OBJECTIVES: This study estimated the annual socioeconomic costs of food-borne disease in 2008 from a societal perspective and using a cost-of-illness method. METHODS: Our model employed a comprehensive set of diagnostic disease codes to define food-borne diseases with using the Korea National Health Insurance (KNHI) reimbursement data. This study classified the food borne illness as three types of symptoms according to the severity of the illness: mild, moderate, severe. In addition to the traditional method of assessing the cost-of-illness, the study included measures to account for the lost quality of life. We estimated the cost of the lost quality of life using quality-adjusted life years and a visual analog scale. The direct cost included medical and medication costs, and the non-medical costs included transportation costs, caregiver's cost and administration costs. The lost productivity costs included lost workdays due to illness and lost earnings due to premature death. RESULTS: The study found the estimated annual socioeconomic costs of food-borne disease in 2008 were 954.9 billion won (735.3 billion won-996.9 billion won). The medical cost was 73.4 - 76.8% of the cost, the lost productivity cost was 22.6% and the cost of the lost quality of life was 26.0%. CONCLUSIONS: Most of the cost-of-illness studies are known to have underestimated the actual socioeconomic costs of the subjects, and these studies excluded many important social costs, such as the value of pain, suffering and functional disability. The study addressed the uncertainty related to estimating the socioeconomic costs of food-borne disease as well as the updated cost estimates. Our estimates could contribute to develop and evaluate policies for food-borne disease.
*Cost of Illness ; Costs and Cost Analysis ; Efficiency ; Foodborne Diseases/*economics ; Health Services/economics/utilization ; Humans ; *Models, Economic ; *Quality-Adjusted Life Years ; Republic of Korea ; Severity of Illness Index ; Socioeconomic Factors

Many transplant recipients believe that exercise or physical activity after transplantation will have adverse effects on the body and the grafted organ, and even more, some of them believe that the grafted organ will tear off from the vascular bed inside of the abdominal cavity. As a result, many recipients are isolated from social life even after successful recovery of the grafted organ function. However, rehabilitation by physical exercise and activity is essential to return to normal social life. In 1978, a transplantee's sport game known as the Transplant Olympics, which later changed to the World Transplant Games, was started to improve the quality of life and develop friendships between transplant recipients globally. This event promotes improvement of recipient's life quality while delivering an important message to the public. This is because by engaging in sports activities, transplantees can show their healthy life after transplantation to the public. This can also improve self-esteem of the family of organ donors and allow them to verify that their decision to donate was not in vain. Additionally, the public can realize the benefits of transplantation and necessity for organ donation. Finally, the early return to social life and normal family life after transplantation will also reduce the national budget for health insurance. Although sports clubs are located in all transplant centers in Korea, no continuous athletic meetings or transplant sport organization exist nationwide. This problem is exacerbated by the lack of concern that transplant physicians and surgeons show toward recipients' physical activity and exercise. Therefore, in this study, we reviewed the significance of physical activity after transplantation and describe the world transplant games and domestic games to enable development of a recipient rehabilitation plan.
Abdominal Cavity ; Budgets ; Exercise ; Exercise Therapy ; Friends ; Humans ; Insurance, Health ; Korea ; Motor Activity ; Quality of Life ; Rehabilitation* ; Sports ; Surgeons ; Tears ; Tissue and Organ Procurement ; Tissue Donors ; Transplant Recipients ; Transplants

Purpose: This descriptive study aimed to identify the effects of purposeful and timely nursing rounds on patients' perception of the quality of nursing services and nurses' perception of nursing rounds. Methods: Intentional nursing rounds were conducted by communicating patients’ questions on pain, position, pump, potty, and possessions. A total of 144 nurses and 149 patients participated, and data were collected using self-report questionnaires. The independent t-test, x 2 test, and Wilcoxon’s rank-sum test were used to analyze the data with SPSS version 24.0. Results: Although intentional nursing rounds improved the nurses’ perception of nursing rounds, there was no significant difference. The nurses’ benefit had the lowest score (3.36), and the benefit of communication with patients had the highest score (3.79).Intentional nursing rounds significantly improved the patients’ perception of the quality of nursing services in the intervention group. Among the factors of empathy (Z=4.98, p<.001) related to the quality of nursing services as perceived by the patient, assurance (Z=5.50, p<.001), reliability (Z=4.43, p<.001), and responsiveness (Z=5.02, p<.001) significantly increased. Conclusion Intentional nursing rounds positively affected patients’ perception of the quality of nursing service. It is important to improve intentional nursing rounds to enhance nurses’ perceptions of them.