South Korea’s national healthcare system after liberation often described as transformation from ‘sanitation’ to ‘public health’. The U.S. military government introduced public health nursing as the primary vehicle for communicating the newly introduced concept of public health to the Korean public. This meant that nursing, which had been in a subordinate position within the healthcare system during the Japanese occupation, had to be repositioned within the healthcare system as an independent and leading professional agent of healthcare. At the same time creating positions for public health nurses within the newly envisioned health center system, and convincing the public that nurses were the primary agents of public health activities. Yet, in resource limited setting, the role of public health nurses was significantly scaled back. Initial plans for institutionalized, community-wide health care through home visits shifted to addressing the challenges facing Korean society, including maternal and child health and infectious disease prevention. Ironically, the expansion of health centers during late 1950s diminished the position of public health nurses within local government health systems, who were gradually replaced by male administrative staff. The role of public health nurses was greatly curtailed in the 1960s, but they laid the groundwork for later community nursing and health care efforts. At the same time, public health nurses were assigned with new role of ‘visiting’ local health centers for observation, education, and management. Public health nursing allows to look beyond the ideological and institutional dimensions to examine how new concepts and practices of “public health” were actually transmitted to communities in post-liberation Korea.

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the constructs and context of hospital nurses’ organizational silence. Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with 17 nurses in small-middle general hospitals as well as big university hospitals. We then derived the key themes using grounded theory method. Results: Nine themes and 30 sub-themes were derived: “Willing to be recognized for performance rather than saying”, “Getting used to the hard-to-speak climate”, “Face the reality that does not change when said”, “Complicated situation that prevents self-regulating decision-making”, “Conflicts that are difficult to confront”, “Unfair responsibilities that I want to evade”, “Leaders who don’t support me”, and “Being blocked in communication”. Consequently, the nurses learned to adopt a climate of silence and “learned organizational silence” behavior. They experienced that prosocial silence was essential for obtaining approval as a member of the group, and defensive silence for protecting themselves in the hierarchical structure and unfair responsibilities. Acquiescent silence originated from a futile relationship with their supervisors, one-way communications, and the unsupportive management system, in which three types of silence appeared sequentially or in combination with each other. Conclusion Based on these results, nursing managers should identify the context of nurses’ organizational silence and should lessen these silence behaviors.

In response to the changes in the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic situation, Ewha Womans University established Ewha Safe Campus (ESC), an on-campus infection outbreak management system, to allow students and faculty members to safely resume face-to face classes in 2022. The COVID-19 testing station, Ewha Safe Station, is the core element of ESC. Symptomatic students and faculty members perform a combo swab self-PCR test or receive a nasopharyngeal swab PCR test from experts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 through early detection and management. ESC is significant in that it detects infection risks and proactively implements preemptive measures in a university. The COVID-19 health response system model at the university level was applied for the first time in South Korea, reaching a milestone in the history of university health in South Korea. In particular, it is highly valuable that the test was free of charge, as it enabled all of the examinees to have easy access to the test through joint cooperation with the Seegene Medical Foundation. This is a successful example of cooperation between schools and private institutions for public health improvement. In the future, the direct and indirect effects of the establishment and implementation of ESC need to be evaluated and confirmed, and areas requiring improvements need to be identified in preparation for another infectious disease outbreak in the future.

Purpose: This study examined health determinants at a community level and put forward to a typology of five different forms of community health vulnerabilities. We also investigated the differences in the prevalence of chronic diseases, self-rated health, and quality of life (EQ-5D) among the five types. Methods: Latent class analysis was applied to material, social capital, and health behavior vulnerability variables across 255 regions of South Korea. The data came from 2017 & 2019 Community Health Survey. Results: We found five types of community health vulnerabilities: Type 1 group had the highest material vulnerabilities compared to Type 5. The typology was found to be significant in all the regression analysis on the prevalence of chronic diseases (hypertension and diabetes), self-rated health status, and quality of life. In the regions with high material vulnerabilities, the material vulnerability appeared the most effective to the health status of individual’s. In the other regions with less material vulnerabilities, the social capital and health behavior resources were found to be effective. Conclusion A comprehensive measure of vulnerability can be helpful to understand community health. Policy makers need to consider the level of material vulnerability when planning for a health promotion project.

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.

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

As being obesity is associated with numerous health problems, effective fat loss strategies are required. Although dieting has been the major fat loss method, aerobic exercise programs have been shown to increase cardiorespiratory fitness and preserve fat-free mass. Most aerobic exercise interventions have consisted of moderate-intensity steady-state exercise. Disappointingly, these kinds of exercise programs have resulted in minimal fat loss. In contrast, high-intensity intermittent exercise (HIIE) has been shown to result in greater fat loss. Accumulating evidence suggests that high intensity intermittent exercise (HIIE) has the potential to be an economical and effective exercise protocol for reducing fat of overweight individuals, especially Tabata workout and Crossfit.
Diet ; Exercise ; Methods ; Obesity* ; Overweight

Lung cancer in never-smokers ranks as the seventh most common cause of cancer death worldwide, and the incidence of lung cancer in non-smoking Korean women appears to be steadily increasing. To identify the effect of genetic polymorphisms on lung cancer risk in non-smoking Korean women, we conducted a genome-wide association study of Korean female non-smokers with lung cancer. We analyzed 440,794 genotype data of 285 cases and 1,455 controls, and nineteen SNPs were associated with lung cancer development (P < 0.001). For external validation, nineteen SNPs were replicated in another sample set composed of 293 cases and 495 controls, and only rs10187911 on 2p16.3 was significantly associated with lung cancer development (dominant model, OR of TG or GG, 1.58, P = 0.025). We confirmed this SNP again in another replication set composed of 546 cases and 744 controls (recessive model, OR of GG, 1.32, P = 0.027). OR and P value in combined set were 1.37 and < 0.001 in additive model, 1.51 and < 0.001 in dominant model, and 1.54 and < 0.001 in recessive model. The effect of this SNP was found to be consistent only in adenocarcinoma patients (1.36 and < 0.001 in additive model, 1.49 and < 0.001 in dominant model, and 1.54 and < 0.001 in recessive model). Furthermore, after imputation with HapMap data, we found regional significance near rs10187911, and five SNPs showed P value less than that of rs10187911 (rs12478012, rs4377361, rs13005521, rs12475464, and rs7564130). Therefore, we concluded that a region on chromosome 2 is significantly associated with lung cancer risk in Korean non-smoking women.
Adenocarcinoma/*genetics/pathology ; Adult ; Aged ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group/*genetics ; Cell Adhesion Molecules, Neuronal/*genetics ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 2 ; Female ; *Genome-Wide Association Study ; Genotype ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Lung Neoplasms/*genetics/pathology ; Models, Genetic ; Nerve Tissue Proteins/*genetics ; Odds Ratio ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Republic of Korea

BACKGROUND: Although a laparoscopic cholecystectomy results in less pain than an open cholecystectomy, it is not a pain-free procedure. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine whether perioperative intravenous lidocaine would reduce postoperative pain after a laparoscopic cholecystectomy. METHODS: Fifty patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy were divided into two groups; a lidocaine group, in which patients were injected with a lidocaine bolus (1.5 mg/kg) and infusion (1.5 mg/kg/h); and a control group, in which patients were injected with the same volume of saline bolus and infusion. Intravenous lidocaine was initiated before anesthesia was administered and continued for 1 hour postoperatively. The intensity of abdominal and shoulder pain was then assessed 1, 6, 12 and 24 hours after surgery and recorded using a visual analog pain score (VAS) and verbal rating score (VRS). RESULTS: The abdominal pain score (VAS and VRS) was significantly lower in the lidocaine group than in the control group at all times evaluated during the first 24 hours after surgery (P < 0.05). In addition, the shoulder pain score and incidence were significantly lower in the lidocaine group than the control group at 12 hours and 24 hours after surgery (P < 0.05). In the lidocaine group, the incidences of epigastric, right flank, and back pain were lower than that of the control group, but these differences were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Perioperative intravenous lidocaine reduces shoulder and abdominal pain for 24 hours after laparoscopic cholecystectomy.
Abdominal Pain ; Anesthesia ; Back Pain ; Cholecystectomy ; Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lidocaine ; Oxalates ; Pain, Postoperative ; Shoulder ; Shoulder Pain

BACKGROUND: Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) is one of the most common treatments for patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) who suffer from repetitive apnea and oxygen desaturation during sleep. It is important to properly manage the patient's airway in the PACU after surgery in order to prevent potential airway-related postoperative complications. METHODS: 20 patient cases of ASA I or II who were over 20 years old and had undergone UPPP under general anesthesia were reviewed. In PACU, Posterior pharyngeal airway space (PAS) was measured on a lateral cranial radiograph at both supine and sitting positions and the blood pressure and oxygen saturation were measured. RESULTS: PAS significantly increased in the sitting position (avg. 11.7 mm in supine, 15.7 mm in sitting, P < 0.05) but there was no influence on the blood pressure or oxygen saturation. CONCLUSIONS: PAS is associated with the patency of the airway and the increase of PAS in patients in the sitting position while in the PACU is helpful to airway management following UPPP.
Airway Management ; Anesthesia, General ; Apnea ; Blood Pressure ; Humans ; Oxygen ; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive ; Supine Position