Global Trends of Regional Health Information Systems and Suggested Strategic Utilization of their Medical Information / 대한의료정보학회지

Objectives@#Along with the exponentially-growing data produced and accumulated every day through mobile platforms, social networking services, the Internet, and other media, information is becoming increasingly important as a strategic resource. This report presents specific and clear directions and suggests empirical project plans regarding innovations in regional health information systems to promote the utilization of medical information. @*Methods@#We reviewed and examined documents about global trends and examples of regional health information systems. The problems and solutions of health information utilization and regional health information systems in Korea were analyzed. @*Results@#This study presented examples of the establishment of health information systems, problems in the use of local healthcare information, and an empirical project for improvement. @*Conclusions@#The results of this study imply the need for long-term and systematic approaches for the use of medical information and the establishment of a local healthcare information system, along with implementation plans. As a first step, it is imperative to clarify the goal of building a medical information system, the information that must be provided to build the system, and the data that should be collected to provide such information, while moving away from the mentality of focusing on technology-oriented medical information services. In addition, it is necessary to consider information governance, data-based service development, and the medical innovation framework, which are ways to efficiently manage, utilize, and systemize the data to be collected.

Global Trends of Regional Health Information Systems and Suggested Strategic Utilization of their Medical Information / 대한의료정보학회지

Objectives@#Along with the exponentially-growing data produced and accumulated every day through mobile platforms, social networking services, the Internet, and other media, information is becoming increasingly important as a strategic resource. This report presents specific and clear directions and suggests empirical project plans regarding innovations in regional health information systems to promote the utilization of medical information. @*Methods@#We reviewed and examined documents about global trends and examples of regional health information systems. The problems and solutions of health information utilization and regional health information systems in Korea were analyzed. @*Results@#This study presented examples of the establishment of health information systems, problems in the use of local healthcare information, and an empirical project for improvement. @*Conclusions@#The results of this study imply the need for long-term and systematic approaches for the use of medical information and the establishment of a local healthcare information system, along with implementation plans. As a first step, it is imperative to clarify the goal of building a medical information system, the information that must be provided to build the system, and the data that should be collected to provide such information, while moving away from the mentality of focusing on technology-oriented medical information services. In addition, it is necessary to consider information governance, data-based service development, and the medical innovation framework, which are ways to efficiently manage, utilize, and systemize the data to be collected.

Roles of Health Technology Assessment for Better Health and Universal Health Coverage in Korea / 보건행정학회지

Health technology assessment (HTA) is defined as multidisciplinary policy analysis to look into the medical, economic, social, and ethical implications of the development, distribution, and use of health technology. Following the recent changes in the social environment, there are increasing needs to improve Korea's healthcare environment by, inter alia, assessing health technologies in an organized, timely manner in accordance with the government's strategies to ensure that citizens' medical expenses are kept at a stable level. Dedicated to HTA and research, the National Evidence-based Healthcare Collaborating Agency (NECA) analyzes and provides grounds on the clinical safety, efficacy, and economic feasibility of health technologies. HTA offers the most suitable grounds for decision making not only by healthcare professionals but also by policy makers and citizens as seen in a case in 2009 where research revealed that glucosamine lacked preventive and treatment effects for osteoarthritis and glucosamine was subsequently excluded from the National Health Insurance's benefit list to stop the insurance scheme from suffering financial losses and citizens from paying unnecessary medical expenses. For the development of HTA in Korea, the NECA will continue exerting itself to accomplish its mission of providing policy support by health technology reassessment, promoting the establishment and use of big data and HTA platforms for public interest, and developing a new value-based HTA system.

Value-Based Health Technology Assessment and Health Informatics / 대한의료정보학회지

No abstract available.

