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The Actual State of Handwashing in Nurses in Medical and Surgical Wards of a University Hospital.

Myung Hee KIM ; Ju Sung KIM ; Hyun Kyeong JUNG ; Sang Yeoup LEE ; Jung Soon KIM ; In Soon KANG

Journal of the Korean Academy of Family Medicine.2003;24(6):565-569.

BACKGROUND: This study investigated the handwashing in clinical nurses for prevention and control of nosocomial infection. METHODS: The subjects were 192 nurses at a university hospital in Busan. The data were collected using questionnaires, which included items to measure the method, application time, and frequency of handwashing related to nursing intervention activities, and were analyzed using the mean score, frequency and percentage. RESULTS: Each day, the nurses had an average of 10.5 times of hand washing. 34.9% of nurses had evaluated "not enough" concerning their handwashing performance. Nurses indicated that the performance of handwashing had interrupted by overwork, lack of facilities, skin irritation with itching, etc. 19.4% of nurses had not received education program about handwashing. Some nurses did not strictly follow a handwashing protocol allowing potential chances of nosocomial infection to occur. The rate of handwashing performance increased after the activities of nursing intervention than before activities related to respiration, nutrition, elimination, hygiene, medication, etc. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that hospital administrators must develop education programs and policies for the prevention of nosocomial infection. We recommend that nurses participate in education to search for practical methods to improve the management of nosocomial infection such as handwashing performance.
Busan ; Cross Infection ; Education ; Hand Disinfection* ; Hospital Administrators ; Humans ; Hygiene ; Nursing ; Pruritus ; Respiration ; Skin ; Surveys and Questionnaires

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Changes of VO2max According to Sex, Age and Related Factors in Korean Adults.

Jin Ho PARK ; Yoon Jung CHANG ; Seung Wook HWANG ; Jong Seung KIM ; Kyu Nam KIM ; Be Long CHO

Journal of the Korean Academy of Family Medicine.2003;24(6):556-564.

BACKGROUND: There is a lack of data on Korean average VO2max values. This study attempted to yield average values of VO2max corresponding to each age group of Koreans. This study was also designed to investigate the factors associated with VO2max. METHODS: From May 1st 1996 to January 30th 2000, we recruited 21,458 subjects who visited the health promotion center at one university hospital. We obtained the data related to age, exercise by self-administered questionnaire and weight, height and blood pressure by instrumental measurements and hemoglobin, cholesterol by overnight fasting blood sampling. VO2max was estimated by submaximal bicycle ergometer test. RESULTS: The number of research subjects was 21,458: males 12,646 (58.9%) and females 8,812 (41.1%) and the average age was 48.6 (SD: ?10.05) years with age span from 20 to 79 years. The average VO2max was 26.4 (SD; ?6.77) (ml/kg/min) for men and was 19.8 (SD; ?5.94) (ml/kg/min) for women. Relating to factors such as age, VO2max, SBP, DBP, cholesterole, Hb, and body mass index, there were significant statistical differences between sex (p<0.05). For both sexes, VO2max decreased as age, cholesterol, BP and BMI increased. Regular exercise group showed significantly a higher VO2max than non-exercise group for both sexes. CONCLUSION: The average VO2max values for Koreans, according to sex and age group are reported in this study. The decreasing VO2max may be attributed to increasing age, BP, cholesterol, BMI and non-exercise.
Adult* ; Blood Pressure ; Body Mass Index ; Cholesterol ; Fasting ; Female ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Male ; Research Subjects ; Surveys and Questionnaires

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Eun Joo IM ; Ka Young LEE

Journal of the Korean Academy of Family Medicine.2003;24(6):547-555.

