• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.83-94
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• 2012

Objectives : This study aimed to investigate the use and patterns of health care resources of local patients and to analyze the health seeking behaviors focusing on shopping around phenomenon. Methods : Questionnaires on the use of health institution were developed and administered to the residents in Yangsan city, Korea. We selected patients who were suffering from any diseases two months and over. Patients' health seeking behaviors were categorized, and the factors for selecting health institutions in each visiting stages were analyzed. Results : 139 local patients participated in the survey, and 130 completed questionnaires were analyzed. We found that there were sixty eight different types of medical utilization paths. The most frequent path was 'western clinics ${\rightarrow}$ Korean medicine hospitals or clinics ${\rightarrow}$ western clinics'. Only 6 patients started at Korean medicine, however, 16 patients(12.3%) finalized their treatment at Korean medicine hospitals or clinics. In most health seeking stages, patients tended to select health resources by their own decisions, and the geographic factor was the key reason to select health resources. Conclusions : Patients had not any stable forms to treat with their diseases, and we observed diversified patterns in the health seeking behaviors of patients, a typical shopping around phenomenon.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.47-67
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• 2023

Objectives : The objective of this study is to examine the findings of a survey assessing the treatment and management status of individuals with diabetes and pre-diabetes, along with their inclination to participate in the Korean Medicine Chronic Disease Management Program. Methods : The survey focused on individuals with diabetes and pre-diabetes, gathering information on respondents' demographic details, diabetes diagnosis, duration of diabetes, attitudes and experiences regarding Korean medicine diabetes treatment, and their willingness to participate in the 'Korean Medicine Chronic Disease Management Program'. Results : 33.1% of participants reported prior experience with Korean medicine treatment for diabetes. The intention to actively utilize Korean medicine treatment was positively observed, with a response rate of 61.1% expressing a favorable inclination and 8.9% indicating a negative stance. Furthermore, 75.3% of patients expressed their intention to participate in the 'Korean Medicine Chronic Disease Management Program' in the future. Among those expressing this intention, 81.4% stated a preference for the 'Korean-Western medicine combined management' in the chronic disease management Program. Conclusions : Patients' willingness to participate in 'Korean Medicine Diabetes Management Program' is high, but lack of information about Korean medicine is a factor that deprives people of the opportunity to experience Korean medicine treatment, and non-medical factors such as difficulty in visiting and administrative complexity are factors that impede participation in the 'Korean Medicine Chronic Disease Management Program'. It should be considered for improvement when formulating policies.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.154-160
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• 2019

Objectives: Stillbirth is a common adverse pregnancy outcome that represents a distressing and traumatic event for women and their partners. The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with stillbirth in ever-pregnant women in Nepal. Methods: This study utilized the individual women's dataset from the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey, conducted in 2016. The dependent variable of interest was whether women had at least 1 stillbirth during their lifetime. The associations between independent variables and the dependent variable of the study were analyzed using a multiple logistic regression model. Results: Among 8918 ever-pregnant women aged 15-49 years, 488 had experienced at least 1 stillbirth during their lifetime, representing 5.5% of the total. After adjusting each factor for the confounding effects of other factors, maternal age, maternal education, place of residence, and sub-region remained significantly associated with having experienced stillbirth. Conclusions: Stillbirth continues to be a major problem among women, especially those with higher maternal age, those who are illiterate, and residents of certain geographical regions. To minimize stillbirth in Nepal, plans and policies should be focused on women with low education levels and residents of rural areas, especially in the western mountain and far-western hill regions.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.143-159
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• 2017

