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Objective: The purpose of this study was to report three cases of post-COVID-19 dry cough that persisted even after taking Western medicine but was successfully treated with Maekmundong-tang.Methods: Three patients who were treated with Maekmundong-tang from March to June 2022 were selected from patients who visited Dong-Eui University Korean Medicine Hospital with post-Covid-19 dry cough. Jeil Maekmundong-tang Ext. granules were used to improve the cough. The effect of the treatment was evaluated using a visual analog scale, cough symptom score, and cough assessment test.Results: After the treatment, Cases 1, 2, and 3 showed decreases from 90 to 30, 65 to 0, and 70 to 20, respectively, for the visual analog scale score, decreases from 9 to 3, 5 to 0, and 5 to 3, respectively, for the cough symptom score, and decreases from 20 to 4, 9 to 1, and 8 to 3, respectively, for the cough assessment test score.Conclusion: Maekmundong-tang provided an effective improvement in the post-COVID-19 dry cough that persisted even after taking Western medicine.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of Yigong-san on anorexia in children by conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs).Methods: Eleven electronic databases were searched on May 30, 2022 to collect relevant studies. All studies published up to the search date were considered. RCTs reporting the effect of Yigong-san on the treatment of anorexia in children were included. The primary outcome was an improvement in clinical anorexia symptoms after treatment. In this meta-analysis, continuous and binary outcomes were assessed, and the data were presented as the mean difference and risk ratio with their 95% confidence intervals. The risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration’s risk of bias tool.Results: A total of nine studies were included in this systematic review. The treatment group (Yigong-san only or Yigong-san plus conventional treatment) showed a statistically significant effect compared to the control group (conventional treatment only) in total effective rate (Yigong-san only: RR 1.26, 95% CI 1.17, 1.36, I2=0%; Yigong-san plus conventional treatment: RR 1.32, 95% CI 1.18, 1.47, I2=0%), clinical symptoms, some of the anthropometric outcomes, and biological markers related to appetite and growth in children with anorexia. No serious adverse events related to Yigong-san were reported.Conclusions: Yigong-san showed statistically significant effects as a treatment for anorexia in children. However, the number of studies included in the meta-analysis was insufficient, and the herbs contained in the Yigong-san used in the included studies were not standardized. Future research should focus on the implementation of methodologically robust clinical research.

Objective: This report describes the case of a patient with essential tremors of the mouth and hands, which were improved by Yeokhan-san treatment.Methods: To relieve the symptoms, Korean medicine treatments, including Yeokhan-san, Ohaeng-Hwa acupuncture, and electronic moxibustion, were performed. To evaluate the effects of the treatments, the visual analog scale and Fahn-Tolosa-Marin clinical rating scale for tremor were used.Results: After the treatment, the patient's clinical symptoms were improved. The visual analog scale score decreased from 10 to 2 for the hand tremor and from 10 to 1 for the mouth tremor. The Fahn-Tolosa-Marin tremor scores decreased from 3 to 1 for both the hand and mouth tremors.Conclusions: The present case suggests that Yeokhan-san and Ohaeng-Hwa acupuncture are effective for the treatment of essential tremor.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to review and analyze the trends in prospective clinical research (PCR), project, clinical study protocol of Korean medicine (KM) for dementia. Methods: We searched PCRs of KM on dementia in six electronical databases, up to January 28, 2021. Moreover, the clinical research protocol and projects of KM for dementia were searched. Results: Total eight PCRs, nine projects, and three clinical study protocols were included. In the PCRs, there were one randomized controlled trial, five before and after study, and two comparative group before-after studies. Four of them used herbal medicine, two used acupuncture, one study used both herbal medicine and acupuncture, and the other one used moxibustion. Jowiseungchung-tang was the most frequently used herbal medicine. BL62, KI6 were used in electro-acupuncture, auricular-Shenmen in auricular acupuncture, and GV20 in moxibustion. The most frequent outcome was Korean-Dementia Rating Scale (K-DRS). One reported significant increase in K-DRS score, one reported 60% improvement, and the other studies mostly reported no significant difference. In the projects including 20 clinical studies of dementia, herbal medicine, integrative medicine and acupuncture were mainly used. In the protocols, herbal medicine, complex KM intervention, and integrative medicine were used. Conclusions: Currently, the number of PCRs of KM for dementia is very scarce. Therefore, the researcher's interest in this field and national research support should be made more, and the quality of clinical research in the future can be further improved by supplementing the limitations of previously published clinical research.

This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to investigate the status of emotional labor and its related factors among nurses in general hospital settings in Korea. A total of seven electronic databases were comprehensively searched to find relevant cross-sectional studies published up to 28 January 2021. The meta-analysis was performed using Stata version 13.1. In total, 131 studies were included. The population showed a standardized mean difference of 3.38 (95% confidence interval, 3.34 to 3.42) in emotional labor assessed by a 1–5 Likert scale. The level of emotional labor had significant negative correlations with job satisfaction, social support, organizational engagement, coworker support, resilience, and nurses’ work environment, while it had significant positive correlations with emotional labor and burnout, turnover intention, and job stress. Although the methodological quality of the included studies was generally good, 24 of the included studies (18.32%) were evaluated as lacking generalization potential or otherwise as unclear. In conclusion, nurses in general hospital settings in Korea experience mild-to-moderate levels of emotional labor. There is some evidence that the emotional labor of nurses and its detrimental effects can be buffered at both the individual and hospital levels, and future research should focus on developing targeted interventions and evaluating their effectiveness.

