Background: Patient-centered outcomes in chronic care assessed through Quality of Health Care can be measured by its congruence to the Chronic Care Model (CCM) using Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (PACIC). Behavioral and quality measures that influence the patient’s perception of the quality of care remain unknown. Objective: This study aimed to assess the quality of chronic illness care among diabetic patients using PACIC and its relationship to socio-demographic factors. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving diabetic patients of the Out-Patient Department of a private hospital were enrolled through non-probability sampling. Overall score from the PACIC questionnaire, its subscale scores and its relationship with the socio-demographic factors were determined using descriptive statistics. Results: All participants were married and living with their families. Median age was 58. The over- all PACIC score was 3.53 + 0.72 SD. Problem solving/Contextual subscale presented the highest score while follow up/coordination had the least. Those who have college degrees had significantly lower mean scores than high school graduates (p-value = 0.032). Conclusion PACIC scores indicate a moderate to high quality of care. PACIC is a practical instrument that can be used in quality assessment and improvement programs.
Outpatients ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Chronic Disease ; Long-Term Care ; Hospitals, Private

Objective: To analyze the reported characteristics of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) in children aged 0-14 years in four provinces (municipalities), Beijing, Hubei, Chongqing and Sichuan, in China, and provide evidence for the prevention and control of pulmonary TB in children. Methods: The incidence data of childhood pulmonary TB were collected from notifiable disease and tuberculosis management information system of Chinese information system for disease control and prevention,and descriptive epidemiological methods were used to analyze the medical care seeking flow, characteristics and management inclusion of pulmonary TB cases in children. Statistical analysis and data visualization were conducted with softwares Excel 2015, R 4.1.2 and Echart 4.7.0. Results: A total of 6 811 pulmonary TB cases in children were reported in the four provinces during 2019-2021, in which 4 741 (69.6%) were clinically diagnosed and 2 070 (30.4%) were laboratory confirmed. A total of 526 medical institutions reported TB cases in children, including 356 general hospitals (67.7%, 356/526) reporting 4 706 cases, 11 infectious disease hospitals (2.1%, 11/526) reporting 836 cases and 5 children's hospitals (1.0%, 5/526) reporting 542 cases. A total of 6 249 (91.7%) local cases and 562 (8.3%) non-local cases were reported. The reported local incidence rates of TB from 2019-2021 were 6.20/100 000, 7.10/100 000 and 7.20/100 000, respectively, showing an increase trend year by year. The sex ratio of the cases were 0.98∶1(3 373∶3 438). The cases were mainly distributed in age group 10-14 years (4 887 cases, 71.8%). The cases were mainly students (5 167 cases, 75.9%). The management inclusion rates of the local cases and non-local cases were 20.60% and 2.67%, respectively. Conclusions: The main medical institutions reporting pulmonary TB cases in children were children's hospitals, infectious disease hospitals and TB special hospitals, the incidence of pulmonary TB in children in Sichuan was higher. In 2020, the inter-provincial medical seeking behavior of the pulmonary TB cases decreased significantly. The incidence rate in boys was lower than that in girls, and children aged 10-14 years were the population with high incidence of pulmonary TB. The management inclusion rate in non-local cases was lower than that in local cases.
Male ; Child ; Female ; Humans ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary/epidemiology* ; Hospitals, Chronic Disease ; China/epidemiology* ; Asian People ; Hospitals, General

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between depressive symptoms, stigma and social support in hospitalized PTB (pulmonary tuberculosis) patients. METHODS: Participants were 256 patients with PTB who were admitted in two national tuberculosis hospitals. RESULTS: Higher levels of stigma were significantly related to depressive symptoms in patients with PTB. Self-reports of social support by medical staff were negatively associated with depressive symptoms in patients with PTB. Stigma and social support by medical staff were found to be significant predictors of depressive symptoms after controlling for potential confounders. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that intervention for depressive symptoms be incorporated into treatment for patients with PTB, and strategies to decrease TB-related stigma and increase social support by medical staff be provided to prevent depressive symptoms.
Depression* ; Hospitals, Chronic Disease ; Humans ; Medical Staff ; Social Stigma ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary*

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to construct and test a structural equation model of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among hospitalized patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). METHODS: Participants were 256 patients with PTB who were 20 years or older and admitted in two national tuberculosis hospitals. The patients participated in pulmonary function testing and responded to structured questionaries. RESULTS: The goodness-of-fit statistics of the final hypothetical model were as follows: χ2/df=2.19, RMSEA=.07, SRMR=.05, GFI=.95, NFI=.95, CFI=.96, TLI=.92, and PCFI=.52. Symptoms and general health perception had significant direct effects, and subjective economic status, social support and stigma had significant indirect effect on HRQoL of hospitalized patients with PTB. These variables explained 64% of variance in the prediction model. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that strategies and intervention for physical symptoms and depressive symptoms are crucial to improve the quality of life in hospitalized patients with PTB. The development of various social support programs is also recommended.
Depression ; Hospitals, Chronic Disease ; Humans ; Quality of Life* ; Respiratory Function Tests ; Social Stigma ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary*

