ABSTRACT
Purpose@#This study aimed to evaluate the level of professional ethics awareness and medical ethics competency in order to assess the potential need for ethics items to be included on the Korean Dental Hygienist Licensing Examination. @*Methods@#In total, 358 clinical dental hygienists and dental hygiene students completed a structured questionnaire to evaluate their level of ethical awareness and medical ethics competency. The sub-factors of medical ethics were classified into relationships with patients, medical and social relations, and individual specialized fields. @*Results@#Only 32.1% of participants indicated that they had taken a course on professional ethics in the university curriculum, but 95.2% of respondents considered professional ethics to be important. The overall score for medical ethics competency was average (3.37 out of 5). The score for relationships with patients was 3.75 points, followed by medical and social relations (3.19 points) and individual specialized fields (3.16 points). The level of professional ethics awareness was higher among participants who had taken a course on professional ethics than among those who had not done so or who did not remember whether they had done so. @*Conclusion@#Dental hygienists were aware of the importance of professional ethics, but their medical ethics competency was moderate. Therefore, medical ethics should be treated as a required subject in the university curriculum, and medical ethics competency evaluations should be strengthened by adding ethics items to the Korean Dental Hygienist Licensing Examination.
ABSTRACT
Purpose@#This study aimed to evaluate the level of professional ethics awareness and medical ethics competency in order to assess the potential need for ethics items to be included on the Korean Dental Hygienist Licensing Examination. @*Methods@#In total, 358 clinical dental hygienists and dental hygiene students completed a structured questionnaire to evaluate their level of ethical awareness and medical ethics competency. The sub-factors of medical ethics were classified into relationships with patients, medical and social relations, and individual specialized fields. @*Results@#Only 32.1% of participants indicated that they had taken a course on professional ethics in the university curriculum, but 95.2% of respondents considered professional ethics to be important. The overall score for medical ethics competency was average (3.37 out of 5). The score for relationships with patients was 3.75 points, followed by medical and social relations (3.19 points) and individual specialized fields (3.16 points). The level of professional ethics awareness was higher among participants who had taken a course on professional ethics than among those who had not done so or who did not remember whether they had done so. @*Conclusion@#Dental hygienists were aware of the importance of professional ethics, but their medical ethics competency was moderate. Therefore, medical ethics should be treated as a required subject in the university curriculum, and medical ethics competency evaluations should be strengthened by adding ethics items to the Korean Dental Hygienist Licensing Examination.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND/AIMS: Rectal carcinoid tumors can be resected with endoscopy, and it is important to assess their prognostic factors. We evaluated the potential of Ki-67 expression as a prognostic factor in rectal carcinoid tumors. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 37 patients with rectal carcinoid tumors who got endoscopic resection from January 2001 to January 2011 at Inje University Seoul Paik Hospital. We analyzed their endoscopic and histologic findings, Ki-67 expression, clinical outcome, and prognosis. RESULTS: The mean age (+/-SD) of the patients was 56.3+/-10.7 years, and the male : female ratio was 3.6:1. The mean tumor size was 0.5+/-0.4 cm, 33 patients showed grade 1 tumors (89.2%) and the average Ki-67 expression was 0.7+/-1.2%. Thirty five patients underwent endoscopic mucosal resection, and two required endoscopic submucosal dissection. Eight patients had positive margins after resection, but no cases of lymphovascular invasion were identified. The median follow-up duration was 21.4+/-25.4 months, and no recurrences were observed. CONCLUSIONS: In low grade rectal carcinoid tumors which are lack of central depression on colonoscopy, the expression of a molecular marker of malignant potential, Ki-67, was low. Therefore, endoscopic resection seemed to be a safe and effective treatment for these tumors.