Public Perceptions on Cancer Incidence and Survival: A Nation-wide Survey in Korea / Journal of the Korean Cancer Association, 대한암학회지

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to compare the public perceptions of the incidence rates and survival rates for common cancers with the actual rates from epidemiologic data. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a survey of Korean adults without history of cancer (n=2,000). The survey consisted of questions about their perceptions regarding lifetime incidence rates and 5-year survival rates for total cancer, as well as those of eight site-specific cancers. To investigate associated factors, we included questions about cancer worry (Lerman's Cancer Worry Scale) or cared for a family member or friend with cancer as a caregiver. RESULTS: Only 19% of Korean adults had an accurate perception of incidence rates compared with the epidemiologic data on total cancer. For specific cancers, most of the respondents overestimated the incidence rates and 10%-30% of men and 6%-18% of women had an accurate perception. A high score in "cancer worry" was associated with higher estimates of incidence rates in total and specific cancers. In cancers with high actual 5-year survival rates (e.g., breast and thyroid), the majority of respondents underestimated survival rates. However, about 50% of respondents overestimated survival rates in cancers with low actual survival rates (e.g., lung and liver). There was no factor consistently associated with perceived survival rates. CONCLUSION: Widespread discrepancies were observed between perceived probability and actual epidemiological data. In order to reduce cancer worry and to increase health literacy, communication and patient education on appropriate risk is needed.

Detection of Anaplasma sp. in Korean Native Goats (Capra aegagrus hircus) on Jeju Island, Korea

Anaplasma species are obligate intracellular pathogens that can cause tick-borne diseases in mammalian hosts. To date, very few studies of their occurrence in Korean native goats (Capra aegagrus hircus) have been reported. In the present study, we investigated Anaplasma infection of Korean native goats on Jeju Island, Republic of Korea, and performed phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequences. Our results showed that Anaplasma infection was found mostly in adult female goats. The phylogenetic tree revealed that the 7 sequences identified in Korean native goats could belong to Anaplasma sp. and were distinct from A. marginale, A. centrale, and A. ovis. The results indicated that the sequences identified to belong to Anaplasma were closely related to sequences isolated from goats in China and were clustered within the same group. To our knowledge, this is the first study to detect Anaplasma sp. infection in Korean native goats.

Awareness Assessment on Continuing Medical Education in Korean Orthopaedic Society / 대한정형외과학회잡지

PURPOSE: Awareness on continuing medical education (CME) of the Korean Orthopaedic Association (KOA) was investigated in order to augment the weak educational points of the conventional academic CME. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The web-survey was conducted in the KOA on the awareness of conventional academic or web-based CME. The questionnaire included working conditions, intimacy of informational technology, and strengths and weaknesses of academic and web-based CME. RESULTS: Among 3,427 emails sent, 168 (4.9% of effective response rate) responses were received. Of the responders, 74.4% of the responders could not attend CME frequently because of working time (35.7%) and a distance far from the working place (13.2%). The merits of academic CME included as the opportunity for considerations of other members' thoughts on some clinical matters (64.3%); however, the weak points were holding several similar conferences (60.1%) and too short time for adequate study (53.0%). They wanted that surgical procedures and tips (49.0%) to be provided in the form of lecture slides (44.6%) or movie clips (37.6%) in web-based CME. 95.5% of the responders showed positive response regarding the need for web-based CME. CONCLUSION: Results of the survey showed high needs and interests in web-based CME, which could support the weaknesses of the academic CME with less time for education and limited accessibility to CME due to time or space barriers due to their working conditions.

Web-Based Continuing Medical Education in Korean and Foreign Orthopaedic Societies / 대한정형외과학회잡지

PURPOSE: The current states of web-contents for continuing medical education (CME) of domestic and foreign orthropaedic web sites were investigated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Korean Orthopaedic Association (KOA) and Korean Orthopaedic Cyber-Society (KOC) as domestic, and American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgerns (AAOS), Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS), AOSpine, and Arthroscopy as foreign web sites were searched in view of provided information technology (IT), including electrical paper (ePDF), lecture and surgical procedure video clips, case discussion, interactive content, and CME credit program. RESULTS: KOA supplied 19 types of ePDFs, and KOC, 43 video clips, and 217 case discussions. However, only one video clip was updated from 2011 to 2012 and 20 video clips from 2008 were not accessible. AAOS provided one type of ePDF, 142 lecture and 570 surgical procedure video clips, five interactive CME programs and 107 CME credit programs. In JBJS, one kind of ePDF, 97 video clips, 24 case discussions, and 37 CME credit programs were provided. In AOSpine, 12 types of ePDFs, 994 video clips, one interactive content, and 347 case discussions were provided. In Arthroscopy, one type of ePDF and 126 video clips were supplied. All web-contents were available. CONCLUSION: A large number of better quality web-contents and web-based CME credit programs should be implemented with standardized IT for Web-based CME in domestic orthropaedic societies.

