PURPOSE: This study aimed to examine the process from occurrence of a hospital nurse's suicide to workers' compensation approval, responses of the parties involved, issues debated during approval deliberations, and significant policy changes resulting from the incident.METHODS: We conducted in-depth interviews with involved parties and collected various documents, including newspaper articles, forum proceedings, and the agency report on determination of workers' compensation. Content analysis was performed on the collected data.RESULTS: A Joint Task Force continuously reported its progress and findings through mass media such as newspaper, radio, and TV. These activities exerted pressure on a government agency to conduct an occupational disease review and significantly impacted the workers' compensation approval. The agency recognized associations between the hospital's inadequate nurse training and the suicide but did not confirm the excessive overtime and workplace harassment experienced by the nurse as causes of the suicide. This case's media coverage and impact resulted in a law prohibiting workplace harassment and a hospital system dedicating at least one nurse to training activities.CONCLUSION: This incident had a significant social impact as the first case of workers' compensation approval for a hospital nurse's suicide. However, the case produced no structural changes in nurses' working conditions such as heavy workloads.
Advisory Committees ; Government Agencies ; Joints ; Jurisprudence ; Mass Media ; Occupational Diseases ; Occupational Health ; Social Change ; Suicide ; Teaching ; Workers' Compensation

Minimally invasive treatment of symptomatic thyroid nodules is now commonplace. Ethanol ablation (EA) of thyroid cystic nodules has been performed since the 1990s, but there is no global consensus or guideline. Although various limitations of EA have been described, recommendations for practical application are necessary. Therefore, the Task Force Committee of the Korean Society of Thyroid Radiology initiated the present consensus statement and here we provide recommendations for the role of EA in the management of symptomatic thyroid nodules. These recommendations are based on evidence to date from the literature and expert opinion.
Advisory Committees ; Consensus ; Ethanol ; Expert Testimony ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; Thyroid Nodule

Tremor is one of the most common movement disorders. The classification of tremor disorders was originally proposed in 1998, but subsequent advances have highlighted the limitations of the original criteria. A task force on tremor was convened by the International Parkinson and Movement Disorders Society to review the previous criteria and to develop a revised classification scheme that will allow a more-comprehensive phenotype, thereby facilitating the discovery of specific etiologies. In this review we provide an overview of how to classify tremor disorders according to the new classification of tremors.
Advisory Committees ; Classification ; Movement Disorders ; Phenotype ; Tremor

Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a new, minimally invasive modality that serves as an alternative to surgery in patients with thyroid tumors. The Task Force Committee of the Korean Society of Thyroid Radiology developed recommendations for the optimal use of RFA for thyroid tumors in 2012 and revised them in 2017. Herein, we review and summarize the 2017 thyroid RFA guideline and compare it with the 2012 thyroid RFA guideline.
Advisory Committees ; Catheter Ablation ; Humans ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; Thyroid Nodule ; Ultrasonography

BACKGROUND: Systemic immunomodulatory treatment is actively recommended in the treatment for moderate to severe atopic dermatitis (AD) patients. However, consensus criteria for the classification of AD severity or treatment refractoriness have not been established yet. OBJECTIVE: To establish consensus criteria on the definition of severity classification and treatment refractoriness of AD to provide a basis for proper treatment strategy. METHODS: The Korean Atopic Dermatitis Association (KADA) comprised a task force team to establish a definition of moderate to severe AD. A draft of definition of moderate to severe AD was made on the basis of evidence. The recommendation was confirmed by KADA members through a web-based survey. RESULTS: KADA approved that AD with 16≤eczema area and severity index (EASI)<23 should be basically defined as moderate AD whereas AD with EASI score ≥23 should be considered as severe AD. They agreed that it would be reasonable to raise the severity level if patient's daytime or nighttime pruritus numerical rating scale is equal to or higher than 7 (≥7) or dermatology life quality index score exceeds 10. AD patients who do not reach EASI 50 after appropriate treatment for three months should be considered as a non-responder. Patients with recurrence (EASI ≥16) within three months after cessation of treatment should be considered as a recurrent AD. CONCLUSION: KADA built a consensus of definition of moderate and severe AD and treatment-refractoriness. These guidelines are expected to help physicians determine proper treatment options in need.
Advisory Committees ; Classification ; Consensus ; Dermatitis, Atopic ; Dermatology ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Pruritus ; Quality of Life ; Recurrence ; Treatment Failure ; Withholding Treatment

Korean Society of Thyroid-Head and Neck Surgery appointed a Task Force to provide guidance on the implementation of a surgical treatment of oral cancer. MEDLINE databases were searched for articles on subjects related to “surgical management of oral cancer” published in English. Results were restricted to systematic reviews, randomized control trials/controlled clinical trials, and observational studies. The quality of evidence was rated with use RoBANS (Risk of Bias Assessment Tool for Nonrandomized Studies) and AMSTAR (A Measurement Tool to Assess the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews). Evidence-based recommendations for practice were ranked according to the American College of Physicians grading system. Additional directives are provided as expert opinions and Delphi questionnaire when insufficient evidence existed. The Committee developed 68 evidence-based recommendations in 34 categories intended to assist clinicians and patients and counselors, and health policy-makers. Proper surgical treatment selection for oral cancer, which is directed by patient- and subsite-specific factors, remains the greatest predictor of successful treatment outcomes. These guidelines are intended for use in conjunction with the individual patient's treatment goals.
Advisory Committees ; Bias (Epidemiology) ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Counseling ; Expert Testimony ; Humans ; Mouth Neoplasms ; Neck ; Republic of Korea

