A survey was conducted to study attitudes of physician, nurse and patient towards physician's and nurse's uniform, from March 1 to March 31, 1996. The study population was 130 physicians and 147 nurses engaged in Yeungnam University Medical Center and 211 inpatients of Yeungnam University Medical Center. A questionnaire method was used to collect data. The following are summaries of findings: In the respect of physician's uniform, both physicians and nurses preferred other type of gown to the traditional coat-typed one and especially, nurses preferred more than physicians. Patients showed no difference in the preference of the traditional one and other form of gown as a whole but those who had higher educational level preferred other form of gown(p<0.01). It tended to agree wearing casual wear of physician during the working time of weekend and holiday as a whole. Younger physicians showed significantly higher preference for it(p<0.05). Regarding the nurse's uniform, both physicians and nurses preferred trousers, and 96% of the nurses did. Especially, nurses who were forty years old or more and who served at outpatient department and administrative and aid parts expressed 100 percent partiality to trousers. For the patients, those who had lower educational level preferred skirt and those who had higher educational level preferred trousers. As to the color of nurse's gown, 46.7% of the physicians and nurses liked white color. The physicians preferred white and nurses preferred other color(p<0.01). Of the patients, 79.1% liked white color. Regarding the wearing cap, 95.9% of the nurses replied it didn't have to wear the cap. The nurses who were fifty or more and who served at outpatient department and special parts gave whole answers of not having to wear the cap. On the other hand, 77.7% of the patients answered nurse had to wear the cap. From the above findings, it would be advisable to give a change to the forms and colors of the gowns to match with the trend and sense of the time instead of insisting on the traditional typical ones.
Academic Medical Centers ; Hand ; Holidays ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Outpatients

PURPOSE: Prehospital airway management is crucial to emergency healthcare providers, especially for emergency medical technicians (EMTs). In spite of its clinical importance, adequate airway management cannot be guaranteed only with the use of endotracheal intubation. Many supraglottic airway devices have been introduced as substitutes for endotracheal intubation. We compared 3 such devices - LMA Classic(TM), Cobra PLA(TM) and King LT(TM) - using a manikin and recorded performance skill and preference. METHODS: Thirty EMTs participated in the airway management educational program and were enrolled in this study which was held in the Gyeong-Gi Fire Academy. We surveyed the participants general characteristics and experience by e-mail prior to this laboratory study of their skills. The airway management program consisted of a 10 minute lecture followed by 20 minutes of skill training. We observed the success rate, preference among the 3 devices, and the total procedure time of airway device insertion in different rooms. RESULTS: The LMA Classic(TM), Cobra PLA(TM) and King LT(TM) groups succeeded 90%, 76.7%, and 80%, respectively at the first trial. There was no statistically significant difference among the groups (p=0.372). To achieve adequate airway management, the groups spent 28.6+/-7.2, 24.7+/-4.9, and 26.9+/-7.0 seconds, respectively, again with no significant differences (p=0.108). A preference survey performed after the test showed the highest preference for King LT(TM), 57%. CONCLUSION: Three prehospital supraglottic airway devices showed no differences in success rate or procedure time. Despite this result, King LT(TM) was the most preferred.
Airway Management ; Benzeneacetamides ; Elapidae ; Electronic Mail ; Emergencies ; Emergency Medical Technicians ; Fires ; Health Personnel ; Humans ; Intubation, Intratracheal ; Laryngeal Masks ; Manikins ; Piperidones

We report a case of chronic hypernatremia caused by excessive salt intake as folk remedies for three months. The patient had chronic tubulointerstitial nephritis (CTIN), but without documented cognitive or psychiatric disorders. She presented with severe hypernatremia 189 mmol/L and general weakness. Fluid therapy was done initially with isotonic and then with 0.45% hypotonic saline until serum sodium level reached to 157 mmol/L. Finally hemodialysis was supplemented to achieve normal serum sodium level, and she recovered without any sequelae. This report might be the first case of chronic hypernatremia due to voluntary ingestion of excessive salt in an adult patient with CTIN but without cognitive or psychiatric disorders.
Adult ; Eating ; Fluid Therapy ; Humans ; Hypernatremia* ; Medicine, Traditional* ; Nephritis, Interstitial ; Renal Dialysis ; Sodium