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the current status of and seek for measures to activate Korean medicine in stroke care. Methods: This is an e-mail survey targeting the members of Korean medical doctors registered at the association of Korean medicine. The project team of the society of stroke on Korean medicine for the development of clinical practice guideline for stroke has devised the items for the questionnaire. The survey was conducted for 15 days in November 2016. Results: The percentage of the respondents who have treated patients with stroke for the past month was 11.2% in the acute phase, 20.5% in the convalescent phase, and 32.4% in the chronic phase. Approximately 80% of the respondents answered they had a decrease in the number of patients compared to 10 years ago, regardless of the stroke phase. Most of the respondents were using Western medicine together with traditional Korean medicine for physical examination. Acupuncture and herbal medicine were the main therapeutic interventions. The two measures chosen by the most respondents to activate the Korean medicine usage for stroke care were the expansion of the insurance coverage (34.9%) and the generation of evidence on the effectiveness of traditional Korean medicine (25.1%) Conclusion: It is necessary to actively show the role of the Korean medicine through the establishment of the evidence on the effectiveness of Korean medicine and the promotion based on the evidence. In addition, optimal treatment methods should be derived based on the traditional knowledge and modern scientific research and the methods should be educated to every Korean medical clinics and hospitals so that they can be implemented in clinical practice. At the same time, the government should provide policy support to ensure that the optimal treatment can be timely and appropriately implemented.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.37-48
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• 2005

Subjects in this study comprised of general public (907), high school students (772), individuals associated with Oriental medicine (660), and 60 majoring in western medicine, totalling 2,413 individuals. Survey was conducted on the necessity of establishing Oriental medicine school at the national university level and the following result were obtained: - 78.3% (1847 individuals) were in favor of establishing Oriental medicine school at the national university level. - For the validity of establishment, responders expressed opinions of standard and virtuous education, higher quality education, standardized practice, research on difficult to cure diseases, and obtaining competitiveness in the world market. - One to three schools were considered as an appropriate number of schools with less than 80 students per class, Class size may be adjusted from existing schools (52.5% favored decrease in size) and (46.3% favored increase in size). - Educational and research facilities must be accopanied with schools of Oriental medicine as well as clinical training facilities, herbal pharmaceutical research centers, and fundamental medical centers. - Many favored 6 year curriculum as the most appropriate system and the school of Oriental medicine should be established within the university. Based on the information gathered in this survey, we may recognize the limitations of Oriental medicine schools at the private institutional level and support the establishment of Oriental medicine schools at th national university level. This establishment may play as a steeping stone for advancement in education, standardization of research and treatment, and commercialization of Oriental medicine of benefit the general public.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.137-141
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of PBL program for cooperative practice between western and korean medicine. Third and fourth grade medical and Korean medical school students (experimental group: 16 students, respectively) in the Pusan National University were included in the study. Teaching methods was Problem-Based Learning (PBL) which was consist of 4 western and 4 korean medical students and 2 tutors. Modules have been developed by 8 subject experts or educational experts, who have also participated in the PBL as tutor. The program has been proceeded for 4 weeks, where two face-to-face discussions and self-directed learning were done in each module. In experimental group, students' perceptions about the other medicine were surveyed before and after the program and students' and tutors' satisfaction on the program was investigated. The perception survey was also done in the control group at the beginning of the study. The students who participated in this program had more positive perceptions about the other medicine, compared with control group. There were only significant increases on the items of 'understanding of the other medicine' between before and after the program, where no statistical differences were not observed in 'perception of the other medicine or cooperative practice'. Satisfaction in the program was positive.The PBL program enabled students to understand the other medicine, but it didn't lead changes of their perception. To improve students' perception, the program need to be kept steadily.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.67-78
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• 2018

