• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.852-855
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• 2010

Based on the rapid development of the computer network technology, the ubiquitous sensor network (USN) was developed to enable us to have access to the communication environment anywhere and anytime without the need for recognizing computers or networks. Moreover, with the increasingly high interest on individual health, the USN technology is being applied to diverse sectors for healthcare and disease prevention. In this paper, a system was designed and implemented using the USN-based RF communication for doctors and nurses who care patients in the hospital to easily measure and control the physiological data on blood pressure and blood sugar. In addition, a database was designed using MS SQL database to store and manage the blood pressure and blood sugar data, which were passively or actively measured from patients. Using the results of this study, the physiological data of patients can be managed in real time and emergency situation can be instantly addressed. It is expected that the healthcare service can be improved and the paradigm of healthcare service environment can be changed.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.561-574
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• 2018

In this study, regional variations and factors associated with prevalence of metabolic syndrome were grasped using GWR (geographically weighted regression) and methodologies for the efficient management of metabolic syndrome were then set up to resolve health inequalities. Based on the National Health Screening Statistical Yearbook published by the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS), community health survey (KCDC) and other governmental institutions, indicators of social structural and mediation factors related to the regional prevalence of metabolic syndrome were collected. First, the existence of indicators to measure variations in metabolic syndrome were confirmed with the collected data by calculating the EQ (extremal quotient) and CV (coefficient of variations). The GWR, which is able to take spatial variations into consideration, was then adopted to analyze the factors of regional variations in metabolic syndrome. The GWR analysis revealed that severity and management of the main causes need to be prioritized in accordance with the prevalence of metabolic syndrome. Consequently, the order of priority in management of regional prevalence of metabolic syndrome was established, and plans that can increase the effectiveness of management of metabolic syndrome were confirmed to be feasible.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.3832-3840
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• 2014

The rapidly aging population is also increasing the number of dementia patients rapidly. Studies have revealed the early signs of slowing progress. Therefore, dementia patient safety, continuous care, daily living, and health care are becoming more important. In this paper, a smart home care system using smart phones and Bluetooth communication technology was used to monitor the state of dementia patients of based on the results of grading dementia, health care of the dementia patients at home and provide for the safety of the system using motion sensors and gas leak sensors to respond to various emergency situations, such as fire, gas leak protection, and loitering. Using this system, the patient can stay longer in their home due to the nature of Korean culture before admission, while reducing the family's economical, physical and psychological burden and allowing the consultation of specialists through the system by building a database of individuals and providing professional service and specialty care referral agencies through the link.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.1972-1980
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• 2015

This study's purpose was to analyze the effect of the SmartCare obesity management pilot project, which was conducted between 09 March 2011 and 03 April 2013 in Korea (South). Of 212 subjects who were enrolled in the study, the final analysis was conducted with 147 subjects who completed their weight self-measurements and SmartCare services until the end of a 6-month service period. The self-measurement group for evaluation was classified into 3 groups (Low, Middle, and High) by evenly dividing the monthly average frequency of measurement for 6 months and the evaluation indices were weight, and BMI (Body Mass Index) transmitted from the SmartCare System. The monthly average weight and BMI were decreased more in the High Group than the Middle Group and Low Group (M5: High>Middle>Low), and they are showing statistically significant differences between groups (p< 0.05). In conclusion, analysis of the weight and BMI improvement effect showed a greater improvement effect when the self-measurement frequency level was higher.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.503-509
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• 2009

