South Korea remains one of the few Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries without a statutory paid sick leave system or a public sickness benefit program. This paper examines the necessity of introducing statutory paid sick leave in South Korea and outlines key considerations for its implementation. The “right to rest when sick” is a fundamental health and labor right that ensures workers can recover from illness without risking job loss or income insecurity. A comparative review of international systems demonstrates that most countries have institutional mechanisms to support workers during non-work-related illnesses or injuries through paid sick leave and/or sickness benefits. In contrast, South Korean workers—especially those in small workplaces or non-regular employment—face limited access to such protections. The absence of these systems exacerbates social inequality and increases the risk of presenteeism and delayed medical care. Introducing statutory paid sick leave is not only a public health investment but also a measure to promote labor rights, reduce productivity losses, and prevent poverty caused by illness. The implementation of such a system must ensure universal coverage, prohibit employer retaliation, and be integrated with future sickness benefit programs to create a comprehensive social safety net.

Background: Osteoporosis prevalence continues to escalate with the growth of the older adult population. In this study, we aimed to investigate the profile of osteoporosis treatment-related research articles published in the past 20 years using bibliometric analysis. Methods: We analyzed all osteoporosis treatment-related articles published between 2001 and 2020 in the Web of Science (WoS) database using bibliometric methods. In the Title search section in WoS, we searched the documents using “osteoporosis treatment”-related keywords. We used the VOSviewer software to construct the bibliometric maps of keyword co-occurrences. Results: Our search yielded 29,738 publications, 21,556 (72.5%) were original articles and 4,529 (15.2%) were review articles and review articles (4,529). We noticed a steady increase in the publication numbers from 2001 to 2020. The overall scientific publication number in WoS increased 3.5-fold, with the five most productive countries being the USA, China, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan. The largest contributor was the University of California system. The most productive journals were Osteoporosis International (1,679, 6.4%), Bone (832, 3.2%), and the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research (727, 2.8%). We observed increasing trends in the appearance of denosumab and teriparatide during the last two decades. In our keyword co-occurrence analysis, we constructed four keyword clusters using VOSviewer. Conclusions In this study, we provided a gross overview of the visibility and productivity of research studies in osteoporosis treatment. Substantial changes have occurred in osteoporosis treatment over the last 20 years. The effector mechanism of anti-osteoporosis medications could be future hot spots in osteoporosis research. We believe that our study is a valuable guide for clinicians related to the global outputs of osteoporosis treatment.

Purpose: When evaluation and treatment of burn patients were not performed appropriately, patients can get complication and even lead to death. This study was performed to investigate the epidemiological characteristics, prognostic factors of admitted burn patients and thus help establishing therapeutic plan for them. Methods: A retrospective review was performed on all admitted burn patients from January 2013 to December 2022 through emergency center. Age, sex, burn mechanism, burn depth, TBSA, inhalation injury, mechanical ventilation, operation, lab, underlying disease was collected as variables. Length of stay, ICU admission, developing complications, mortality was collected as prognosis. Results: 1,159 patients were enrolled. Baseline characteristics of patients were women 523 (45.1%), age 36.2±24.8 yrs, TBSA 7.0±10.2%, inhalation injury 45 cases (3.8%), mechanical ventilation 50 cases (4.3%), operation 315 cases (30.3%), WBC 10035±4572/uL, CRP 8.1±27.1 mg/L, albumin 4.0±0.5 g/dL, DM 77 cases (6.6%), HTN 175 cases (15.1%), caner 15 cases (1.3%), hospital day 21.2±21.0 days, ICU admission 111 cases (9.6%),complication 36 cases (3.1%), death 21 cases (1.8%). The factors that increase the risk in all four prognosis : hospital days, ICU admission, complications, death were flame burn, full-thickness burn, TBSA over 20%, mechanical ventilation, WBC abnormalities, albumin abnormalities. Conclusion Burn patients who admitted through emergency center are mostly scalding burn, second degree burn, TBSA 0∼5%. Patients with flame burn, full-thickness burn, TBSA over 20%, mechanical ventilation, WBC abnormalities, albumin abnormalities had worse prognosis. Otherwise, patients with scalding burn and second degree burn showed favorable outcomes.

