BACKGROUND: This study investigated the effectiveness of reinforced contact precautions and active surveillance cultures (ASCs) in reducing the incidence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and other healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). METHODS: A before- and after-experimental study was performed at the intensive care unit (ICU) in a university-affiliated hospital. Reinforced contact precautions were applied to all patients, and ASCs for MRSA were performed for newly admitted patients at the time of admission and once a week thereafter. The HAIs were investigated in accordance with the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance (NNIS) definitions and compared before and after the interventions. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: The number of HAIs caused by MRSA decreased from 2.2 to 0.5 per 100 patients discharged (P=0.02) and from 3.6 to 1.0 per 1,000 patient-days (P=0.032). The number of overall HAIs decreased from 7.6 to 4.0 per 100 patients discharged (P=0.011) and from 12.7 to 7.3 per 1,000 patient-days (P=0.034). The invasive device-associated infections caused by MRSA and other pathogens decreased, but the decrease was not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Reinforced contact precautions and ASCs were effective in decreasing both MRSA infections and overall HAIs in the ICU. Further, it was assumed that the incidence of device-associated infections would have decreased if the intervention period was extended.
Cross Infection ; Humans ; Incidence ; Critical Care ; Intensive Care Units ; Methicillin Resistance ; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

No abstract available.
Coronary Artery Bypass* ; Coronary Vessels*

The purpose of this research is to suggest a model for hospital process and verily the model through analyzing the results before and after reengineering grounded on the activity -based costing. The summary of research is as follows: First, two reengineering-applicable processes for a case hospital are chosen based on the issues from the patient requirements analysis and current process analysis as well as the general characteristics of hospital operations: accounting and clinical laboratory e xami nation processes. The integration of payment-related functions principle is applied to an accounting process which includes three sub processes. while the automatic transition of laboratory output principle is applied to a clinical laboratory examination process. Second, the studs shows more than 50% reduction of activities: nine activities from nineteen by the principle of integration of payment-related functions, and nine activities from fourteen by the principle of automatic transition of laboratory output. Finally. activity-based cost analysis before and alter reengineering results in 44% cost reduction: 43.9% in payment-related subprocesses and 41.1% in a clinical laboratory examination process. Therefor this research finds an enormous gap between costs before and after reengineerring. The contributions of this research are two-fold: one is that activity-based costing methodology is practically valid for measuring the cost-performance analysis of hospital process reengineering, and another is that activity -based costing can he utilized not only an initiative of process engineering hut also as a tool for evaluating a variety of activities by a simulation technique.
Costs and Cost Analysis ; Humans ; Laboratories

BACKGROUND: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is highly prevalent in hospitals in Korea. The overall rate of MRSA in hospitals in Korea was estimated over 60%. Recently hospital infections caused by MRSA are getting increased and problematic in Korea, Our hospital Seoul Paik Hospital, has been trying to solve this problem. We had not applied exact methods for hospital infection control. Therefore, we adapted strict methods under the control of hospital infection control committee (HICC) and assessed the effectiveness of these methods. METHODS: Every month, the number of MRSA isolates was collected and analyzed; the results of the analysis were reported to every ward. All wards were supplied with Microshild(R) (Johnson & Johnson, Australia), Clean N' Fresh(R) (Carroll, USA), and standard paper towels. Health care workers were regularly educated for hospital infection control. The use of antibiotics was controlled by the HICC. We compared MRSA isolation rate between before and after applying the strict infection control methods under the regulation of HICC. Mann-Whitney U test, one-way ANOVA, and Chi-square test were used for statistical analysis of the results. RESULTS: After restricting the uses of antibiotics, glycopeptides and carbapenems were prescribed 15% less (20.3 vs 17.3 DDD /1000 patient-days) and 35% less (9.3 vs 6.0 DDD /1000 patient-days) respectively, compared to before restricting antibiotics. Methicillin resistance rate was decreased from 78% to 69% compared to before the methods(p=0.02). The isolation rate of MRSA was reduced by 31-42% from 2.33 to 1.35-1.60/1000 patient-days compared to before adapting strict infection control methods (p=0.04-0.07). CONCLUSION: This study showed that applying the strict infection control methods in the hospital can be effective to reduce the isolation rate of MRSA.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Carbapenems ; Cross Infection* ; Delivery of Health Care ; Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane ; Glycopeptides ; Infection Control ; Korea ; Methicillin Resistance ; Methicillin* ; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus ; Seoul ; Staphylococcus aureus* ; Staphylococcus*

