• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제48권6호
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• pp.277-279
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• 2015

Contact monitoring is an essential component of the public health response to a Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus outbreak, and is required for an effective quarantine to contain the epidemic. The timeliness of a quarantine is associated with its effectiveness. This paper provides a conceptual framework to describe the process of contact monitoring, and proposes a new measure called the "timely quarantined proportion" as a tool to assess the adequacy of a public health response.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제55권4호
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• pp.360-370
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• 2022

Objectives: This study evaluated the response in Daegu, Korea to the first wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic according to a public health emergency response model. Methods: After an examination of the official data reported by the city of Daegu and the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as a literature review and advisory meetings, we chose a response model. Daegu's responses were organized into 4 phases and evaluated by applying the response model. Results: In phase 1, efforts were made to block further transmission of the virus through preemptive testing of a religious group. In phase 2, efforts were concentrated on responding to mass infections in high-risk facilities. Phase 3 involved a transition from a high-intensity social distancing campaign to a citizen participation-based quarantine system. The evaluation using the response model revealed insufficient systematic preparation for a medical surge. In addition, an incorporated health-related management system and protection measures for responders were absent. Nevertheless, the city encouraged the participation of private hospitals and developed a severity classification system. Citizens also played active roles in the pandemic response by practicing social distancing. Conclusions: This study employed the response model to evaluate the early response in Daegu to the COVID-19 pandemic and revealed areas in need of improvement or maintenance. Based on the study results, creation of a systematic model is necessary to prepare for and respond to future public health emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제9권3호
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• pp.352-355
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• 2018

Hazardous work zones (i.e., hot, warm, and cold) are typically established by emergency response teams during hazardous materials (HAZMAT) calls but less consistently for fire responses to segment personnel and response activities in the immediate geographic area around the fire. Despite national guidelines, studies have documented the inconsistent use of respiratory protective equipment by firefighters at the fire scene. In this case-series report, we describe warm zone gas levels using multigas detectors across five independent fire incident responses all occurring in a large South Florida fire department. Multigas detector data collected at each fire response indicate the presence of sustained levels of volatile organic compounds in the "warm zone" of each fire event. These cases suggest that firefighters should not only implement strategies for multigas detector use within the warm zone but also include respiratory protection to provide adequate safety from toxic exposures in the warm zone.

• 대한예방의학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한예방의학회 1994년도 교수 연수회(환경)
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• pp.405-411
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• 1994

Hazardous wastes released into the general environment are of concern to the public and to public health authorities. In response to this concern, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, as amended (commonly called Superfund), was enacted in 1980 to provide a framework for environmental, public health, and legal actions concerning uncontrolled releases of hazardous substances. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) was created by Superfund to address the public health issues of hazardous wastes in the community environment. Two key Agency programs, Public Health Assessments and Toxicological Profiles, are designed to assess the risk to human health of exposures to hazardous substances that migrate from waste sites or through emergency releases (e.g., chemical spills). The Agency's public health assessment is a structured process that permits ATSDR to identify which waste sites or other point sources require traditional public health actions (e.g.. human exposure studies, health studies, registries, health surveillance, health advisories). The ATSDR qualitative public health assessment complements the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's quantitative risk assessment. For Superfund purposes, both assessments are sitespecific. ATSDR's toxicological profiles are prepared for priority hazardous substances found most frequently at Superfund sites. Each profile presents the current toxicologic and human health effects information about the substance being profiled. Each profile also contains Minimal Risk Levels (MRLs), a type of risk assessment value. This paper covers ATSDR's experience in conducting public health assessments and developing MRLs, and it relates this experience to recommendations on how to improve chemical risk assessments.

• 보건행정학회지
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• 제28권3호
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• pp.308-314
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• 2018

Injury is a serious problem that not only causes death but also significantly degrades the quality of life of the people and causes loss of socioeconomic opportunities and costs. Damage occurs as a result of an accident. Among them, natural disasters and artificial disasters take lives of many people in a short time and threaten their physical and mental health. The United States has responded to the disaster by establishing relevant laws and regulations and a response system with the recognition that health is recognised soon to be as national security in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the Katrina disaster. It is necessary to build a knowledge infrastructure to train disaster response experts in public health area and to have health competence to cope with disasters.

