• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.41-52
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• 2022

Objectives: This study intends to review the impact on cleaning workers and suggest directions for improvement by reviewing the legal and institutional ways in which Article 86 Nos. 7 and 16 of the Enforcement Decree of the Occupational Safety and Health Act work on the maintenance and promotion of cleaning workers' health. Methods: The following laws and systems were reviewed and considered: First, the occupational safety and health legislation obligated or required to be applied to protect the health of cleaning workers; Second, the status of control of chemicals or mixtures used at cleaning sites through the Consumer Chemicals Product and Biocide Safety Control Act; Third, Control of consumer products according to foreign material safety data sheet related laws. Results: Legal and institutional measures necessary to protect the health of cleaning workers include the legal control of harmful substances to be controlled, work environment monitoring, and special health examinations. The application of the Consumer Chemicals Product and Biocide Safety Control Act does not satisfy the legal and practical level of health maintenance and promotion required by the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and the communication of chemical information is insufficient. Overseas, there are restrictions on the use of consumer products in the workplace without material safety data sheets. Conclusions: It is necessary to improve the system to ensure the health of workers handling consumer chemical products. The remaining laws and regulations exempted from the obligation to prepare material safety data sheets should be additionally reviewed.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.1-26
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• 1994

As the hospital environment is changing rapidly, management is therefore obligated to use new ways to provide better service to patients. For example information system is introduced to some hospitals in Korea. Information system has several benefits such a soperational efficiency by on-line delivery and processing of data, accurate and rapid information production, continuous monitoring of performance and feedback, improvement of work process and better service quality. Still, many hospitals cannot be sure that information system is useful for improving organization performance. Because only one or two area of hospital information system were considered for development and with limited development hospital information system cannot be used effectively. The purpose of this study is to suggest the model of information system utilizaton and to analyze the hospital in formation system in Korea. The results are following; 1. In Korea, proportion of operating system of comuter is 31% of UNIX, 11% of IBM OS and 10% of PC LAN. 2. As we expect, scope of application software and amounts of heardware and software invest ments are affected by concern of CEO. 3. Many CIO(chief information officer) say that the biggest problems are lack of after-service and obsolescence of computer equipments in terms of hardware and shortage of application software for hospital in terms of software. 4. Personnel of information system department is so small that hospital information system can't be improved. 5. During the development of information system, full-time participation of end user is only 20% hospital with almost less than 12 person-month. This study was accomplished by survey through mail questionnaires. Response to the survey was only 55% and it was hard to generalize all the result obtained from this survey. However, We hope that this study would be helpful for helth care organization to acknowlege hospital information system in korea and to design the future architecture and frame of information system.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.172-180
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• 2016

This study was conducted to evaluate the relations between the exposure level of organophosphates (OPs) pesticide and application factors among rural farmers. The urinary dialkylphosphates, metabolites of organophosphorus pesticides, including DMP, DEP, DMTP and DETP were analyzed by GC/MSD and GC/MS/MS. The DMP and DMTP were detected more in the use of a speed sprayer without cap than with a capped one. Also, the less farmers wore the personal protective equipment (PPE), the more these were detected. The amount of organophosphorus exposure was the highest in the use of a power sprayer. However, it was low when a farmer applied pesticides with a speed sprayer with cap and wore more PPE. In this study, the detection rate was analyzed by chi-square test, the exposure level of OPs was analyzed by a generalized linear model.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.242-250
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• 2022

Purpose: This study was conducted to evaluate the performance following the application of the pilot program for the education nurse system of the Ministry of Health and Welfare in a medical institution. Methods: This study was employed a non-homogeneous comparative group design by comparing new nurses who entered the medical institution after the pilot project from December 2019 to April 2020 with new nurses who entered before the pilot project during the same period. Satisfaction, academic achievement, job adaptation, personal turnover within one year, and patient safety incident rate were investigated as performance indicators. Results: After the pilot project, the overall satisfaction among new nurses, preceptors, and fellow nurses increased, but there were no significant changes in academic achievement and job adaptation in new nurses. The personal turnover rate decreased from 15.6% to 9.1%, and the patient safety incident rate also decreased from 26.3% to 15.7%. Also, the preceptor overtime also decreased from 3.67 to 0.66 hours. Conclusion: The performance of the pilot project for the education nurse system was related to improvements in satisfaction, turnover rate of new nurses, patient safety incident rate, and preceptor overtime. Above all long-term monitoring of each performance indicator is necessary through the continuation of the education nurse system of the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.179-186
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• 2014