BACKGROUND: This study was performed to find out about the factors related to administration of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in postmenopausal women. METHODS: One thousand seventy three postmenopausal women living in Busan and Kimhae were surveyed from August, 2000 to February, 2001. The subjects were asked whether they were receiving the HRT or not and about several factors that have known to be related to receiving the HRT. RESULTS: Among the total, 16.3% of women were current users, 12.4% were ex-users, and 71.2% were non-users. There were significant differences in age, marital status, number of children, education level, and income among the three groups. The proportions of hysterectomy and health-related behaviors were higher among current and ex-users than non-users. The current users were receiving the HRT by continuous combination method rather than cyclic therapy. Among them, 70% responded 'physician's recommendation' as the main reason for receiving the HRT. Among the current users 48% responded 'improved general condition' for receiving as the main reason the HRT currently. However, 29% of ex-users stopped therapy because of side effects. Among non-users 55% have not been provided with information about the HRT. Women having regular exercise at least once a week were 3.5 times more likely to be current users (95% C.I.: 1.3~9.6). One year after menopause women were 1.2 times (95% C.I: 1.0~1.4) more likely to be current users. CONCLUSION: Postmenopausal women who exercised regularly and experienced menopause at an older age seemed to be more likely current users. Therefore, women having such characteristics may need more adequate information about the HRT.
Busan ; Child ; Education ; Female ; Gyeongsangnam-do ; Hormone Replacement Therapy* ; Humans ; Hysterectomy ; Marital Status ; Menopause

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Home Visits in an Office Practice in Seoul.

Kyoung Ae KONG ; In Mee BAIK ; You Ji CHUNG ; Sang Hwa LEE ; Hong Soo LEE

Journal of the Korean Academy of Family Medicine.2003;24(6):541-546.

BACKGROUND: As the population with chronic degenerative disease or functional impairment has increased in terms of the advanced aging society, the inevitability of home health services for the homebound have been augmented as a token of the trend toward the nuclear family along with the family capacity of care declined. For the past several years, home nursing service facilities have been enlarged and partially have been fulfilling these requirements. However, there are a great number of demands for home health service by physicians. Thereupon, we designed the following study to observe the cases of home visits by a medical office practice and to provide some information about the need of the home visit and its clinical features. METHODS: The study was conducted reviewing currently remained 84 data of home visit records at a home-visit- specialized medical office practice for 10 months in 1999. Its information collected was as below: patient's sex, age, frequency and duration of visit, distance to visit location, reason being homebound, and reason for visit. RESULTS: Of the reviewed records of 84 patients, comprised of 356 home visits, the median age of the patients was 67.5 years. They were visited 2 times as a median and with a median duration of 4 days. Physician drove a median distance of 6.1km one-way. Most common diagnoses were cancer and cerebrovascular diseases, equally with 10.8%. Reasons for being homebound were neurologic problem (28.6%), frail elderly (21.4%), terminal illness (20.2%) in order. Sixty two patients (73.8%) were permanently homebound and 12 patients (14.3%) were not. Reasons for visits were routine follow-up (42.1%) and evaluation of a new problem (19.9%) in the chronic homebound and terminal illness care (17.1%). While 102 visits (28.6%) should have begun by doctor-based visit, 233 visits (65.4%) including routine follow-up could be considered to be replaced for home nursing services. Even out of 233 visits, not all could be replaced and some should remain as physician's regular follow-up. CONCLUSION: There were needs of home visit in both permanent and transient homebound patients, in cases of exacerbation, new problem and routine follow-up of chronic homebound patients, and also in acute illness of previously healthy persons. To meet the needs of homebound patients in seeing the physician, and to offer adequate health services, the physician's role should be acknowledged in home nursing service, and home visit by physician should be institutionalized and carried into effect.
Aged ; Aging ; Diagnosis ; Follow-Up Studies ; Frail Elderly ; Health Services ; Home Nursing ; House Calls* ; Humans ; Nuclear Family ; Physician's Role ; Seoul*

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No title available.

Yong Gyu PARK

Journal of the Korean Academy of Family Medicine.2002;23(8):1052-1054.

No abstract available.

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The Establishment of Hospice and Palliative Care System from the Cancer Patients and Families' Point of View.

Young Ho YUN ; Young Sun RHEE ; Jung Suk LEE ; Chang Geol LEE ; Si Young KIM ; Eun Young JUNG ; Dae Seog HEO ; Jun Suk KIM ; Keun Seok LEE ; Young Seon HONG

Journal of the Korean Academy of Family Medicine.2002;23(8):1042-1051.