The recent advances in interventional radiology have made balloon catheter dilation the alternative treatment modality for ureteral stricture. However, it has not been widely accepted despite proven success in some case reports. Herein we analyzed the effect of antegrade balloon dilation on the 19 patients with various ureteral strictures. Twelve iatrogenic, 4 tuberculosis, 1 retroperitoneal fibrosis, 1 primary UPJ obstruction and 1 patient with unknown cause were included. The mean follow up period was 18.5 months. Symptomatic and radiologic success rate, factors influencing the outcome such as etiology. duration, length and site of stricture were evaluated. The overall success rates were 68% symptomatically and 63% radiologically. The success rate was not different between iatrogenic and non-iatrogenic strictures significantly. Most favorable results were obtained in the patients with tuberculosis and postsurgical strictures of less than 6 months in duration. Significant complications were not observed in all patients. Conclusively, balloon catheter dilation seems to be effective alternatives in the treatment of ureteral strictures of various etiology without severe complication. To improve the success rate, more experiences, development of equipment and method, and establishment of indications should be necessary.
Catheters ; Constriction, Pathologic* ; Dilatation* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Radiology, Interventional ; Retroperitoneal Fibrosis ; Tuberculosis ; Ureter*

The recent advances in interventional radiology have made balloon catheter dilation the alternative treatment modality for ureteral stricture. However, it has not been widely accepted despite proven success in some case reports. Herein we analyzed the effect of antegrade balloon dilation on the 19 patients with various ureteral strictures. Twelve iatrogenic, 4 tuberculosis, 1 retroperitoneal fibrosis, 1 primary UPJ obstruction and 1 patient with unknown cause were included. The mean follow up period was 18.5 months. Symptomatic and radiologic success rate, factors influencing the outcome such as etiology. duration, length and site of stricture were evaluated. The overall success rates were 68% symptomatically and 63% radiologically. The success rate was not different between iatrogenic and non-iatrogenic strictures significantly. Most favorable results were obtained in the patients with tuberculosis and postsurgical strictures of less than 6 months in duration. Significant complications were not observed in all patients. Conclusively, balloon catheter dilation seems to be effective alternatives in the treatment of ureteral strictures of various etiology without severe complication. To improve the success rate, more experiences, development of equipment and method, and establishment of indications should be necessary.
Catheters ; Constriction, Pathologic* ; Dilatation* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Radiology, Interventional ; Retroperitoneal Fibrosis ; Tuberculosis ; Ureter*

Hemimegalencephaly is a rare brain malformation characterized by congenital hypertrophy of one cerebral hemisphere, ipsilateral ventriculomegaly, hemiparesis, intractable epilepsy, and mental retardation, which often results in early death. We reported a case of hemimegalencephaly in a 1-month-old male with the chief complaint of intractable focal seizure.
Brain ; Cerebrum ; Epilepsy ; Humans ; Hypertrophy ; Infant, Newborn ; Intellectual Disability ; Male ; Malformations of Cortical Development* ; Paresis ; Seizures*

