1.Surveillance System for Infectious Disease Prevention and Management:Direction of Korea’s Infectious Disease Surveillance System
Yumi JANG ; Hyungmin LEE ; Hyekyung PARK
Journal of Korean Medical Science 2025;40(8):e108-
Emerging infectious diseases have risen sharply due to population growth, urbanization, travel, trade, and environmental changes, with outbreaks like severe acute respiratory syndrome, Middle East respiratory syndrome, and coronavirus disease 2019 highlighting the global need for effective surveillance systems. Various infectious disease surveillance systems are applied depending on the surveillance objectives, target populations, and geographical scope. While Korea has a robust surveillance system, challenges remain in integrating data, enhancing coordination, and improving response efficiency. This article reviews the types and roles of infectious disease surveillance systems through a literature review and proposes strategies for improving Korea’s surveillance system by comparing it with those of other countries, including the World Health Organization (WHO). To strengthen Korea’s surveillance framework, a comprehensive strategy should be implemented to interconnect multiple surveillance mechanisms and enhance real-time data sharing. A centralized data platform must integrate these systems, leveraging artificial intelligence and big data analytics for faster outbreak analysis. International collaboration through data-sharing networks with the WHO, European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, and U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is essential, along with standardized reporting formats to improve interoperability.
2.Surveillance System for Infectious Disease Prevention and Management:Direction of Korea’s Infectious Disease Surveillance System
Yumi JANG ; Hyungmin LEE ; Hyekyung PARK
Journal of Korean Medical Science 2025;40(8):e108-
Emerging infectious diseases have risen sharply due to population growth, urbanization, travel, trade, and environmental changes, with outbreaks like severe acute respiratory syndrome, Middle East respiratory syndrome, and coronavirus disease 2019 highlighting the global need for effective surveillance systems. Various infectious disease surveillance systems are applied depending on the surveillance objectives, target populations, and geographical scope. While Korea has a robust surveillance system, challenges remain in integrating data, enhancing coordination, and improving response efficiency. This article reviews the types and roles of infectious disease surveillance systems through a literature review and proposes strategies for improving Korea’s surveillance system by comparing it with those of other countries, including the World Health Organization (WHO). To strengthen Korea’s surveillance framework, a comprehensive strategy should be implemented to interconnect multiple surveillance mechanisms and enhance real-time data sharing. A centralized data platform must integrate these systems, leveraging artificial intelligence and big data analytics for faster outbreak analysis. International collaboration through data-sharing networks with the WHO, European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, and U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is essential, along with standardized reporting formats to improve interoperability.
3.Surveillance System for Infectious Disease Prevention and Management:Direction of Korea’s Infectious Disease Surveillance System
Yumi JANG ; Hyungmin LEE ; Hyekyung PARK
Journal of Korean Medical Science 2025;40(8):e108-
Emerging infectious diseases have risen sharply due to population growth, urbanization, travel, trade, and environmental changes, with outbreaks like severe acute respiratory syndrome, Middle East respiratory syndrome, and coronavirus disease 2019 highlighting the global need for effective surveillance systems. Various infectious disease surveillance systems are applied depending on the surveillance objectives, target populations, and geographical scope. While Korea has a robust surveillance system, challenges remain in integrating data, enhancing coordination, and improving response efficiency. This article reviews the types and roles of infectious disease surveillance systems through a literature review and proposes strategies for improving Korea’s surveillance system by comparing it with those of other countries, including the World Health Organization (WHO). To strengthen Korea’s surveillance framework, a comprehensive strategy should be implemented to interconnect multiple surveillance mechanisms and enhance real-time data sharing. A centralized data platform must integrate these systems, leveraging artificial intelligence and big data analytics for faster outbreak analysis. International collaboration through data-sharing networks with the WHO, European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, and U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is essential, along with standardized reporting formats to improve interoperability.
