PURPOSE: To analyze the structure of Korean nurse labor market and examine its effect on hospital nurse staffing. METHODS: Secondary data were obtained from Statistics Korea, Education Statistics, and Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service and Patient Survey. Intensity of monopsony in the nurse labor market was measured by Herfindahl Hirshman Index (HHI). Hospital nurse staffing level was divided into high and low. While controlling for confounding factors such as inpatient days and severity mix of patients, effects of characteristics of nurse labor markets on nurse staffing levels were examined using multi-level logistic regressions. RESULTS: For characteristics of nurse labor markets, metropolitan areas had high intensity of monopsony, while the capital area had competitive labor market and the unemployed nurse rate was higher than other areas. Among hospital characteristics, bed occupancy rate was significantly associated with nurse staffing levels. Among characteristics of nurse labor markets, the effect of HHI was indeterminable. CONCLUSION: The Korean nurse labor market has different structure between the capital and other metropolitan areas. But the effect of the structure of nurse labor market on nurse staffing levels is indeterminable. Characteristics such as occupancy rate and number of beds are significantly associated with nurse staffing levels. Further study in support of the effect of nurse labor market is needed.
Hospitals ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Nursing Staff, Hospital/economics/*supply & distribution ; Workplace

Purpose: To evaluate surgical outcome and effectiveness of inferior oblique (IO) myectomy on unilateral superior oblique palsy (SOP) as a primary treatment. Methods: This study is a retrospective review of the medical records of 99 patients who had undergone IO myectomy due to SOP as a first-line treatment. Sixty-five patients with hyperdeviation of 15 prism diopters (PD) or less were categorized into group 1, 22 patients with hyperdeviation between 16 PD to 20 PD into group 2, and 12 patients with hyperdeviation higher than 20 PD into group 3. Preoperative hyperdeviation, postoperative hyperdeviation, and improvement of head tilting were then compared between the 3 groups. Surgery was determined to be successful when the post-op residual hyperdeviation is less than 5 PD, or when the improvement of hyperdeviation and head tilting was noted, for the patients who had preoperative deviation less than 5 PD, and without hypercorrection. Results: All groups showed significant improvement of hyperdeviation, and the amount of correction was larger in group with larger preoperative hyperdeviation. 80.3%, 95.0%, and 90.9% of patients showed improvement of head tiling and success rate was 87.7%, 77.3%, and 50.0% in group 1, 2, and 3 respectively. Group 1 and 2, group 2 and 3 had no significant difference in success rate but only group 1 and 3 had significant difference. Conclusions Considering success rate with improvement of head position, self-titrating and possibility of overcorrection, IO myectomy could be an effective option as a first-line surgical treatment for unilateral SOP with hyperdeviation of 20 PD or less. However, due to a 50% success rate in patients with hyperdeviation larger than 20 PD, a secondary operation must be considered following IO myectomy, or a two-muscle procedure must be considered as a primary treatment.

PURPOSE: DNA flow cytometry is a simple and easy method to assess the DNA content and the cell-cycle distribution of a tumor cell. The prognostic significance of the DNA content and the S-phase fraction in a gastric carcinoma has been controversial. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic significance of the nuclear DNA content and the S-phase fraction in patients with a gastric carcinoma. METHODS: Between May 1995 and March 1996, 94 patients who were underwent a gastric resection for a gastric carcinoma were evaluated with DNA flow cytometry. Of them, 88 patients underwent a gastric resection with curative intent. The relationship of variable clinicopathological factors and of recurrence pattern to survival and nuclear DNA content were assessed. RESULTS: The mean age was 55 years. 55 patients (58.5%) exbitied diploidy and 39 patients (41.5%) aneuploidy. There was no relationship between the clinicopathological factors and either the ploidy pattern or the S-phase fraction. Though the recurrence and its pattern were not different between the two ploidy group (p=0.860, 0.137), diploidy tended to recur locoregionally and aneuploidy hematogenously. CONCLUSION: The ploidy pattern was a significant prognostic factor in gastric carcinomas, but should be interpreted carefully.
Aneuploidy ; Diploidy ; DNA* ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Ploidies ; Prognosis ; Recurrence

Purpose: The COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic led to significant changes in clinical clerkships, including reduced ward rounds. We aimed to determine how the pandemic–induced changes in the clinical practice environment affect the clinical performance of medical students. Methods: We analyzed objective structured clinical examination scores of third- and fourth-year medical students from 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 across six stations by the Seoul–Gyeonggi Consortium. Clinical, communication, and ability scores were measured and analyzed using repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance. Results: The interaction between clinical practice progress and pandemic-induced changes significantly affected physical examination and medical history scores, though the differences were not substantial. Patient-physician interaction significance varied by measurement period. Clinical communication ability also showed significant differences based on the measurement period and practical experience. Conclusion During the pandemic, alternative learning methods, including self–learning, simulation/practice, and peer role–play, helped improve medical competency in areas such as history–taking and physical examination. However, these were less effective in improving patient–physician interactions or clinical communication efficacy. Alternative learning methods have limitations, and they cannot replace direct patient encounters in clinical practice.

Purpose: The COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic led to significant changes in clinical clerkships, including reduced ward rounds. We aimed to determine how the pandemic–induced changes in the clinical practice environment affect the clinical performance of medical students. Methods: We analyzed objective structured clinical examination scores of third- and fourth-year medical students from 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 across six stations by the Seoul–Gyeonggi Consortium. Clinical, communication, and ability scores were measured and analyzed using repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance. Results: The interaction between clinical practice progress and pandemic-induced changes significantly affected physical examination and medical history scores, though the differences were not substantial. Patient-physician interaction significance varied by measurement period. Clinical communication ability also showed significant differences based on the measurement period and practical experience. Conclusion During the pandemic, alternative learning methods, including self–learning, simulation/practice, and peer role–play, helped improve medical competency in areas such as history–taking and physical examination. However, these were less effective in improving patient–physician interactions or clinical communication efficacy. Alternative learning methods have limitations, and they cannot replace direct patient encounters in clinical practice.