BACKGROUND: Many terminal cancer patients and families are affected with physical, emotional, and social problems. Many people claim that a type of medical services is needed to manage them such as hospice palliative care. There have not been many studies of cancer patients and families with respect to their opinions and attitudes on hospice palliative care for terminal cancer patients, although their views on it is important. METHODS: We surveyed 687 in-patients, out-patients and their families with cancer in 8 hospitals. The self-administered questionnaires included the following; 1) socio-demographic and clinical variables; 2) opinions on hospice palliative care; 3) attitudes on ethical issues associated with hospice palliative care; 4) factors associated with withholding futile care at the end-of-life. The data were analyzed with x2-test, Mantel-Haenszel x2-test, and multiple logistic regression. RESULTS: Almost 90% of the subjects agreed to the need of obtaining hospice palliative care with health care insurances and reaching a social consensus on the contents of its programs. Five hundred and seventy six (83.8%) subjects agreed to the need of using advanced directives. Two hundred and eighty five (72.2%) cancer patients and 200 (68.5%) families agreed to the need of withholding futile care at the end-of-life and of people accepting their cancer diagnosis with insight and living in the metropolis as they were more likely to do. In the multivariate analysis, the attitudes on withholding futile care at the end-of-life was significantly different only by insight of cancer diagnosis (OR; 1.09-3.15). CONCLUSION: This study showed that hospice palliative care should be established through social consensus on the issues related to ethics and insurances, and that cancer patients and families must have a right to choose such services with informed decision-making.
Consensus ; Delivery of Health Care ; Diagnosis ; Ethics ; Hospices* ; Humans ; Insurance ; Logistic Models ; Multivariate Analysis ; Outpatients ; Palliative Care* ; Social Problems ; Surveys and Questionnaires

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Changes of BMD & Markers of Bone Turnover after 1-year Treatment with HRT and Fluocalcic in Postmenopausal Korean Women with Decreased BMD.

Han Jin OH ; Hyun Koo YOON ; In Kwon HAN

Journal of the Korean Academy of Family Medicine.2002;23(8):1033-1041.

BACKGROUND: Although fluoride has an ability to increase BMD at lumbar spine, it does not result in a reduction in vertebral fractures. After the introduction of monofluorophosphate instead of NaF, there is a revival of the use of fluoride in the treatment of osteoporosis. METHODS: We evaluated 39 subjects out of the 50 who finished a 1-year treatment. Fifty postmenopausal Korean women with decreased bone density were enrolled from Oct. 2000 to Mar. 2001 and stratified 2-groups by treatment regimen. One group was treated with Fluocalcic (Disodium monofluorophosphate; 100 mg and calcium carbonate; 1,250 mg) and HRT, the other group with HRT only at climacteric clinic in Samsung Cheil Hospital & Women's Healthcare Center. Markers of bone turnover, changes of BMD and demographic data were obtained and compared in both groups. RESULTS: Compared with the baseline value, osteocalcin and total alkaline phosphatase, the formation markers of bone turnover were not decreased significantly after 3-month treatment in HRT and fluoride treated group. But, DPYD, the resorption marker, was decreased slightly after the 3-months treatment. Changes of both resorption and formation markers of bone turnover in HRT only treated group were significantly decreased after the treatment. The spinal BMD increased significantly compared to the baseline value in both groups. Changes of spinal BMD after 1-year treatment in HRT and fluoride treated group was increased significantly than HRT only group (15.1 12.6% vs 4.2 3.4%). CONCLUSION: This study shows that changes of spinal BMD after combined treatment with HRT and fluoride were increased significantly than HRT only treatment. Therefore, combined use of Fluoride and HRT was effective to increase spinal BMD in postmenopausal women with decreased spinal BMD.
Alkaline Phosphatase ; Bone Density ; Calcium Carbonate ; Climacteric ; Delivery of Health Care ; Female ; Fluorides ; Humans ; Osteocalcin ; Osteoporosis ; Spine

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Psychosocial Factors and Familial Environments in Adolescent Obesity.

Jeong Ah SHIN ; Sang Pil BAE ; Hyo Soon KIM ; Hye Soon PARK

Journal of the Korean Academy of Family Medicine.2002;23(8):1024-1032.