PURPOSE: A task force appointed by the Korean Society of Acute Care Surgery reviewed previously published guidelines on antibiotic use in patients with abdominal injuries and adapted guidelines for Korea. METHODS: Four guidelines were assessed using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation II instrument. Five topics were considered: indication for antibiotics, time until first antibiotic use, antibiotic therapy duration, appropriate antibiotics, and antibiotic use in abdominal trauma patients with hemorrhagic shock. RESULTS: Patients requiring surgery need preoperative prophylactic antibiotics. Patients who do not require surgery do not need antibiotics. Antibiotics should be administered as soon as possible after injury. In the absence of hollow viscus injury, no additional antibiotic doses are needed. If hollow viscus injury is repaired within 12 hours, antibiotics should be continued for ≤ 24 hours. If hollow viscus injury is repaired after 12 hours, antibiotics should be limited to 7 days. Antibiotics can be administered for ≥7 days if hollow viscus injury is incompletely repaired or clinical signs persist. Broad-spectrum aerobic and anaerobic coverage antibiotics are preferred as the initial antibiotics. Second-generation cephalosporins are the recommended initial antibiotics. Third-generation cephalosporins are alternative choices. For hemorrhagic shock, the antibiotic dose may be increased twofold or threefold and repeated after transfusion of every 10 units of blood until there is no further blood loss. CONCLUSION: Although this guideline was drafted through adaptation of other guidelines, it may be meaningful in that it provides a consensus on the use of antibiotics in abdominal trauma patients in Korea.
Abdominal Injuries* ; Advisory Committees ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Antibiotic Prophylaxis ; Cephalosporins ; Consensus ; Humans ; Korea ; Shock, Hemorrhagic

OBJECTIVES: We revised the Korean Medication Algorithm Project for Bipolar Disorder (KMAP-BP) 2014 to provide more timely information for the use of the information by clinicians.METHODS: We performed the survey using a questionnaire for the treatment of manic or hypomanic episode in the participants. There were sixty-one members of the review committee who completed the survey. The executive committee analyzed the results and discussed the final production of the applicable algorithm as considering the scientific evidence.RESULTS: The combination of a mood stabilizer (MS) and an atypical antipsychotic (AAP) was recommended as the treatment of choice (TOC), and a monotherapy with an AAP was the first-line pharmacotherapeutic strategy for the initial treatment of mania, with or without psychotic features. The MS monotherapy was the first-line choice therapy, but only for the non-psychotic mania patients. When the initial treatment failed, the TOC was a combination of a MS and an AAP in mania with or without psychotic features, and a combination of two AAPs was TOC for the psychotic mania, as well. For hypomania, the monotherapy with MS or AAP was the first-line as initial treatment, and the recommended switch to or add an AAP was recommended when the initial strategies failed.CONCLUSION: Compared with the previous version, the experts recommend more intensive interventions earlier when initial treatment failed to respond to a recommended monotherapy.
Advisory Committees ; Bipolar Disorder ; Drug Therapy ; Humans

OBJECTIVES: The Korean Medication Algorithm for Bipolar Disorder (KMAP-BP), which was first published in 2002 and updated in 2006, 2010 and 2014, is revised again through the expert's consensus of opinion.METHODS: Out of eighty-four member of the review committee, sixty-one members completed the survey. We analyzed the answers, and thus discussed the data and held a clinician hearing on the results. Therefore, we report the results of KMAP-BP 2018.RESULTS: The preferred first-step strategies for acute euphoric mania are the combination of mood stabilizer (MS) and atypical antipsychotics (AAP), MS monotherapy and AAP monotherapy. For psychotic mania, combination of MS and AAP, and AAP monotherapy are preferred. The first-step strategies for acute bipolar, mild to moderate, depression are MS monotherapy, lamotrigine (LTG) monotherapy, AAP monotherapy, MS+AAP combination, AAP+LTG combination and MS+LTG combination. For non-psychotic severe depression, the MS+AAP combination, AAP+LTG combination and MS+LTG combination are preferred. For psychotic severe depression, the MS+AAP, AAP+antidepressant (AD) and AAP+LTG are preferred.CONCLUSION: We surveyed the expert consensus for the treatment of bipolar disorders and developed KMAP-BP 2018. We hope that this KMAP-BP 2018 is going to be helpful for clinicians to treat the patients with bipolar disorder.
Advisory Committees ; Antipsychotic Agents ; Bipolar Disorder ; Consensus ; Depression ; Hearing ; Hope ; Humans

OBJECTIVES: In this study, we evaluated the maintenance-treatment strategies of bipolar I and bipolar II disorders of KMAP-BP 2018.METHODS: The questionnaire used to survey experts for their opinions of medication used for the treatment of bipolar disorder was completed by the review committee consisting of 84 experienced psychiatrists. It is composed of 50 questions, and each question includes various sub-items. The questionnaire for maintenance treatments was composed of overall treatment strategies after acute mood episodes in bipolar I and II disorders, including the choice of antipsychotic and antidepressant drugs, duration of medication, and treatment strategies used to achieve a breakthrough in symptoms.RESULTS: In case of bipolar I disorder, mood stabilizer monotherapy, a combination of mood stabilizer and atypical antipsychotic drugs, and atypical antipsychotic drug monotherapy were the first-line treatments. In maintenance management for bipolar II disorder, combinations of mood stabilizer and mood stabilizer monotherapy or atypical antipsychotic monotherapy were preferred. Atypical antipsychotic drugs were favored as the maintenance treatment for bipolar I and II disorders in KMAP-BP 2018.CONCLUSION: There have been growing bodies of tendency that atypical antipsychotics are more preferred than previously in the KMAP-BP 2014.
Advisory Committees ; Antidepressive Agents ; Antipsychotic Agents ; Bipolar Disorder ; Mood Disorders ; Psychiatry