POSCO Health Care Center has collected health and environmental data using computerized system since 1987. One of the important roles of Industrial Health Care Center is to provide a comprehensive occupational health care, including therapeutic medical care, periodic medical examination and industrial hygiene control for the prevention of work-related illness. To strengthen the functions of an occupational health surveillance system since May, 1992, and it is scheduled to be completed by March, 1994. The modified POSCO Computerized Occupational Health Surveillance System (PCOHESS) contains three major area: health care, environmental monitoring, and personal information. The linkage among three area, lacking in the previous system, was emphasized in PCOHESS. The area of health care assists the management of preplacement examination data as well as the diseased and disabled data, and it will facilitate the preplacement for new employees and will enable an efficient care for the diseased and disabled. Environmental and personal sampling data, and personal information data, such as age, education and jobcode etc, that are linked to each employees, can assist the health care professionals to decide the type and time of medical examination and to periodically supply proper protectors. Data collected from the time of one's employment until his/her retirement can be used for the epidemiologic surveillance which will enable to evaluate the employee's health status related to his/her work environments, and to indentify the places that are necessary to be improved.
Delivery of Health Care ; Education ; Employment ; Environmental Monitoring ; Epidemiological Monitoring ; Gyeongsangbuk-do* ; Humans ; Iron* ; Occupational Health* ; Retirement ; Steel*

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to surmise appropriate level of medical manpower of mental hospital from the perspectives of clinical experts, psychiatrist and psychiatric nurse. METHODS: First, we wlleded data on medical manpower of domestic mental hospitals and foreign mental hospitals. Next, psychiatrists and psychiatric nurses were asked to complete a survey. We estimated the optimal level of medical manpower examining appropriate volume of medical services that should be provided for psychiatric patients, and analizying the survey carried out by direct questions. RESULTS: The number of psychiatrists of group A of private mental hospitals was 1.7 times more than that of public mental hospitals; when the number of psychiatrists in public mental hospitals was regarded as 1.0, and group B of private mental hospitals was 0.5 times, and the university hospitals 8.2 times. The number of psychiatric of group A of private hospitals was 1.5 times more than that of public mental hospitals; when the number of psychiatric nurses in public mental hospitals was regarded as 1.0, the group B of private mental hospitals was 0.6 times and university hospitals was 2.6 times. The foreign mental hospitals had more medical manpowers in all occupations than domestic mental hospitals. The number of psychiatrists estimated according to the first method was 11.1 persons and the number of psychiatric nurses was 26.3 persons per 100 beds, and the number of psychiatrists estimated according to the second method was 4.3 persons per and the number of psychiatric nurses was 20.8 persons per 100 beds. CONCLUSION: The estimated optimal number of psychiatrists for mental hospital is 4.3 persons and of psychiatric nurses was 20.8 persons per 100 beds. However, these numbers can be flexible depending on the ratio of short-term acute patients and long term chronic patients.
Hospitals, Private ; Hospitals, Psychiatric* ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Occupations ; Psychiatry

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to surmise appropriate level of medical manpower of mental hospital from the perspectives of clinical experts, psychiatrist and psychiatric nurse. METHODS: First, we wlleded data on medical manpower of domestic mental hospitals and foreign mental hospitals. Next, psychiatrists and psychiatric nurses were asked to complete a survey. We estimated the optimal level of medical manpower examining appropriate volume of medical services that should be provided for psychiatric patients, and analizying the survey carried out by direct questions. RESULTS: The number of psychiatrists of group A of private mental hospitals was 1.7 times more than that of public mental hospitals; when the number of psychiatrists in public mental hospitals was regarded as 1.0, and group B of private mental hospitals was 0.5 times, and the university hospitals 8.2 times. The number of psychiatric of group A of private hospitals was 1.5 times more than that of public mental hospitals; when the number of psychiatric nurses in public mental hospitals was regarded as 1.0, the group B of private mental hospitals was 0.6 times and university hospitals was 2.6 times. The foreign mental hospitals had more medical manpowers in all occupations than domestic mental hospitals. The number of psychiatrists estimated according to the first method was 11.1 persons and the number of psychiatric nurses was 26.3 persons per 100 beds, and the number of psychiatrists estimated according to the second method was 4.3 persons per and the number of psychiatric nurses was 20.8 persons per 100 beds. CONCLUSION: The estimated optimal number of psychiatrists for mental hospital is 4.3 persons and of psychiatric nurses was 20.8 persons per 100 beds. However, these numbers can be flexible depending on the ratio of short-term acute patients and long term chronic patients.
Hospitals, Private ; Hospitals, Psychiatric* ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Occupations ; Psychiatry