Objective: This study compared the epidemiological changes before and after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients in a single center. This study analyzed the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Eight hundred and sixty-one out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients were included in the analysis. Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients from January 20, 2018, to January 19, 2020, were used as the control group, and those between January 20, 2020, and January 19, 2022, were used as the study group. The collected data were evaluated using a Student t-test, chi-square test, and logistic regression analysis. Results: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of cardiac arrests witnessed at the field level decreased. In the transport stage, mechanical CPR increased and the method for securing the airway had many changes. Transport distances, response times, and on-scene times have increased. Survival discharge from hospital decreased from 9.5% to 5.8% (P=0.045), and good neurological outcomes decreased from 8% to 4% (P=0.017). According to multivariate logistic regression analysis, good neurological outcomes (adjusted odds ratio, 0.299; 95% confidence interval, 0.116-0.772) were significantly lower after the onset of COVID-19. Conclusion With the outbreak of COVID-19, there have been many changes in the pre-hospital stages of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients, and the neurological outcomes have also deteriorated. This continued throughout the pandemic period.

Objective: This study examined whether the changes in reimbursement coverage of brain magnetic resonance image (MRI) affected practice for patients who visited the emergency department with dizziness as the chief complaint. Methods: Among the 5,423 patients who visited the emergency department for dizziness in 2017, 2019, and 2021, 4,497 patients were included in the study retrospectively and investigated by brain diffusion-weighted MRI and the presence of cerebral infarction on brain diffusion-weighted MRI. This study examined whether there was a significant difference before and after the change. Results: In 2017, 2019, and 2021, 1,489, 1,570, and 1,438 patients with dizziness visited the emergency department, respectively. The number of patients who underwent a brain MRI scan gradually increased from 237 (15.9%) in 2017 to 628 (40.0%) in 2019 and 948 (65.9%) in 2021 (P<0.001). The number of positive findings on brain MRI scan increased gradually from 30 patients (2.0%) in 2017 to 47 patients (3.0%) in 2019 and 53 patients (3.7%) in 2021 (P=0.025). The ratio of positive findings of brain MRI scans to the number of patients who underwent brain MRI scans decreased gradually to 12.7% in 2017, 7.5% in 2019, and 5.6% in 2021 (P=0.001). Conclusion The changes in the reimbursement coverage of brain MRI affect the number of brain MRI scans and the detection of cerebral infarction.

Background: The morphology of hair regrowth in alopecia areata (AA) patches could be classified into four types, namely diffuse, irregular, marginal, and targetoid patterns, according to the DIMT classification. However, factors affecting hair regrowth patterns have not been investigated. Objective: We investigated whether the DIMT-classified hair regrowth patterns of AA patches are associated with treatment modality and patch size. Methods: We conducted a retrospective, cross-sectional study of 152 AA patches with hair regrowth. Results: The associations between the diffuse pattern and patch size >2 cm (p=0.006;odds ratio [OR]: 0.36, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.17~0.74), between the irregular pattern and triamcinolone acetonide intralesional injection (p<0.001; OR: 274.87, 95% CI:25.75~2,933.56), between the marginal pattern and systemic and topical corticosteroid (p=0.018; OR: 4.89, 95% CI: 1.31~18.27), and between the targetoid pattern and patch size >2 cm (p=0.028; OR: 2.50, 95% CI: 1.10~5.68) were statistically significant. Conclusion Treatment modalities and patch size are the factors affecting hair regrowth patterns in AA patches.