Metabolomics is the study of changes in the metabolic status of an organism as a consequence of drug treatment, environmental influences, nutrition, lifestyle, genetic variations, toxic exposure, disease, stress, etc, through global or comprehensive identification and quantification of every single metabolite in a biological system. Since most chronic diseases have been demonstrated to be linked to nutrition, nutritional metabolomics has great potential for improving our understanding of the relationship between disease and nutritional status, nutrient, or diet intake by exploring the metabolic effects of a specific food challenge in a more global manner, and improving individual health. In particular, metabolite profiling of biofluids, such as blood, urine, or feces, together with multivariate statistical analysis provides an effective strategy for monitoring human metabolic responses to dietary interventions and lifestyle habits. Therefore, studies of nutritional metabolomics have recently been performed to investigate nutrition-related metabolic pathways and biomarkers, along with their interactions with several diseases, based on animal-, individual-, and population-based criteria with the goal of achieving personalized health care in the future. This article introduces analytical technologies and their application to determination of nutritional phenotypes and nutrition-related diseases in nutritional metabolomics.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.8-15
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• 2022

Background: We developed a machine vision technology program that tracks patients' real-time breathing and automatically analyzes their breathing patterns. Materials and Methods: To evaluate its potential for clinical application, the image tracking performance and accuracy of the program were analyzed using a respiratory motion phantom. Changes in the stability and regularity of breathing were observed in healthy adult volunteers according to whether the breathing pattern mirrored the breathing guidance. Results and Discussion: Displacement within a few millimeters was observed in real-time with a clear resolution, and the image tracking ability was excellent. This result was consistent even in the sections where breathing patterns changed rapidly. In addition, the respiratory gating method that reflected the individual breathing patterns improved breathing stability and regularity in all volunteers. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that this technology can be used to set the appropriate window and the range of internal target volume by reflecting the patient's breathing pattern during radiotherapy planning. However, further studies in clinical populations are required to validate this technology.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.535-549
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• 2022

Purpose: The study aimed to design and develop an automated personalized self-care (APSC) program for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The secondary aim was to present a clinical protocol as a mixed-method research to test the program effects. Methods: The APSC program was developed in the order of analysis, design, implementation, and evaluation according to the software development life cycle, and was guided by the self-regulatory theory. The content validity, heuristics, and usability of the program were verified by experts and patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Results: The APSC program was developed based on goal setting, education, monitoring, and feedback components corresponding to the phases of forethought, performance/volitional control, and self-reflection of self-regulatory theory. Using the mobile application, the participants are able to learn from educational materials, monitor their health behaviors, receive weekly-automated personalized goals and feedback messages, and use an automated conversation system to solve the problems related to self-care. The ongoing two-year study utilizes a mixed method design, with 180 patients having type 2 diabetes mellitus randomized to receive either the intervention or usual care. The participants will be reviewed for self-care self-efficacy, health behaviors, and health outcomes at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months. Participants in the intervention group will be interviewed about their experiences. Conclusion: The APSC program can serve as an effective tool for facilitating diabetes health behaviors by improving patients' self-care self-efficacy and self-regulation for self-care. However, the clinical effectiveness of this program requires further investigation.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.141-159
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• 2023

Objectives: This study aimed to determine whether a mobile health (mhealth) intervention is effective in reducing weight and changing dietary behavior among employees with overweight and obesity. The study also investigated whether engagement with the intervention affected its effectiveness. Methods: The intervention involved the use of a dietary coaching app, a wearable device for monitoring physical activity and body composition, and a messenger app for communicating with participants and an intervention manager. A total of 235 employees were recruited for a 12-week intervention from eight workplaces in Korea. Questionnaire surveys, anthropometric measurements, and 24-h dietary recalls were conducted at baseline and after the intervention. Results: After the intervention, significant decreases in the mean body weight, body mass index, body fat percentage, and waist circumference were observed. Furthermore, the consumption frequencies of multigrain rice and legumes significantly increased, whereas those of pork belly, instant noodles, processed meat, carbonated beverages, and fast food significantly decreased compared with those at baseline. The mean dietary intake of energy and most nutrients also decreased after the intervention. When the participants were categorized into three groups according to their engagement level, significant differences in anthropometric data, dietary behaviors, and energy intake were observed following the intervention, although there were no differences at baseline, indicating that higher engagement level led to greater improvements in weight loss and dietary behavior. Conclusions: The intervention had positive effects on weight loss and dietary behavior changes, particularly among employees with higher engagement levels. These results indicate the importance of increasing the level of engagement in the intervention to enhance its effectiveness. The mhealth intervention is a promising model for health promotion for busy workers with limited time.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.213-232
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• 2009