Application of Social Network Analysis to Health Care Sectors / 대한의료정보학회지

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to examine the feasibility of social network analysis as a valuable research tool for indicating a change in research topics in health care and medicine. METHODS: Papers used in the analysis were collected from the PubMed database at the National Library of Medicine. After limiting the search to papers affiliated with the National Institutes of Health, 27,125 papers were selected for the analysis. From these papers, the top 100 non-duplicate and most studied Medical Subject Heading terms were extracted. NetMiner V.3 was used for analysis. Weighted degree centrality was applied to the analysis to compare the trends in the change of research topics. Changes in the core keywords were observed for the entire group and in three-year intervals. RESULTS: The core keyword with the highest centrality value was "Risk Factor," followed by "Molecular Sequence Data," "Neoplasms," "Signal Transduction," "Brain," and "Amino Acid Sequence." Core keywords varied between time intervals, changing from "Molecular Sequence Data" to "Risk Factors" over time. "Risk Factors" was added as a new keyword and its social network was expanded. The slope of the keywords also varied over time: "Molecular Sequence Data," with a high centrality value, had a decreasing slope at certain intervals, whereas "SNP," with a low centrality value, had an increasing slope at certain intervals. CONCLUSIONS: The social network analysis method is useful for tracking changes in research topics over time. Further research should be conducted to confirm the usefulness of this method in health care and medicine.

Development of Standardized and Competency-Based Curriculum in Nursing Informatics / 대한의료정보학회지

OBJECTIVE: The purposes of this study were to analyze the current status of nursing informatics course and to develop the standardized curriculum in nursing informatics course based on competency. METHODS: Data were collected through two phases. In the first phase, a survey was conducted on 115 nursing institutions to analyze the current status of nursing informatics course. In the second phase, two-round delphi technique was developed to determine the priority and relative weight of contents in nursing informatics course. Final samples composed of both 43 nursing institutions and 11 nursing informatics experts. RESULTS: Out of 43 nursing schools, 13 nursing schools offered nursing informatics course. Nursing informatics was taught mostly to the second year and had 2 credits. About 54% of respondents disagreed that nursing informatics should be included in the license examination for Registered Nurse. The subject matrix by priority and relative weight and a standardized curriculum for nursing informatics were developed. CONCLUSION: Continuous application and revision of nursing informatics curriculum should be needed.

The Quality Evaluation of Information of Websites on Colorectal Cancer Using the DISCERN Instrument

PURPOSE: Many patients rely on the Internet for medical information. In Korea, there are many websites providing medical information, but the quality of these websites relating to colorectal cancer remains to be clarified. This study was performed to evaluate the quality of websites providing information on colorectal cancer. METHODS: Firstly, sites were identified using four major domestic search engines and were classified according to the administrator. Then, two surgical oncologists used the 'DISCERN' instrument to assess 12 sites (including 2 foreign sites) for the reliability and the quality of the information on treatment choice. RESULTS: Total 297 sites were identified using the search term 'colorectal cancer'. Excluding dead links or duplicated sites, 148 sites were identified. When the sites had been classified according to the administrator of the websites, 115 (77.7%) were identified as local clinic or hospital sites, 8 (5.4%) as medical school sites, 7 (4.7%) as institute or public health sites, 11 (7.4%) as commercial sites, and 7 (4.7%) as private sites. The results of the evaluations by the two examiners showed moderate inter-examiner reliability (K=0.41). The evaluations of the domestic sites by using DISCERN showed serious or important shortcomings in the quality of information on treatment choices and in reliability. Among these domestic websites, the quality of information provided at private or local hospital sites was poorer than that provided at institute or public health sites. CONCLUSIONS: About 80% of the websites providing medical information on colorectal cancer were identified as private or local hospital sites. Evaluations of the information provided at domestic sites showed serious or important shortcomings.

