• Health Policy and Management
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.703-710
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• 2012

Purpose : The aim of this study is to review the current status of healthcare provision and its human resources administrative management and propose a coordinated human resource management plan for the more efficient operations of healthcare organizations. Methods : We reviewed the literature and held discussions with officials from the United States Department of Health and Human Services to survey United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps operations. In addition, we surveyed the literature to analyze the current structure and responsibilities of governing bodies involved in public healthcare in Korea. Results : In Korea, there are several administrative offices involved in public health: the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Defense, the Environment Ministry and others. Since these diverse agencies don't integrate their operations, it is difficult to grasp their management of both public healthcare services and their personnel. A potential model is the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, a sub-group of the Department of Health and Human Services and an elite team of highly qualified, public health professionals, which coordinates and manages the overall work and personnel of diverse healthcare organizations. Conclusion : We suggest the establishment of a federal level, public health administrative department of human resource management to centralize and coordinate the existing, disparate healthcare administrative agencies.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.339-351
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• 2018

Background: The purpose of this study is to estimate empirically whether there is a difference in medical use among income groups, and if so, how much. This study applies econometric model to the most recent year of Korean Medical Panel, 2015. The model consists of outpatient service and inpatient service models. Methods: The probit model is applied to the model which indicate whether or not the medical care has been used. Two step estimation method using maximum likelihood estimation is applied to the models of outpatient visits, hospital days, and outpatient and inpatient out-of-pocket cost models, with disconnected selection problems. Results: The results show that there was the inequality favorable to the low income group in medical care use. However, after controlling basic medical needs, there were no inequities among income groups in the outpatient visit model and the model of probability of inpatient service use. However, there were inequities favorable to the upper income groups in the models of probability of outpatient service use and outpatient out-of-pocket cost and the models of the number of length of stay and inpatient out-of-pocket cost. In particular, it shows clearly how the difference in outpatient service and inpatient service utilizations by income groups when basic medical needs are controlled. Conclusion: This means that the income contributes significantly to the degree of inequality in outpatient and inpatient care services. Therefore, the existence of medical care use difference under the same medical needs among income groups is a problem in terms of equity of medical care use, so great efforts should be made to establish policies to improve equity among income groups.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.35-45
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• 2021

Background: As a descriptive study targeting 2,068 cancer patients as men of national merit in 2013, this study aims to provide the basic data for systematizing the early diagnosis and treatment of cancer by comparatively analyzing the 5-year survival rate. Methods: This study researched the survival of cancer patients through Electronic Medical Record and Patriots-Veterans Qualification Program, targeting 2,068 newly-diagnosed cancer patients verified in five veterans hospitals and consigned management system. This study verified differences between general characteristics of cancer patients as men of national merit and analyzed their survival rate. Results: The cancer patients as men of national merit were super-aged as their average age was 72.5. In the analysis of general characteristics of five major prevalent cancers, there were statistically significant differences according to age, region, cancer diagnostic path, differentiation, diagnostic method, treatment method, SEER stage, and survival period, except for the types of the man of national merit (p<0.001). The whole survival rate of cancer patients as men of national merit was 50%. The 5-year survival rates of predisposing cancers were shown as prostate cancer (79%), colorectal cancer (64%), gastric cancer (57%), liver cancer (32%), and lung cancer (12%). In the cancer diagnostic path, all the predisposing cancers showed the highest survival rate in medical examination. In the treatment method, the surgery showed the highest survival rate. The cancer patients as men of national merit showed a lower survival rate than the general cancer patients of Korea. Conclusion: It would be needed to guarantee the honorable and happy life through health recovery as special treatment of contribution and sacrifice of super-aged men of national merit by increasing the cancer survival rates through regular checkup, early diagnosis, and high-quality treatment system that could have important effects on the survival rate according to the occurrence of cancers.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.609-619
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• 2022

