BACKGROUND: Pharmacy schools newly adopted a 6-year program strengthening clinical knowledge since 2011 in Korea. The clinical training under the guidance of preceptors at hospital sites is a requisite for pharmacy students during the last year of undergraduate course. It has been rarely studied on the hospital pharmacists' perspective regarding being a preceptor or teaching pharmacy students. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to examine the hospital pharmacists' intention toward student training and to identify the relevant factors among the individual pharmacists' characteristics and working environment within the theoretical frame of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). METHOD: A mail-survey was conducted for pharmacists working in tertiary hospitals in Seoul and Incheon. The survey questionnaire consisting of 131 questions with a 5-likert scale was developed for investigating pharmacists' attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control and the intention to teach pharmacy students as well as other demographic variables. To estimate the construct validity of components, factor analysis was conducted and Cronbach's alpha was calculated to estimate the reliability of the observed variables. Statistical analyses of one-way variance analysis and multiple regression analysis were performed using SPSS 18.0. RESULTS: The survey response rate was 53% (116/210) and the three constructs of attitude (r = .519), subjective norm (r = .233) and perceived control (r = .392) have appropriate correlations with the intention, proving the appropriateness of using the TPB model. Pharmacists working in inpatient (mean = 3.45) and outpatient clinics (mean = 3.34) generally showed positive intention for teaching. The attitude (beta = .432, p < 0.01) and perceived control (beta = .270, p < .01) constructs were significant predictors of the intention. Both age (r = 0.246, p = 0.017) and length of career (r = 0.310, p = 0.002) were positively related with the perceived control. CONCLUSION: Hospital pharmacists showed generally positive intention to provide student training in spite of the concern on their limited perceived behavioral control. Future research to find the actual barriers pharmacists faced in educating students need to be conducted.
Ambulatory Care Facilities ; Education, Pharmacy ; Humans ; Incheon ; Inpatients ; Intention* ; Korea ; Pharmacists* ; Schools, Pharmacy ; Seoul ; Students, Pharmacy ; Tertiary Care Centers

PURPOSE:This study was performed to investigate the serotype distribution of group B streptococcus (GBS) isolated from pregnant Korean women using molecular methods. METHODS:The study materials included 42 GBS isolates obtained from the vagina and anorectum of pregnant women in Seoul, Korea between 2005 and 2006. Four clinical isolates with known serotypes (Ia, Ib, III, and V) were used for validation of molecular serotyping. We used serotype-specific primers for identification of the serotypes (Ia, Ib, III, V, and VI). To determine the ambiguous serotypes by serotype-specific PCR, sequence analysis of the PCR amplicons which had been amplified with GBS-common primers was used. RESULTS:The serotypes determined by the molecular methods agreed with the previously known 4 serotypes (Ia, Ib, III, and V). The serotypes of all 42 isolates were successfully determined by molecular methods. The distribution of the GBS serotype was as follows in order of frequency: serotype III was found in 12 isolates (28.6%), serotype V was found in 11 isolates (26.2%), serotype Ia was found in 11 isolates (26.2%), serotype VI was found in 4 isolates (9.5%), serotype Ib was found in 2 isolates (4.8%), and serotype II was found in 2 isolates (4.8%). CONCLUSION:Serotypes III, V, and Ia were the most frequently identified serotypes in pregnant Korean women. Molecular serotyping is useful for surveillance of the serotype distribution of GBS in colonized pregnant women and GBS diseases of neonates.
Colon ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Pregnant Women ; Sequence Analysis ; Serotyping ; Streptococcus ; Vagina

