• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.100-112
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• 2022

Purpose: This study is a qualitative analysis of Korean-American (K-A) women's cancer prevention in the US. Methods: Qualitative research was conducted. Fifteen K-A women in four states were interviewed. Content theme analysis was used to analyze verbatim transcriptions of interviews. Results: Participants experienced difficulties in utilizing cancer screening programs. Factors include unfamiliarity with the US health care system, high health care costs or lack of health insurance, language barriers, and irregular and sporadic cancer screening participation. Participants also actively pursued non-institutional approaches to cancer prevention. They engaged in word-of-mouth informational exchanges in K-A communities, sought cancer screening in hospitals in Korea, conducted internet searches, autonomously decided on their health issues, and adopted healthy practices including better diets, physical exercise, and spiritual practices. Conclusion: It is necessary to implement measures to increase K-A women's utilization of the US cancer screening services and to encourage their active engagement in hands-on cancer prevention practices. K-A women should be empowered through increased familiarity with US cancer screening services and through the establishment of improved K-A community social services.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.66
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• pp.59-86
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• 2014

This study explored how rumor is diffused via Twitter and how the characteristics of rumor affect the interactivity among users in the Korea-U.S. FTA case. A key word search located three issues as major ones related to the Korea-U.S. FTA: appendectomy myth, collapse of health insurance, and increases in medicine prices. The arousal of rumor has two dimensions: fact and expression. The fact arousal was the highest in the issue of 'appendectomy myth', and the expression arousal the highest in 'increases in medicine prices'. The rumor diffusion took the 'explosive wave' in the issue of appendectomy myth, the 'latent wave' in the issue of increase in medicine prices, and the 'repetitive wave' in the issue of collapse of health insurance. Correlation analyses revealed a high correlation between the arousal intensity of rumor and the user interactivity in the issue of collapse of health insurance. The study showed that Twitter took a role of diffusing negative messages about the Korea-U.S. FTA. Results implies that government officials and journalists pay attention to Twitter for sensing the public opinion when building policies and managing crises.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.251-258
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• 2012

The protection of medical information by major Issues on medical information to protect the individuals' privacy on medical information. Especially, Issues of medical service information, medical record, insurance, employment, Genetic technology including genetic test and screening, gene therapy and genetic enhancement is developing rapidly. Defensibility of medical information documentation is tested in the courts. medical information can be illicitly accessed from anywhere and transmitted across the quickly and with risk of detection. Once data is distributed on the internet, it may become available to anyone who wishes to purchase it, and it cannot be expunge. Patient privacy protection of medical information is controlled mostly by patient consent laws that define how and when a patient must consent before a physician may disclose the patient's medical information to anyone else. enterprise that offers consumers commodities or services is checking problem about customer information of management system is checking problem about customer information of management system essentially. Therefore, in this paper will find a way out to Protection of medical information by major Issues on medical information.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.121-147
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• 2004

Since the pilot program for a DRG-based prospective payment system was introduced in 1997, the performance of KDRGs has been one of hotly debated issues. The objectives of this study are to refine the classification algorithm of the KDRGs and to assess the improvement achieved by the refinement. The U.S. Medicare DRGs version 17.0 and the Australian Refined DRGs version 4.1 were reviewed to identify areas of possible impro-vement. Refined changes in the classification and result of date analyses were submitted to a panel of 48 physicians for their reviews and suggestions. The refinement was evaluated by the variance reduction in resource utilization achieved by the KDRG The database of 2,182,168 claims submitted to the Health Insurance Review Agency during 2002 was used for evaluation. As the result of the refinement, three new MDCs were introduced and the number of ADEGs increased from 332 to 674. Various age splits and two to four levels of severity classification for secondary diagnoses were introduced as well. A total of 1,817 groups were defined in the refined KDRGs. The variance reduction for charges of all patients increased from 48.2％ to 53.6％ by the refinement, and from 65.6％ to 73.1％ for non-outlier patients. The r-square for length of stays of all patients was increased from 28.3％ to 32.6％, and from 40.4％ to 44.9％ for non-outlier patients. These results indicated a significant improvement in the classification accuracy of the KDRG system.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.376-386
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• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of study is to estimate the number of chronic disease patients and medical care expenditure at the time baby-boomers belong to 65 years old aging population, and compare with current 65 year-old aging population. Methods: Analysis method used an estimating formula devised by the researcher and estimated the number of chronic disease patients and medical care expenditure of each generation. Results: When comparing the estimated number of chronic diseases patients of each generation, 40.6% of the first generation, 76.4% of the second generation, 95.2% of third generation are expected to get chronic disease. When comparing each generation's total medical care expenditure, based on the estimated number of chronic diseases patients of each generation, the second generation( 1,206,251,224 thousand won) showed higher than other generation. This study compared the number of chronic disease patients and medical care expenditure between the second generation of the elderly and current elder generation. As a result, the second generation patients was higher than the fourth generation in high blood pressure, diabetes, psychological and behavioral disorder, and neurological diseases whereas the fourth generation is only high the number of patients in heart disease. As for total medical care expenditure, the second generation paid more in high blood pressure, psychological and behavioral disorder while the fourth generation in neurological disease and heart disease. Conclusion: It is desired that considering the number of chronic disease patients and medical care expenditure of baby boomers accounting for 14.6% of total population, in-depth follow-up study is carried out that inquires into what are issues with a current chronic disease management project, what business is needed in order to manage these issues, and how to fund to cover increasing medical care expenditure.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.29-46
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• 2013