A Korean MeSH Keyword Suggestion System for Medical Paper Indexing / 대한의료정보학회지

OBJECTIVE: Indexing medical documents is important to retrieve medical information efficiently, but it is labor intensive and an annoying task for indexers or authors. This paper presents that whether an automatic indexing program can help the human task for Korean medical keyword indexing. METHODS: We developed an automatic indexing program using Korean Medical Subject Heading(K-MeSH) and evaluated the performance as compared with technical indexers and authors. RESULTS: Experimental result was that the current program's performance was much lower than technical indexers', but it was same as the authors' performance. CONCLUSION: The result showed that it is very affirmative to develop the automatic indexing program to help authors at least, and to help technical indexers with improving the program by enriching K-MeSH and utilizing K-MeSH structure.

A Study on the Academic Paper Review Process of Medical Societies / 대한의료정보학회지

The subjects in this study were the directors in charge of article inspection from 127 academies that are registered with the Korea Academy of Medical Science. After a questionnaire was prepared covering the examination process, judging committee organization, problems with examination and possible reform measures, a survey was conducted by e-mail and facsimile from October 4 through 20, 2001. The responses from 79 academies were gathered, a response rate of 62.2%, and the collected data were analyzed with SAS. The most common examination process was C type, which convenes publishing committees, employed by 59 academies_(74.6%), and these institutes found it satisfactory. Thirty-four academies_(43.0%) had 10 to 19 judges, and these judges were separately in charge of different fields, whereas 79 academies_(77.3%) allocated five or less judges to each field. Thirty_(38.0%) academies had their judges comply with related official directions or guidelines, and 50 academies_(63.3%) conducted investigation just twice. Fifty-four academies_(68.4%) weren't satisfied with their examination process. As for the problems with the examination process, many_(41.8%) pointed out that it's time-consuming work and that a lot of procedures were repeated. Concerning the benefit of the online examination program, 41 academies_(51.9%) thought that it was more efficient and less time-consuming. Forty-one academies_(51.9%) were aware of the online examination program, but only 23 academies_(29.1%) were willing to use it. In order to realize an online paper review, there should be appropriate criteria and guidelines for the construction of an online paper review system that suits various types of paper review process employed by the academies. The usability of online information and technology for more efficient and higher-quality judgment should be widely be publicized, and consideration should be given for the types of paper review system that might be suitable for those who are neither aware of the use of the internet nor willing to utilize.

The Current Status of Utilization and Demand on Cancer Information in the Faculties of Medical School in Korea / 예방의학회지

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the availability and demand for overall cancer-related information, and to establish a basic plan for the construction of a cancer database and information system based on the research results from Korea. METHODS: Postal and telephone surveys were carried out, between August 2001 and November 2001, of 323 affiliated faculty professors from medical universities and colleges in Korea. The data were analyzed with descriptive statistical methods, with regard to the present status and demand for health and cancer-related information. RESULTS: Most (over 80%) subjects studied utilized the health-related information provided on Internet website from foreign countries, such as Medline, but similar comprehensive information system lacked in Korea. The construction of a cancer-related database of domestic research results was revealed to be in a great demand. Information on registration and statistics (52.8%), study results (48.5%) and study resources (37.4%) were the major ingredients required in the database. In constructing a database of the cancer-related research results, a full-text service, continuous updating of data, and the development of standardized user-friendly searching tool were regarded as the necessary components. The formulation of an information sharing system, regarding cancer-related clinical trials, was investigated as being quite feasible. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated the great importance of cancer information systems, and much demand for an available cancer-related database based on Korean research results.