The development of technology has led to ubiquitous health care service, which enables many patients to receive medical services anytime and anywhere. For the ubiquitous health care environment, real-time measurement of biomedical signals is very important, and the medical instruments must be small and portable or wearable. So, such devices have been developed to measure biomedical signals. In this study, we develop the biomedical monitoring device which is sensing the PPG signal, one of the useful signal in the field of ubiquitous healthcare. We design a watch-like biomedical signal monitoring system without a finger probe to prevent the user's inconvenience. This system obtains the PPG from the radial artery using a sensor in the wrist band. But, new device developed in this paper is easy to get the motion artifacts. So, we proposed new algorithm removing the motion artifacts from the PPG signal. The method detects motion artifacts by changing the degree of brightness of the light source. If the brightness of the light source is reduced, the PPG pulses will disappear. When the PPG pulses have disappeared completely, the remaining signal is not the signal that results from the changing blood flow. We believe that this signal is the motion artifact and call it the noise reference signal. The motion artifacts are removed by subtracting the noise reference signal from the input signal. We apply this algorithm to the system, so we can stabilize the biomedical monitoring system we designed.

• International Neurourology Journal
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.305-312
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• 2018

Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyze the efficacy and to estimate the complication rate of incontinence surgery according to the surgeon's specialty and whether a preoperative urodynamic study (UDS) was performed, using a nationally representative dataset. Methods: We enrolled 356,155 women over 20 years old who had undergone surgery for stress urinary incontinence between 2006 and 2015. Patients were followed for up to 3 years to analyze the reoperation and complication rates. Data were obtained from the National Health Claims Database of the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) of Korea. Multiple Cox regression analysis was conducted to examine the efficacy and safety of incontinence surgery according to the surgeon's specialty and whether a preoperative UDS was performed. Results: The hazard ratio (HR) for reoperation was significantly higher for procedures performed by nonurologists than for procedures performed by urologists (HR, 1.174; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.103-1.249). Acute urinary retention, postoperative infections, procedure-associated pain, and other complications were also more common in procedures performed by nonurologists than in those performed by urologists. When stratified by whether a preoperative UDS was performed, the HR for reoperation according to the surgeon's specialty varied by performance of a preoperative UDS. While the reoperation rate was significantly higher in procedures performed by non-urologists when a preoperative UDS was performed (HR, 1.208; 95% CI, 1.122-1.3), there was no significant difference in the HRs for reoperation according to specialty when a preoperative UDS was not performed. Conclusions: This population-based study showed that the postoperative outcomes of incontinence surgery were dependent upon the surgeon's specialty and that the reoperation rate according to the surgeon's specialty varied based on whether a preoperative UDS was performed.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.565-576
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• 2020

Background and objective: The elderly living in homeless living facilities for a long time suffer from various mental health problems. This study aims to determine the psychological, emotional, and social effects of a horticultural therapy program composed of gardening activities, which was designed based on the semantic structures of life for the homeless elderly living in the facilities for a long time. Methods: A total of 12 subjects (6 in the control group and 6 in the experimental group) participated in the study. The horticultural therapy program consisted mainly of gardening activities, and a total of 16 sessions were conducted once a week for 16 weeks, 60-90 minutes per session. The subjects were tested to evaluate their self-esteem, depression, and horticultural activities. The data were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test, Wilcoxon rank test, and Friedman test, which were nonparametric tests, conducted at a 95% significance level. Results: First, in the case of self-esteem, a significant difference was found between the groups, 20.00 points (SD = 5.69) in the control group, and 25.50 points (SD = 3.73) in the experimental group (p = .034). Second, in the case of depression, no statistically significant difference was found in the posttest. Finally, in the case of the horticultural activity evaluation, the scores of most variables gradually and significantly increased during the program [Verbal interaction during activity (p = .006), Self-concept and identity (p = .006), Need-drive adaptation (p < .001), Interpersonal and social relations (p < .001)]. Conclusion: These results support that the horticultural therapy program could help the elderly improve psychological relaxation, emotional stability, and social relationships. In order to generalize the results, it is suggested to increase the number of subjects or conduct additional repetitive experiments in further research.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.41-55
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• 1980

