• Perspectives in Nursing Science
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-20
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• 2009

This research examines, based on nursing's point of view, the current status and problems of the healthcare-related multi-cultural policy which is one of the major issues of contemporary Korea. Today, Korean society is facing a drastic increase of migrant workers and marriage for migration in Korea that leads to the transition to multiculturalism. Each field of society is providing prevalent supports to solve the problems of multicultural families and to promote adoption to Korean society. The activities and researches for multicultural families in nursing area were found and analyzed. 11 researches and 2 books were published. Among these 13 publications, 10 were on the marriage with immigrant women. 8 researches out of 11 (72.7%) were defined as the descriptive surveys, and 3 researches (27.3%) were defined as quasi-experimental studies. Although Korea Nurses Association (KNA) led various activities, more researches and activities by nurses and nursing scholars are required to contribute in improving the health of multicultural families.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.533-536
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• 2020

Strengthening of the health system is a safety imperative, especially in a crisis as caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. While there is a need for enhancing the number and skill sets of the public health professionals, especially the frontline workers, it will be prudent to use the digital health technologies, including artificial intelligence, in enhancing the capacity of the healthcare professional education and delivery. However, it has to be ensured that an ethical and safe approach is adopted to develop and use digital health technology and, ethically appropriate training is imparted, to enhance the capacity of the human resources for health, leading to an overall health system strengthening.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.227-236
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• 2016

Main purpose of this study is to provide some basic data necessary to research, education, and policy to cultivate professional talents, by investigating what competencies needed to hospital administrative staffs and managers in performing their jobs in the global age. A survey was conducted through self-administered questionnaires for hospital administrative staffs and managers including first-line hands-on workers who were working in 77 hospitals located in Busan, Keongnam, Ulsan areas in South Korea. Major results are as follows: (a) The analysis for the competencies needed to hospital administrative staffs and managers in order to perform successfully their jobs revealed that interpersonal competency, knowledge of management skills in healthcare field, understanding ability for healthcare, in that order of importance, had significant influence on performing their jobs. (b) Regarding the analysis for the detailed competencies necessary to hospital administrative staffs and managers in order to perform successfully their jobs revealed that problem-solving ability, sense of responsibility, positive attitude, leadership, in that order of importance, had significant influence on performing them. This study suggests that universities opened courses related to health care management should newly open a subject 'problem-solving ability in health care' to link with health care field and their curriculums are necessary to change over to practice-oriented curriculum system.

• Convergence Security Journal
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.151-163
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• 2019

As smart devices and communication technologies have developed rapidly, the healthcare industry in the globe is seeing remarkable issues on medical security. At the same time, personal medical records are being shared in the network, which would raise the risk of information security. This thesis aims to develop the curriculum to raise the awareness of information security among workers in medical institutions by referring to NCS(National Competency Standards) International standards, medical institutions' requirements and educational institutions' curriculums on information security based on proven results from medical devices and systems introduced in the public health centers, territorial branches, community health posts and primary, secondary, tertiary hospitals. Thus, this thesis offers the method to improve information security in healthcare institutions through validation testing conducted by medical practitioners and ICT experts.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.27-34
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• 2014

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the role of the physical environment in task interruptions in the healthcare settings. Many dangerous events such as airplane crash and medical errors are the result of human errors and, these errors are often the result of interruptions during a critical task of professional workers. In fact, the physical environment that determines accessibility and visibility among people affects interruptions significantly, but architectural studies have given little attention to the management of interruptions. Methods: Therefore, the researcher reviewed research literature in other fields to find out how the physical environment affected interruptions. Many studies were from management, human factors, and health care, but few from architecture. First the author examined the impact of interruptions, second described the social context of interruptions and the role of the physical environment. Results: Findings included that description of the physical environment was not very clear in studies from management and human factors, while little work had been done on interruptions in architecture. The author proposed study design that compensated shortcomings of each field by combining approaches from management, human factors, and architecture. Implications: Unit design strategies such as distributed nurse stations can affect interruptions and layout analysis such as space syntax analysis can evaluate visibility and accessibility of floor plans in the preliminary design phase.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.58-64
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• 2023

