• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.71-97
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• 2004

This study conducted a comparative analysis of awareness level of review standards, continuing education, and awareness about the need for speciality and educational courses in order to improve quality of Korean health insurance review work and to present directions for policies of personnel development and continuing education to smoothly perform hospital's insurance claim work and Agency's review work. The analysis unit of the study is individuals, and survey was conducted among hospital's claim officers and Agency' review officers by distributing questionnaires. The major results of the study are as follows: First, it is found that hospital's claim officers and Agency's review officers have conflicting awareness about review standards; more Agency's review officers think that current review standards are universal and reasonable, while more hospital's claim officers believe that they need to be revised. Especially, hospital's claim officers replied that it is possible that review results can differ according to government's policies. Second, there is no significant difference between the two groups in the opinion that there are individual differences in awareness level of review standard. In particular, both groups share the opinion that review results can differ according to officer's interpretation of review standards. Third, Both review officer groups feel the need for further training and continuing education. Fourth, there is no difference between the two groups in the opinion that both groups members should be educated in review related educational institutions. However, while 81.5% of Agency's review officers the education should be offered at the Agency, only 45.2% of hospital's claim officers agreed to it. Fifth, both review personnel do not show any difference in awareness of needed experience to successfully perform review work; both groups replied that three to four years experience is necessary to smoothly perform claim work and review work. This study was tried in order to search for directions to improve Korean insurance review work in quality rather than to explore characteristics themselves of individual factors. In this sense, this study presupposed an intention that the educational subjects for further training and continuing education for the two groups should be the same in order to narrow the awareness gap between hospital's claim officers and Agency's review officers. Thus, this study suggests that it is desirable to offer beginner courses at junior colleges or in undergraduate courses and advanced courses in professional graduate school for six to twelve months. In that a comparison of awareness level of hospital's claim officers and Agency's review officers who are actually in practice should precede appropriate presentation of directions for the qualitative improvement of insurance review work in Korea, the significance of this study lies in comparatively analyzing the awareness level of hospital's claim officers and Agency's review officers and in presenting the establishment of future further training and continuing education.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.482-490
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• 2006

Purpose: The purposes were to survey the level of work stress, social support, burnout of insurance review nurses and to measure the main & buffering effect of perceived social support on burnout. Method: The samples were 285 insurance review nurses who were registered in Review Nurses Association of Korea at the period of 25 July and 12 August in 2005. Data were analyzed by using of t-test, Pearson's correlation, stepwise multiple regression, two-way ANOVA. Results: There were significant differences of burnout according to the work experience, position, and work satisfaction of insurance review nurses. Among the variables explaining the level of burnout of review nurses, the most significant variable was work stress, followed by current work satisfaction, social support, position and total variance explained was 40.8%. For the analysis of the buffering effects of perceived social support on work stress and burnout, the interaction between work stress and social support was not significant. Conclusions: It is necessary to construct the social support system and to reduce the work stress in order to reduce the level of the burnout of insurance review nurses.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.130-142
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• 2017

Background: Osteoarthritis of the knee is considered to be related to knee straining activities at work. The objective of this review is to assess the exposure dose-response relation between kneeling or squatting, lifting, and climbing stairs at work, and knee osteoarthritis. Methods: We included cohort and case-control studies. For each study that reported enough data, we calculated the odds ratio (OR) per 5,000 hours of cumulative kneeling and per 100,000 kg of cumulative lifting. We pooled these incremental ORs in a random effects meta-analysis. Results: We included 15 studies (2 cohort and 13 case-control studies) of which nine assessed risks in more than two exposure categories. We considered all but one study at high risk of bias. The incremental OR per 5,000 hours of kneeling was 1.26 (95% confidence interval 1.17-1.35, 5 studies, moderate quality evidence) for a log-linear exposure dose-response model. For lifting, there was no exposure dose-response per 100,000 kg of lifetime lifting (OR 1.00, 95% confidence interval 1.00-1.01). For climbing, an exposure dose-response could not be calculated. Conclusion: There is moderate quality evidence that longer cumulative exposure to kneeling or squatting at work leads to a higher risk of osteoarthritis of the knee. For other exposure, there was no exposure dose-response or there were insufficient data to establish this. More reliable exposure measurements would increase the quality of the evidence.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.63-70
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• 2009

Objectives: Work stress is associated with increased risk of fatigue. The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship of work stress and fatigue among Medical Insurance Review Nurses. Methods: The subjects of this study were 117 nurses in charge of medical insurance review. A structured questionnaires were employed to evaluate the nurses' sociodemographics, work stress and fatigue. The data were analysed through frequency, percentile, mean, standard deviation, Chronbach's $\alpha$, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and multiple regression. Results: Mean scores of work stress and fatigue of participants were 3.29 and 1.97 respectively. Work stress was correlated with fatigue significantly (r=.39). There were effects on fatigue by work performance satisfaction and the frequency of insurance request among sociodemographics. Job conflicts with doctors which was a domain of work stress was increased fatigue. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that work performance satisfaction, the frequency of insurance request and job conflicts with doctors are significant predictors of fatigue. Thus, a strategy to enhance nurses' work environment and to reduce work stress through developing interpersonal relationship is recommended.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.62-86
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• 2001

