Background: Previous research dealt with the concept of 'hygiene' in Korea, mainly regarding the modern transition summarized as 'from regimen to hygiene', has been based on qualitative research methods. However, because modern Korean language material had been constructed as a corpus with a considerable size, a quantitative approach based on language material has become possible. Through this, the provision of a new implication point can be received. Methods: The Corpus of Modern Korean Magazines, which is a morph-tagged corpus constructed based on 20 kinds of original texts of modern magazines in Korea, was utilized. In this corpus, a list of the co-occurred words of 'wisaeng [hygiene], yangsaeang [regimen], geongang [health], and cheonggyeol [cleanliness]', importantly related to the concept of 'modern hygiene' and the strength of co-occurrence that was calculated with the t-score, were extracted and analyzed. Results: Through a quantitative analysis of the corpus base, it was confirmed that the number of the co-occurred words of 'wisaeng [hygiene]' decreases and the strength of the co-occurrence gets low. In contrast, the number of the co-occurred words of 'geongang [health]' increases and the strength of the co-occurred words becomes heightened. Conclusion: Regarding the change after 'from regimen to hygiene', an analysis based on the corpus has been attempted. Through the quantitative data, the conversion into 'from hygiene to health' was confirmed. Research with such a method proves the need and the feasibility of quantitative research that supplements the previous qualitative analysis.
Background: The purpose of this study was to present a plan for utilizing electroceuticals to secure social reliability in Korea by investigating and analyzing the trends of humanities and social science research in Korea regarding electroceuticals. Methods: The present situation of academic papers in the fields of humanities and social sciences that had researched electroceuticals in Korea and the topics that were directly related to electroceuticals had been reviewed and analyzed. Results: Regarding researches related to electroceuticals in the fields of humanities and social sciences in Korea, they were insufficient quantitatively. Qualitatively, they had leaned too much toward theoretical and abstract discourses regarding neuroethics and neurophilosophy. Conclusion: If researches in the fields of humanities and social sciences known to play a role in preparing practical guidelines could be carried out sufficiently while preparing a base for solving actual problems raised by electroceuticals, they could actually help plan a specific electroceuticals policy and a law to secure social reliability. Among principles of general life medical ethics (principles of biomedical ethics), when considering the principle of justice, the investment by the Korean government regarding research and development of electroceuticals, the rationalization of electroceuticals regulations, the application of electroceuticals of public health insurance benefit, and voluntary efforts of electroceuticals corporations are important in order to have strong plans for securing the social reliability of electroceuticals.
BACKGROUND: This study attempted to identify the problem South Korea faces in its development of the medical tourism industry from the perspective of English education. METHODS: To assess the preparedness and problems of future Korean nurses in dealing with foreign patients, a questionnaire was conducted in 2017 on 146 freshman and sophomore nursing major students at CHA University in South Korea. RESULTS: Although the nursing major students were highly satisfied with the English instructors, they did not feel that the curriculum prepared them well to deal with foreign patients in the future. They also felt that the teaching methodology employed in the class should be changed to incorporate more medical content into the nursing English program. CONCLUSION: In order for South Korea to play a bigger role in the medical tourism industry, higher education institutions for medicine need to pay more attention to the English education of their students. More specifically, team-taught English for Specific Purposes (ESP) curricula should be established in order to meet the needs of future medical professionals.
BACKGROUND: This narrative review aimed to reevaluate the medical tourism sector in Iran to reveal the new trends and activities in order to know the current actual share of Iran in the competitive market of global medical tourism. METHODS: A holistic approach was adopted to analyze the information collected through a system of investigation that comprised the available secondary data, besides the information and statistical data about the associated organizations to this sector in Iran. RESULTS: Iran's medical tourism sector is consistent with the new trends in global market, which is mainly bordered countries-based, cultural-oriented, and diasporic type of travelling. CONCLUSION: It would be more realistic in the contemporary situation to focus the promotions on the border countries, and design the policy, and implementation in accordance with their cultural and social preferences. Activities in both levels of governmental and micro-level planning are demanded, under the cover of a comprehensive monitoring system. This review will benefit researchers exploring the updated evaluation of Iran's medical tourism; also, it provides helpful insights to authorities in both governmental and private sector.
BACKGROUND: Medical tourism is a type of service sector in which there is direct interaction between healthcare practitioners and patient-customers, leading to several challenges due to cultural and social background differences. We aimed to investigate the determinants of delivering a culturally-oriented service in medical tourism sector. METHODS: Adopting an exploratory qualitative approach, interviews were conducted through a semi-structured procedure with authorities across various medical sectors in South Korea in winter 2017. Participants were all involved in and aware of the medical tourism sector, both academically and clinically. The interview transcripts were coded through a systematic thematic analysis. RESULTS: In order to focus on non-clinical service in medical tourism sector, and a system of cultural competence delivery, three main themes were identified: 1) The personal characteristics of doctors; 2) External supports to be provided by the associated organisations; and finally, 3) Skilfulness, which implies the culturally-oriented interaction with foreign patients. CONCLUSION: Several strategies are suggested to address the non-clinical challenges and conflicts in doctor-patient interaction in the sector of medical tourism. It is likely that providing a culturally-oriented service in this sector demands for a comprehensive planning, and several strategies for implementation in order to support and train a team of skilful doctors with non-clinical characteristics. These finding will likely have insights for those organisations searching to improve their performance in the medical tourism sector.