This document was prepared to review and summarize the analytical methods for airborne and bulk asbestos. Basic principles, shortcomings and advantages for asbestos analytical instruments using phase contrast microscopy(PCM), polarized light microscopy(PLM), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), transmission electron microscopy(TEM), scanning electron microscopy(SEM) were reviewed. Both PCM and PLM are principal instrument for airborne and bulk asbestos analysis, respectively. If needed, analytical electron microscopy is employed to confirm asbestos identification. PCM is used originally for workplace airborne asbestos fiber and its application has been expanded to measure airborne fiber. Shortcoming of PCM is that it cannot differentiate true asbestos from non asbestos fiber form and its low resolution limit ($0.2{\sim}0.25{\mu}m$). The measurement of airborne asbestos fiber can be performed by EPA's Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) method, World Health Organization (WHO) method, International Standard Organization (ISO) 10312 method, Japan's Environmental Asbestos Monitoring method, and Standard method of Indoor Air Quality of Korea. The measurement of airborne asbestos fiber in workplace can be performed by National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) 7400 method, NIOSH 7402 method, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) ID-160 method, UK's Health and Safety Executive(HSE) Methods for the determination of hazardous substances (MDHS) 39/4 method and Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA) CODE-A-1-2004 method of Korea. To analyze the bulk asbestos, stereo microscope (SM) and PLM is required by EPA -600/R-93/116 method. Most bulk asbestos can be identified by SM and PLM but one limitation of PLM is that it can not see very thin fiber (i.e., < $0.25{\mu}m$). Bulk asbestos analytical methods, including EPA-600/M4-82-020, EPA-600/R-93/116, OSHA ID-191, Laboratory approval program of New York were reviewed. Also, analytical methods for asbestos in soil, dust, water were briefly discussed. Analytical electron microscope, a transmission electron microscope equipped with selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and energy dispersive X-ray analyser(EDXA), has been known to be better to identify asbestiform than scanning electron microscope(SEM). Though there is no standard SEM procedures, SEM is known to be more suitable to analyze long, thin fiber and more cost-effective. Field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) imaging protocol was developed to identify asbestos fiber. Although many asbestos analytical methods are available, there is no method that can be applied to all type of samples. In order to detect asbestos with confidence, all advantages and disadvantages of each instrument and method for given sample should be considered.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.5-17
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• 2000

The occupational health nursing guideline for primary care was developed by the Korean Academic Society of occupational health nursing and the organization for occupational health nurses (currently known as the Korean Association of Occupational Health Nurses) in 1993. Since then, there have been many changes in the health care environment and job performance of occupational health nurses. Appropriate revisions are necessary of the guidelinea based on this background. The purpose of this study was to describe the use of the occupational health nursing guideline for primary care and to analyze the characteristics of primary care activities by occupational health nurses. The questionnaire was mailed to 150 occupational health nurses(OHNs) with the response rate of 64%. The results can be summarized as follows; 1. 65.6% of OHNs have been using the guideline for primary care and 75.9% of them agreed that the guideline was be helpful for their job. 2. Common symptom care, emergency care and chronic illness care were more frequently implemented than occupational disease care by OHNs. In manufacturing industries, emergency care was more frequently implemented than chronic illness care in contrast to the service industries. 3. Most frequent common symptoms treated by OHNs were indigestion, diarrhea, abdominal pain, headache, and coughing. In the case of chronic illness, OHNs more frequently treated diseases of the gastro-intestinal system, skin and sensory organs, and the respiratory system. Emergency care for bruises, burn, and abrasions was more frequently provided. VDT syndrome was the most common occupational disease cared by OHNs in manufacturing and service industries. 4. OHNs prescribed the medicine for external application more frequently than internal medicine. Remedy for colds, analgesics, vitamins, and digestives were more frequently used. From these results, we suggest that the guideline should be revised to emphasize the activities consisting problem finding such as health assessment, physical examinations, monitoring and screening, and to renew the drug list in the range of over- the counter medication (OTC). In the future, the guideline will include the strategies for the role as the case manager.