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text, Background: Dementia is becoming a major public health problem worldwide with the aging of the world's population. Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD), associated symptoms of dementia, not only predicts the poor prognosis of patients with dementia, but is also a major factor causing the care burden on caregivers, especially informal caregivers. For BPSD management, an alternative to existing psychotropic drugs is needed, given the benefit-harm ratio. Therefore, in this systematic review, we will evaluate the effectiveness and safety of herbal medicine for BPSD. Methods and analysis: Thirteen electronic databases will be comprehensively searched. Clinical studies reporting the efficacy (or effectiveness) and safety of herbal medicines in BSPD management published from their inception to December 2020 will be included. The primary outcome will be BPSD symptoms assessed by the validated tool. Moreover, total effective rate, daily living activities and quality of life of patients, burden and quality of life of caregiver, placement in a long-term care facility from home, and safety data will be regarded as the secondary outcome. Two independent researchers will perform the study selection, data extraction, and quality assessment process. To assess the methodological quality of the included studies, validated tools according to its design, such as the Cochrane Collaboration's risk of bias tool will be used. To perform meta-analysis, RevMan version 5.3 will be used, with mean differences for continuous outcomes and risk ratio for binary outcomes, and 95% confidence intervals. According to the heterogeneity and number of included studies, a fixed- or random-effects model will be used, Registration number: OSF (URL: https://osf.io/3u8ch), PROSPERO (CRD42020211000) (URL: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42020211000).

Introduction : Pattern identification (PI) is a concept compatible with the diagnosis of dementia in East Asian traditional medicine (EATM) theory, that may facilitate individualized management of dementia patients with behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD). The research question in this scoping review was as follows: “What indicative symptoms and patterns have been used when using the PI system in patients with BPSD in existing clinical studies?” Methods : This scoping review followed the framework of Arksey and O'Malley. Relevant literature published up to September 17, 2021, was retrieved from nine electronic medical databases. Information on the patterns based on the PI system, indicative symptoms and/or signs, as well as treatments for the patterns were analyzed. Results : Ten studies with 13 kinds of patterns were included. In general, hyperactivity symptoms were frequently found to be indicative symptoms in patterns related to fire and/or yin deficiency; psychotic symptoms were frequently found in patterns related to blood stasis; affective symptoms were frequently observed in patterns related to heart, spleen, and phlegm; symptoms including lethargic expression and changes in diet were frequently seen in patterns related to blood stasis and phlegm; and sleep disturbance related symptoms were frequently seen in patterns related to the liver. Conclusions : The patterns related to heart, spleen, liver, blood stasis, and phlegm were associated with symptoms related to some categories of BPSD. However, this review only presents a theoretical framework because of the lack of studies, indicating a need for further high-quality research in this field in the future.

The mental health of nurses including burnout is an important issue. The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate whether mind-body modalities improve burnout and other mental health aspects of nurses. A comprehensive search was conducted using six electronic databases. Randomized controlled trials using mind-body modalities on the mental health of nurses, up to January 2021, were included. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. Seventeen studies were included in the review. Data on mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) and yoga were available for burnout, and there was no evidence that multimodal resilience programs including MBIs statistically significantly improved burnout levels compared to no intervention or active control groups. However, one study reported that yoga could significantly improve emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, which are subscales of burnout, compared to usual care. In addition, the effects of MBIs, relaxation, yoga, and music on various mental health outcomes and stress-related symptoms have been reported. In conclusion, there was some evidence that yoga was helpful for improvement in burnout of nurses. However, due to the heterogeneity of interventions and outcomes of the studies included, further high-quality clinical trials are needed on this topic in the future.

BACKGROUND Dementia is of increasing importance, as it is a major public health problem worldwide. Sleep disturbance is common in dementia patients and may be associated with worse cognitive symptoms or behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia. Non-pharmacological approaches, such as acupuncture, for treating this clinical condition are gaining importance. This study aimed to comprehensively search and analyze randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs) of acupuncture in treating sleep disturbance or sleep disorders in dementia patients. METHODS A comprehensive search was conducted from 12 electronic databases on December 2, 2020. We included RCTs reporting the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture in treating sleep disorders or disturbance in dementia patients. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration's risk-of-bias tool. RESULTS Five articles with four original RCTs met the inclusion criteria. These studies reported clinical data suggesting that adjuvant acupuncture for hypnotics, and ear acupressure in dementia patients with sleep disorders or sleep disturbance may have clinical benefits in certain sleep-related parameters and total effective rate (TER). Only 1 study reported the safety profile of the intervention, and no acupuncture-related adverse reactions were reported. Some studies compared 2 kinds of acupuncture methods, and found that specific acupuncture methods were superior to conventional acupuncture in improving sleep-related parameters, cognitive function and TER. The methodological quality of the included clinical studies was not high. CONCLUSIONS There were limited acupuncture studies on this topic. Given the number of studies included and their sample size, methodological quality, and heterogeneities, clinically relevant conclusions could not be drawn. Further clinical studies are needed in this field considering its urgency and importance.