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Considering no differences in the F1 scores, both approaches may be used in practice for mapping drug indications to ICD-10. However, in terms of consistency, time and manpower, better results are expected from the indirect terminology based approach.

Background We developed a 41-item tool measuring cultural differences in healthcare as perceived by foreign patients visiting South Korea. Methods The tool was tested on 256 foreign patients who visited three tertiary hospitals in Seoul, South Korea. Content validity was explored by two physicians and eight nurses working in an international healthcare department. Structural validity was tested via exploratory factor analysis and by testing two hypotheses: (1) there are perceived cultural differences between the South Korean healthcare and those of foreign patients’ home countries (one-sample t-test); and, (2) Perceived cultural differences vary among language groups (analysis of variance). We also calculated Cronbach’s alpha. Results The content validity index of the tool was 0.97. Exploratory factor analysis identified seven significant factors: hospital care and services, food, the healthcare system, communication, the healthcare facility, religion, and cultural values. The overall Cronbach’s alpha for the tool was 0.96, indicating very high internal consistency. We found that foreign patients visiting South Korean hospitals perceived that the healthcare culture differed significantly from that of their home country. The perceived cultural differences varied significantly by language group. Conclusions Nurses can use our new tool to understand the cultural differences of foreign patients and provide them with culturally competent nursing care.

The objective of this study was to map pharmaceutical claim codes to SNOMED CT and thereby facilitate multicenter collaborative research and improve semantic interoperability. The claim codes were mapped to SNOMED CT using rule-based automated and manual methods. The maps were internally validated by terminologists and a pharmacist. Finally, 80% of all claim codes were mapped to the concepts of Pharmaceutical/biologic product hierarchy in SNOMED CT. Of them, 50.6% of the codes were exactly mapped to one clinical drug branch concept.

PurposeThis study aimed to explore symptom trajectories over 24 months for hot flushes and sweating, sleep problems, joint and muscular discomfort, and physical and mental exhaustion experienced by premenopausal women diagnosed with tamoxifen-treated breast cancer.MethodsA total of 104 patients participated in the study. The menopausal symptoms were examined using the Menopausal Rating Scale at baseline, 3–6, 12, and 18–24 months after initiating tamoxifen. The changes over four time points were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance. The chi-square test was used to examine the differences between “no symptom-to-mild” and “moderate-to-extremely severe” 3–6 months after initiating tamoxifen according to the patients’ chemotherapy treatment experiences.ResultsAll menopausal symptoms occurred in > 70% of patients with breast cancer and persisted until 24 months. More than 50% of patients experienced four menopausal symptoms, with at least two at a serious severity level after initiating tamoxifen. Hot flushes and sweating occurred in the highest number of patients, recording high scores. Sleep problems and physical and mental exhaustion exhibited relatively high scores, even before tamoxifen initiation. There were significant changes over four time points in all symptoms. Young patients aged < 40 years experienced more severe sleep problems, and patients who had previously received chemotherapy experienced more severe joint and muscular discomfort.ConclusionsThis study’s findings may assist in alerting healthcare providers to menopausal symptoms that develop during tamoxifen therapy and the need for early and active intervention to minimize symptom occurrence and distress.