforts to support continuity of care for patients who experienced difficulties due to the reduced professional care as health and medical resources are concentrated in response to COVID-19. Fourth, community pharmacist services were emerging, targeting patients suffering from greater health inequality during the pandemic. Patients expressed high demand and satisfaction for the service of the community pharmacist, and pharmacists reported self-efficacy and professional pride. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, various community pharmacist services have been tried and received positive evaluations from patients in several OECD countries.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.21-51
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• 2024

Since the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-2009, the importance of nonbank financial institutions in macroprudential management has increased significantly. Consequently, major countries and international financial institutions have been actively discussing and implementing macroprudential supervision and regulation for non-bank financial institutions (NBFI). In this context, this paper analyzes the systemic risk of both banks and non-bank sectors (securities firms and insurance companies) in South Korea over different time periods. Using the widely recognized ΔCoVaR methodology for measuring systemic risk, the analysis reveals that systemic risk increased substantially across all three sectors (banks, securities firms, and insurance companies) during the Global Financial Crisis, the European Sovereign Debt Crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the banking sector exhibited relatively high systemic risk compared to the securities and insurance sectors, the relative differences in systemic risk varied across the different crisis periods. Notably, during the margin call crisis in March of 2020, the gap in systemic risk between the banking and securities sectors decreased significantly compared to that during both the Global Financial Crisis and the European Sovereign Debt Crisis, indicating that securities firms had a more substantial impact on risk in the overall financial system during this period. Furthermore, I analyze the impact of the issuance of equity-linked securities (ELS) by financial institutions on systemic risk, as measured by ΔCoVaR, finding that an increase in the outstanding balance of ELS issuance by financial institutions had an impact on increasing ΔCoVaR during the three crisis periods. These findings underscore the growing importance of non-bank financial institutions in relation to South Korea's macroprudential management and supervision. To address this evolving landscape, enhanced monitoring and regulatory measures focusing on non-bank systemic risk are essential components of maintaining financial stability in the country.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.17-21
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• 2021

In 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused unprecedented disruptions to global health systems. The Korea has taken full-fledged actions against this novel infectious disease, swiftly implementing a testing-tracing-treatment strategy. New obligations have therefore been given to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) to devote the utmost effort towards tackling this global health crisis. Thanks to the universal national health insurance and state-of-the-art information communications technology (ICT) of the Korea, HIRA has conducted far-reaching countermeasures to detect and treat cases early, prevent the spread of COVID-19, respond quickly to surging demand for the healthcare services, and translate evidence into policy. Three main factors have enabled HIRA to undertake pandemic control preemptively and systematically: nationwide data aggregated from all healthcare providers and patients, pre-existing ICT network systems, and real-time data exchanges. HIRA has maximized the use of data and pre-existing network systems to conduct rapid and responsive measures in a centralized way, both of which have been the most critical tactics and strategies used by the Korean healthcare system. In the face of new obligations, our promise is to strive for a more responsive and resilient health system during this prolonged crisis.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.105-162
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• 2020

In the pandemic of infectious disease, restrictions of individual liberty have been justified in the name of public health and public interest. In March 2020, the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea passed the revised bill of the 「Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act.」 The revised bill newly established the legal basis for forced testing and disclosure of the information of confirmed cases, and also raised the penalties for violation of self-isolation and treatment refusal. This paper examines whether and how these individual liberty limiting clauses be justified, and if so on what ethical and philosophical grounds. The authors propose the theories of the philosophy of law related to the justifiability of liberty-limiting measures by the state and conceptualized the dual-aspect of applying the liberty-limiting principle to the infected patient. In COVID-19 pandemic crisis, the infected person became the 'Patient as Victim and Vector (PVV)' that posits itself on the overlapping area of 'harm to self' and 'harm to others.' In order to apply the liberty-limiting principle proposed by Joel Feinberg to a pandemic with uncertainties, it is necessary to extend the harm principle from 'harm' to 'risk'. Under the crisis with many uncertainties like COVID-19 pandemic, this shift from 'harm' to 'risk' justifies the state's preemptive limitation on individual liberty based on the precautionary principle. This, at the same time, raises concerns of overcriminalization, i.e., too much limitation of individual liberty without sufficient grounds. In this article, we aim to propose principles regarding how to balance between the precautionary principle for preemptive restrictions of liberty and the concerns of overcriminalization. Public health crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic requires a population approach where the 'population' rather than an 'individual' works as a unit of analysis. We propose the second expansion of the harm principle to be applied to 'population' in order to deal with the public interest and public health. The new concept 'risk to population,' derived from the two arguments stated above, should be introduced to explain the public health crisis like COVID-19 pandemic. We theorize 'the extended harm principle' to include the 'risk to population' as a third liberty-limiting principle following 'harm to others' and 'harm to self.' Lastly, we examine whether the restriction of liberty of the revised 「Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act」 can be justified under the extended harm principle. First, we conclude that forced isolation of the infected patient could be justified in a pandemic situation by satisfying the 'risk to the population.' Secondly, the forced examination of COVID-19 does not violate the extended harm principle either, based on the high infectivity of asymptomatic infected people to others. Thirdly, however, the provision of forced treatment can not be justified, not only under the traditional harm principle but also under the extended harm principle. Therefore it is necessary to include additional clauses in the provision in order to justify the punishment of treatment refusal even in a pandemic.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.161-173
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• 2021