4.Surveillance System for Infectious Disease Prevention and Management:Direction of Korea’s Infectious Disease Surveillance System
Yumi JANG ; Hyungmin LEE ; Hyekyung PARK
Journal of Korean Medical Science 2025;40(8):e108-
Emerging infectious diseases have risen sharply due to population growth, urbanization, travel, trade, and environmental changes, with outbreaks like severe acute respiratory syndrome, Middle East respiratory syndrome, and coronavirus disease 2019 highlighting the global need for effective surveillance systems. Various infectious disease surveillance systems are applied depending on the surveillance objectives, target populations, and geographical scope. While Korea has a robust surveillance system, challenges remain in integrating data, enhancing coordination, and improving response efficiency. This article reviews the types and roles of infectious disease surveillance systems through a literature review and proposes strategies for improving Korea’s surveillance system by comparing it with those of other countries, including the World Health Organization (WHO). To strengthen Korea’s surveillance framework, a comprehensive strategy should be implemented to interconnect multiple surveillance mechanisms and enhance real-time data sharing. A centralized data platform must integrate these systems, leveraging artificial intelligence and big data analytics for faster outbreak analysis. International collaboration through data-sharing networks with the WHO, European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, and U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is essential, along with standardized reporting formats to improve interoperability.
5.Faculty development: the need to ensure educational excellence and health care quality
Kosin Medical Journal 2023;38(1):4-11
The definition of faculty development has been refined and expanded over the past few decades, and various definitions have been used in higher education. Initially, faculty development was defined as activities that help teachers improve teaching skills, design better curricula, and improve the organizational environment for education. Since then, as the focus of faculty development has shifted from individual professors to institutional needs, faculty development is now defined as the personal and professional development of professors, clinicians, researchers, and managers to meet institutional goals, visions, and missions in social terms and moral responsibility to the community. Faculty development in medical education is universally needed to recognize and cope with widespread changes in education, including the traditional role of professors, advances in pedagogical theory, changes in learning styles, innovative curriculum models, and evaluation philosophy. However, critics have pointed out that most universities could not actively implement faculty development or accept professors’ various demands. In this paper, various reports related to faculty development are reviewed to summarize how faculty development has progressed and present future directions for accepting various opinions to improve educational excellence and the quality of health care.
6.Brain-based medical education model for expert’s clinical decision making
Korean Journal of Medical Education 2023;35(3):275-283
Purpose:
The expertise of medicians in clinical decision-making is very important since it improves the quality of medical services provided to patients. This study analyzed the characteristics of the decision-making process and confirmed clinicians’ electroencephalography (EEG) characteristics by measuring their cerebral activity during clinical decision-making. This study aims to present learning directions for brain-based clinical decision-making to develop medical experts.
Methods:
This study was performed in the following two projects: (1) a qualitative study of clinical decision-making in a clinical scenario and (2) an analysis of differences in cortical activity of experts and novices through EEG.
Results:
In the 1st study, this study found that “confirmation of the patient’s chief complaints,” “physical examination,” and “radiography reading” steps, which showed the most prominent differences in the experts’ and novices’ decision making, were set as the significant steps of dentists’ clinical decision making. In the 2nd study, the experts’ and novices’ cortical activities were measured through a 32-channel EEG. In task 6, which had the lowest accuracy of diagnoses made by the experts, the brain activities in both groups were higher than in other tasks.
Conclusion
This study developed and suggested a model of the decision-making process for experts and novices and suggested the basic directions for brain-based learning needed to raise experts based on brain activity.
7.Comparisons of Fit Factors Between Two Quantitative Fit Testers (PortaCount vs. MT)
Don-Hee HAN ; Hyekyung SEO ; Byoung-kab KANG ; Hoyeong JANG ; HuiJu KIM ; SuA SHIM
Safety and Health at Work 2022;13(4):500-506
This study evaluated the consistency between two quantitative fit test devices with different methods of ambient aerosol counting. Three types of respirators (N95, half mask, and full facepiece) were worn by 50 participants (male, n = 25; female, n = 25), PortaCount (Pro+ 8038) and MT (05U) were connected to one probe to one mask, and fit factors (FFs) were measured simultaneously with the original and modified protocols. As a result of comparing MT FFs with PortaCount FFs as references and by applying for the pass/fail criteria (FF = 100), the consistency between the two devices for half masks and full facepieces was very high. N95 was somewhat weaker than the two type of respirators in the consistency; however, the correlation between the two devices was very strong (p < 0.0001). The results showed that an FF of 100 as measured by PortaCount was likely to be measured as 75 by the MT. Therefore, when performing the fit test for N95 using the MT and pass level of FF 100, a certain level of adjustment is necessary, whether end-user or putting a scaling factor by manufacturer.
