Background : This study was attempted to provide a basic information necessary for the development of measures evaluating perceived discomfort of the patients under local anesthesia and the developments of nursing intervention and nursing standard. Method : The study subjects were a convenience sample of 100 surgical patients under local anesthesia. The researcher visited the patients directly and explained the purpose of the study to them. Then they were asked to fill out questionnaires which were developed and structured by the researcher, under their prior permission. Out patient's data were collected at recovery room after operation. Results : Factor analysis on measures evaluating the patients under local anesthesia showed that the measures consisted of eight factors including "explanation", "humane treatment", "motion limitation", "pain", "no togetherness", "waiting", "the environment of operating room", and "unkindness". When analyzing each of the factors regarding their degree of contribution to perceived discomfort, it was found that "waiting" was highest in terms of the degree. According to general chara-cteristics of the sampled patients, the factor of "explanation" contributed to perceived discomfort more in male patients than female ones. Regarding parts of medical examination, the patients of otorhinolaryngology felt perceived discomfort most because of the factor of "pain". Conclusion : To relieve perceived discomfort the patients under local anesthesia require providing individually systematized nursing services which can reduce perceived discomfort according to each of the factors. In doing so, an unlimited attention and much effort should be given to realize CQI reaching the dimension of increase in comfort as well as decrease perceived discomfort.

Background : This study is to identify the inappropriate hospital services for elderly inpatients over 65 years in general hospital with acute care functioning. Consequently elderly inpatient care and the management of long-term care facilities are key issues for current government health policy. Method : The survey was conducted for two months for all inpatients over 65 in 7 general hospitals, 6 work sampling days randomly selected. In each survey day, the subjective judgement by medical staff on the degree of acute care needs and by nursing unit manager on hospital services of each inpatients was also conducted. Result : The total number of cases collected are 2,541 elderly inpatients, according to subjective judgements by medical staff on inpatient condition. However 46.8% of cases are turned out to be non-acute care group. The frequency of medical services provided to non-acute group are 2~3 vital sign checks per day 78.2%, IV injection 40.1%, antibiotics medication 20.2%. Conclusion : Lots of elderly patients' who are staving in acute hospitals, at present need to be transferred to long-term care facilities. However, there was been shortage of long-term care facilities. It is expected to identify the need of elderly inpatients and therefore, to provide cost-effective, appropriate and good quality health services to elderly inpatients depending on their needs.

Background : Critical pathway is an optional sequencing and timing of interventions by physicians, nurses, and other staff for a particular diagnosis or procedure, designed to minimize delays and resource utilization, and to maximize quality of care; abbreviated versions of case management plans that show critical outcome and key incidents that occur in a predictable and timely fashion to achieve an appropriate length of stay. This study is to develop a critical pathway for vaginal delivery and cesarean section to assess the degree of contentment of the patients and medical personnel and to implement clinical application to see how we could meet the need to guide patients to achieve continuum of care. Method : Critical pathways were developed for normal vaginal delivery and casarean section. LOS(length of stay) target for vaginal delivery was 1 day after delivery & 5 days after C-section. It was distributed to the mother at the OPD and explained thoroughly. It was applied when patients got into the Labor & Delivery Floor. We applied total of 42 patients (30 normal deliveries & 12 C-sections) from February to March, 2000. We performed patient satisfaction survey to all 42 patients, 24 nurses, and 7 residents for internal customer satisfaction. Results : Twenty six patients out of 42 responded to the survey. Twenty one patients out of 26 answered satisfactory. Eighty four percent of 21 respondents replied Critical pathway worked very well. Treatment column got the most compliance. Eleven out of 31 employees thought critical pathway is very helpful for the patient care. Eighteen people didn't see any difference. In their opinion, treatment got the least compliance, which is the contrary to patients opinion. Fifty eight percent of respondents thought that critical pathway can expedite early discharge. Conclusion : Patient satisfaction was higher than we expected but we still need to revise the form. It is recommended to analyze the cost and variance check in the future.