Purpose: The COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic led to significant changes in clinical clerkships, including reduced ward rounds. We aimed to determine how the pandemic–induced changes in the clinical practice environment affect the clinical performance of medical students. Methods: We analyzed objective structured clinical examination scores of third- and fourth-year medical students from 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 across six stations by the Seoul–Gyeonggi Consortium. Clinical, communication, and ability scores were measured and analyzed using repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance. Results: The interaction between clinical practice progress and pandemic-induced changes significantly affected physical examination and medical history scores, though the differences were not substantial. Patient-physician interaction significance varied by measurement period. Clinical communication ability also showed significant differences based on the measurement period and practical experience. Conclusion During the pandemic, alternative learning methods, including self–learning, simulation/practice, and peer role–play, helped improve medical competency in areas such as history–taking and physical examination. However, these were less effective in improving patient–physician interactions or clinical communication efficacy. Alternative learning methods have limitations, and they cannot replace direct patient encounters in clinical practice.

Purpose: The COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic led to significant changes in clinical clerkships, including reduced ward rounds. We aimed to determine how the pandemic–induced changes in the clinical practice environment affect the clinical performance of medical students. Methods: We analyzed objective structured clinical examination scores of third- and fourth-year medical students from 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 across six stations by the Seoul–Gyeonggi Consortium. Clinical, communication, and ability scores were measured and analyzed using repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance. Results: The interaction between clinical practice progress and pandemic-induced changes significantly affected physical examination and medical history scores, though the differences were not substantial. Patient-physician interaction significance varied by measurement period. Clinical communication ability also showed significant differences based on the measurement period and practical experience. Conclusion During the pandemic, alternative learning methods, including self–learning, simulation/practice, and peer role–play, helped improve medical competency in areas such as history–taking and physical examination. However, these were less effective in improving patient–physician interactions or clinical communication efficacy. Alternative learning methods have limitations, and they cannot replace direct patient encounters in clinical practice.

Airway difficulties are a major concern for anesthesiologists. Even though fiberoptic intubation is the generally accepted method for management of difficult airways, it is not without disadvantages-requires patient cooperation, and cannot be performed on soiled airway or upper airways with pre-existing narrowing pathology. Additionally, fiberoptic bronchoscopy is not available at every medical institution. In this case, we encountered difficult airway management in a 71-year-old man with a high Mallampati grade and a thick neck who had undergone urologic surgery. Several attempts, including a bronchoscope-guided intubation, were unsuccessful. Finally, blind nasal intubation was successful while the patient's neck was flexed and the tracheal cartilage was gently pressed down. We suggest that blind nasal intubation is a helpful alternative in difficult airway management and it can be a lifesaving technique in emergencies. Additionally, its simplicity makes it a less expensive option when advanced airway technology (fiberoptic bronchoscopy) is unavailable.
Aged ; Airway Management ; Bronchoscopy ; Cartilage ; Emergencies ; Humans ; Intubation* ; Methods ; Neck ; Pathology ; Patient Compliance ; Soil

Airway difficulties are a major concern for anesthesiologists. Even though fiberoptic intubation is the generally accepted method for management of difficult airways, it is not without disadvantages-requires patient cooperation, and cannot be performed on soiled airway or upper airways with pre-existing narrowing pathology. Additionally, fiberoptic bronchoscopy is not available at every medical institution. In this case, we encountered difficult airway management in a 71-year-old man with a high Mallampati grade and a thick neck who had undergone urologic surgery. Several attempts, including a bronchoscope-guided intubation, were unsuccessful. Finally, blind nasal intubation was successful while the patient's neck was flexed and the tracheal cartilage was gently pressed down. We suggest that blind nasal intubation is a helpful alternative in difficult airway management and it can be a lifesaving technique in emergencies. Additionally, its simplicity makes it a less expensive option when advanced airway technology (fiberoptic bronchoscopy) is unavailable.
Aged ; Airway Management ; Bronchoscopy ; Cartilage ; Emergencies ; Humans ; Intubation* ; Methods ; Neck ; Pathology ; Patient Compliance ; Soil

A 74-year-old postmenopausal woman visited our gynecology clinic complaining of a palpable abdominal mass. Physical and radiological evaluation indicated that the mass exhibited features of a left ovarian neoplasm showing heterogeneous enhancement. Surgical resection was performed to confirm this suspicion. During surgery, a mass was observed only in the left ovary with no invasive growth, but adhesions to the surrounding peritoneum were seen. Given the patient's age, large mass size, and accompanying uterine myoma and right ovarian cyst, total abdominal hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy was performed. The final pathologic diagnosis was dedifferentiated liposarcoma. The liposarcoma was suspected to originate from retroperitoneal adipose tissue rather than the ovary. Radiotherapy was planned if a gross lesion indicating recurrence followed 6 months later. This case required a considerable multi-disciplinary approach for diagnosis and treatment because of its ambiguous clinical and radiological findings.
Aged ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Gynecology ; Humans ; Hysterectomy ; Intra-Abdominal Fat ; Leiomyoma ; Liposarcoma* ; Ovarian Cysts ; Ovarian Neoplasms ; Ovary ; Peritoneum ; Radiotherapy ; Recurrence ; Retroperitoneal Neoplasms