On January 4th, St. Luke Society Korea held an orientation for the 2nd medical dreamer for high-school students in Seoul, Korea. The orientation took place at the lecture hall of the Seoul National University Of Dentistry Hospital. On this day, a total of 90 people participated including parents.

Especially this year, the second generation from Olivet Teen Mission with interest in the medical field, also joined the orientation and learned about the program. The orientation began with a short video clip of the last year’s orientation, followed by an introduction of the mentors and assistant mentors. This included a short sharing of their testimony as to why they decided to become medical professionals. Additionally, the overall schedule and the topics of the mentoring program was introduced, together with the schedule for the hospital visit and its activities in which students can participate. 

Furthermore, the benefits that students can receive from the program were explained, as well as rules for participating in the program. Afterward, the orientation concluded by introducing staff and the activities of SLS, such as short-term overseas medical mission, ‘Healing Hands’, and leadership seminars.

One of the participating students shared, “I joined the orientation not knowing what to expect, but I found it to be more professional than I thought it would, and I think it’s going to be a good experience for me. Especially, I’m looking forward to the time where I can learn about the lifestyle of nurses.”

Another student shared, “This kind of opportunity is rare and I’m hoping that I can confirm my dream through this program. Also, as one of the mentor doctors mentioned, I wish I could be a doctor who cannot only bring the physical healing but also the inner healing. I’m looking forward to the 1 on 1 mentoring out of all the programs prepared.” 

On June 23, St. Luke Society held a leadership seminar titled ‘Effective Hospital Human Resource Management’ in the classroom of Deokkyeong Choi at Main Building of Korea University Medical School at 6 PM.

The leadership seminar is expected to play an important role in the outreach and expand the mobilization of the power of St. Luke Society. In this lecture, which lasted about 2 hours, a lot of Christians including Christian medical workers participated and showed a keen interest.

In particular, the seminar talks about the meaningful time to think about the difficulties that come from the personnel management of the hospital organization as a Christian medical practitioner. It was suggested that efficient communication between the leader and the team members are necessary.

Dr. Jisung Ryu, who lectured on the day, presented the Cleveland Clinic in the United States as an example of innovation in hospital/personnel management. He said, “Everyone plays an important role in treating patients, whether they are patients, doctors, cashiers or cleaners. At the time, Cleveland Hospital innovated the past concept that distinguished physicians from regular employees to that treats all members equally as a “Caregiver.”

The hospital staff became ‘Caregiver’ who cares for the patient, not the employees, but changed the structure of cooperation for everyone’s care for the patient’s care.

Dr. Ryu said, “The gifts are different from person to person, and we can not say, ‘You are a foot, so you are not important’, but every member is a precious body that forms one body (1 Corinthians 12). Also, he emphasized the Servant Leadership with saying, “Whether he or she believes in Jesus or not in the hospital, everyone is a precious person working together for the patient, and the patient is whome Jesus sent to our hospital.”

Finally, after the question and answer session and the introduction of St. Luke Society, all the schedule was finished with full of grace.

On June 23, St. Luke Society held a leadership seminar titled ‘Effective Hospital Human Resource/Organization Management’ in the classroom of Deokkyeong Choi at Main Building of Korea University Medical School at 6 PM.

The leadership seminar is expected to play an important role in the outreach and expand the mobilization of the power of St. Luke Society. In this lecture, which lasted about 2 hours, a lot of Christians including Christian medical workers participated and showed a keen interest.

In particular, the seminar talks about the meaningful time to think about the difficulties that come from the personnel management of the hospital organization as a Christian medical practitioner. It was suggested that efficient communication between the leader and the team members are necessary.

Dr. Jisung Ryu, who lectured on the day, presented the Cleveland Clinic in the United States as an example of innovation in hospital/personnel management. He said, “Everyone plays an important role in treating patients, whether they are patients, doctors, cashiers or cleaners. At the time, Cleveland Hospital innovated the past concept that distinguished physicians from regular employees to that treats all members equally as a “Caregiver.”

The hospital staff became ‘Caregiver’ who cares for the patient, not the employees, but changed the structure of cooperation for everyone’s care for the patient’s care.