Background : Despite favorable effects of guidelines on patient care, guidelines often fail to achieve their objectives. Poorly implemented medical practice guidelines can produce only weak effects on the process of health care delivery. Therefore, we performed this study to investigate barriers related development of clinical practice guidelines. Methods : Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was selected as a target problem. Self questionnaires about management of cardiopulmonary resuscitation were developed by a researcher with advisory 8 experts. The questionnaires were designed as a unstructured methods. The data were collected from March 1 to May 31, 1999. A total 50 death case admitted inpatient to Inha University Hospital were subjected to evaluate the development and application of clinical practice guidelines for cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The data were examined by frequency, t-test with SPSS. Result : The article reviewed several common barriers that might limit successful implementation of guidelines in clinical practice, as illustrated by evaluating recommendations for cardiopulmonary resuscitation clinical practice guidelines. Some major problems with guidelines were characterized as follows (1) ethical problem : euthanasia, (2) occurrence on various emergency event and setting, (3) non-medical problems (4) unreliable of medical record etc. Conclusion : Careful analysis of guideline attributes, anticipated effect on medical care, and organizational factors revealed several barriers to successful guideline implementation that should be addressed in the design of future guideline-based interventions.

Background : The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the critical pathway to diabetic patients who were admitted in the hospital. Methods : For establishment of critical pathway for diabetic patients, we organized the multidisciplinary care team. During 5 months, 31 diabetic inpatients were applied the critical pathway and the results were compared with 11 diabetic inpatients who were treated with conventional way. We assessed the patients satisfaction, knowledge on the disease, compliance of medical regimen, length of stay(LOS) and hospital cost. We used the computer program SAS for statistical analysis. Data were summarized with mean, and analyzed using t-test repeated measures ANOVA and Wilcoxon rank sum test. Results : Length of stay(LOS) was remarkably shortened in critical pathway group compared with the conventional treatment group($7.6{\pm}1.23$ vs $12.0{\pm}4.73$, p<0.000). Although LOS was significantly shortened in critical pathway group, patients satisfaction was much higher than conventional treatment group. There were no significant difference of knowledge on the disease, compliance of medical regimen and blood glucose level between two groups at discharge. Hospital cost of each patients also significantly decreased in critical pathway group(890,000 won vs 1,280,000 won, p<0.05). Conclusion : These results showed that establishment of critical pathway for diabetic inpatients with team approach is the one of the way to improve the quality of diabetic patients management and to enhance the efficiency of hospital management.

Background : Various types of protective footwear have been used to minimize bacterial contamination in operating rooms. In recent years, debate has arisen concerning the need for use of such protective footwear. This study was designed to provide useful data about choosing shoes most suitable for the surgical environment. Methods : Between November, 1999 and January, 2000, we performed this experimental study by comparing effect of three types of shoes (i.e., disposable shoescover, operating room-restricted shoes, and ordinary shoes) on bacterial contamination of operating rooms equipped with two different ventilation systems (i.e., high air-change, low air-change) respectively. Data were collected during two- hour sham operations in which subjects and their activities were strictly standardized. Bacterial flora were sampled from the study area floor and air colony counts were measured. Results : In experiments involving high air-change ventilation system, there was a significant difference of floor contamination between three types of shoes, but no difference of air contamination. Under low air-change system, there was a significant difference of both floor and air contamination between three types of shoes. Conclusion : The results show that protective footwear would be unnecessary in the operating room with high air-change ventilation system, but it is important to choose suitable shoes carefully under low air-change system. Therefore, the use of outdoor shoes can be considered under high air-change system, but it would seem sensible to apply their first use in less bloody operations at the day surgery center or out-patient department to prevent transfer of body fluid into the outside environment.

Background : This study was designed to assess the effects of information on the satisfaction of parents and families whose children underwent elective surgery in the Pediatric Operating Room. Methods : We measured parent and family satisfaction with information given before and after offering informational interventions. The data were collected from 510 patients parents and families whose children had undergone elective surgery in the Pediatric Operating Room of Seoul National University Hospital in Seoul. South Korea. The data collection ran from May 3. 1999 to May 30. 1999 and from September 6, 1999 to September 30, 1999. The research instrument consisted of four categories (pre-operative period, intra-operative period, post-operative period, others) and 24 questionnaires. SPSS was used to analyze the data. Results : The major findings of this study are summarized as follows: 1. Before surgery, the satisfaction with the following was increased: the explanations of the necessary preparation for the surgery (6.0%), the time the patient would enter the operating room (20.6%), the operative procedure (2.0%), and the use of the waiting room (10.0%). 2. During the operation, the satisfaction with the situation board (15.1%), public announcements in the waiting room (8.4%), and the answering of the families questions (12.2%) was increased. however, the satisfaction with the surgeons explanations of the surgical outcomes decreased by 8.3%, even though the frequency of these explanations increased by 5%. 3. After surgery, the satisfaction with the following was increased: the explanations of patient's status of recovery(10.3%) the time the patient would be moved from the recovery room (17.6%), how the patient would be transferred to the ward (19.2%), and post-operative care (6.3%). Conclusion : Based upon the above findings, we concluded that pre-, intra-, and post-operative informational interventions were effective in increasing the satisfaction of the parents and families of children undergoing elective surgery.

