• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.385-394
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• 2021

Objectives: This study aimed to explore the status of regional variations in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) treatment and investigate the association between the presence of a thrombectomy-capable stroke center (TSC) and the case fatality rate (CFR) of AIS within hospital service areas (HSAs). Methods: This observational cross-sectional study analyzed acute stroke quality assessment program data from 262 hospitals between 2013 and 2016. TSCs were defined according to the criteria of the Joint Commission. In total, 64 HSAs were identified based on the addresses of hospitals. We analyzed the effects of structure factors, process factors, and the presence of a TSC on the CFR of AIS using multivariate logistic regression. Results: Among 262 hospitals, 31 hospitals met the definition of a TSC. Of the 64 HSAs, only 20 had a TSC. At hospitals, the presence of a stroke unit, the presence of stroke specialists, and the rate of endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) treatment were associated with reductions in the CFR. In HSAs, the rate of EVT treatment (odds ratio [OR], 0.98; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.97 to 0.99) and the presence of a TSC (OR, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.88 to 0.99) significantly reduced the CFR of AIS. Conclusions: The presence of a TSC within an HSA, corresponding to structure and process factors related to the quality of care, contributed significantly to lowering the CFR of AIS. The CFR also declined as the rate of treatment increased. This study highlights the importance of TSCs in the development of an acute stroke care system in Korea.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.20-35
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• 2008

Though the attending system was first implemented in 2003 to facilitate the efficient utilization of medical resources and specialties, only a few hospitals and physicians are participated in that system. The purpose of this study was to investigate the actual facts which related to operation of attending system and propose a basic information to revitalized of the attending system in Korea. The data were collected between August 1 and October 30, 2005 from 25 hospitals and 42 attending physicians who were in part of the attending system. Medical institutions were unwilling to participate despite the advantages of the attending system with respect to the utilization of medical resources and improvement in the quality of medical services. The primary reason for this was the lack of understanding among physicians about the attending system and the difficulty(lack of time) encountered by the attending physicians in administering care to patients hospitalized in the attending hospitals. Moreover insufficient reimbursement for rendered medical services constituted another important reason. In conclusion, we can state that the establishment of a committee is required to discuss the issues surrounding the attending system and to control the growing disparity between the viewpoints of hospitals and physicians. Regardless, there is a need to develop economical incentives for medical institutes. The attending system served as a useful policy in promoting the medical service system and bringing about an improvement in the management of medical institutes.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.46-64
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• 2005

This study was conducted to verify the current criteria and classification system used to determine specialized general hospitals status. In this study, we proposed a new classification system which Is simpler and more convenient than the current one. In the new classification system clinical procedure was chosen as the unit of analysis in order to reflect all the resource consumption and the complexities and degree of medical technologies in determining specialized general hospitals. We developed a statistical model and applied this model to 117 general hospitals which claim their national insurance through electronic data interchange(EDI). Analysis based on 984 clinical procedures and medical facilities' characteristic variable discriminated specialized general hospital in present without misclassification. It means that we can determine specialized general hospital's permission In new way without using the current complicated criteria. This study discriminated specialized general hospital by the new proposed model based on clinical procedures provided by each hospital. For clustering the same types of medical facilities using 984 clinical procedures, we executed multidimensional scale analysis and divided 117 hospitals into 4 groups by two axises : a variety of procedure and the Proportion of high technology Procedure. Therefore, we divided 117 hospitals into 4 groups and one of them was considered as specialized general hospital. In discriminating analysis, we abstracted proportion of 16 clinical procedures which effect on discriminating the specialized general hospital in statistical system also we identify discriminating function which include these variables. As a result, we identify 2 discriminating functions, one is for current discriminating system and the other two is for new discriminating system of specialized general hospital.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.86-98
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• 2019