Survival of All Cancer Patients in Korea through 2-Year Follow-Up

Cancer is the most frequent cause of death in both developing and developed countries, including Korea. The aim of this study was to present survival rates of Korean cancer patients. Survival analysis was carried out with data collected under the Korea Central Cancer Registry Program, which included all cancer patients diagnosed from January 1, 1997 to December 31, 1997. We have analyzed the effects of age at diagnosis and sex on cancer survival from the cancer registry data of 64,240 Korean patients diagnosed of cancer in 1997. The overall survival rate of all Korean cancer patients (both men and women) was 67% at 1 yr and 57% at 2 yr. The 1- and 2-yr survival rates for all cancers in men were 58% and 47%, respectively, while those in women were 77% and 69%, respectively. Men had a lower survival rate than women in most malignancies. The pancreatic cancer was shown the lowest 1-yr survival rate.

Study on Establishment of Disease Database and Query System Through Internet Using Uniform Hospital Discharge Data Sets / 대한의료정보학회지

It is necessary to have accurate statistical data of disease for planning and evaluating public health policy as well as assessing population health index. The national health insurance data is the only data to assess incidence of diseases nation-wide. However, inaccuracy of the data pose serious limitations of use of the data. The Medical Record Departments of individual health facilities have used discharge summary information for hospital management and clinical research, but a nation-wide integrated database of diseases has not been setup and utilized. We applied previously developed Korean Uniform Hospital Discharge Data Sets to collect discha rge summary data from health care facilities and establish integrated database. We also made the question and answer column about disease of the database in the internet. We collected patient discharge data from a tertiary-care hospital for one year using the electronic discharge summary data collection system, except for health care costs. The internet querying system provided optional selection of columns or rows, individual and/or disease groups and surgical procedures. To make query easy, the system provided various functions like querying codes of diseases and/or surgical operations, reviewing questions, downloading results via excel files, help functions of query. The establishment of disease database and the interactive system through internet is in its inception, further studies may be necessary to make it a user friendly and accurate system. There is a need of an accurate assessment of current population-based health status and future trends in Korea. It is hoped that this study may trigger to establish national accurate database for enhancing studies of health policy making, clinical research and vital health statistics by expanding data collections to the se condary- care and primary- care institutions.

The Analysis of Health Promotion Information On the Internet / 대한의료정보학회지

The recent widespread use of computers and improvement of the internet technology have made people of every walk of life get plenty of information of various contents, including health and medicine. However, the efforts to verify and evaluate those Internet-based information fall far short of the ever-increasing number of web-sites dealing with health and medicine. These efforts are particularly important for the web-sites regarding health promotion, because they can render the general population to nourish their potentials to lead healthy lives, and provide wide variety of information, including every steps of natural courses of diseases till death. In the present study, a total of 100 web-sites regarding health promotion were selected through six domestic major searching engines, considering the contents and methods of evaluation. The evaluations were performed as to the 8 items comprising 3 fields, or the owners' credentials, transparency of sponsorship, and information publication form, along with analyses of the conditions of information-providing agencies and forms of providing on-line education program for health promotion. Results have shown that the average of the total marks of evaluation was 4.52 out of 8. The web-sites with points of +1SD from the average or more (6~8 points) accounted for 19% and those with -1SD from the average or less (~3 points) accounted for 20%. Only 2% of the total web-sites evaluated showed full marks (8 points). As to the agencies providing information, relevant social organizations, including corporations, accounted for the largest part (25%), followed by joint-stock companies and sales companies, which accounted for 24%. These figures represent a maximum of 6-fold as much as information provided by organizations with public confidence, such as institutes, hospitals, and public health centers. In addition, up to 81% of the on-line education programs were provided in the form of usual text, suggesting the lack of appropriate technology of providing information. On the other hand, the number of web-sites on health promotion/risk factors showed differences according to the searching engines used, and the number of those regarding health promotion was larger than that regarding risk factors for health. There was no single web-site searched commonly by five or six engines, and most web-sites were searched by only one engine. These results show that continuous systematic controls and evaluations are needed for the internet web-sites on health promotion, and that these require government-driven analyses of information contents, standardization, and comprehensive support.