Background : Severance Hospital is an university hospital which has 1,580 beds. A LAN system was installed in the Medical Record Department in 1992 and discharge abstract data have been added to the discharge abstract database(DB) The previous work flow in the Medical Record Department had 5 levels: 1) chart collection from wards, 2) assembling, 3) abstracting data from medical record on worksheet by 2 RRAs, 4) checking deficiencies and coding diagnosis and procedures by 4 RRAs, 5) inputting the data into the discharge abstract data base by 1 RRA. The average processing time took 19.3 days from the patient discharge date. It had the production of monthly statistical report delayed. Besides, it caused the users in the hospital to complain. Methods : A CQI team was organized to find a way to shorten the processing time less than 10 days. The team identified the factors making the processing time long and integrated three levels from the 3rd level into one. Each of 7 RRAs performed the integrated level on her workstation instead of taking one of three separate levels. The comparison of processing time before and after the changes was made with 3'846 discharges of April, 1999 and 4,189 discharges of August, 1999. Results : The average processing time was shortened from 19.3 days to 8.7 days. Especially the integrated level took only 3.6 days, compared with 12.3 days before the change. The percentage of finishing up the whole processing within 10 days from discharge was increased up to 77.6%, which was 2.4% before the integration. The prevalence of error in data input was not increased in the new method. Conclusions : The integrated processing method has the following advantages: 1) the expedition of production of monthly statistical report, 2) the increase of utilizing rate of dischare abstract data by Billing Dept, Emergency Room, QI Dept., etc., 3) the improvement of intradepartmental work follow, 4) the enhancement of medical record quality by checking the deficiencies earlier than before.

Background : A continuous healthcare quality improvement is needed to provide high quality healthcare service as well as to maintain trust in terms of satisfying the needs of the patients. Recently it also became an essential issue. in hospital management, recognized for it's competitive potentiality among healthcare organization groups. This study was conducted to analyze patient complaints and issues received by the Quality Improvement Department. Its purpose is to improve healthcare qualities within the hospital, as well as establish policies and appropriate strategies in hospital management. Method : From July 1st to September 30th of the year 1999, we analyzed all complaints and issues made by various patients and their families, which were received through 24 hour phone consultation, numerous suggestion boxes, letters and E-mails, The issues were classified into 16 different categories based on a Patient Satisfaction Assessment Tool. All data were segregated according to the departmental frequencies and their contents. To come up with for environmental and patient satisfaction improvement, all complaints or issues were communicated with hospital administrators, medical and nursing staff and employees. Comprehensive customer satisfaction activities including improving phone etiquette were discussed in Customer Satisfaction Team, CQI Team and each Department. All opportunities for improvement were implemented. Feedback actions were discussed. Results : A total of 317 cases were collected. Issues regarding parking and other accommodation facilities were most common complaints that were 14.5% of total. Issues regarding admission rooms (10.7%), admission procedures (10.7%), waiting room environment (8.8%), nurses and nurse assistants (7.6%), physicians (6.6%) and others (23%) followed. Thirteen of 45 departments received more than 8 complaints. The Nursing Department had the most complaint, receiving 9.8% of total complaints. Complaints regarding the Nursing Department were predominantly related to the environment of patient rooms. The Department of Psychiatry for phone etiquette (4.7%), Department of Otolaryngology for the nursing staff's attitude and phone etiquette (4.4%), and the Admission Department followed. As a part of efforts to improve patient satisfaction, a new parking structure was built and reallocation of the parking space was done. Renovation of other accommodation facilities were carried out by hospital administration, Monthly phone call and answering attitude survey was done by QI Department. Based on this survey we made a phone etiquette manual and distributed throughout the hospital. Compare to the last year, Patient Satisfaction Index measured by Korea Productivity Center using National Customer Satisfaction Index was improved 7 points. According to our organization's own study, we confirmed the phone etiquette was improved 11% than last year. Conclusions : Issues related to parking and other accommodation facilities ranked first followed by complaints made regarding the patient care area, the admission and cashier process, and nurses' and doctors' attitude. The Nursing and Psychiatry Departments need improvement regarding phone etiquette. Results were shared and played a vital role in policymaking and strategic planning of the hospital. It is imperative that we keep our database updated by listening to and solving the needs of each patient. The CQI activities can be achieved only by full commitment of the hospital top management supported by related personal.