PURPOSE: There are no specific tools for measurement of the severity of chronic cough in Korea. We developed a Korean version of the Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ) and tested its scaling and clinical properties. METHODS: The LCQ was adapted for Korean conditions following a forward-backward translation procedure. All patients referred to chronic cough clinics at 5 university hospitals between May 2011 and October 2013 completed 2 questionnaires, the LCQ and the Short-Form 36 (SF-36), upon presentation and completed the LCQ and the Global Rating of Change (GRC) upon follow-up visits after 2 or 4 weeks. Concurrent validation, internal consistency, repeatability, and responsiveness were determined. RESULTS: For the concurrent validation, the correlation coefficients (n=202 patients) between the LCQ and SF-36 varied between 0.42 and 0.58. The internal consistency of the LCQ (n=207) was high for each of the domains with a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.82-0.94. The repeatability of the LCQ in patients with no change in cough (n=23) was high, with intra-class correlation coefficients of 0.66-0.81. Patients who reported an improvement in cough (n=30) on follow-up visits demonstrated significant improvement in each of the domains of the LCQ. CONCLUSIONS: The Korean version of the LCQ is a valid and reliable questionnaire for measurement of the severity of cough in patients with chronic cough.
Chronic Disease ; Cough* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Korea ; Quality of Life ; Reproducibility of Results* ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: One of the problem in emergency room(ER) of university hospital is over-crowdedness that causes exhaustion of medical resources (personnel, device, space) and disturbes optimal treatment. METHODS: This is an evaluative research for the purpose of promoting efficient operation system in ER of university hospital. RESULTS: 1) In 387 visitors, mean age was 47.5 years, and male to female ratio 1.21:1. As the specialty in charge, 28.9%f them were internal medicine, 26.6%mergency medicine, 9.9%eurology, and 8.5%eurosurgery. 24%f visitors have come by ambulances. The patients stayed for average 16.1 hours. The admission rate of ER visitors was 33.4 %60.3 %returned home after some management. 2) The visitors had various causes without correlation between the severity of conditions and the choice of high level hospital ER. They perceived their situations emergent in 78.4% but after triage only 25.6%were classified emergent. 48.6%of the visitors were the patients of out-patient department of this hospital due to chronic diseases. 3) The patients were assessed within 9.5 minutes after arrival at ER by nurse and within 34 minutes by doctor. If they were in need of consultation to second/third department, they waited for 141.5/460 minutes respectively to see the doctor. They waited for 59.9/52.7 minutes to get routine laboratory sampling/radiologic examination respectively. 4) Every 2.3 new patients visited this ER per hour. Average 63.2 patients were taken over to next shirt of nurse duty, and 60%of them had chronic degenerative diseases. CONCLUSION: The causes of overcrowding in ER of the university hospital were (1) huge number of patients at out-patient department of the hospital, (2) shortage of beds compared to the number of patients waiting admission, (3) too many kinds of procedures performed in ER, (4) cooperation failure among doctors of different specialty, and (5) no definite criteria of admission/discharge into/from ER. To solve these problems, conversion of ER management policy from complete examination and treatment to more simple and rapid one is necessary.
Ambulances ; Chronic Disease ; Emergencies* ; Emergency Service, Hospital* ; Female ; Hospitals ; Humans ; Internal Medicine ; Male ; Outpatients ; Triage