BACKGROUND: There is a growing global demand for medical tourism while more people are moving across borders in Asia, offering new opportunities to the high-value medical tourism market. The purpose of this study was to provide grounds for promoting the International Meditour Coordinator (IMC), issued as a national license in Korea and to provide the evidence for the efficient use of the IMC in the field of health care. METHODS: We examined the trend of professional manpower in the rapidly-changing Korean medical market by analyzing the operational status of professional manpower in order to promote medical tourism, which began in 2009 in Korea. We also analyzed the problems of the national qualification system for the IMC and sought to improve the professionalism and usability of the national qualification system by improving the quality satisfaction of the professionals who support the growth of the medical tourism industry. RESULTS: In Korea, IMCs are responsible for detailed support services in clinics, support to tourists, medical tourism marketing to support the advancement of domestic and international medical institutions in each market, medical tourism counseling, risk management, and administrative work, thereby contributing to the development and enhancement of competitiveness in Korea's global healthcare industry. CONCLUSION: To support the growth of the medical tourism industry, which is a global trend, and increase user satisfaction with the quality of medical tourist services, it is urgently necessary to establish human resource management policy guidelines in the medical tourism industry based on the current operational status of professional human resources and the future prospect of supply and demand in the sector.
BACKGROUND: Medical tourism suffers from the lack of a consensus regarding the involved categories. This study aimed to address this gap from the academic disciplines and publications perspective. METHODS: Totally 1954 citations were identified through a formula of keyword search of SCOPUS. In order to classify the various subject areas, we followed the international standard classification of education (ISCED) developed by UNESCO. Moreover, the trends of publications were identified based on their popularity between 2000 and 2017. RESULTS: The category with the most interests on publication about medical tourism was 'health and welfare', followed by 'social science'. Even though various disciplines were involved in the medical tourism, it seems that a downward trend has been experienced since 2015. CONCLUSION: The identified key trends of medical tourism publications will benefit researchers exploring the categories of medical tourism or health travel. The results contribute to advance the state of knowledge from the academic perspective.
BACKGROUND: This study aimed to determine the efficient factors that potentially lead to the barriers of developing medical tourism in South Korea. METHODS: To explore the current medical tourism trend, a qualitative procedure was adopted. Besides analyzing the current situation of medical tourism in Korea through a systematic searching on the available information and publications, in-depth-interviews were conducted to collect data from relevant authorities and representatives of medical tourism associations in this country. RESULTS: The result revealed, although government have supported this industry, that lack of specialty and expertise among the health care practitioners in the scope of cross cultural communication, seems to be the core barrier to development of medical tourism in Korea. Demands for convenient promotional activities, policy making and action regulation are the other effective factors. DISCUSSION: Several strategies are required in order to address and combat these barriers, such as governmental support for cultural training, cooperative efforts to encourage health practitioners involved to enhance their cultural and linguistic competence in international scale.
BACKGROUND: This paper examined the political and social implications of the Compendium de epidemia prescription written by the Masters of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Paris in the mid-14th century during the Black Death. This study aimed to examine how the effects of power as a discourse owned by medical knowledge are revealed. METHODS: This paper outlines the composition of the contents based on the 1888 edition edited and translated by Émile H. Rébouis and notes the features of the prescription examined by the existing study of medical history rather than the causes of diseases. RESULTS: Compendium de epidemia seems to have been written primarily for the royal family and nobles who ordered them when looking at prescription-related technologies. At the same time, under the influence of Islamic-Arabic academia, it clearly distinguishes the world of faith and the world of academia (intelligence), explaining the pathogenesis and infection pathways based on causality. The onset substrate is due to heat and humidity, and the prescription is to prevent the two from overdoing in the body. In particular, issues related to heat are criticized in connection with the value of life of knight-noblesse. This is in response to political criticism of the ineffectual French royal family and nobility at the beginning of the Hundred Years' War and shows why this tract sets the utilitas publica at the forefront as an important purpose. CONCLUSION: The conclusion has shown how medical knowledge produced on the Black Death pandemic how they function as discourses that have a sort of power effect on the value of life of knight-noblesse. It is necessary to conduct if these phenomena can be found in other contemporary medical writings.
BACKGROUND: Modern hygiene administration in Japan and Korea began to be organized in the end of 19th Century by accepting Western public health system. Then, how did the elite in these two East Asian countries recognize and understand Western public health movement in the 19th Century? Answering this question could provide historical knowledge about the background of starting modern hygiene administration in East Asia. METHODS: To understand the birth of modern public health system in East Asia, Japanese and Korean elite's records on Western countries were reviewed. The documents examined were The Iwakura Embassy 1871-73 published in 1878 as an account of Japanese Meiji government's special ambassador sent to the United States and Europe, and Seoyugyeonmun (observations on travels in the West) published in 1895 by a Korean intelligent. RESULTS: The Iwakura Embassy 1871-73 suggested modern water supply and drainage, roadside trees, and parks, to prevent contagious diseases and improve urban hygiene. Seoyugyeonmun emphasizes that hygiene is an important task that civilized government has to be in charge. So, specific tasks of public health should be imposed on sanitary police. CONCLUSION: Public health was one of the major factors that contributed to national prosperity in the 19th century. Such recognition enabled organization of hygiene administration to be part of the project pursuing enlightenment, modernization, and civilization at the end of the 19th century in Japan and Korea.