BACKGROUND: The hepatic and neuropsychiatric disorders caused by long term excessive alcohol abuse have been well documented. However the pathogenesis and clinical characteristics of cardiovascular disorder caused by excessive alcohol abuse has not been documented. Many patients diagnosed as idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy(IDCM) are apt to have a history of heavy alcohol consumption and are categorized as having alcoholic ardiomyopathy(ACM). METHODS: Twenty men(agedd 32 to 63 yrs, mean age 48.6 yrs) with dilated dcardiomyopathy, with the history of excessive alcohol abuse, were analyzed with fifteen patients with IDCM as control. RESULTS: The most common alcoholic beverage consumed in ACM is Diluted soju(85.0%) followed by Takju(10.0%), beer(5.0%). Average daily alcohol consumption is 134.5+/-40.3 g, frequency of alcohol intake in a week 5.4+/-1.4 times, total life time dose of ethanol 20.0+/-7.8kg/kg of body weight and duration of alcohol intake 26.9+/-8.4 years. There were no significant differences in symptoms between the two groups. In electrocardiography, atrial fibrillation is more frequent in ACM group(40%) than IDCM group(20%). In ACM group, serum concentrations of triglyceride and total cholesterol are higher than IDCM group, but no differences in serum HDL-cholesterol, SGOT, SGPT concentrations. In echocardiography, left ventricular systolic internal dimension and right ventricular internal dimension is smaller and ejection fraction is larger in ACM group than IDCM group. CONCLUSION: We studied the clinical, laboratory, electrocardiographic and echocardiographic characteristics of alcoholic cardiomyopathy comparing with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.
Alanine Transaminase ; Alcohol Drinking ; Alcoholic Beverages ; Alcoholics* ; Alcoholism ; Aspartate Aminotransferases ; Atrial Fibrillation ; Body Weight ; Cardiomyopathy, Alcoholic* ; Cardiomyopathy, Dilated ; Cholesterol ; Echocardiography* ; Electrocardiography ; Ethanol ; Humans ; Triglycerides

Diverticulosis of the small intestine is a rare entity, compared with that of duodenum or colon, and is found in only 1% of autopsied patients. The main complications are diverticulitis with or without a perforation, obstruction and hemorrhage, which are associated with a high mortality. Intussusception is primarily a disease of childhood; with only 5 to 10% of cases occurring in adults. In contrast to childhood intussusception, 90% of adult intussusception cases are had an associated pathologic processes. An inflammatory fibroid polyp is an uncommonly localized non-neoplastic lesion of the gastrointestinal tract. It occurs most often in the stomach and secondly in the ileum. It rarely occurs in other organs such as the colon, jejunum, duodenum and esophagus. We report a case of jejunal diverticulitis with a perforation combined with intussusception caused by an inflammatory fibroid polyp. A 78-year-old female presented with abdominal pain, fever and chill. Contrast CT scan showed intussusception of the ileum. The patient was treated with a small bowel segmental resection. After surgery, the specimen showed jejunal diverticulitis with perforation.
Abdominal Pain ; Adult ; Aged ; Colon ; Diverticulitis* ; Diverticulum ; Duodenum ; Esophagus ; Female ; Fever ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Ileum ; Intestine, Small ; Intussusception* ; Jejunum ; Leiomyoma* ; Mortality ; Pathologic Processes ; Polyps* ; Stomach ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Papillary stenosis is characterized by fixed fibrosis leading to structural outflow obstruction and it is usually secondary to inflammation and fibrosis from the chronic passage of gallstones, episodes of acute pancreatitis, chronic pancreatitis, sclerosing cholangitis, peptic ulcer disease, and cholesterolosis. However, obstructive jaundice with or without acute cholangitis which leads the physician to suspect the presence of malignancy as a cause is a rare manifestation of papillary stenosis. We report here a case of papillary stenosis presenting with obstructive jaundice and acute cholangitis. The lesion was so difficult to exclude the presence of malignancy preoperatively and intraoperatively that a pylorus-preserving pancreaticoduodenectomy was performed. Histologic examination of the resected specimen revealed fibrosis, adenomatoid ductal hyperplasia, and mild chronic inflammation of the papilla of Vater and distal common bile duct.
Acute Disease ; Case Report ; Cholangitis/etiology* ; Cholestasis/etiology* ; Cholestasis/complications* ; Common Bile Duct Diseases/complications* ; Human ; Male ; Middle Age ; Vater's Ampulla*/radiography ; Vater's Ampulla*/pathology