8.Factors Influencing Supportive Care Needs of Colorectal Cancer Survivors
Asian Nursing Research 2021;15(1):60-66
Purpose:
There is an increasing number of colorectal cancer survivors in South Korea. However, no research has identified supportive care needs of survivors of colorectal cancer in South Korea. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the level of supportive care needs and effects of emotional state and quality of life (QoL) on supportive care needs of colorectal cancer survivors.
Methods:
This cross-sectional study was conducted among 115 survivors of colorectal cancer in South Korean who had primary treatment of surgery for colorectal cancer. Data were collected from April to September 2016. Participants responded to self-reported questionnaires assessing supportive care needs, emotional state (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), and QoL (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Colorectal scale).
Results:
The overall score of supportive care needs for colorectal cancer survivors was 1.22 ± 0.61 (full score: 3 points), with health care staff and social support needs garnering highest scores. Approximately, 20.0% and 21.7% of patients had anxiety and depression, respectively. The mean QoL score was 2.90 ± 0.53, with social and family status having the lowest QoL score. Multiple regression analysis showed that both the period after treatment and anxiety significantly influenced supportive care needs.
Conclusion
Appropriate interventions should be used immediately after completion of treatment to help reduce anxiety and meet supportive care needs of colorectal cancer survivors.
9.The Knowledge, Attitudes, Performance, and Barriers of Nurses to Pain in Oncology Settings:A Multi-Center Study
Hyekyung KIM ; Soeun CHOI ; Sue KIM ; Jiyeon LEE ; Sun-Hee KIM ; Insook LEE ; Yoonjung SHIN ; Hye-Young JANG
Asian Oncology Nursing 2021;21(1):15-23
Purpose:
The purpose of this study was to examine knowledge, attitudes, performance, and barriers to pain management of nurses working in oncology settings.
Methods:
This cross-sectional study was conducted on 222 nurses in five tertiary hospitals in Korea.The period of data collection was 1 September to 30 November 2018. Participants were surveyed using the Nurse Knowledge and Attitudes Survey Regarding Pain (NKASRP), a pain management performance, and barriers questionnaire. The data were analyzed through independent t-test and One-way ANOVA, and the post-hoc test was conducted with the Scheffé test using the SPSS 23 program.
Results:
According to the study, oncology nurses’ knowledge and attitudes to pain received a score of 26.4±3.77 (out of 41 points) and the performance received a score of 3.24±0.35 (out of 4 points). Among the barriers to pain management, time constraints were the most frequent medical staff-related factor, and reluctance to take opioids was the most frequent patient-related factor. In terms of factors related to the health care system, strict regulation of opioids was the most significant. There was a significant positive correlation between knowledge and attitude of pain management and performance of pain management.
Conclusion
Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that structured education programs to be developed and implemented to enhance knowledge, attitudes, and performance on pain.
10.Latent Tuberculosis Infection Screening and Treatment in Congregate Settings (TB FREE COREA):Demographic Profiles of InterferonGamma Release Assay Cohort
Hyung Woo KIM ; Jinsoo MIN ; Joon Young CHOI ; Ah Young SHIN ; Jun-Pyo MYONG ; Yunhee LEE ; Hyeon Woo YIM ; Hyunsuk JEONG ; Sanghyuk BAE ; Eunhye SHIM ; Hyekyung IN ; Chaemin CHUN ; Gahee KIM ; Ji Young KANG ; Sung-Soon LEE ; Jae Seuk PARK ; Ju Sang KIM
Journal of Korean Medical Science 2021;36(36):e246-
In 2017, the Korean government launched an unprecedentedly large-scaled latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) screening project which covered more than a million individuals in congregate settings. A total of 1,047,689 participants of source population (n = 2,336,157) underwent LTBI testing from 2017 to 2018. The overall LTBI test uptake rate during this project was 44.8%. Workers in daycare centers (83.5%) and kindergartens (78.9%) showed high participation rate. A total of 1,012,206 individuals with valid results of interferongamma release assay (IGRA) were selected to constitute the IGRA cohort. Most of the enrolled participants in the IGRA cohort were in their working age. Approximately, threequarters of total enrolled population were female. Investigating the LTBI prevalence, stages of LTBI care cascade, natural history of LTBI, efficacy of LTBI treatment and cost-effectiveness of LTBI screening are feasible within this IGRA cohort.

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