The medical care insurance system, being put into practice nearly for three years, seem to have brought about some considerable problems as serious for the government as to consider a revision of that system. As one of the most serious problems of present system, the treatment cost of insurance patients is so remarkably low in comparison with than of non-insurance cases that normal operation of hospitals is threatened and care services of low quality are induced. The researcher carried out this survey to analyze and bring to light several aspects of treatment cost of non-insurance patients as a material for a re-assessment of the cost of insurance cases which shows a a considerable difference in amount at the standpoint of hospitals with than of non-insurance cases and further, hoping the significant blind spot of present insurance system(that is, the absence of regulations' for cost assessment by patterns or types of health care treatment) will be mended in near future. The survey was carried out with the treatment invoice sheets of total 902 in-hospital Patients of a general hospital in Seoul during the period of the 2 nd quarter of the year(1979). Among total 902 patients, 694 cases were used for analysis, because those disease or syndromes shared by less than 10% of the patients were put aside before procession. The data were analyzed by kinds or types of diseases, demographic characteristics of patients, hospitalization patterns, types of nursing treatment, etc. The result of analysis was as follows 1. Among all the non-insurance cases, those who received one or more kinds of nursing treatment mounted up to 96. 7 ％. The invoice issue frequency per person was 7.2 times, while that frequency per day for a person was 0.8, : the treatment cosr per person was ￦22,650 while its daily average was ￦2,430, due to the average 9.3 in-hospital days per person. 2. As to the nursing treatment types by the demographic characteristics of patients and hospitalization patterns. a. The unit cost female patients was generally more expensive them that of males, and independent nursing service was more given than other types of treatment. As to age, higher age groups received independent nursing service most, while the youngest group received instrumental and integrated nursing services. b. As to room grade, the unit cost of I.C.U. cases was the highest : and the cast of private room patients was higher than that of public room patients. By in-hospital days, the curve of function showed L. type : that is, the longer stay, the lower function. 3. State of treatment types by kinds of disease were ; a. Dependent nursing service showed comparatively high availability in surgical and neurologic disease and independent nursing service was most received by medical, obstetrical and urological patients, while instrumental and integrated services were most available for respiratory disease and obstetrical and neurologic diseases next. b. The invoice issue frequency per day for a patient was highest in obstetrical disease 3.8 times, and the unit cost(per one invoice sheet) was also highest in obstertrical disease(￦10,880) and next in neurologic cases(￦ 4,690 ). 4. As to the pertained departments. a. Cost amount per person was highest in department of Psychiatries daily cost was highest in obstetrical cases : while the invoice issue frequency was highest in obstetrics and next in pediatrics. b. In departments in need of surgical operation, dependent nursing care was highly availabl : while in internal medicine and obstetrics, independent service was higher. Psychiatrics showed the highest the of integrate nursing while pediatrics and obstetrics higher of instrumental services. The variation co-efficien of treatment cost came out to be relatively in high in special surgery, opthalmology and internal medicine. 5. State of treatment cost by types of nursing behavior was. a. The average frequency of invoice issue was 3.5 (times). Among the type four types of treatment, instrumetal service (4.3) and independent nursing behavior(3.9) showed higher frequency than average respectively. But as to unit cost (per invoice). dependent (￦5,200) and integrated (￦5,340) nursing care services were higher than average and considerably higher than the other two types. b. In repect patient distribution. independent nursing behavior(80.3% ) was the highest and depend ent nursing (31.7% ) the lowest. The variation co-efficient of treatment cost appeared highest in dependent nursing be havior as a whole, and among that, doctor's diagnosis showed the highest coefficient value (100.7). In conclusion, the variaty of treatment cost(treatment itself ) by various characteristics and treatment types pro- that treatment various sort of patients and treatment cost of various types of nursing behavior cannot be uniform. Therefore, to attain the equalization of health care service and its cost both for insurant and non-insurant patients, a more specific provision for assessment of cost should be added to the present medical care insurance system and, in addition, the cost of nursing treatment is desired to be inserted into the treatment invoice.