Relationship between Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty Volume and Associated Immediate Outcome / 예방의학회지

OBJECTIVES: To explore the relationship between Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty (PTCA) volume and the associated immediate outcome. METHODS: A total of 1,379 PTCAs were performed in 25 hospitals in Korea between October 1 and December 31 in 1997. Data from 1,317 PTCAs (95.5%) were collected through medical record abstraction. Inter-observer reliability of the data was examined using the Kappa statistic on a subsample of 110 PTCA procedures from five hospitals. Intra-observer reliability of the data was also examined. PTCA success and immediate adverse outcomes were selected as the outcome variables. A successful PTCA was defined as a case that shows less than 50% diameter stenosis and more than 20% reduction of diameter stenosis. Immediate adverse outcomes included deaths during the same hospitalization, emergency coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) within 24 hours after PTCA, and acute myocardial infarction within 24 hours after PTCA. The numbers of PTCAs performed in 1997 per hospital were used as the volume variables. RESULTS: Without adjusting for patient risk factors that may affect outcomes, procedures at high volume hospitals (200 cases per year) had a greater success rate (P=0.001) than low volume hospitals. There was a marginally significant difference (P=0.070) in major adverse outcome rates between high and low volume hospitals. After adjusting for risk factors, there were significant differences in procedural failure and major adverse outcome rates between high and low volume hospitals. CONCLUSIONS: After adjusting for patient clinical risk factors, the hospital volume of PTCA was associated with immediate outcomes. It is recommended that a PTCA volume per year be established in order to improve the immediate outcome of this procedure in Korea.

Analysis of the Abstracts of Cancer Related Articles Published from 1990 to 1996 in Korea / 예방의학회지

OBJECTIVE: To explore the status of cancer research in the Republic of Korea. METHODS: Thirty-eight medical journals, published in Korea between 1990 and 1996, were reviewed for abstracts relating to cancer research. Of the 5,899 eligible abstracts related to cancer, 4,732 were collected and evaluated. RESULTS: Including first author and first two co-authors, a total of 7,427 authors were identified. Those who published an average of one or more article per one year were defined as cancer researchers for this study. This group, however, accounted for a small proportion of the total (3.1%). Analysis of the selected abstracts showed that the study goals in more than half focused on pathophysiologic mechanisms. Studies that were designed to use causal relationships such as cohort studies and randomized controlled trials were rare. A greater number of analytic and experimental studies were found in abstracts published by the cancer researcher group. More advanced study designs that explored causal relationships and analytic procedures were found in abstracts published later than those abstracts published from 1990 to 1992. CONCLUSION: Our findings show that researchers who published more articles adopted more advanced study designs. This study provides primary data that can be used to compare the status of cancer research in future studies.

A Survey Study of Organizational Situation of Medical Record Department for Producation of Disease Statistics on National Basis / 대한의료정보학회지

The purpose of this study was to survey the organizational situation of medical record department(MRD) in hospitals to identify the factors influencing the production ol disease statistics in Korea. 134 hospitals answered for the structured questionnaires mailed to the 218 hospitals. This studs results are as follows. 1 ) There were three types in organizational situation of MRD: independent department (70.1%) a unit in other department (26.1 %) .and in the rest 3.7%. there were no MRD or unit. 2) The differences of work performed in MR ~) or on it in the second referral level hospitals and the third referral level hospitals were statistically significant in incomplete medical record management(p<0.05) DRG coding supplying research data, quality improvement activity. cancer registration(p<0.01) and transeription of medical record( p<0.0l). 3) 66.4% of the target hospitals were performing the recheeking of disease classification data after reponsible physicians completed the incomplete record 4) statistically significant variables which affect works performed in MRD are organizational situation of MRD(<0.001) and the number of medical record professionals. 41.3% of variation of works performed in MRD was explained by variation of organizational situation and the number of medical record professionals.