A debridement method that causes minimal damage to normal tissue during the removal of necrotic tissue is important for chronic wound healing. A new instrument based on low-frequency ultrasound, the Misonix SonicOne O.R. System ® (Bioventus, Farmingdale, NY, USA), creates 22.5 kHz ultrasound waves that cause cavitation or oscillating micro-gas bubbles to debride unhealthy tissue. The device was used for debridement on nine patients with chronic wounds of varying etiology: two patients with decubitus ulcers, one patient with a crush injury, and seven patients with burns. The eschar and unhealthy granulation tissue were removed effectively with no damage to normal skin and soft tissue. No bleeding complications occurred and postoperative analgesics were not required. Compared to surgical debridement, the low-frequency ultrasound device was effective, easy and safe to use, and caused less pain and bleeding. It can be recommended as a treatment method for chronic wounds, comparable to surgical wound debridement.

Purpose: Due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, many epidemiological and clinical factors of burn patients visiting emergency department (ED) have changed. We theorized that this is because of government’s quarantine regulation and fear of COVID-19 infection. Methods: This study investigated all burn patients visited ED from January 2018 to December 2021 without exclusion factors. We defined COVID-19 pandemic period from 2020 to 2021. We analyze many variables of burn patients related to social distancing and change of patients’ lifestyle due to COVID-19 outbreak. Results: The total visit of burn patients from 2018 to 2019 was 1662 and from 2020 to 2021 was 716. There was decrease in rate of admission, follow-up in outpatients and operation. However, there was increase in ratio of burn mechanism and burn causes related to cooking at home such as oil, frying pan and hot pot. Social distancing reduced the rate of burn happened in restaurant and public places but elevated the rate of burn occurred at home. Inhalation related burn rate has increased after COVID-19 outbreak because of increase in time spent indoor than outdoor. Conclusion Since COVID-19 infection and quarantine have brought lots of life pattern alterations, the number of burn patients visiting to the ED has reduced and many epidemiology factors of burn have changed. According to these changes, we concluded that COVID-19 worsen the burn injury due to delay in treatment. These findings could be handful in preparing emergency medicine resources for ongoing and future pandemics.

In this study, we report the case of a 59-year-old male patient with organophosphate pesticide poisoning. He visited the local emergency medical center after ingesting 250 ml of organophosphate pesticide. The patient’s symptoms improved after the initial intravenous infusion of pralidoxime 5 g and atropine 0.5 mg. However, 18 hours after admission, there was a worsening of the symptoms. A high dose of atropine was administered to improve muscarinic symptoms. A total dose of 5091.4 mg of atropine was used for 30 days, and fever and paralytic ileus appeared as side effects of atropine. Anticholinergic symptoms disappeared only after reducing the atropine dose, and the patient was discharged on the 35th day without any neurologic complications.

Purpose: It is important to consider both clinical factors and epidemiological factors in treating burn patients in emergency rooms. However, many emergency medical staffs happen to miss their chances of treating burns based on these considerations. This study is designed to find a better treatment for burn patients in emergency rooms along this approach. Methods: This study was conducted based on the data of the burn patients visiting the emergency room of a single general hospital from January 2015 to December 2019. The epidemiological and clinical factors were extracted out of the data, then the relationship between the prognosis and these factors were analyzed. Results: Most of burn accidents occurred at home, and were caused by hot water, soup, drinks, oil, etc. Especially, flame burns showed high hospitalization rate, surgical rate and mortality. In addition, their prognosis was poor when the affected area included facial, limb and perineal areas etc., or any inhalation burn co-existed. Also, the hospitalization rate and period increased when the treatment time was delayed or the pre-treatment was taken. There was a strong relationship between prognosis and the period of follow-up when patients were admitted during the period. Conclusion It is difficult for medical staffs to evaluate prognosis of burns in emergency rooms due to progressive damages.Precise treatment and disposition are essential for patients’ good prognosis. Therefore, medical staffs should establish treatment plans by identifying the patient’s epidemiological and clinical factors, rather than giving prescriptions based on fragmentary and superficial symptoms.