Objectives: This study analyzes the electronic medical record (EMR) data of the spine specialist oriental hospital and clinic in various regions, and reports the actual number and used cases of Chuna therapy. Methods: 2,470,772 data was extracted retrospectively from electronic medical records of all inpatients and outpatients who were treated chuna therapy at 21 Korean medicine hospitals and clinics from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018. The characteristics of medical treatment using chuna therapy reflect the minimum, maximum and average values of the number of hospitalized patients, length of hospitalization, frequency of hospitalization, number of outpatients, frequency of treatment and frequency of visit. Diseases were classified in the proportion of Chuna treatment according to the KCD, 7th edition. The chuna and blindness charts were derived accordingly from illness and disease of each part of the body. Results: During the study period, a total 1,342,022 inpatients and outpatients visited the study sites. The male proportion was a little higher than the females' (male: 53.7%, female: 46.3%). According to age, the 30s and 40s were more than half the total(30s: 33.0% and 40s: 20.1%). Chuna therapy was treated to more outpatients than hospitalized patients (outpatient: 83.6%, hospitalization: 16.4%), and most treatments were related to musculoskeletal illness(99.06%). Conclusions: As a result of this study, 1,342,389 chuna therapy was performed in 21 hospitals for one year. As highly demanded by the public, we look forward to ensuring national health care options and medical access when health insurance for chuna therapy is applied beginning March 2019.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.26 no.3 s.43
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• pp.400-411
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• 1993

The aim of this study is to analyze the variations among hospitals and hospital groups in resource use and procedures of diagnostic and therapeutic process, such as laboratory tests, radiologic examinations, tissue diagnosis, timing of surgery after admission, the time required for operation. The study was performed for five procedures including cesarean section (C/S), appendectomy, cholecystectomy, cataract extraction, and pediatric pneumonia. The 2,316 subjects were selected from medical insurance claims list, and from this list 413 cases were sampled for medical record review. The patterns of resource utilization and process of treatment were described according to hospitals and characteristics of hospital groups. The major results were as follows : 1. The numbers of laboratory and radiologic tests showed significant difference among hospitals and hospital groups. In case of hospital groups, we could find tendencies of more tests with increasing hospital bed size. 2. In general, the proportion of operative cases evaluated by tissue diagnosis postoperatively among all operations ranged from 28.3% to 100%. The proportion varied among hospital groups, of which general hospital A group(more than 15 specialty) showed the highest proportion. 3. Post-admission delay until operation and the time required for operative procedure were not invariable among hospitals and hospital groups. The duration of operation in tertiary hospitals was slightly shorter than general hospitals, with varying statistical significance. We could find that probably there were differences of quality among hospitals in some components of procedures, which suggested that the implementation of quality assurance activities would be mandatory. In this study, we simply described the patterns of resource utilization and some features of clinical process, with institution of the need for advanced studies with in-depth analyses for each component of diagnosis and treatment procedures.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.158-164
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• 2017

Objectives: To identify bacterial contamination rates of laryngoscope blades and handles stored in emergency crash carts by hospital and area according to the frequency of intubation attempts. Methods: One hundred forty-eight handles and 71 blades deemed ready for patient use from two tertiary hospitals were sampled with sterile swabs using a standardized rolling technique. Samples were considered negative (not contaminated) if no colonies were present on the blood agar plate after an 18-hour incubation period. Samples were stratified by hospital and according to the frequency of intubation attempts (10 attempts per year) using the ${\chi}^2-test$ and Fisher exact test. Results: One or more species of bacteria were isolated from 4 (5.6%) handle tops, 20 (28.2%) handles with knurled surfaces, and 27 (18.2%) blades. No significant differences were found in microbial contamination levels on the handle tops and blades between the two hospitals and two areas according to the frequency of intubation attempts. However, significant differences were found between the two hospitals and two areas in the level of microbial contamination on the handles with knurled surfaces (p<0.05). Conclusions: Protocols and policies must be reviewed to standardize procedures to clean and disinfect laryngoscope blades and handles; handles should be re-designed to eliminate points of contact with the blade; and single-use, one-piece laryngoscopes should be introduced.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.53-57
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• 2006

Radionuclide therapy has been used for more than 50 years and proved to be a safe and effective modality. However, the patients' right to have the excellent medical service is seriously disturbed by excessive regulations of government institutions such as Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS), Health Insurance Review Agency (HIRA) and Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA). For example, the patients should wait for more than 6 months to have I-131 treatment in many hospitals it is strongly recommended to mitigate the regulations to resonable levels to solve the problems. If HIRA allow the hospitals to charge reasonable rate for radionuclide therapy room, then more hospitals would invest to build the radionuclide therapy rooms and the patients' waiting time would decrease. The waiting time would also decrease, if KINS allow 2 patients to share a radionuclide therapy room. Finally, it is strongly recommended to lower the threshold for approval of new therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals by KFDA, which would allow new effective therapeutic raoiopharmaceuticals to be introduced to clinical practices more easily.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.28 no.1 s.69
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• pp.35-41
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• 2007