A survey conducted on 1,103 patients or caretakers visited Korean medical clinics and hospitals between August 25, 2011 to September 30, 2011 by the Ministry of Health and Welfares and Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs was analyzed and obtained following results: 1. For sociodemographic distribution, female(813) outnumbered male(290) patients with majority of patients ranging from 30s to 60s. Married patients(793) outnumbered unwed(150) patients and 65.0% with higher than high school education. Statistical significance was seen in gender, age, marital status, and education level but no significant difference for status of employment, income level, and types of insurance between the clinics and hospitals. (P<0.05). 45.1% had less than \2,000,000 in monthly salary and most of coverage was provided by either regional or work insurance. 2. 67.9% of the patients rated health conditions to be better than average and 32.1% listed as poor. People in good health showed tendency to visit Korean medical facilities. Musculo-skeletal conditions such as arthritis, ankle sprain, lumbago, muscular injury, and frozen shoulder were common conditions, followed by gastric disorders, common cold and herbal tonics. No significant difference was observed between the clinics and hospitals for above conditions, but significance was seen in atopic dermatitis, stroke, and sequela from traffic accidents (P<0.05). 3. Ten most common conditions addressed at Korean medical facilities were lumbago, arthritis, muscular injury, back sprain, gastric disorders, ankle sprain, common cold, herbal tonics, frozen shoulder and stroke. Major treatment modalities rendered were herbal medicine, herbal supplements, acupuncture and moxibustion, cupping, tuina, and Korean midical physical therapy. No significant difference existed between the clinics and hospitals. 4. All modalities showed at least 85% effectiveness. No statistical significant difference between the clinics and hospitals except for herbal decoction. (P=0.0452) 5. 88.3% of responses showed treatment satisfaction with significant difference between the clinics and hospitals (P=0.002). The occurrence of side effects was at 2%, mostly corning from treating digestive, skin, kidney disorders and neurological issues. No significant difference was observed between the clinics and hospitals. From the above results, the typical population visiting Korean medical facilities can be summarized as being middle aged female with relatively higher education and moderately low income. The health condition is generally good and the purpose of visit is to receive traditional treatments of acupuncture, herbal medicine, and physical therapy. Treatment efficacy and satisfaction were high with no significant differences between the clinics and hospitals.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.60 no.5
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• pp.138-144
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• 2017

