• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.18-31
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• 2000

Background : This study is to identify the inappropriate hospital services for elderly inpatients over 65 years in general hospital with acute care functioning. Consequently elderly inpatient care and the management of long-term care facilities are key issues for current government health policy. Method : The survey was conducted for two months for all inpatients over 65 in 7 general hospitals, 6 work sampling days randomly selected. In each survey day, the subjective judgement by medical staff on the degree of acute care needs and by nursing unit manager on hospital services of each inpatients was also conducted. Result : The total number of cases collected are 2,541 elderly inpatients, according to subjective judgements by medical staff on inpatient condition. However 46.8% of cases are turned out to be non-acute care group. The frequency of medical services provided to non-acute group are 2~3 vital sign checks per day 78.2%, IV injection 40.1%, antibiotics medication 20.2%. Conclusion : Lots of elderly patients' who are staving in acute hospitals, at present need to be transferred to long-term care facilities. However, there was been shortage of long-term care facilities. It is expected to identify the need of elderly inpatients and therefore, to provide cost-effective, appropriate and good quality health services to elderly inpatients depending on their needs.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.196-204
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• 2008

Purpose: To examine factors affecting long-term care hospital patients' intention of transfer to a nursing home. Method: A questionnaire survey was conducted in Aug. 2007 that included 655 patients from 49 long-term care hospitals. The survey aimed to assess the patients' health status, family status, cost and intention of transfer to a nursing home. Institutional characteristics were analyzed from the nationwide database of Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service. The affecting factors were examined by employing chi-square test and logistic regression using SAS 8.2. Result: Of the subjects, 32.4% had intention of transfer to a nursing home. The intention of transfer to a nursing home was affected by moderate or severe pain, living together with the primary carer, high cost uncovered by insurance, and recognition of nursing home. Conclusion; For appropriate service utilization. a higher level of care is needed to satisfy patients at nursing homes and a balanced fee schedule is needed between long term care hospitals and nursing homes. It is desirable to encourage transfer to a nursing home at which nurses support patients and their families by giving information, coordination, and to make efforts to establish a reference system.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.411-416
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• 2015

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to identify oral health status and oral health care needs of elderly patients in long-term care hospital. Methods: Oral health examination was carried out by a dentist and questionnaire was completed by direct individual interview by a dental hygienist for 245 elderly patients in seven long-term care hospitals in Daegu from March 12 to April 16, 2011. Results: Those who need dental care were 188(76.7%) and was done by oral health examination by a dentist. 93 patients(38.0%) wanted dental care and 63 patients(25.3%) need dental care. The most important dental service in the elderly patients was denture and prosthetic service. As demand for denture and prosthetic service exceeds the supply, but only 35.9 percent of the elderly received the dental care service by the estimation of the caregivers. Conclusions: It will be necessary to establish the customized dental care service for the elderly patients in long term care hospitals. The oral health education for the caregivers is very important and the continuing education program must be implemented in the future.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.152-158
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• 2015

Objective : The purpose of this study to develop new deep-brain stimulation system for long-term use in animals, in order to develop a variety of neural prostheses. Methods : Our system has two distinguished features, which are the fully implanted system having wearable wireless power transfer and ability to change the parameter of stimulus parameter. It is useful for obtaining a variety of data from a long-term experiment. Results : To validate our system, we performed pre-clinical test in Parkinson's disease-rat models for 4 weeks. Through the in vivo test, we observed the possibility of not only long-term implantation and stability, but also free movement of animals. We confirmed that the electrical stimulation neither caused any side effect nor damaged the electrodes. Conclusion : We proved possibility of our system to conduct the long-term pre-clinical test in variety of parameter, which is available for development of neural prostheses.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.61-73
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• 2016

Objectives : The aim of this study was to investigate the satisfaction determinants of rehabilitation care group inpatients in rehabilitation long-term care hospitals. Methods : A survey was conducted with 262 patients from 6 rehabilitation long-term care hospitals located in Busan Kyungnam. Data were collected from June 2016 to July 2016 with a structured questionnaire and analyzed with SPSS 23.0. Results : The significant factors affecting the overall satisfaction score were disease group and 5 quality indices of medical services(Medical service quality, Rehabilitation services quality, Hospital reputation, External physical environment, and Internal physical environment). Additionally, the significant factors affecting intention to revisit were age, disease group, length of hospital stay and the 5 quality indices of medical services. Conclusions : The results of this study indicate that rehabilitation long-term care hospitals should try to improve the overall satisfaction of inpatients, especially focusing on the internal physical environment and the quality of the rehabilitation services and medical services, which will lead to a high level of intention for patients to revisit.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.51-54
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• 2017

We here report a case of long-term fistula formation due to bullet retention for 30 years in the lumbar spine after a gunshot injury, and describe its treatment. A 62-year-old male visited our hospital due to pus-like discharge from his left flank. The discharge had been present for 30 years, since his recovery from an abdominal gunshot injury. A spine radiography showed radiopaque material in the body of the third lumbar vertebra. Foreign body was removed using an anterolateral retroperitoneal approach. The postoperative course was uneventful. The patient was discharged 7 days after the operation and was followed-up for 8 months, during which time, the fistula did not reoccur. A bullet retained long term in the vertebral body may cause obstinate osteomyelitis and fistula formation. A fistula caused by a foreign body in the spine can be effectively treated by surgical removal.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.99-107
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• 2019