Objectives : To gain better insights on the characteristics of stroke patients admitted to oriental medical hospitals, we analyzed the data of 363 consecutive patients with acute ischemic stroke from Hanbang Stroke Registry supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Korea. Methods : Subjects' enrollment was in the oriental medical hospitals of 3 universities located in the metropolitan region from October 2005 to October 2006. We assessed the subjects' general characteristics, risk factors, and etiology of stroke. Each patient's TOAST classification type was confirmed by two independent specialists. Those were small vessel occlusion (SVO), large artery atherosclerosis (LAA), cardioembolism (CE), stroke with other determined etiology (SOE), and stroke with undetermined etiology (SUE).Results 'The distribution of the subjects' general characteristics and risk factors for stroke were similar with result storm previous reports. However, in the TOAST classification, SVO was the major type occupying 78.5% in the total subjects, which is the highest share compared with other research with similar methods. These results imply that patients with more severe symptoms rarely visit oriental medical hospitals. Conclusion : Assuming that this research will continue adding patient's data continuously, this work will help us to understand the features of stroke patients at oriental medical hospitals, and contribute to expansion of the Korean Hanbang Stroke Data Bank.

• Perspectives in Nursing Science
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.158-166
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• 2013

Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate patient safety regulations and guidelines in order to understand their current status, and to examine support measures to improve patient safety in Korean hospitals. Methods: The participants were the safety officers from hospitals with 200 or more beds and 112 hospitals responded to the online survey. The questions covered patient safety regulations, the performance level of patient safety activities, patient safety incident reporting systems, the dedicated professional, training, support mechanisms, and expectations of reporting systems. Results: Among preventative measures, fall prevention and hand hygiene were reported to be most widely practiced (92% and 91%, respectively). Time-out for invasive procedures showed a relatively low practice rate at 70%. Among patient care activities, transfusion, surgery and sedation, medication, and infection management were performed by 84, 74, 93 and 93% of the hospitals, respectively. Patient safety activities included patient safety committee, patient safety cooperation between decision-making bodies, patient safety workshops, seminars, lectures, and training for employees. Conclusion: Patient safety regulations and guidelines have not yet been sufficiently prepared, and a public institution such as a certification authority is of crucial importance to enforce these guidelines.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.134-141
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• 2009

Purpose: Patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) were referred from other hospitals for further management. In addition, patients routinely underwent computed tomography examinations of the head (HCT) in the referral hospitals. The purpose of this study was to evaluate retrospectively the utility of routine HCT scans according to the severity of TBI. Methods: Patients with TBI referred to our hospital between December 2005 and July 2008 were included in this study. We investigated HCT findings, indications for repeat HCT examinations (routine versus a neurological change), and neurosurgical interventions. The head injury severity was divided into three categories according to the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score, including mild, moderate, and severe TBI. The use of neurosurgical interventions between patients who underwent routine HCT scans and patients who underwent HCT scans for a neurological change were compared according to the severity of TBI. Results: A total of 81 patients met the entry criteria for this study. Among these patients, 67%(n=54) of the patients underwent HCT scans on a routine basis, whereas 33%(n=27) of the patients underwent HCT scans for a neurological change. A total of 21 patients showed signs of a worsening condition on the HCT scans. Neurosurgical intervention was required for 23(28.4%) patients. For patients who underwent routine HCT examinations, no patient with mild TBI underwent a neurosurgical intervention. However, one patient with moderate TBI and three(13%) patients with severe TBI underwent neurosurgical interventions. The kappa index, the level of agreement for HCT indications of intervention and referral reasons for intervention, was 0.65 for high hierarchy hospitals and 0.06 for low hierarchy hospitals. Conclusion: Routine serial HCT examinations in the referred hospitals would be useful for patients with severe head injury and for patients from low hierarchy hospitals where no emergency physicians or neurosurgeons are available.