Background: A group health service is a system that delegates workplace health management to an entrusted institution. There have been various studies on group health services to date, but recent changes, such as an increase in foreign workers, are rapidly changing industry characteristics. Methods: Satisfaction was assessed using a 27-question survey distributed among 203 workplaces employing health professionals. The survey items consisted of general characteristics, comprehensive satisfaction, requirements for health professionals' work, and satisfaction with work environment management, ergonomic management, and healthcare management. Multiple regression and frequency analyses were performed. Results: The comprehensive satisfaction was 4.08 points on average, out of 5. The comprehensive satisfaction of health professionals in the industry was positively correlated with each factor. Hazardous materials and chemical management (material safety data sheets, MSDSs) were the most common requirements. Conclusion: A low level of satisfaction with work environment management indicates high demand for healthcare management. The working environment should be improved by identifying characteristics of the workplace, examining harmful substances, inspecting equipment, and enhancing worker methods. The shorter the work experience of health professionals, the more dependent they are on group health services. The variables affecting comprehensive satisfaction were the period of work, healthcare management satisfaction, and work environment management satisfaction. Most of the requirements of health professionals in the workplace were practical improvement case presentations, MSDSs, and legal document management.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.368-372
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• 2024

Occupational use of cleaning products can cause asthma in healthcare workers but the cleaning agents responsible are not yet known. This study aimed to identify respiratory and other hazards in cleaning products on the National Health Service (NHS) supply chain online catalogue and used in the NHS. Information on cleaning products, their composition, and H-statements that identified hazard characteristics of chemical substances in them was obtained from chemical safety data sheets (SDSs). Furthermore, a quantitative structure-activity relationship model and a published asthmagen list were used to identify potential additional respiratory hazards. 473 cleaning products and 229 substances were identified. SDSs reported only 4 respiratory sensitizers but an additional 51 were suggested by the other 2 methods. In contrast, 25 respiratory irritants were identified using SDSs and only one from the asthmagen list. This comprehensive overview of cleaning agents' hazards has potential use in future risk assessment and epidemiological studies.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.66-72
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• 2014

Although stress has been implicated to be a risk factor that can threaten physical and mental health, there have been no sufficient studies that analyze the different levels of stress among employees working in the different levels of the hospitals. We aim to identify the general characteristics of hospitals at different levels, to compare the stress levels among customer service representatives working in the tertiary care hospitals as well as acute general hospitals. In addition, we also wanted to analyze the relationship between the types of hospitals and the stress level. The work stress was measured using the Korean Occupational Stress scale. Study subjects' demographic characteristics and lifestyle factors were analyzed using analysis of frequency and multiple regression analysis. Our study revealed that the levels of medical facility were significantly associated with the levels of job stress(P=0.043), and the stress levels of employees working in the acute general hospital's medical facilities were higher than those who were working in tertiary care facilities. We also found that those with higher depression level tended to have higher job stress (P<0.001). Therefore, it is urgent to implement some kind of job stress interventions, especially in the acute general hospital's medical facilities. Moreover, further studies including social and policy research are necessary in order to analyze the overall impact of stress on physical and mental health and to reduce health inequalities among healthcare workers.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.37-44
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• 2018

Purpose: This study investigates the influences of coughing direction and healthcare worker's location on the transport characteristics of coughed particles in airborne infection isolation room (AIIR), which is commonly called negative pressure isolation room, with a downward ventilation system. Methods: Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) was used to simulate the airflow and for tracing the behavior of particles. Results: The results show that the airflow pattern and coughing direction have a significant influence on the characteristics of particle dispersion and deposition. When healthcare workers are in the isolation room with the patient who is lying on the bed, it is recommended to be located far from the anteroom to reduce the exposures from infectious particles. And when the patient is lying, it is more effective in removing particles than when the patient is in Fowler's position. Although it is an isolation room that produces unidirectional flow, coughing particles can spread to the whole room and a large number of particles can be deposited onto patient, bed, side rails, healthcare worker, ceiling, floor, and sidewall. Implications: Following the patients' discharge or transfer, terminal cleaning of the vacated room, furniture, and all clinical equipment is essential. Also, it is necessary to establish detailed standard operating procedure (SOP) in order to reduce the risk of cross-contamination.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.64-74
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• 2024

Purpose: Despite the recent increased number of nosocomial measles, the outbreak investigation reports are not usually standardized, thus posing unclear understanding of magnitude of its public health burden. We used the Outbreak Reports and Intervention Studies of Nosocomial Infection (ORION) statement, to compare nosocomial outbreaks and synthesize evidence to prevent hospital transmission of measles. Methods: A PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Scopus, and Cochrane search in English, using the medical subject headings "measles," "nosocomial," "hospital," and "healthcare," was performed. We evaluated the quality of outbreak reports of nosocomial measles infection worldwide using the ORION statement findings and recommendations. Results: We reviewed 24 studies in accordance to the ORION statement. Measles transmission in healthcare settings is a significant burden on the morbidity, mortality, and economy of measles. The healthcare workers' booster vaccination guidelines should be monitored and enhanced during the post-elimination period of measles. The outcomes of infections must be explicit for outbreak reports. Conclusions: This study identified the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of nosocomial measles infections and provided strong evidence for infection control policies in hospitals.