Dr. Ryu said, “The gifts are different from person to person, and we can not say, ‘You are a foot, so you are not important’, but every member is a precious body that forms one body (1 Corinthians 12). Also, he emphasized the Servant Leadership with saying, “Whether he or she believes in Jesus or not in the hospital, everyone is a precious person working together for the patient, and the patient is whom Jesus sent to our hospital.”

Finally, after the question and answer session and the introduction of St. Luke Society, all the schedule was finished with full of grace.

A new test may enable doctors to diagnose a heart attack in as little as one hour, which would save time and money and reduce crowding in hospital emergency rooms, researchers claim.

The latest findings suggest that doctors are able to determine whether or not a heart attack had occurred in 77 percent of patients with heart attack symptoms within an hour of arrival by inputting data collected using a new and more sensitive screening technology that detects changes in cardiac troponin in the blood into an algorithm, according to research published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Rising troponin levels are an indicator of a heart attack, and current tests can take three to four and even up to six hours before doctors can detect an increase in cardiac troponin levels.

Of the 439 patients who participated in the study, 259 were classified as not having a heart attack, 76 were confirmed as having a heart attack and 101 were placed in an observational zone in an hour or less.

Researchers found that a 30-day survival was nearly 100 percent in those classified as not having a heart attack, 99 percent in those in the observational group and 95 percent in those who had experienced a heart attack in the follow-up period.

Study authors indicated that about 10 percent of all emergency room consultations are for patients with heart attack symptoms, and older tools used to read levels of cardiac troponin can stall heart attack diagnosis for as long as six hours and lead to overcrowding in emergency rooms.

Researchers said that the algorithm used in the recent study significantly shortened the time needed for rule-out and rule-in of heart attack and may remove the need for “prolonged monitoring and serial blood sampling in three of four consecutive patients with acute chest pain,” the authors concluded.

“There’s a bit more work to be done to show, that in a prospective fashion, by employing these algorithms you have good clinical results,” author of an accompanying editorial professor Kristin Newby, of Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, told Bloomberg Businessweek. “This kind of work sets the stage for that and ultimately helps move things forward.”
The more-sensitive blood screening tests are currently unavailable in the U.S., and results from the current observational study should be confirmed “prospectively for clinical decision making,” researchers wrote.

However, if these findings are confirmed in larger more comprehensive testing, algorithms used in the latest study should be integrated into clinical decision support and incorporated into electronic health records or handheld devices to make it easier for healthcare professionals to remember all the information they need, Newby suggested in her accompanying editorial.

Source:  Medicaldaily.com

As many different tactics arise to battle obesity, research experts from the Mayo Clinic believe lack of exercise should be diagnosed as a medical condition.

Physical inactivity not only plagues those who are already overweight or obese, but also it can also have a detrimental effect on normal weight people who work desk jobs, patients who are immobilized for a period of time or even women put on bed rest during pregnancy. Physical inactivity is linked to type 2 diabetes and it can also have a detrimental effect on one’s health by deconditioning one’s body leading to structural and metabolic changes.

According to Dr. Michael Joyner, Mayo Clinic physiologist, when an individual becomes deconditioned they are more likely to tire quickly and experience dizziness or other discomforting feelings. This then leads many to concede to defeat, which in turn leads to the problem getting worse instead of getting better.

“I would argue that physical inactivity is the root cause of many of the common problems that we have,” Dr. Joyner said. “If we were to medicalize it, we could then develop a way, just like we’ve done for addiction, cigarettes, and other things, to give people treatments, and lifelong treatments, that focus on behavioral modifications and physical activity. And then we can take public health measures, like we did for smoking, drunken driving, and other things, to limit physical inactivity and promote physical activity.”

Along with deconditioning the body, physical inactivity can increase an individual’s chance of developing chronic medical conditions such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, better known as POTS, a syndrome marked by an excessive heart rate and flu-like symptoms when standing or at a certain level of exercise.

In a study conducted by scholars from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, published in the Journal of Physiology, they found within just three months of exercise, individuals may be able to improve their POTS symptoms. With this new information, Dr. Joyner recommends before physicians prescribe medication, exercise should be suggested.

Dr. Joyer believes if physical inactivity was treat as a medical condition, health care providers may be able to observe the importance of prescribing supported exercise and formal rehabilitation.

For those who have been physically inactivity, Dr. Joyer suggests, “don’t jump right back into it and try to train for a marathon, start off with achievable goals and do it in small bites.”