BACKGROUND: Erlotinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor prescribed for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer and pancreatic cancer. The aim of this study was to compare the safety and pharmacokinetics (PK) of a generic (test) formulation of erlotinib with those of a reference formulation in healthy volunteers. METHODS: A randomized, open-label, single-dose two-treatment, two-period, two-sequence, crossover study was conducted in Clinical Trials Center, Chungnam National University Hospital with 40 healthy men. Subjects orally received either one 150 mg tablet of the test or the corresponding dose of the reference, and crossover phases were separated by 14-day washout. Plasma samples were collected up to 72 hr post-dose. Plasma erlotinib concentrations were determined by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. PK parameters were calculated by non-compartmental analysis. The safety was monitored throughout the study. RESULTS: A total of 21 cases of adverse events were reported. They are mild and relieved without an intervention. There was no serious adverse event. Median times to peak concentration of two formulations were 3.0. Means [SD] for peak concentration (Cmax) and area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC) of the test were 1,298 [346] microg/L and 25,318 [7,668] hrxmicrog/L. Those of the reference were 1,193 [378] microg/L and 24,853 [8,419] hrxmicrog/L. Geometric mean ratios (90% confidence intervals) for the test to the reference were 1.10 (1.02-1.18) for Cmax and 1.02 (0.97-1.09) for AUC. CONCLUSION: Two formulations were safe and well-tolerated. PK findings suggest that the test formulation is equivalent to the reference in terms of pharmacokinetics.
Area Under Curve ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Cross-Over Studies ; Erlotinib Hydrochloride ; Healthy Volunteers* ; Humans ; Male ; Mass Spectrometry ; Pancreatic Neoplasms ; Pharmacokinetics ; Plasma ; Protein-Tyrosine Kinases ; Therapeutic Equivalency*

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The aims of this study were to determine subgoups of functional dyspesia and to evaluate the short-term effect of cisapride in patients with functional dyspepsia in Korea. METHODS: 1025 patients, with a mean age of 42.6 years, with symptoms of functional dyspepsia, were recruited consecutively and upper gastrointestinal symptoms were investigated by interview in 41 hospitals in Korea. In an open, multicenter trial, 1025 patients received Smg of cisapride three times a day (TID) for at least .2 weeks for the treatment of symptoms of functional dyspepsia. When necessary, the dose of cisapride was increased to 10mg TID and the duration of therapy was extended to 4 weeks. RESULTS: The most frequently reported symptoms of functional dyspepsia were epigastric discomfort or fullness (85%), bloating (70%), belching (53%), early satiety (52%) and epigastric pain (46%) retrospectively. Subgroups of functional dyspepsia were as follows; dysmotility-like 73.5%, ulcer-like 39.7%, reflux-like 13.0%, and unspecified dyspepsia 14.0%. However, 33.2% of subjects with functional dyspepsia could be classified into more than one subgroup. Upper gastrointestinal symptoms were decreased to average 50.3% (range; 42.2 to 59.2%) after 2 weeks of cisapride treatment and to 25% (19.2 to 29.9%) after 4 weeks. cisapride therapy resulted in good or excellent improvement in 59.0% of the patients after two weeks, in 75% of patients after 4 weeks. Adverse events were occurred in 52 patients (5.8% of all patients), most commonly, loose stools or diarrhea (3.5%), abdominal pain (1.1%), and dizziness (0.3%). The majority of adverse events was mild and transient in nature and led to premature discontinuation of treatment in 4 patients. CONCLUSIONS: Although the majorities of patients with functional dyspepsia have dysmotility like symptoms in Korea, there is such overlap among the dyspepsia subgroups. Most patients responded well to a short therapeutic trial with cisapride without significant side effects.
Abdominal Pain ; Cisapride* ; Diarrhea ; Dizziness ; Dyspepsia* ; Eructation ; Humans ; Korea* ; Retrospective Studies