• Journal of Korean Academic Society of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.3
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• pp.75-85
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• 1996

Nursing Intervention Classification(NIC) includes the 433 intervention lists to standardize the nursing language. Efforts to standardize and classify nursing care are important because they make explicit what has previously been implicit, assumed and unknown. NIC is a standardized language of both nurse-initiated and physician-initiated nursing treatments. Each of the 433 interventions has a label, definition and set of activities that a nurse does to carry it out. It defines the interventions performed by all nurses no matter what their setting or specialty. Principles of label, definition and activity construction were established so there is consistency across the classification. NIC was developed for following reasons; 1. Standandization of the nomen clature of nursing treatments. 2. Expansion of nursing knowledge about the links between diagnoses, treatments and outcomes. 3. Devlopment of nursing and health care information systems. 4. Teaching decision making to nursing students. 5. Determination of the costs of service provided by nurses. 6. Planning for resources needed in nursing practice settings. 7. Language to communicate the unigue function of nursing. 8. Articulation with the classification systems of other health care providers. The process of NIC development ; 1. Develop implement and evaluate an expert review process to evaluate feedback on specific interventions in NIC and to refine the interventions and classification as feedback indicates. 2. Define and validate indirect care interventions. 3. Refine, validate and publish the taxonomic grouping for the interventions. 4. Translate the classification into a coding system that can be used for computerization for articulation with other classifications and for reimbursement. 5. Construct an electronic version of NIC to help agencies in corporate the classifiaction into nursing information systems. 6. Implement and evaluate the use of the classification in a nursing information system in five different agencies. 7. Establish mechanisms to build nursing knowledge through the analysis of electronically retrievable clinical data. 8. Publish a second edition of the nursing interventions classification with taxonomic groupings and results of field testing. It is suggested that the following researches are needed to develp NIC in Korea. 1. To idenilfy the intervention lists in Korea. 2. Nursing resources to perform the nursing interventions. 3. Comparative study between Korea and U.S.A. on NIC. 4. Linkage among nursing diagnosis, nursing interventions and nursing outcomes. 5. Linkage between NIC and other health care information systems. 6. determine nursing costs on NIC.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.80-88
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• 2001

Objectives : In an epidemiologic study on the health impact of Agent Orange exposure, the valid estimation of exposure level is the most important step. Based on recent studies, we examined the correlation between exposure levels categorized by personal exposure estimates and serum 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (2,3,7,8-TCDD, Dioxin), exploring the possibility of utilizing the exposure level as a surrogate for the estimate of exposure to agent orange. Methods : During the study period (Jan 1996-Feb 1996), blood specimens of 745 subjects taken randomly among 1,329 persons and kept frozen, were analyzed for 2,3,7,8-TCDO and six other dioxin congeners. The serum dioxin and congeners were measured in 1998 by CDC, adjusted for serum lipids. We categorized the total exposure scores into five groups based on Agent Orange exposure data collected by interview and military records. Pearson and Spearman's correlation coefficients & multiple regression analysis were used to identify the relationship of the exposure level categorized with serum concentration of 2,3,7,8-TCDD, and six other dioxin congeners. Results : Dioxin and the other congeners, except 1,2,4,6,7,8-HpCDD, showed significant correlations to exposure categories (p<0.005): 2,3,7,8-TCDD and OCDD showed positive correlations, whereas the other congeners did negative. The values of 2,3,7,8-TCDD differed according to exposure category and proportionally increased from the low exposure group to the high, a dose-response relationship, even after other possible confounding variables were adjusted for. In multiple regression analysis, age$(\beta=0.033)$, dioxin$(\beta=0.433)$, 1,2,3,7,8-PeCDD$(\beta=-0.998)$, 1,2,3,4,7,8-HxCDD$(\beta=-0.773)$, 1,2,3,6,7,8-HxCDD$(\beta=0.255)$, 1,2,3,7,8,9-HxCDD$(\beta=-3.468)$, 1,2,3,4,6,7,8-HpCDD$(\beta=0.109)$ we re found to be significantly related to the total exposure score(p<0.005). Conclusion : This study demonstrated that the use of such categorizations as a surrogate measure of agent orange exposure in identifying exposure degrees in a health impact study is valid.