To perform the Adaptive Radiation Therapy (ART), a high degree of deformable registration accuracy is essential. The purpose of this study is to identify whether the change of MV CBCT intensity can improve registration accuracy using predefined modification level and filtering process. To obtain modification level, the cheese phantom images was acquired from both kilovoltage CT (kappaV CT), megavoltage cone-beam CT (MV CBCT). From the cheese phantom images, the modification level of MV CBCT was defined from the relationship between Hounsfield Units (HUs) of kappaV CT and MV CBCT images. 'Gaussian smoothing filter' was added to reduce the noise of the MV CBCT images. The intensity of MV CBCT image was changed to the intensity of the kappaV CT image to make the two images have the same intensity range as if they were obtained from the same modality. The demon deformable registration which was efficient and easy to perform the deformable registration was applied. The deformable lung phantom which was intentionally created in the laboratory to imitate the changes of the breathing period was acquired from kappaV CT and MV CBCT. And then the deformable lung phantom images were applied to the proposed method. As a result of deformable image registration, the similarity of the correlation coefficient was used for a quantitative evaluation of the result was increased by 6.07% in the cheese phantom, and 18% in the deformable lung phantom. For the additional evaluation of the registration of the deformable lung phantom, the centric coordinates of the mark which was inserted into the inner part of the phantom were measured to calculate the vector difference. The vector differences from the result were 2.23, 1.39 mm with/without modification of intensity of MV CBCT images, respectively. In summary, our method has quantitatively improved the accuracy of deformable registration and could be a useful solution to improve the image registration accuracy. A further study was also suggested in this paper.
Cheese ; Cone-Beam Computed Tomography ; Evaluation Studies as Topic ; Intention ; Lung ; Noise ; Respiration

PURPOSE: The survey was aimed to provide basic data to develop a certification system for hospice and palliative care professionals. METHODS: National Cancer Center (NCC) and the Korean Society for Hospice & Palliative Care (KSHPC) conducted the survey for hospice and palliative care professionals who worked at 34 Palliative care units designated by the Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Family Affairs (MW) and the members of the KSHPC. The survey was conducted via e-mail from June 17 to 23, 2009. Total 220 professionals were surveyed. RESULTS: Most of the hospice and palliative care professionals reported a great need for certification system: Physician, 90% (n=51) nurse, 84% (n=134) social worker, 89% (n=35). In regard with the requirement for the certification, a majority of physicians (46%) preferreddiploma course, while social workers (46%) preferred training course for medical social workers. Concerning the certification body, physician (45%) preferred the KSHPC and the MW almost equally, while nurses (50%) and social workers (60%) preferred the MW highly. As for the body to develop and accredit advance training course for each professionals, most of the physicians (51%) preferred the KSHPC, whereas nurses and social workers preferred collaboration of the MW (or NCC) with the professional society, such as the KSHPC (23%), the Korean Hospice & Palliative nurses association for nurses (21%), or the Korean association of (medical) social workers (37%). Lastly, all respondents preferred the course format of once a week, full day, and some field study at weekend. CONCLUSION: Korean hospice and palliative care professionals identified the great need for the certification system, therefore, the adequate system development must be followed to reflect their voice.
Accreditation ; Certification ; Cooperative Behavior ; Curriculum ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Electronic Mail ; Hospices ; Humans ; Palliative Care ; Program Development ; Social Workers ; Voice

PURPOSE: This study aimed to develop a job description for healthcare managers of metabolic syndrome management programs using task analysis. METHODS: Exploratory research was performed by using the Developing a Curriculum method, the Intervention Wheel model, and focus group discussions. Subsequently, we conducted a survey of 215 healthcare workers from 25 community health centers to verify that the job description we created was accurate. RESULTS: We defined the role of healthcare managers. Next, we elucidated the tasks of healthcare managers and performed needs analysis to examine the frequency, importance, and difficulty of each of their duties. Finally, we verified that our job description was accurate. Based on the 8 duties, 30 tasks, and 44 task elements assigned to healthcare managers, we found that the healthcare managers functioned both as team coordinators responsible for providing multidisciplinary health services and nurse specialists providing health promotion services. In terms of importance and difficulty of tasks performed by the healthcare managers, which were measured using a determinant coefficient, the highest-ranked task was planning social marketing (15.4), while the lowest-ranked task was managing human resources (9.9). CONCLUSION: A job description for healthcare managers may provide basic data essential for the development of a job training program for healthcare managers working in community health promotion programs.
*Administrative Personnel ; Adult ; Attitude of Health Personnel ; Community Health Centers/*manpower ; Focus Groups ; Humans ; Job Description/*standards ; Metabolic Syndrome X/*therapy ; Middle Aged ; Republic of Korea ; Task Performance and Analysis ; Young Adult

Purpose: 17β-Estradiol (E2) supplementation suppresses MC38 tumor growth by downregulating the expression of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1). This study aims to figure out the gut microbiota that respond to anti–PD-L1 and/or estrogen treatment in MC38 colon cancer model. Materials and Methods: A syngeneic colon tumor model was developed by injection of MC38 cells into C57BL/6 background male and female mice. Three days before MC38 cells injection, E2 was supplemented to male mice daily for 1 week. Male and female mice with MC38 tumors (50-100 mm3) were injected with anti–PD-L1 antibody. Fresh feces were collected 26 days after injection of MC38 cells and 16S rRNA metagenomics sequencing of DNA extracted from feces was used to assess gut microbial composition. Results: At the taxonomic family level, Muribaculaceae was enriched only in the MC38 male control group. In male mice, linear discriminant analysis effect size analysis at the species level revealed that the four microorganisms were commonly regulated in single and combination treatment with anti–PD-L1 and/or E2; a decrease in PAC001068_g_uc and PAC001070_s (family Muribaculaceae) and increase in PAC001716_s and PAC001785_s (family Ruminococcaceae). Interestingly, in the anti–PD-L1 plus E2 group, a decrease in opportunistic pathogens (Enterobacteriaceae group) and an increase in commensal bacteria (Lactobacillus murinus group and Parabacteroides goldsteinii) were observed. Furthermore, the abundance of Parabacteroides goldsteinii was increased in both males and females in the anti–PD-L1 group. Conclusion Our results suggest that gut microbial changes induced by the pretreatment of estrogen before anti–PD-L1 might contribute to treatment of MC38 colon cancer.

PURPOSE: Recently, health policy making is increasingly based on evidence. Therefore, Korean Terminal Cancer Patient Information System (KTCPIS) was developed to meet such need. We aimed to report its developmental process and statistics from 6 months data. METHODS: Items for KTCPIS were developed through the consultation with practitioners. E-Velos web-based clinical trial management system was used as a technical platform. Data were collected for patients who were registered to 34 inpatient palliative care services, designated by Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Family Affairs, from 1st of January to 30th of June in 2009. Descriptive statistics were used for the analysis. RESULTS: From the nationally representative set of 2,940 patients, we obtained the following results. Mean age was 64.8+/-12.9 years, and 56.6% were male. Lung cancer (18.0%) was most common diagnosis. Only 50.3% of patients received the confirmation of terminal diagnosis by two or more physicians, and 69.7% had an insight of terminal diagnosis at the time of admission. About half of patients were admitted to the units on their own without any formal referral. Average and worst pain scores were significantly reduced after 1 week when compared to those at the time of admission. 73.4% faced death in the units, and home-discharge comprised only 13.3%. Mean length of stay per admission was 20.2+/-21.2 days, with median value of 13. CONCLUSION: Nationally representative data on the characteristics of patients and their caregiver, and current practice of service delivery in palliative care units were obtained through the operation of KTCPIS.
Caregivers ; Evidence-Based Practice ; Health Policy ; Humans ; Information Systems ; Inpatients ; Korea ; Length of Stay ; Lung Neoplasms ; Male ; Palliative Care ; Quality of Health Care ; Referral and Consultation

PURPOSE:Neisseria meningitides is one of the most common causative pathogens of bacteremia and meningitis. Recently protein-conjugated vaccines have been developed and included in the routine vaccination schedule in a few countries. In Korea, carriage rates of N. meningitides among healthy adults have been reported. However, systematic data for childhood carriage rates are not available. This study was performed to evaluate the carriage rates of N. meningitides and the serotype distribution among healthy children attending day care centers. METHODS:During the period of January through May 2005, nasopharyngeal swabs and culture were obtained from 904 children attending 13 different day care centers located in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. The Vitek NHI card was used to identify N. meningitides and the crgA gene was detected via polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Serotype determination was performed by agglutination test using N. meningitides antisera to serotypes A, B, C, D, 29E, W135, X, Y, and Z. PCR for detection of the org2 and saiD gene confirmed serotypes A, B, C, W135, and Y. RESULTS:The mean age among 904 children was 4.5 years; 6.5% (59/904) were children < 2 years old, 53.8% (486/904) were 2-5 years old, and 39.7% (359/904) were >5 years old; 52.0% (468/904) were male. N. meningitides was isolated from only 7 children attending 5 different day care centers and the overall carriage rate of N. meningitides was 0.8%. The detected serotypes of N. meningitides were serotype A (n=2), C (n=2), and Y (n=3). CONCLUSION:The carriage rate of N. meningitides among healthy children attending day care centers was very low in Korea and the detected serotypes were A, C, and Y.
Adult ; Agglutination Tests ; Appointments and Schedules ; Bacteremia ; Child ; Day Care, Medical ; Humans ; Immune Sera ; Korea ; Male ; Meningitis ; Neisseria ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Vaccination ; Vaccines

In this study, we developed the protopype of QA phantom for image QA including an additional component for image based radiation treatment system. The new phantom considered two main parts: Image quality and fusion accuracy. Image quality part included for daily CT number linearity and spatial resolution, and fusion accuracy part designed to simulate a simple translation-rotation setting. The CT scans of the phantom obtained from conventional CT, MVCT of Tomotherapy unit, and both image sets were satisfied the recommendation of spatial resolution. This phantom was simple and efficient for daily imaging QA, and it is important to provide a new concept of verification of image registration.

PURPOSE: The etiology of Kawasaki disease (KD) is still unknown. Recently, an association between human coronavirus NL63 (HCoV-NL63) and KD was implicated. Hence, we attempted to determine the association between KD and acute respiratory viral infections. METHODS: Nasopharyngeal aspirate samples were obtained from 54 patients diagnosed with KD at the Seoul National University (SNU) Children's Hospital and SNU-Bundang Hospital between October 2003 and September 2006. Viral diagnoses of 11 respiratory viruses were made using multiplex reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR): respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), adenovirus, rhinovirus (RV), parainfluenza viruses (PIVs) 1 and 3, influenza viruses (IFVs) A and B, human metapneumovirus (HMPV), human bocavirus (HBoV), HCoV OC43/229E, and HCoV-NL63. Clinical data were reviewed retrospectively. RESULTS: The median age was 32 months (6 months-10.4 years). Respiratory symptoms were observed in 37 patients (69%). The following respiratory viruses were identified in 12 patients (22%): RV (n=4), PIV-3 (n=2), HBoV (n=2), and adenovirus, RSV, PIV-1, IFV-A, and HCoV-NL63 (n=1). Co-infection with PIV-3 and RV was observed in one patient. Respiratory symptoms were observed in 7 (58.3%) and 30 (71.4%) patients of the virus-positive and virus-negative groups (P>0.05). Response rate to intravenous immunoglobulin administration was 67% (n=8) and 86% (n=36) in the virus-positive and virus-negative groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Respiratory symptoms were commonly observed in KD patients but the association between respiratory viruses and KD were not found. Large multicenter-based investigations are required to confirm the association between acute respiratory viral infections and KD.
Adenoviridae ; Coinfection ; Coronavirus NL63, Human ; Human bocavirus ; Humans ; Immunoglobulins ; Metapneumovirus ; Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome ; Orthomyxoviridae ; Paramyxoviridae Infections ; Respiratory Syncytial Viruses ; Respiratory Tract Infections ; Retrospective Studies ; Rhinovirus