The purpose of this study was to identify nursing needs for hospice patients and their families in order to establish a foundation for appropriate Korean hospice care. To achieve the purpose of this study, I interviewed 50 patients who were going to die within 3 or 6 months and 42 family members of these patients who were registered in Pusan National University Hospital Hospice Program. The interview was done in the patient's room using semi-dialog style questionnaire. Data collection was done from March 1, 1999 to September 30, 1999. The important results of this study are summarized as follows: 1. Nursing needs that patients and their families have experienced were classified into six nursing domains; physical, emotional, economic, educational, spiritual and postmortal care. 2. Nursing needs of hospice patients are; pain control(80%), physical comfort(72%), consideration from medical personnel (68%), provision of information(64%), best treatment(60%), help of volunteers (36%), and continuous hospital treatment (32%). 3. Nursing needs of the families are; pain-control in patients(97.6%), best treatment(97.6%), physical comfort of patients(95.2%), continuous hospital treatment(92.8%), provision of information (80.9%), consideration from medical personnel(76.1%), expectation of recovery (66.6%), emotional support of family (61.9%), and physical comfort of family (40.4%). It is concluded that there is a real difference between the nursing needs of patients and the nursing needs of their families. Therefore we must examine and intervene for the demands of patients and their families using a holistic approach in order to meet their hospice needs.
Busan ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Hospice Care ; Hospices* ; Humans ; Nursing* ; Volunteers

BACKGROUND: Due to rapidly growing elderly population, there are increasing numbers of older persons with multiple chronic disorders and geriatric problems arising from polypharmacy. In this study we tried to find out the state of polypharmacy and inappropriate drug prescription and their related factors in community-dwelling elderly by review of drugs taken by older persons visiting a day health center. METHODS: From April 2007 to July 2007, 80 subjects of 65 year-old or over with chronic illness who visited a elderly-wellness and health care center were randomly sampled. All of them were surveyed by structured questionnaires, medical records review, pill counts about all medications they are taking and experience of adverse drug reactions. And all the prescribed medications were reviewed or their drug prescription's appropriateness for each elderly according to Beers criteria. Data results were evaluated by frequency and correlation analyses. RESULTS: The average counts of drugs taken by elderly with chronic disorders were 7.23, minimum 1 to maximum 27 drugs a day. Patients experienced more adverse effects significantly when more prescribed medications were taken (P=0.005), and patients with lack of information about their drugs had taken increased number of medications (P<0.001). Referred to Beers criteria, inappropriate cases of prescription were observed in 26 persons. Those drugs were NSAIDs including aspirin in 17 subjects (21%), amitrityline in 3 (4%), short-acting benzodiazepines in 3 (4%), long acting benzodiazepines in 2 (3%), and anticholinergic antihistamine in 1 (1%). CONCLUSION: Polypharmacy is very common in community-dwelling elderly with chronic disorders. More medications were related to more adverse drug reactions and lack of information about their drugs related to increased number of drug taking. High proportion of inappropriate drug prescriptions was observed in the elderly, which may have resulted from poor education concerning geriatric care of the medical personnels.
Aged ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal ; Aspirin ; Beer ; Benzodiazepines ; Chronic Disease ; Delivery of Health Care ; Drug Prescriptions ; Drug Toxicity ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Polypharmacy ; Prescriptions ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVES: Though gastric cancer is one of the most common cancer in Korea, there have been few studies to explore psychological distress in gastric cancer. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence and associated risk factors of psychological distress among patients with gastric cancer. METHODS: With consecutive sampling, a total of 274 patients with gastric cancer who admitted to a cancer center in a general hospital were recruited and assessed on psychological distress using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale(HADS). Sociodemographic and cancer-related clinical variables were also evaluated. RESULTS: One hundred fifty-three(55.8%) patients with gastric cancer showed psychological distress. Logistic regression models revealed that having alcohol drinking experience[odds ratio(OR)=2.10, p=0,034] and low performance status(OR=2.40 p=0.002) were significantly associated with psychological distress in patients with gastric cancer. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that approximately half of patients with gastric cancer suffered from psychological distress and having alcohol drinking experience and low performance status would be associated risk factors, suggesting the need for distress screening and psychosocial supportive care in patients with gastric cancer.
Alcohol Drinking ; Anxiety ; Depression ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Mass Screening ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors ; Stomach Neoplasms