Purpose: Following legal reform in 2013, the annual number of asylum seekers entering South Korea has increased from 1,143 in 2012 to 5,711 in 2015. We interviewed six African refugee mothers of young children regarding their health needs and barriers to access maternal child health services. Methods: We recruited mothers who had visited a clinic for immigrants between July 2013 and August 2015. Participants were African refugee women, aged over 18 years, who had given birth in Korea within the previous 5 years and had come to Korea over a year before recruitment. Interview questions examined participants' experiences in pregnancy and childbirth and concerns regarding their child's health status. Initial data analysis involved all researchers' immersion in the entire collection of transcripts. We then noted recurrent topics and themes and identified similar issues. Results: At the time of giving birth, 5 participants were asylum seekers and one had undocumented status. The following barriers impeded their access to maternal child healthcare: socioeconomic factors (unstable social identity, low economic status, difficulty obtaining health insurance), language barriers (lack of linguistically appropriate health information, limited access to translation services), and cultural barriers (religious and cultural differences). Weak social support also hindered access to healthcare soon after migration; however, social links with the community emerged as a key coping strategy following settlement. Conclusion: We identified barriers to maternal and child healthcare and coping strategies among African refugee mothers in Korea. Future research should assess refugees' health status and improve health access and literacy among refugee mothers.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.136-142
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• 2017

Background: Dementia is one of important social and economic healthcare issues in the aging age. Therefore, it signifies to analyze the relationship between chronic disease or cardiovascular drug use and the incidence of dementia to establish a basis for increasing or preventing the risk of dementia. The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between the prevalence of chronic diseases and the use of cardiovascular drugs in patients diagnosed with dementia. Methods: In this study, we used data from sample of elderly patients from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. We analyzed by logistic regression analysis with age, gender, and medication as covariates. KCD-7 was used to diagnosis of the disease, and drugs were analyzed using ATC codes and Korean standardized drug classification codes. Results: A total of 1,276,331 patients were analyzed in the sample of the elderly population, of which 532,075 (41.7%) were male and 744,256 (58.3%) were female. The patients have the higher risk of dementia in the older, women, and lower socioeconomically status. Cerebral infarction and ischemic heart disease increases risk of dementia. Patients taking statins, angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) or angiotensin II receptor antagonists (ARB) showed low incidence of dementia. Conclusion: This study has been shown that ACEI, ARB, and statin drugs may associate with lower incidence of Alzheimer's and other dementia except vascular dementia.

• Korean Parent-Child Health Journal
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.67-79
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• 2017

Purpose: This research aimed to study the awareness of marriage, childbirth, fertility and high-risk pregnancy among university students. Methods: 250 university students from Seoul and Gyeonggi-do completed questionnaires regarding their awareness on marriage, childbirth, fertility, and high-risk pregnancy. Results: The average age of participants was 22.5. The ideal marriage age was 29.8. 201 (80.4%) participants had an intention of getting married, and 160 (60.4%) answered they should have children. The ideal age of first childbirth was 30.4 and last childbirth was 35.1. There were 126 (50.4%) with prior education regarding high-risk pregnancy, subfertility or infertility. The score of needs for education associated with pregnancy was 7.6 out of 10. The average correct answer rate of awareness of fertility issues was 30.7%. There were significant differences between men and women, 25% of men and 38% of women overestimated the age at women are most fertile. Only 23.7% of men and 25.9% of women knew the correct age when there was marked decrease in women's fertility. Conclusion: Awareness of a lack of marriage, childbirth, fertility, and high-risk pregnancy may influence future family planning and health. These results can be used to plan programs or education for marriage, pregnancy, and childbirth.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.69-79
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• 2013

Objectives: The aim of this survey was to investigate utilization, intended use, problems with and demand for medical devices by surveying members of the traditional Korean medical society. Methods: We distributed questionnaires to 13,957 traditional Korean medical doctors via e-mail, and received replies from 1,225. The questionnaire consisted of 4 multiple-choice questions for survey respondent information, 8 multiple-choice questions about the status of medical devices utilizing, and a short answer question about the demand for medical devices. Results: Use of medical devices in traditional Korean medical clinics is common. Diagnostic medical devices are mainly used to assess the patient's condition and to establish a close rapport with clients. In case of therapeutic medical devices, they are usually used for secondary treatment. Issues with traditional Korean medical devices currently in use were ineligibility for national health insurance, low reliability, uncertain validity, and high price. In development of traditional Korean medical equipment, the need for diagnostic medical devices was greater than for therapeutic, and the need for the recording and analysis of medical image data and visualization of medical information was great. Conclusions: There is growing demand for facilitating the development and commercialization of traditional Korean medical devices. To satisfy this demand, research on evaluation indicators that reflect functional and structural clinical information and how to clinically assess the indicators should proceed.