OBJECTIVES: The diagnosis and assessment of personality disorders are crucial for research, as well as for clinical practice. The Structured Interview for the DSM-IV Personality (SIDP-IV) is a structured diagnostic interview for DSM-IV personality disorders (PD). This study aimed to develop the Korean version of the SIDP-IV and to test its inter-rater reliability. METHODS: A panel consisting of 7 psychiatrists translated the SIDP-IV into Korean. Six psychiatrists and 1 psychiatric nurse, all trained to apply the SIPD-IV, interviewed 70 inpatients (male, 30;female, 40) using this translation, two joint-examiners per patient interview. We used kappa coefficients to test diagnosis agreement, the Pearson correlation coefficient to test K-SIDP-IV total score agreement, and percent agreement to test the agreement on the number of DSM-IV criteria met. RESULTS: The kappa coefficients for most of the PDs, such as paranoid, borderline, histrionic, narcissistic, avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive, were excellent (> or =0.80). Moreover, the kappa coefficients for schizoid and antisocial PD were acceptable (k=0.66). The Pearson correlation coefficient for the K-SIDP-IV total scores were high for all personality disorders (r=0.91-0.97). Percent agreement regarding the number of DSM-IV criteria met varied from 92.9% to 100%. CONCLUSION: The Korean version of the SIDP-IV is a reliable instrument for the assessment and diagnosis of personality disorders.
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Personality Disorders ; Psychiatry

BACKGROUND: Although several hospital-based stroke studies were published, there has not been any reliable data representing the clinical characteristics of stroke in Korea. We analyzed the clinical characteristics of patients with ischemic stroke registered in the Korean Stroke Registry (KSR), which is the largest prospective hospital-based nation-wide stroke registry in Korea. METHODS: The KSR provided standardized protocols for collecting data, which includes the data of demographics, subtypes of stroke, risk factors, and neurological outcome at discharge. The brain imaging studies, including CT or MRI, were performed in all cases. RESULTS: KSR registered 10,811 patients of acute ischemic stroke between Nov. 2002 and Jun. 2004. The large-artery atherosclerosis was the most common subtype (37.3%), followed by small vessel occlusion (30.8%). Hypertension (65.4%) was the most common risk factor, followed by smoking (34.5%) and diabetes (28.3%). Although most of the hypertensive and diabetic patients had been diagnosed before the stroke, less than 45.4% and 32.5% of them were under regular control. The steno-occlusive lesion of extracranial carotid artery was only 29.3% and the ratio of intra- to extracranial artery disease was more than 2 in KSR. Only 20.5% of patients were admitted within 3 hours after stroke onset and 2.1% were treated with intravenous thrombolysis. In-hospital case-fatality was 5.2%, which is relatively comparable to those of previous studies. CONCLUSIONS: The KSR provided informative data in understanding the clinical characteristics of ischemic stroke in Korea. Further analysis of KSR will facilitate clinical trials and development of guidelines for the management of stroke patients.
Arteries ; Atherosclerosis ; Carotid Arteries ; Cerebrovascular Disorders ; Demography ; Epidemiology ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Korea ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Neuroimaging ; Prospective Studies* ; Registries ; Risk Factors ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Stroke*