• Journal of Medicine and Life Science
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• 제21권1호
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• pp.1-10
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• 2024

The purpose of this study is to determine the issues of supplementation and improvement to prepare for the outbreak of new infectious diseases such as new variants of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to guide work for a strategic new response to infectious disease. Public officials of Jeju Special Self-governing Province and health personnel responding to COVID-19, working at six public health centers in Jeju-do region were administered a survey about additional preparations to be made in the future, based on the period when COVID-19 was treated legally as a first-class infectious disease. Frequency analysis was conducted on the collected data. The Likert 5-point scale and Kruskal-Wallis test were used to compare the scores for effective response to emerging infectious diseases according to demographics. Among the important factors identified for effective response to new infectious diseases, 'facilitation of cooperation with public institutions' and 'facilitation of cooperation with private institutions' had the highest scores. In the future, when a patient presents with a new infectious disease, the step that needs to be supplemented in each phase of the public health center's response is 'immediate response team operation'. Further, public health centers responded that 'expansion of dedicated personnel related to infectious diseases' needs to be improved to respond to new infectious diseases. Along with the results of this study, considering the difficulties experienced by health personnel responding to new infectious diseases in preparation for future outbreaks of new infectious diseases, and to respond effectively, detailed and clear guidelines for responding to quarantine of patients of new infectious diseases will be needed.

• 대한치과기공학회지
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• 제34권4호
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• pp.447-455
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• 2012

Purpose: This study was to investigate oral hygiene knowledge and the actual condition of oral care for the students in the public health and non-public health Departments. Methods: The survey sample consisted of 262 randomly selected students. 197 of them are public health-related students and 65 are non-public health-related students. The questionnaires used in this study consisted of 4 items for general information, oral health status of 2 items, 5 items for Oral hygiene knowledge and actual condition of oral care of 5 items. Collected data were analyzed by Frequency Analysis t-test and Crosstabs using SPSS(Statistical Package for Social Sciences) Win 19.0 statistics program. Results: Regarding general characteristics of the subjects, there were 53.8% of first-year student, 26.0% of second-year student and 20.2% of third-year student among 52.3% of males and 47.7% of females. The subjects received less than "100,000" won(13.0%), "100,000-190,000" won (5.0%), "200,000-290,000" won(30.9%), "300,000-390,000" won (33.2%) and more than "400,000" won(17.9%) a month for an allowance. The subjects had 'none' (44.3%), '1'(6.5%), '2'(12.6%), '3'(5.0%), '4'(5.3%), 'more than' 5(0.8%) of dental caries and 'do not know' were 25.6%. The numbers of dental prosthetics were 'no' (35.5%), '1'(13.7%), '2'(17.2%), '3'(10.3%), '4'(11.5%), and 'more than 5'(11.8%). The public health students(84.8%) had a higher positive response rate than the non-public health students(66.2%). The public health students(80.2%) had a higher negative response rate than the non-public health students(78.5%) in the result of onset of gum disease pain awareness. The non-public health students(65.5%) had a higher negative response rate than the public health students(68.3%)) in the result of heredity of gum disease. The t-test showed that public health-related department students(M=8.264, SD=0.821) had more knowledge about oral hygiene than non-public health-related department students(M=8.015, SD=1.082). 'do not use' in the oral care products except toothpaste and toothbrush showed that public health-related department students(60.4%) use the products more than non-public health-related department students(66.2%). Conclusion: In this study, public health-related department students had higher oral hygiene knowledge and actual condition of oral care compared to non-public health-related students, but low in practical action. Due to the lower level of dental care products use in non-public health-related department, a continuous oral care education program is required.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제48권6호
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• pp.265-270
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• 2015

The recent Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) outbreak has originated from a failure in the national quarantine system in the Republic of Korea as most basic role of protecting the safety and lives of its citizens. Furthermore, a number of the Korean healthcare system's weaknesses seem to have been completely exposed. The MERS-CoV outbreak can be considered a typical public health crisis in that the public was not only greatly terrorized by the actual fear of the disease, but also experienced a great impact to their daily lives, all in a short period of time. Preparedness for and an appropriate response to a public health crisis require comprehensive systematic public healthcare measures to address risks comprehensively with an all-hazards approach. Consequently, discussion regarding establishment of post-MERS-CoV improvement measures must focus on the total reform of the national quarantine system and strengthening of the public health infrastructure. In addition, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must implement specific strategies of action including taking on the role of "control tower" in a public health emergency, training of Field Epidemic Intelligence Service officers, establishment of collaborative governance between central and local governments for infection prevention and control, strengthening the roles and capabilities of community-based public hospitals, and development of nationwide crisis communication methods.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제56권4호
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• pp.394-395
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• 2023

• 동아시아식생활학회지
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• 제18권4호
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• pp.608-617
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• 2008

This study examined the level of reaction towards damage related to health foods and the factors affecting this reaction among the elderly. Data were collected from 269 elderly individuals living in Seoul, Daejeon, Daegu, Gwangju and Busan. Frequencies, chi-square tests, and a multinomial logistic regression analysis were performed using the SPSS v. 14.0 program. When asked about their reaction towards damage related to health foods, approximately 48% of the respondents answered 'no response', 34% answered 'private response', and 18% answered 'public response'. Multinomial logistic regression analysis revealed that education level and awareness of health food price were significant factors influencing 'private response', and concerns about health foods and awareness of damage redemption were significant factors for 'public response'. These results imply that consumer education for elderly to prevent damage derived from the purchase and consumption of health foods is required.