OBJECTIVE: Cavitary lesion in pulmonary tuberculosis sometimes makes problems in the course of treatment. Especially, retreatment cases tend to respond poorly to current antituberculosis agents. So, authors tried to render a guideline for clinical approach toward cavitary lesions in pulmonary tuberculosis. METHODS: Retrospective analysis of 33 pulmonary tuberculosis patients with cavitary lesions was made. All the patients had got treatment at National Masan Tuberculosis Hospital from Jan. 1995 to Aug. 1995. RESULTS: The ratio between male and female was 10:1. Age distribution was 69.7% in 3rd and 4th decades. The locations of cavitary lesion were 60.6% in right upper lung field and 36.4% in left upper lung field. In the extent of disease, there were 12 cases(36.4%) in moderate advanced and 21 cases in far advanced. Cavitary lesions were closed in 5 cases and remained in 28 cases. In the cases of closed cavity, it was happened within 10.6+/-4.72 months after they took treatment, the size of cavity was 35.5 +/-17.1 in long diameter, 27.0+/-12.2 in short diameter and 4.6+/-2.1 mm in wall thickness. In the cases of remained cavity, the size of cavity was 31.9 +/-12.3 in long diameter, 21.0+/-9.8 in short diameter and 5.04+/-2.0 mm in wall thickness. In terms of negative conversion, it took 3.8 +/-2.17 months in the case of closed cavity but it was happened within 5 months for only 4 patients in the case of remained cavity. In the point of past medication history, there was none in closed cavities but there were none in 1 case, once in 3 cases, two times in 9 cases and more than three times in 13 cases among remained cavitary lesions. CONCLUSION: In the retreatment cases of pulmonary tuberculosis with cavitary lesions, they tend to respond poorly to current antituberculosis agents. So, if the lesions are localized, operative intervention may be a proper method as adjunctive treatment.
Age Distribution ; Female ; Hospitals, Chronic Disease ; Humans ; Lung ; Male ; Retreatment ; Retrospective Studies ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify an influence of self-esteem and family- support on powerlessness of hospitalized elderly patients with chronic disease. METHOD: The subjects were 151 hospitalized elderly patients, age over 60, with chronic disease and admitted for at least 1 week. The data were collected by individual interview using a tructured questionnaire during the period from July 10th to August l0th, 2003 from three general hospitals in Busan. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation, hierarchical multiple regression. RESULT: The level of self-esteem, family support, and powerlessness was 38.00, 38.26, and 38.38, respectively. There was a significant positive correlation between self-esteem and family support and a negative correlation between self-esteem and powerlessness and between family support and powerlessness. Self-esteem and family support were each significant predictor of powerlessness. CONCLUSION: This study showed the hospitalized elderly patients need greater family-support and higher self-esteem to relieve the level of powerlessness. I suggest to study for replication in a larger sample size and considering the lengths of hospitalization for generalization of this study and to develop individual intervention programs for increasing family support and self esteem and testify their effects on the relief of powerlessness of the elderly.
Aged* ; Busan ; Chronic Disease* ; Generalization (Psychology) ; Hospitalization ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Sample Size ; Self Concept ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The Cough Symptom Score (CSS) is a simple, useful tool for measuring cough severity. However, there is no standard Korean version of the CSS. We developed a Korean version of the CSS and evaluated its clinical utility and validity for assessing chronic cough severity. METHODS: The CSS was adapted for Korean use following a forward-backward translation procedure. Patients with chronic cough enrolled from five university hospitals were graded using the CSS and a 100-mm linear visual analog scale (VAS) of cough severity at each visit. Patients completed the Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ) upon presentation and completed the LCQ and Global Rating of Change at follow-up visits after 2 to 4 weeks. The concurrent validity, repeatability, and responsiveness of the Korean version of the CSS were determined. RESULTS: Correlation coefficients between the CSS and LCQ, and between the CSS and VAS, were –0.66 and 0.52, respectively. There was a weak correlation between the scores for night and day symptoms (r = 0.24, p = 0.0006). The repeatability of the CSS in patients with no change in cough (n = 23) was high (intra-class correlation coefficient, 0.75; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.51 to 0.88). Patients who reported an improvement in cough (n = 30) at follow-up visits had a significant improvement in the CSS (median, −2; 95% CI, −3 to −1; p = 0.0003). CONCLUSIONS: The Korean version of the CSS correlated well with other tools for accessing cough severity in chronic cough patients. Therefore, it could be a reliable method for measuring chronic cough severity.
Chronic Disease ; Cough* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Methods ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Visual Analog Scale

BACKGROUND: Sputum decontamination with NALC-NaOH (N-acetyl-L-cysteine-sodium hydroxide) is known to better detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb) by culture than that with using NaOH, which is widely used in Korean hospitals. In this report, sputum samples collected from pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) patients were treated with either NaOH or NALC-NaOH, and we compared the results of smear and culture positivity to determine whether the NALC-NaOH treatment method improves culture positivity in the sputum samples, and especially for those sputum samples that are smear negative and scanty. METHODS: For each decontamination method, 436 sputum samples from pulmonary TB patients in the National Masan Tuberculosis Hospital were collected for this study. Sputum from a patient was collected two times for the first and second day of sampling time, and these samples were employed for the decontamination process by performing the 4% NaOH and NALC-2% NaOH treatment methods, respectively, for detecting M. tb by an AFB (Acid Fast Bacilli) smear and also by culture in solid Ogawa medium. RESULTS: The NaOH and NALC-NaOH treatment methods did not significantly affect the AFB smear positivity of the sputum samples (33.0% vs 39.0%, respectively, p=0.078). However, the culture positive percents of M. tb in the Ogawa medium treated with NALC-NaOH and NaOH were 39.7% and 28.0%, respectively, which was a significantly different (p=0.0003). This difference in culture was more prominent in the sputum samples that were smear negative (the positive percents with NALC-NaOH and NaOH were 15.8% and 7.2%, respectively, p=0.0017) and scanty (NALC-NaOH and NaOH were 60.8% and 42.9%, respectively, p=0.036), but not for a smear that was 1+ or higher (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: NALC-NaOH treatment is better than NaOH treatment for the detection of M. tb by culture, but not by smear, and especially when the AFB smear is negative and scanty.
Decontamination ; Hospitals, Chronic Disease ; Humans ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; Nitroimidazoles ; Sputum ; Sulfonamides ; Tuberculosis ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary