• Health Policy and Management
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.20-44
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• 2004

The National Health Insurance Expenditure has been increased rapidly since the introduction of the separation of prescription and dispensing in 2000, and this trend of rapid growth in overall spendings rate has been observed predominantly among medical practitioners. This study was conducted to investigate the growth rate and distributional changes in private medical practitioners' expenses from 1999 to 2002 and its determinants using the National Health Insurance claims data. The total increasing rate of all medical practitioners' expenditure paid by the National Health Insurance between 1999 and 2002 was $41.71\%$, which exceeding that of general hospitals by $20\%$p. But the income distribution among each practitioner was improved as the changes in Gini coefficient(from 0.40 to 0.38) and decile distribution ratio(from 0.25 to 0.29) during the same period showed. However, this improvement in distributional patterns is not enough since even in 2002 it turned out that the highest $10\%$ income group earned 33times more than the lowest $10\%$ income group did. Also, higher Gini coefficient was observed in larger cities and some department like plastic surgery, obstetrics and gynecology. The major causes of this differentials in medical practitioners' expenses were factors related to medical demand like proportion of old population, residential economic status in a given area. In addition, providers' economic incentives also played an important role in determining their income distribution. The large income differentials among physicians may imply a skewed distribution of patients and thus long waiting time, inefficient utilization of resources and potential inadequate quality of care. In this sense, unreasonable distributional gaps should be reduced, so effective measures as well as ongoing monitoring would be necessary to correct current distributional problems.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.1-5
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• 2020

As the world gradually advances to an aging society, the quality of human life is valued. Among them, 'quality of sleep' is very closely related to quality of life. Recently, Korea expanded health insurance coverage for "sleep disorders". Particularly, as the number of sleep multiple tests and prescriptions for sleep aids has increased rapidly, much attention has been focused on the related medical service environment. Therefore, this study looked at an in-depth interview of 11 hospitals to see what treatment delivery system is being established when the government applies health insurance for 'sleep disorders'. In conclusion, the organizations with the most average number of sleep polyp tests per day were found to have more sleep polyp labs (hardware) and more full-time specialists. Also, the polysomnography lab (hardware) and the specialist's full-time status (software) did not necessarily result in a "positive pressure regulator prescription" that can solve "sleep apnea" caused by "sleep ailments". Rather, it was found that the number of days of sleep multiple laboratories (hardware), the number of full-time specialists (software) or the specialty majors (software) had a greater impact. In particular, the higher the specialist's full-time personnel (software) index (=6.000), the higher the sleep-inducing agent prescription rate(=1.000), and the lower the specialist's full-time personnel (software) index (=1.000), the higher the sleep-inducer's prescription rate(= 0.010) Was low. In addition, even if the professional full-time personnel(software) index was the same (=1.000), the hospital type was lower as it was closer to the public hospital(=0.067) and higher at the specialized hospital (= 0.933). In the case of university hospitals, when the full-time specialists (software) are in the same condition (= 1.000), the frequency of use of the sleep laboratory (=1.000) and the sleep test rate (= 1.000) were all the same.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.2611-2617
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• 2016

Background: Medication errors are common but most often preventable events in any health care setup. Studies on medication errors involving chemotherapeutic drugs are limited. Objective: We studied three aspects of medication errors - prescription, transcription and administration errors in 500 cancer patients who received ambulatory cancer chemotherapy at a resource limited setting government hospital attached cancer centre in South India. The frequency of medication errors, their types and the possible reasons for their occurrence were analysed. Design and Methods: Cross-sectional study using direct observation and chart review in anmbulatory day care unit of a Regional Cancer Centre in South India. Prescription charts of 500 patients during a three month time period were studied and errors analysed. Transcription errors were estimated from the nurses records for these 500 patients who were prescribed anticancer medications or premedication to be administered in the day care centre, direct observations were made during drug administration and administration errors analysed. Medical oncologists prescribing anticancer medications and nurses administering medications also participated. Results: A total of 500 patient observations were made and 41.6% medication errors were detected. Among the total observed errors, 114 (54.8%) were prescription errors, 51(24.5%) were transcribing errors and 43 (20.7%) were administration errors. The majority of the prescription errors were due to missing information (45.5%) and administration errors were mainly due to errors in drug reconstitution (55.8%). There were no life threatening events during the observation period since most of the errors were either intercepted before reaching the patient or were trivial. Conclusions: A high rate of potentially harmful medication errors were intercepted at the ambulatory day care unit of our regional cancer centre. Suggestions have been made to reduce errors in the future by adoption of computerised prescriptions and periodic sensitisation of the responsible health personnel.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.207-212
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• 2016

Objective: Prescription rate of dabigatran and rivaroxaban, which are the direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC), has increased. We have analyzed the prescription trend and medication use of dabigatran and rivaroxaban in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). Methods: It was retrospectively studied from September 2012 to April 2014 using the electronic medical records and the progress notes. Patients with NVAF (n=424) were evaluated on the medication use, prescribing preferences, adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and the availability of prescription reimbursement of dabigatran (n=210) and rivaroxaban (n=214). Results: Dabigatran was prescribed higher than rivaroxaban (23.3% versus 7.5%, p<0.001) in the neurology department, but rivaroxaban was prescribed higher compared to dabigatran in the cardiology department (87.4% versus 74.3%, p<0.001). Dabigatran was prescribed more than rivaroxaban in high risk patients with CHADS2 score ${\geq}3$ (44.3% versus 31.3%, p=0.006). Dabigatran patients seemed to have more ADRs than patients with rivaroxaban (25.2% versus 11.2%, p<0.001), but no serious thrombotic events and bleeding were found. Only 35.6% (n=151) were eligible for prescription reimbursement by the National Health Insurance (NHI). Bridging therapy (86, 31.5%) and direct-current cardioversion (57, 20.2%) were main reasons of ineligibility for reimbursement. Conclusion: Prescription preferences were present in choosing either dabigatran or rivaroxaban for patients with NVAF. Inpatient protocols and procedures considering patient-factors in NVAF need to be developed.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.213-222
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• 2013

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the current state of antidepressant prescriptions in breast cancer patients and factors affecting the prescription of antidepressants. Methods: This study targeted female breast cancer patients who were prescribed antidepressants by a psychiatrist at least once between August 2010 and July 2011 at the Asan Medical Center in Seoul. The prescription history of each study subject was investigated to analyze the current state of antidepressant prescriptions in breast cancer patients. Results: The analysis of the prescription histories of 136 subjects in the antidepressant group determined that escitalopram, mirtazapine, and trazodone were the three most commonly prescribed medications with an average of 1.54 antidepressants prescribed per patient. A logistic regression analysis showed a statistically significant increase in antidepressant prescriptions in patients who were divorced or widowed, had sleep disturbances, or had undergone oncologic surgery for the breast cancer (p<0.050). In contrast, the prescription rate was lower for patients with tumour sizes greater than 50 mm (p<0.050). Conclusion: The sociodemographic factor of marital status, clinical factors of sleep disorders and tumour size, and a treatment-specific factor of the use of surgical therapy were identified as affecting the prescription of antidepressants in female breast cancer patients.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.41-50
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• 2024

Background: Recognizing the seriousness of the misuse and abuse of medical narcotics, the South Korean government introduced the world's first narcotic management system, the Narcotics Information Management System (NIMS). This study aimed to explore the recent one-year opioid prescribing patterns in South Korea using the NIMS database. Methods: This study analyzed opioid prescription records in South Korea for the year 2022, utilizing the dispensing/administration dataset provided by NIMS. Public data from the Korean Statistical Information Service were also utilized to explore prescription trends over the past four years. The examination covered 16 different opioid analgesics, assessed by the total number of units prescribed based on routes of administration, type of institutions, and patients' sex and age group. Additionally, the disposal rate for each ingredient was computed. Results: In total, 206,941 records of 87,792,968 opioid analgesic units were analyzed. Recently, the overall quantity of prescribed opioid analgesic units has remained relatively stable. The most prescribed ingredient was oral oxycodone, followed by tapentadol and sublingual fentanyl. Tertiary hospitals had the highest number of dispensed units (49.4%), followed by community pharmacies (40.2%). The highest number of prescribed units was attributed to male patients in their 60s. The disposal rates of the oral and transdermal formulations were less than 0.1%. Conclusions: Opioid prescription in South Korea features a high proportion of oral formulations, tertiary hospital administration, pharmacy dispensing, and elderly patients. Sustained education and surveillance of patients and healthcare providers is required.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.70 no.5
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• pp.416-422
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• 2011

Background: Inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) are the most essential medication for asthma control. Many reports suggest that the usage of ICSs improves not only the control of asthma symptoms but also prevents exacerbation. We investigated whether increases in ICS prescriptions are associated with decreases in asthma exacerbation in the clinical practice setting. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the database of adult asthma patients who had visited a tertiary referral hospital, the Asan Medical Center between January 2000 and December 2009. The number of emergency department (ED) visits, admissions, intensive care unit (ICU) care, deaths, and ICS prescriptions were analyzed to evaluate the time trend of asthma exacerbation as a function of the ICS prescription rate during the ten years. Results: The numbers of ED visits, admissions, and episodes of ICU care decreased during the ten years (p<0.001, p=0.033, p=0.001, respectively) while the number of ICS prescriptions increased (p<0.001). We found a correlation between the number of ICS prescriptions and the number of ED visits, admissions, or ICU care. For these outcomes, the correlation coefficients were r=-0.952, p<0.001; r=-0.673, p=0.033; r=-0.948, p<0.001, respectively. Conclusion: The number of ICS prescriptions increased during the past ten years while the number of asthma exacerbations decreased. Our results also showed a negative correlation between the ICS prescription rate and asthma exacerbation in the clinical practice setting. In other words, an increase in ICS prescription may be a major cause of a decrease in asthma exacerbations.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.254-260
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to survey the effects of Karvonen exercise prescription in coronary artery disease patients reaching age-predicted maximal heart rates with the exercise stress test on hemodynamic responses and cardiorespiratory fitness. The subject group was comprised of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients, who were divided into the maximal heart rate (MHR) group that included those who completed the test with their heart rates reaching the number of 220-age and the maximal dyspnea (MD) group that included those who could not continue the test due to respiratory difficulty and were asked to stop the test. Both groups had the exercise stress test before and after the experiment. In the exercise stress test before the experiment, the exercise prescription intensity of Karvonen was set at the target heart rates of 50~85% with a six-week exercise monitoring arrangement. As a result, there were no interactive effects in rest heart rate (RHR) according to time and group, but interactive effects were observed in maximal heart rate (MHR) (P=0.000). Both rest systolic blood pressure (RSBP) and rest diastolic blood pressure (RDBP) had no interactive effects according to time and group. Maximal systolic blood pressure (MSBP) showed significant interactive effects according to time and group (P=0.017). Maximal diastolic blood pressure (MDBP) showed no interactive effects according to time and group, while maximal rate pressure product (MRPP) showed significant interactive effects according to time and group (P=0.003). Maximal time (MT) had no interactive effects according to time and group. $VO_{2max}$ and maximal metabolic equivalent (MMET) showed significant interactive effects according to time and group (P=0.000, P=0.002, respectively), whereas maximal respiratory exchange ratio (MRER) and maximal rating of perceived exertion (MRPE) showed no interactive effects according to time and group. The exercise test that was discontinued as the subjects reached the predicted maximal heart rates considering age did not reach the maximal exercise intensity and accordingly showed low exercise effects when applied to Karvonen exercise prescription intensity. That is, the test should keep going by monitoring cardiac events, MRER and MRPE until the heart rates exceed the predicted MHR by up to 10~12 even after the subject reaches the predicted MHR considering age in the exercise stress test.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.487-494
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• 2007

Objectives : Little is known about the physician-related factors that are associated with the management of Hypertension. The purpose of this study was to determine the physician-related factors associated with blood pressure control in hypertensive patients. Methods : We surveyed 154 physicians at 117 public health (subhealth) centers in Gyeonggi-do, Forty-one physicians completed the survey (response rates : 26.6%) and 31 physicians were finally included as the study subjects. Using the information obtained from the self-reported survey, we measured the physician-related factors associated with hypertension control, including their perception of hypertension, prescription patterns (combination prescription rates, specific antihypertensives prescription rates among patients with diabetes mellitus), and sociodemographic factors. We then collected data on blood pressure and medication use in patients seen by these physicians from the health center#s information system. We compared the physicians# perceived hypertension control rates with the actual rates, and then evaluated the rate of high overestimation (overestimation by more than 25% of the median degree of hypertension control rate overestimation) among the physicians. The physicians# antihypertensive prescription patterns were also evaluated. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the independent association between hypertension control and physician-related factors. Results : The physicians tended to overestimate the proportion of their patients with controlled blood pressure (79.5% perceived vs. 57.8% actual). The percentage of physicians with high overestimation was 35.5% (11 physicians). The physicians with lower control rates were more likely to highly overestimate their patients# control rates. Physicians with below-median actual control rates tended to prescribe fewer combination treatments for patients with uncontrolled blood pressure and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or fewer angiotensin receptor blockers for patients with diabetes mellitus. The rate of high overestimation by physicians was 1.31 times higher in patients with uncontrolled blood pressure than in patients with other conditions (OR=1.31, 95% CI : 1.17-1.48). Conclusions : Physicians have a tendency to overestimate the rates of hypertension control in their patients. Because physicians have a direct role in treatment outcomes, physicians# overestimation about hypertension management contributes to inadequate blood pressure control. Thus, interventions for improving physician# awareness regarding the management of patients with hypertension are needed.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.77-95
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• 2001

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of resting periods between exercise sets during isokinetic contraction on recovery from muscle fatigue, strength, heart rate, blood pressure, and lactate level. Sixteen women performed 10 repetitions of isokinetic exercise for three sets in three different conditions. During the sets, they rested 50, 100, and 150 seconds in each condition. And the results were: 1) In this population, the peak torque of extensor during the isokinetic exercise in 100 second resting condition was significantly higher than that in 50 and 150 second resting conditions (p<.01). The total work of extensor was significant in the second and third sets in 50 and 100 second resting conditions (p<.01). 2) During the isokinetic exercise, the heart rate was progressively increased as the sets were advanced in all resting conditions (p<.01). And the increase was significant during the second and third sets than the first in 50 second resting condition (p<.01), while it was significantly greater after the third set than the first in 100 and 150 second resting conditions (p<.01). 4) No difference was found between the resting periods in blood lactate level and blood pressure during the isokinetic exercise. However, differences were found between the sets in these variables (p<.01).