Formaldehyde was classified as a Group I Carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in 2006. While the IARC has stated that there is a lack of evidence that formaldehyde causes brain cancer, three meta-analyses have consistently reported a significantly higher risk of brain cancer in workers exposed to high levels of formaldehyde. Therefore, we report a case of a worker who was diagnosed with glioblastoma after being exposed to high concentrations of formaldehyde while working with formaldehyde resin in the paper industry.

Formaldehyde was classified as a Group I Carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in 2006. While the IARC has stated that there is a lack of evidence that formaldehyde causes brain cancer, three meta-analyses have consistently reported a significantly higher risk of brain cancer in workers exposed to high levels of formaldehyde. Therefore, we report a case of a worker who was diagnosed with glioblastoma after being exposed to high concentrations of formaldehyde while working with formaldehyde resin in the paper industry.

Formaldehyde was classified as a Group I Carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in 2006. While the IARC has stated that there is a lack of evidence that formaldehyde causes brain cancer, three meta-analyses have consistently reported a significantly higher risk of brain cancer in workers exposed to high levels of formaldehyde. Therefore, we report a case of a worker who was diagnosed with glioblastoma after being exposed to high concentrations of formaldehyde while working with formaldehyde resin in the paper industry.

BACKGROUND: Osteopontin (Opn) is recognized as an important adhesive bone matrix protein and a key cytokine involved in immune cell recruitment and tissue repair and remolding. However, serum levels of osteopontin have not been evaluated in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the serum levels of osteopontin in patients experiencing COPD exacerbations and in patients with stable COPD. METHODS: Serum samples were obtained from 22 healthy control subjects, 18 stable COPD patients, and 15 COPD with exacerbation patients. Serum concentrations of osteopontin were measured by the ELISA method. RESULTS: Serum levels of osteopontin were higher in patients with acute exacerbation than with stable COPD and in healthy control subjects (62.4+/-51.9 ng/mL, 36.9+/-11.1 ng/mL, 30+/-11 ng/mL, test for trend p=0.003). In the patients with COPD exacerbation, the osteopontin levels when the patient was discharged from the hospital tended to decrease compared to those at admission (45+/-52.1 ng/mL, 62.4+/-51.9 ng/mL, p=0.160). Osteopontin levels significantly increased according to patient factors, including never-smoker, ex-smoker and current smoker (23+/-5.7 ng/mL, 35.5+/-17.6 ng/mL, 58.6+/-47.8 ng/mL, test for trend p=0.006). Also, osteopontin levels showed a significantly negative correlation with forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1%) predicted in healthy controls and stable COPD patients (r=-0.389; p=0.013). C-reactive protein (CRP) was positively correlated with osteopontin levels in patients with COPD exacerbation (r=0.775; p=0.002). CONCLUSION: The serum levels of osteopontin increased in patients with COPD exacerbation and tended to decrease after clinical improvement. These results suggest the possible role of osteopontin as a biomarker of acute exacerbation of COPD.
Adhesives ; Biomarkers ; Bone Matrix ; C-Reactive Protein ; Disease Progression ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Forced Expiratory Volume ; Humans ; Osteopontin ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive

BACKGROUND: The possibility of developing pulmonary tuberculosis usually increases with increasing age. Therefore, the incidence of endobronchial tuberculosis in older people may increase. We evaluated the clinical characteristics in patients with endobronchial tuberculosis above the age of 70 years. METHODS: We enrolled 74 patients (12 males and 62 females; mean age 64.6+/-16.2 years) that were diagnosed with endobronchial tuberculosis from March 2003 to July 2006 at Gyeongsang University Hospital. We retrospectively evaluated the clinical characteristics of endobronchial tuberculosis for patients 70 years or older (older group) and for patients below the age of 70 years (younger group). RESULTS: The number of patients in the older group was 41 (55%). Cough was the most common symptom in the two groups of patients and dyspnea on exertion was more common in the older group of patients than in the younger group of patients (31.7% vs. 12.1%). The actively caesating type of disease was more common in the younger group of patients than in the older group of patients (66.7% vs. 39%). The edematous type of disease was more common in the older group of patients than in the younger group of patients (53.7% vs. 27.2%) (p<0.05). Tracheal and main bronchial involvement of lesions were more common for the younger group of patients than for the older group of patients (30.3% vs. 9.7%) (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Endobronchial tuberculosis was commonly observed in patients older than 70 years and this group of patients had some clinical characteristics that were different from the younger group of patients.
Cough ; Dyspnea ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Retrospective Studies ; Tuberculosis* ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary

BACKGROUND: Right middle lobe syndrome (RMLS) is defined as transient or chronic and recurrent atelectasis of the right middle lobe. Although numerous conditions are associated with RMLS, there are very few recent reports in Korea. This study evaluated the causes of RMLS in a local tertiary hospitalover a period of 42 months. METHOD: Eighty-eight patients (M:F=64:22, mean age: 67.2+/-10.3 years), who had consistent chest radiography findings and underwent bronchoscopy in Gyeongsang University Hospital from January 2003 to July 2006, were enrolled in this study. The clinical characteristics and causes of RMLS in these patients were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: The most common symptoms fo RMLS were cough, dyspnea and sputum. Tuberculosis was the most common cause (endobronchial tuberculosis in 22 and pulmonary tuberculosis in 1) The other causes were bronchial stenosis by benign fibrotic changes in 22 cases (25%), anthracofibrosis in 13 cases (14.8%), pneumonia in 11 cases (12.5%), lung cancer in 10 cases (11.4%), mucus impaction in 3 cases (3.4%), bronchiectasis in 2 cases (2.3%) and no demonstrable causes in 7 cases (8%). The bronchoscopy findings were mucosal edema with hyperemic changes in 38 cases (43.2%), mucosal edema with anthracotic pigmentation in 16 cases (18.2%), mucus impaction in 13 cases (14.8%), fibrotic stenosis in 13 cases (14.8%), a mass like lesion in 8 cases (9.1%), exudative necrotic material in 4 cases (4.5%), narrowing as a result of extrinsic compression in 2 cases (2.3%) and no demonstrable abnormalities in 12 cases (13.6%). CONCLUSION: Right middle lobe syndrome was observed more frequently in patients over the age of 65. The causes were mainly benign diseases with endobronchial tuberculosis being the most common.
Bronchiectasis ; Bronchoscopy ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Cough ; Dyspnea ; Edema ; Humans ; Korea ; Lung Neoplasms ; Middle Lobe Syndrome* ; Mucus ; Pigmentation ; Pneumonia ; Pulmonary Atelectasis ; Radiography ; Retrospective Studies ; Sputum ; Tertiary Care Centers* ; Thorax ; Tuberculosis ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary

Chronic mild stress (CMS) has been reported to induce an anhedonic-like state in mice that resembles some of the symptoms of human depression. In the present study, we used a chronic mild stress animal model of depression and anxiety to examine the responses of two strains of mice that have different behavioral responsiveness. An outbred ICR and an inbred C57BL/6 strain of mice were selected because they are widely used strains in behavioral tests. The results showed that the inbred C57BL/6 and outbred ICR mice were similarly responsive to CMS treatment in sucrose intake test (SIT) and open field test (OFT). However, the two strains showed quite different responses in forced swimming test (FST) and novelty-suppressed feeding (NSF) test after 3 weeks of CMS treatment. Only C57BL/6 mice displayed the depression- and anxiety-like behavioral effects in response to CMS treatment in FST and NSF test. Our results suggest that there are differences in responsiveness to CMS according to the different types of strain of mice and behavioral tests. Therefore, these results provide useful information for the selection of appropriate behavioral methods to test depression- and anxiety-like behaviors using CMS in ICR and C57BL/6 mice.
Animals ; Anxiety* ; Depression* ; Humans ; Mice* ; Mice, Inbred ICR ; Models, Animal* ; Physical Exertion ; Sucrose