BACKGROUND: Adolescent obesity has a high risk of developing into adult obesity and may cause many physical and psychological problems. The purpose of this study was to investigate familial environment and psychosocial factors of adolescent obesity. METHODS: A total of 1,153 students from one middle school located in suburban area were chosen as subjects. In this study, the obese group was defined to have an obesity index higher than 85 pecentile, compared to the normal weight group which ranged between 25 and 75 percentile. The questionnaires included items on familial environment and psychosocial factors, their parents' BMI, physical activity, self esteem inventory, depression self rating scale, and FACES III (family cohesion and adaptability scale III). RESULTS: Maternal BMI of the obese group was significantly higher than that of the normal weight group. The mean self esteem score of the obese group was significantly lower than that of the normal weight group. Depression self-rating score of the female obese group was significantly higher than that of the normal weight group. There was no difference in family functioning between the obese group and the normal weight group. CONCLUSION: In multivariate analysis, there were significant correlations among adolescent obesity and higher maternal BMI and lower self-esteem. It will be necessary to evaluate and support the psychosocial factors in the management of adolescent obesity.
Adolescent* ; Adult ; Depression ; Female ; Humans ; Motor Activity ; Multivariate Analysis ; Obesity ; Pediatric Obesity* ; Psychology* ; Self Concept ; Surveys and Questionnaires

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Assessment of GH Status with 24-Hour Urinary Growth Hormone Excretion in Peri- and Postmenopausal Women.

Duk Chul LEE ; Hye Ree LEE ; Ki Won OH

Journal of the Korean Academy of Family Medicine.2002;23(8):1016-1023.

BACKGROUND: Pharmacological stress tests for the diagnosis of GH deficiency are unpleasant, labor intensive and potentially dangerous. Reports on urinary GH measurement for the assessment of GH have been published after highly sensitive immunoassaies were developed. The aim of this study was to determine whether a 24- hour urine GH as an alternative method for GH assessment were reliable in predicting GH deficiency defined by L-dopa stimulation test. METHODS: Thirty women, ages 45 to 67, were studied. L-dopa stimulation tests were performed with an ingestion of 500 mg of L-dopa. Serum GH and IGF-1 were measured by a radioimmunoassay using commercially available reagents and uGH was estimated from the 24-hour urine. Then, the mean and its distribution of uGH values were compared according to the GH status defined by L-dopa stimulation test. RESULTS: The correlation between the uGH and the peak values after L-dopa stimulation test was significant (r=0.46; p<0.01). The mean value of uGH in the GH deficiency group was significantly lower than that of the normal group P<0.05). But because of the broad overlap of uGH in the two groups uGH showed no good separation GH deficiency from normal group although uGH reflects GH status significantly. CONCLUSION: uGH reflects GH status significantly, but because of broad overalp uGH couldn't separate GH deficiency form normal group defined by L-dopa stimulation test.
Diagnosis ; Eating ; Exercise Test ; Female ; Growth Hormone* ; Humans ; Indicators and Reagents ; Insulin-Like Growth Factor I ; Levodopa ; Radioimmunoassay

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Health Behaviors of Rural Inhabitants.

Yun Ji LEE

Journal of the Korean Academy of Family Medicine.2002;23(8):1009-1015.

BACKGROUND: It is very important in primary care to control health behaviors related to chronic debilitating diseases. The purpose of this study was to analyse the health behaviors affecting health status of rural inhabitants. METHODS: This study was carried out in rural areas of Pohang city by questionnaire for one week in April, 1997. Inquired health behaviors by questionnaire were smoking, drinking, weight, height, health concern, regularity of diet, health or cancer examination and exercise. RESULTS: The smoking rate was 58.7% in males. Initial smoking age in men was 21 years old, and was not different according to age groups. The proportion of drinker was 50.8% in males. Body mass index was not related to the average family income and education. Regularity of diet was not related to snack intake frequency and body mass index, but was related to overeating frequency. CONCLUSION: Improving the health status of the residents in rural area can be expected through efforts to promote interest in practicing appropriate health behavior.
Body Mass Index ; Diet ; Drinking ; Education ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Health Behavior* ; Humans ; Hyperphagia ; Male ; Primary Health Care ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Snacks ; Young Adult ; Surveys and Questionnaires

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