Purpose: This study aimed to assess hand hygiene (HH) compliance among visitors at a long-term care hospital in South Korea. Methods: The study was conducted at a 502-bed long-term care hospital located in Gyeonggi-do Province. From July 1 to August 15, 2017, including more than 6 weekends and one holiday, a trained observer covertly assessed visitors' HH at all five units (360 beds in total) of the study hospital building until the completion of 1,000 HH opportunities (i.e., 200 opportunities per unit). The modified World Health Organization (WHO) HH observation form was used. Instead of professional categories and the "before clean/aseptic procedure" moment, the estimated age range for each visitor were recorded in four categories: children (<14 years old), adolescents (14~18), adults (19~64), and the elderly (${\geq}65$). The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 22.0. Results: A total of 1,000 HH opportunities were observed from 766 visitors (an average of 1.31 per visitor) and the overall HH compliance rate was 20.3%. Overall, 53.7% of the HH cases were performed with soap and water. Among the 4 HH moments, the "after body fluid exposure risk" moment showed the highest compliance rate (83.5%); 93.9% used soap and water. The most commonly exposed potential body fluid among visitors was saliva (48.1%). Conclusion: For hospital visitors in long-term care hospitals, HH education programs including HH moments need to be developed and implemented. Further studies are necessary to evaluate visitors' HH compliance in various hospital settings and find the related variables influencing visitors' HH.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.661-669
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of selection factors, customer satisfaction, and revisiting intention of general hospital, long-term care hospital, and oriental medicine hospital. From November 1, 2019 to April 30, 2020, a survey was conducted targeting 4 general hospitals, 6 long-term care hospitals, and 3 oriental medicine hospitals. In general hospitals, long-term care hospitals, and oriental medicine hospitals, human factors and efficiency factors had a positive(+) influence on customer satisfaction. In long-term care hospitals, the higher the income, the higher the customer satisfaction, and effectiveness factor had significant positive(+) effect on revisiting intention. For oriental medicine hospitals, the external image was an important factor in customer satisfaction and revisiting intention. Based on the research results, it is expected that hospitals entering an era of competition can become useful basic data for efficient management.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• v.35
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• pp.51.1-51.15
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• 2023

Background: Recently, there has been increasing worldwide concern about outdoor air pollution, especially particulate matter (PM), which has been extensively researched for its harmful effects on the respiratory system. However, sufficient research on its effects on cardiovascular diseases, such as hypertension, remains lacking. In this study, we examine the associations between PM levels and hypertension and hypothesize that higher PM concentrations are associated with elevated blood pressure. Methods: A total of 133,935 adults aged ≥ 40 years who participated in the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study were analyzed. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to investigate the short- (1-14 days), medium- (1 and 3 months), and long-term (1 and 2 years) impacts of PM on blood pressure. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to evaluate the medium- and long-term effects of PM on blood pressure elevation after adjusting for sex, age, body mass index, health-related lifestyle behaviors, and geographic areas. Results: Using multiple linear regression analyses, both crude and adjusted models generated positive estimates, indicating an association with increased blood pressure, with all results being statistically significant, with the exception of PM levels over the long-term period (1 and 2 years) in non-hypertensive participants. In the logistic regression analyses on non-hypertensive participants, moderate PM₁₀ (particulate matter with diameters < 10 ㎛) and PM_2.5 (particulate matter with diameters < 2.5 ㎛) levels over the long-term period and all high PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 levels were statistically significant after adjusting for various covariates. Notably, high PM_2.5 levels of the 1 year exhibited the highest odds ratio of 1.23 (95% confidence interval: 1.19-1.28) after adjustment. Conclusions: These findings suggest that both short- and long-term exposure to PM is associated with blood pressure elevation.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.67 no.2
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• pp.237-248
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• 2024

Objective : Postoperative data on Cushing's disease (CD) are equivocal in the literature. These discrepancies may be attributed to different series with different criteria for remission and variable follow-up durations. Additional data from experienced centers may address these discrepancies. In this study, we present the results obtained from 96 endoscopic transsphenoidal surgeries (ETSSs) for CD conducted in a well-experienced center. Methods : Pre- and postoperative data of 96 ETSS in 87 patients with CD were included. All cases were handled by the same neurosurgical team between 2014 and 2022. We obtained data on remission status 3-6 months postoperatively (medium-term) and during the latest follow-up (long-term). Additionally, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and pathology results were obtained for each case. Results : The mean follow-up duration was 39.5±3.2 months. Medium and long-term remission rates were 77% and 82%, respectively. When only first-time operations were considered, the medium- and long-term remission rates were 78% and 82%, respectively. The recurrence rate in this series was 2.5%. Patients who showed remission between 3-6 months had higher long-term remission rates than did those without initial remission. Tumors >2 cm and extended tumor invasion of the cavernous sinus (Knosp 4) were associated with lower postoperative remission rates. Conclusion : Adenoma size and the presence/absence of cavernous sinus invasion on preopera-tive MRI may predict long-term postoperative remission. A tumor size of 2 cm may be a supporting criterion for predicting remission in Knosp 4 tumors. Further studies with larger patient populations are necessary to support this finding.