The number of patent applications using augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) for medical use has shot up in the past six years, government data showed.The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) on Tuesday released its analysis on patent application trends related to AR/VR-using medical technologies between 1998 and 2017. According to KIPO, the total number of
Medical expenses around the world are expected to continue to rise next year, and cancer is the leading cause of medical costs, a report said.Kim Hye-ran, a researcher at the Korea Insurance Research Institute (KIRI), summarized the “2019 Global Medical Trends Survey Report” by Willis Towers Watson.According to the survey on 307 insurance companies in 77 countries, the ratio of medical exp
A hospitals’ group pressed charges against two tertiary hospitals for ordering physician assistants (PA) to perform surgeries or run risky medical exams without the supervision of a physician.The incidents came after some hospitals came under fire for allowing unlicensed medical device salespersons to perform ghost surgeries.The Korean Hospital Doctors Association said it filed a complaint
As hospitals run 24 hours a day, Korean nurses usually work in three shifts a day – eight hours each for the day, evening, and night. Due to the rotation of the shifts, having a regular work schedule is almost a dream come true for nurses. If their working schedule goes night-off-day, they work through the night until early morning, hand over the work for about two hours, and prepare to start
The Korean Society of Nuclear Medicine (KSNM) is urging the government to reverse its drastic cut in insurance coverage for nuclear medicine, after failing to fill even 5 percent of the quota for nuclear medicine specialists for 2019.Only one trainee physician applied for residency as a nuclear medicine specialist for 24 positions for 2019 at 51 major university hospitals as of Wednesday, the
The Korean Intern Resident Association (KIRA) said it would conduct an online fact-finding survey to tackle the problem of hospitals forcing trainee physicians to pay cash when starting residency.The online survey is available at https://goo.gl/KciYkY.According to complaints reported to KIRA in the past three years, many training hospitals demanded fresh trainee physicians to pay 2 million
Most of the Korean nurses preparing to land a job in the U.S. said they were anticipating better working conditions in America.More than 100 nurses and nursing students interested in American jobs gathered at the Korea Human Resource Development Institute for Health & Welfare (KOHI)’s education center in Seoul, Thursday, to attend a briefing on strategies to get employed as a nurse in the U.S.
Dozens of hospitals and clinics in Seoul have been illegally selling Saxenda, a prescription treatment for weight control, without a prescription, the police said. The clinics also advertised the drug to the general public, even though such ad is prohibited.The Seoul Metropolitan Government’s police team for civil and judicial affairs on Friday said they were investigating 24 hospitals and cli
A surgeon at the National Medical Center has allowed a medical device company’s head and the company’s worker assist surgeries for several years, a lawmaker’s report revealed.Korea Biomedical Review exclusively reported on Oct. 2 that the state-run hospital ordered a medical device salesman, who had no medical license, to assist a spinal surgery and even suture.Related story: [Exclusive] ‘
The National Medical Center is reportedly going after a whistleblower who revealed that the hospital allowed a medical device salesperson to assist a spinal surgery.According to NMC staffs, the hospital is leaking a rumor that a specific worker is the informant, and closely monitoring suspicious employees and the reactions around them.The employees added that the hospital was warning to th
A nursing college has coerced students to exercise synchronized movements for a Nightingale Pledge ceremony and micromanaging their outfit and hairstyle, an online community revealed.Nursing schools hold the Nightingale Pledge event for college graduates before they move on to clinical practice. At the event, students vow to keep nurses’ ethics and principles, wearing nurse dress uniforms and
Eight associations of medical laboratory scientists in Korea have voiced up for a clarified role of their job and better treatment.The eight groups, including the Korea Association of Medical Technologists, the Korean Radiological Technologists Association, and the Korea Physical Therapy Association, met up at the Grand Hall of Yonsei University in Seoul, Friday, to present their demands in he
Kyung Hee University Medical Center (KHMC) has opened Humanitas, a cancer center which provides integrated treatment covering all areas of clinical treatment. It is the first hospital of the kind opened in Korea. KHMC introduced Humanitas cancer center holding a news conference at the center’s seminar room. The cancer hospital will open to the public on Monday and will provide integrated t
The National Medical Center allegedly allowed a medical device salesman, who had no medical license, to assist a spinal surgery and even suture, a source familiar with the matter told Korea Biomedical Review via e-mail.According to the informer, the salesman from Medtronic Korea participated in the spinal surgery of a patient, led by an NMC neurosurgeon on Sept. 12. The whistle-
An article on an online community of nurses revealed that a college in the Seoul metropolitan area forced nursing students to practice enema themselves as part of training. The writer of the article is presumed to be one of the nursing students.According to the revelation, the students had to draw lots to choose who will become the subject of enema training. The whistleblower said the coercive
A group of local pharmacists urged the government to allow legitimate sales of the morning-after pill Mifegyne. The emergency contraception pill is not available in Korea because the local law bans abortion.The Korean Pharmacists for Democratic Society (KPDS) on Thursday released an article online, claiming that the proportion of women who decide to get an abortion remains unchanged regardless
Some online drug stores have been found to have sold abortion pill Mifegyne (ingredient: mifepristone) indiscriminately in Korea.Mifegyne is a prescription medicine, but it is not available in the nation because the local law bans abortion. Distributing the abortion pill is illegal, too.However, typing Mifegyne on major search engines, including Nave,r led to more than 10 sites promoting M
Korean obstetricians and gynecologists have declared to boycott all procedures of abortion in protest to the anti-abortion law. They emphasized that the government will have to take responsibility for causing chaos because it toughened administrative rules to punish abortion-performing doctors without any social consensus.The Korean Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (KAOG) said al
A report by the South Korean government’s settlement center for North Korean defectors revealed that 81 percent of over 3,000 people who fled from the North to the South were infected with tuberculosis (TB). The results could offer a glimpse into the health status of North Koreans.Jeon Jeong-hee, a nursing officer at the Hanawon settlement center, released her findings at the “North Korea Tube
Even before the medical community could recover from the shocking incidence of a drunken patient attacking a doctor in an emergency room in Iksan, North Jeolla Province, physicians had suffered a series of assaults every day recently.In Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, a drunkard kicked a rescue worker and a nurse at a hospital. In Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, an intoxicated university stude