The shipping industry plummeted and was depressed due to the global economic crisis caused by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in the US in 2008. In 2020, the shipping market also suffered from a collapse in the unstable global economic situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but unexpectedly, it changed to an upward trend from the end of 2020, and in 2021, it exceeded the market of the boom period of 2008. According to the Clarksons report published in May 2021, the decrease in cargo volume due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has returned to the pre-corona level by the end of 2020, and the tramper bulk carrier capacity of 103~104% of the Panamax has been in the ports due to congestion. Earnings across the bulker segments have risen to ten-year highs in recent months. In this study, as factors affecting BDI, the capacity and congestion ratio of Cape and Panamax ships on the supply side, iron ore and coal seaborne tonnge on the demand side and Granger causality test, IRF(Impulse Response Function) and FEVD(Forecast Error Variance Decomposition) were performed using VAR model to analyze the impact on BDI by congestion caused by strengthen quarantine at the port due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the loading and discharging operation delay due to the infection of the stevedore, etc and to predict the shipping market after the pandemic. As a result of the Granger causality test of variables and BDI using time series data from January 2016 to July 2021, causality was found in the Fleet and Congestion variables, and as a result of the Impulse Response Function, Congestion variable was found to have significant at both upper and lower limit of the confidence interval. As a result of the Forecast Error Variance Decomposition, Congestion variable showed an explanatory power upto 25% for the change in BDI. If the congestion in ports decreases after With Corona, it is expected that there is down-risk in the shipping market. The COVID-19 pandemic occurred not from economic factors but from an ecological factor by the pandemic is different from the past economic crisis. It is necessary to analyze from a different point of view than the past economic crisis. This study has meaningful to analyze the causality and explanatory power of Congestion factor by pandemic.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.689-702
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• 2021

Purpose: This study aimed to develop a situation-specific theory to explain nurses' experiences of the COVID-19 crisis. Methods: The participants were 16 hospital nurses who experienced the COVID-19 crisis. Data were collected through in-depth individual interviews from September 2, 2020 to January 20, 2021. Transcribed interview contents were analyzed using Corbin and Strauss's grounded theory method. Results: A total of 38 concepts and 13 categories were identified through an open coding process. The core category found was becoming a pioneering nurse who turns crises into opportunities. The causal conditions were the chaos of being exposed defenselessly to an unexpected pandemic, fear caused by a nursing care field reminiscent of a battlefield, and moral distress from failing to protect patients' human dignity. The contextual conditions were feeling like the scapegoat of the hospital organization, increasing uncertainty due to the unpredictable state of COVID-19, and relative deprivation due to inappropriate treatment. The central phenomenon was suffering alone while experiencing the dedication of the COVID-19 hero image. The action/interactional strategy were efforts to find a breakthrough and getting the nurse's mind right, and the intervening conditions were gratitude for those who care for broken hearts and getting used to myself with repetitive work. The Consequences were becoming an independent nurse and frustration with the unchanging reality. Conclusion: This study provides the foundation for the nurse's situation-specific theory of the COVID-19 crisis by defining the crisis perceived by nurses who cared for COVID-19 patients and suggesting types of coping with the crisis.

• Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.50-62
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• 2021

This study aims to unravel the shift in the customary method of disseminating information about the ritual of Perang Topat (literally translated as "rice-cake war") as carried out by the custom community of Kemaliq Lingsar in the West Lombok Regency of Indonesia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Grounded in the ethnography of communication research methodology, this study examines the process of the cultural ritual during the 2020 period of the pandemic and compares it to the ones held in 2018 and 2019 (before the current pandemic). Drawing on findings from observations, in-depth interviews, and documentation, it was revealed that the traditional or custom-oriented community of Kemaliq Lingsar abandoned all three prominently used methods of disseminating the information of the Perang Topat ritual that had been used prior to the pandemic, and that they were replaced by a strategy with solely face-to-face (FTF) interpersonal communication carried out by visiting the homes of the target participants of the cultural event. This method was relevant to the current viral crisis because it enabled the committee to minimize the number of spectators which might potentially violate COVID-19 health protocols. This finding also reinforces the hypothetical statement that interpersonal communication via FTF is effective in disseminating information in a limited manner and empowering the emotional bond between the individuals who share relationships and similar interests. The findings of the present study can be a reference for any events where physical distancing must be strictly imposed and require a limit to the number of participants during the pandemic.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.113-119
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• 2021

This study compared business performance and earnings quality before and after the COVID-19 pandemic for information and communication companies whose sales increased due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. For this, 4 indicators of ROA, growth potential, liquidity, and stability are used for business performance, and for earnings quality, the standard deviation of the residuals measured by the Dechow and Dichev(2002) model and Francis et al.(2005) model was used. As a result of the analysis, ROA, a representative business performance indicator, increased after xthe period compared to the period before the pandemic, but liquidity was rather deteriorated. As for the quality of earnings, it was confirmed that earnings sustainability is maintained in the post-pandemic period compared to the previous period, similar to ROA. Overall, the profit level and earnings quality of information and communications companies seemed to be improving, while liquidity was deteriorating. This confirms that companies that have overcome the immediate crisis are not ready to pay off their debts right away. Therefore, it suggests that companies need restructuring to reduce their increased debt from the time the COVID-19 subsides.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.392-401
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• 2023

This study aimed to investigate the dietary changes among adults living alone during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Korea. An online survey was conducted to examine dietary changes before (in 2019) and during (in 2021) the pandemic. The data from 337 adults living alone who responded to the survey were used for analysis. The proportion of the respondents reporting frequent food consumption at convenience stores (≥3 times/week) increased during the pandemic (p=0.024), and the proportion of those frequently eating ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook food (≥3 times/week) was more than doubled (p<0.001). Additionally, the proportion of those frequently consuming delivered food (≥3 times/week) increased by 2.5 times (p<0.001). In conclusion, the dietary habits of adults living alone changed significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have a negative impact on their health. Therefore, the development of customized nutrition management programs to improve the dietary habits of adults living alone during emergencies like a pandemic is deemed necessary. This study can serve as a foundation for understanding the dietary changes of adults living alone in prolonged crisis.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.103-112
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• 2023

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic, which emerged in late 2019, had a profound impact on global public health and disrupted the daily lives of people worldwide. Particularly, university students faced a challenging situation as their university life underwent a drastic transformation due to long-term remote learning and isolation measures. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between changes in daily life during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and depressive symptoms among university students aged between 19 and 29 in Korea. Methods: We analyzed data from the nationally representative 2020 Community Health Survey (CHS). Among the 229,269 participants, 9,279 university students aged 19-29, either enrolled or on leave, were selected. After excluding 401 cases with missing values, the final sample comprised 8,878 individuals. Using multivariate logistic regression with a complex sample design, we explored the association between daily life changes during the COVID-19 pandemic and depressive symptoms. Results: Changes in daily life during the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with depressive symptoms in Korean university students aged 19 to 29, even after adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, health-related factors, and COVID-19-related aspects (OR=1.28, 95% CI=1.09~1.50). Conclusion: Our study suggests that when examining the impact of COVID-19 on health issues, it is crucial to consider the changes in daily life caused by the pandemic. These findings can provide insights into the psychological well-being of university students during times of crisis.