Objectives The purpose of this study is to carry out a survey on satisfaction for Korean medicine treatments in traffic injury patients. Methods Satisfaction survey was carried out on the 237 traffic injury patients who had been treated by Korean medicine treatments in Department of Korean Rehabilitation Medicine, Wonkwang University Gwangju Medical Center from February, 2017 to August, 2017. The questionnaire form of preceding study was used to assess the satisfaction degree of patients. All data were coded by SPSS v20.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) and analysed by descriptive maneuver, x2-test, T-test and correlation. Results Among the 237 cases, the first hospital to be selected for traffic injury treatment was Korean medicine hospital in 91 cases. And 97 patients were transferred from the western medicine hospital. The main reason for choosing Korean medicine hospital was that the patients prefer Korean medicine treatments than western medicine treatments. 85.2.% of patients answered that their symptoms were improved, and 75.1% of patients answered that they were satisfied with Korean medicine treatments. The satisfaction degree of cupping treatment and acupuncture was relatively high, but the degree of Herbal medicine and physical treatment was relatively low. There were no statistically significant differences in satisfaction degree with sex and age. The satisfaction degree, improvement of symptoms, intention to revisit and intention to recommend was significantly correlated each other. Conclusions The degree of improvement of symptoms and The satisfaction degree were revealed relatively high. Additional and repetitive studies are needed to understand the patient's position and improve the quality of Korean medicine treatments for traffic accident patients.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.269-277
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• 2004

Trichinella spiralis is one of the important zoonotic parasites with a wide variety of vertebrates hosts in nature. The purpose of this study were to analyze ESP(Excretory-Secretory Protein) antigen, to evaluate ELISA for the serological diagnosis of Trichinosis, and to survey T. spiralis infection in finishing pigs using the pepsin digestion method and ELISA in Korea. In the analysis of ESP antigen by SDS-PAGE and Western blot, 4 major bands (70, 55, 52.6, and 49 kDa) were revealed from the ESP antigen. Predilection sites of T. spiralis were the diaphragm, the tongue, masseter muscles, intercostal muscle, and hindlimb in orders in the experimentally infected rats. Sera from 581 swine were tested by ELISA with ESP antigen. The 54 (9.3%) sera were suspected as positive reactors, however, these 54 sera were determined as false positives by the use of Western blotting. This study demonstrated that the ELISA was not suitable for the examination of T. spiralis in pork. The diaphragm muscle samples of 251 finishing pigs were tested by the method of pepsin-digestion for the presence of Trichinella larvae, however, T. spiralis was not detected from the samples. We could not find out T. spiralis infection in pig in Korea pork.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.23-33
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• 2014

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to analyze the Korean medical treatments in care hospitals and to provide the fundamental information for Korean medical policy. Methods : Data were collected from the patients who had been taken Korean Medicine in 00 Care Hospital from Jan. 1. 2011 to Dec. 31 2012, and their medical records werere viewed retrospectively. In addition, 42 inpatients were recruited and responded to the survey. Results : Major results of the analyses are as follows; 91.0 % of Western medical inpatients were treated with Korean medicine. And medium medical care group is 38.8 % among the inpatients that are treated with Korean medicine. Especially, musculoskeletal disease and stroke disease are treated more frequently at the rate of 43.9 %, 41.2 %. 92.8 % of patients responded to the survey were content to the Korean medical treatments. Conclusions : The result of this study shows that patients prefer Korean medicine, and it is necessary to supplement the Korean medical policy.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.44-50
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• 2004

Objectives : This study was conducted in order to investigate the professionalism, job stress and job satisfaction in western and oriental doctors in Korea. Methods : The authors conducted a survey using a self-administered questionnaire, conducted between August and September, 2001. The study subjects were 457 western doctors and 161 oriental doctors practicing at local clinics in Daegu City. Results : For the professionalism scale, the score for belief in service to the public of western doctors was significantly higher than that of oriental doctors (p<0.05) whereas the scores for sense of calling to the field and feeling of autonomy were higher in oriental doctors (p<0.01). For the job stress scale, the scores for work factor, and clinical responsibility/decision factor of western doctors were significantly higher than those of oriental doctors (p<0.01). Of the western doctors, 59.7% expressed satisfaction with their job as a doctor, 69.5% responded that the role of a doctor was appropriate to their aptitude, and 61.8% answered that they wouldn't consider other kinds of job even if offered. In case of oriental doctors, these responses were 83.1%, 82.5%, and 82.3%, respectively. Conclusions : The job stress scores of western doctors were higher than those of oriental doctors, but the job satisfaction was lower. The reasons for the above results are not clear. Further studies are required to understand the characteristics of job stress and job satisfaction in doctors.