This study purports to Investigate the determinant of job satisfaction and the organizational commitment of medical insurance review nurses working at Korean hospitals. The independent variables contain three groups of determinants: organizational characteristics variables(job autonomy, work unit control, role variety, role ambiguity, role conflict, workload, resource inadequacy, coworker support, supervisor support, distributive justice, promotional chances, job security, and job hazard), environmental variables(job opportunity, spouse support, and parent support), and psychological variables (met expectation, work involvement, positive affectivity, and negative affectivity). The sample used in this study consisted of 445 medical insurance review nurses from 89 hospitals nationwide. Data were collected with self-administered questionnaires and analyzed using multiple regression analysis. The results of the study are as follows : 1) the following variables, listed in order of size, have significant effects on job satisfaction : role ambiguity(－), distributive justice(＋), work involvement(＋), role variety(＋), met expectation(＋), negative affectivity(－), job autonomy(＋), and positive affectivity(＋). 2) the following variables, listed in order of size, have significant effects on organizational commitment: met expectation(＋), work involvement(.＋), distributive justice(＋), job security(＋), role variety(＋), positive affectivity(＋), negative affectivity(－), resource inadequacy(＋), and tenure(－). 3) the variance of job satisfaction and organizational commitment explained by the variables used in the study are 30.0% and 39.1% respectively. 4) In comparison to the results of other studies on the determinants of job satisfaction and organizational commitment of clinical nursing staff working at hospitals, the results of this study indicate that three variables of distributive justice, work involvement, and role variety are especially important for improving the level of job satisfaction and organizational commitment of medical insurance review nurses.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.201-208
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• 1997

In order to improve the safety of nuclear power plant, we performed a human factors review for the CFMS(Critical Function Monitoring system) design of nuclear power plant. Three works were performed in this study. In first work, we developed human factors engineering program plan(HFEPP) and human factors engineering verification and validation plan (HFE-V & V plan) to effectively perform CFMS design and review. In second work, we identified human engineering discrepancies(HEDs) for CFMS design through human factors design review and proposed those resolutions. In the third work, we developed the evaluation and management methodology for identified KEDs. Methodology developed in this study can be used in other complex system as well as in CFMS design review.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.331-345
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• 2018

Objective: Shift work including night work is known to be harmful to the health of nurses. This study was conducted in order to systematically review the academic literature on the health effects of working time patterns, including shift work or night work, among Korean nurses and propose a research direction for the future. Methods: We searched online academic databases to find relevant papers in domestic and international journals using the keyword terms 'shift work', 'night work', 'night shift', 'work shift', 'nurse', and 'Korea', and reviewed a total of 36 articles. Results: As a result of this literature review, more than half of the articles were found to investigate the health effects between shiftwork and non-shiftwork nurses. A few studies considered the shift type(n=6), frequency of night shift(n=4), and shiftwork duration(n=3) as working time patterns. These studies focused mainly on mental health(n=18) or sleep(n=15). Conclusions: Based on the review results obtained from this study, it is necessary to assess working time patterns of Korean nurses using a variety of variables including night-work-related factors, and various health outcomes should be examined considering the confounder.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.93-104
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• 2003

Porous media consist of physically and chemically different materials and have an extremely complicated behavior due to the different material properties of each of its constituents. In addition, the internal structure of porous materials has generally a complex geometry that makes the description of its mechanical behavior quite complex. Thus, classical continuum mechanics cannot explain the behavior of materials with pore spaces, such as concrete, soils and organic materials in waste landfill. For these reasons, porous media theory has been developed in the nineteenth century. Biot had the greatest influence on the development of porous media theory. Biot's work has been referred by many authors in the literature. Development of numerous fundamental equations in porous media theory were made possible due to Biot's work. His contributions made the greatest influence on porous media theory. Therefore, it is highly advantageous to review Biot's publications. This work presents a review of Biot's work. It shows how porous media theory has been developing so far and provides a chance to discuss the contribution of his work to the modern porous media theory.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.37-42
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• 2010

Over years it has been increasingly concerned with how upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders (UEMSDs) are attributed to psychosocial job stressors. A review study was conducted to examine associations between UEMSDs and psychosocial work factors, and to recommend what to consider for the associations. For studies in which the job demand-control-support (DCS) model or its variables were specifically employed, published papers were selected and reviewed. A number of studies have reported relationships between UEMSDs symptoms and psychosocial exposure variables. For example, the findings are: higher numbness in the upper extremity was significantly attributed to by less decision latitude at work; work demands were significantly associated with neck and shoulder symptoms while control over time was associated with neck symptoms; and the combination of high psychosocial demands and low decision latitude was a significant predictor for shoulder and neck pain in a female working population. Sources of bias, such as interaction or study design, were discussed. UEMSDs were shown to be associated with psychosocial work factors in various studies where the job DCS model was addressed. Nonetheless, this review suggests that further studies should be conducted to much more clarify the association between UEMSDs and psychosocial factors.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.3-20
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• 2019

This review aimed to identify risk factors for occupational accidents and illnesses among young workers in the Nordic countries and to attain knowledge on specific vulnerable groups within the young working force that may need special attention. We conducted a systematic review from 1994 to 2014 using five online databases. Of the 12,528 retrieved articles, 54 met the review criteria and were quality assessed, in which data were extracted focusing on identifying occupational safety, health risk factors, and vulnerable groups among the young workers. The review shows that mechanical factors such as heavy lifting, psychosocial factors such as low control over work pace, and organizational factors such as safety climate are all associated with increased injury risk for young Nordic workers. Results show that exposures to chemical substances were associated with skin reactions, e.g., hand eczema. Heavy lifting and awkward postures were risk factors for low back pain, and high job demands were risk factors for mental health outcomes. The review identified young unskilled workers including school drop-out workers as particularly vulnerable groups when it comes to occupational accidents. In addition, apprentices and young skilled workers were found to be vulnerable to work-related illnesses. It is essential to avoid stereotyping young Nordic workers into one group using only age as a factor, as young workers are a heterogeneous group and their vulnerabilities to occupational safety and health risks are contextual. Politicians, researchers, and practitioners should account for this complexity in the education, training and organization of work, and workplace health and safety culture.