This study was performed to research the influencing factor of COVID-19 preventive behavior focused on people in their 20s and 30s who recently have a high infection rate of COVID-19. The online survey was conducted through structural questionnaire aimed at 210 people in their 20s and 30s of metropolitan area from July 10th to 19th in 2021. The results are as follows. First, as a result of analyzing the relation between health belief and COVID-19 preventive behavior, as perceived seriousness, perceived vulnerability, perceived disability and perceived benefit, COVID-19 preventive behavior is well conducted. Second, as perceived benefit of health belief get higher, the subjective norm is well observed. Third, as subjective norm and perceived behavioral control become higher, COVID-19 preventive behavior is well conducted. Fourth, the subjective norm and perceived behavioral control have a mediating effect in the relation between subjective norm.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.3-13
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• 2022

Health centers provided intensive health care services for local residents according to changes in the times and environment. Public health centers were given various roles such as medical treatment, administration, and service, and the demand for functional reorganization has emerged. We analyzed the literature on the functional restructuring of public health care institutions. In addition, the current status of medical services, which is the main function of institutions, will be analyzed through health insurance statistical data, and detailed contents will be analyzed according to regional types and income levels. As a result of the analysis of medical services at institutions, the total number of patients was 2,238,000, and the number of visits was 11,806 times. Total medical expenses were 169.6 billion won, of which 132 billion won was found to be benefit. When analyzing the number of patients per institution, public health centers had the largest number of 4,326, and the share of benefit was also the highest at public health centers. It should focus on the function of providing local health and medical services related to health promotion and disease prevention in the community. This functional reorganization of public health centers can contribute to forming cooperative relationships with private medical institutions in the local community. For this, first, to establish the role, essential functions for public health centers for preventive health management are established. Secondly, regular manpower expansion and flexible manpower management are required in the human resources sector. Finally, in the organizational sector, it is necessary to establish a step-by-step organizational system according to environmental changes.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.338-354
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• 2023

Background: The influence of social capital on the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and related behaviors and perceptions has been recognized during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to analyze the trends in social capital using primary data from the Korean Community Health Survey, which is the only available source in Korea for local-level social capital analysis. It also investigates the relationship between various variables, including social capital, as factors influencing COVID-19-related behaviors and perceptions. Methods: The study analyzed the temporal trends of social capital using raw data from four community health surveys conducted in 2017, 2019, 2020, and 2021. A multilevel analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between social capital and COVID-19-related behaviors and perceptions following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Results: Social capital consists of trust, bonding social capital, and bridging social capital. Within the trust sub-factor, trust in neighbors (Trust-1) declined after the COVID-19 pandemic, whereas trust in safety and general environment (Trust-2) and trust in medical services and public transportation (Trust-3) increased. Additionally, the gap between municipalities narrowed. COVID-19-related behaviors and perceptions, such as adherence to COVID-19 prevention measures, return to normal activities, and fear of COVID-19, showed improvement in 2021 compared to the previous year. Individual-level trust in neighbors was associated with reduced fear of COVID-19, while community-level trust in neighbors was associated with increased fear of COVID-19. Conclusion: Social capital plays a role in mitigating public health crises, and it is necessary to implement active policies that address the gap in social capital between metropolitan and rural areas. Strengthening risk communication regarding emerging infectious diseases such as COVID-19 is crucial.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.389-399
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• 2023

Background: The purpose of this study is to analyze the factors affecting the unmet healthcare needs of older people with chronic diseases in Korea and provide a basic research report to strengthen their access to medical care. Methods: In the 2020 older people survey data, 8,182 older people aged 65 or older who were diagnosed with one or more chronic diseases were the final subjects of the study. According to Andersen's behavioral model used in unmet healthcare needs, independent variables were composed of predisposing factors, possible factors, and necessary factors, and whether or not unmet healthcare needs was set as dependent variable. Results: Of the older people with chronic diseases, 1.6% experienced unmet healthcare needs, of which 55.9% experienced unmet healthcare needs for reasons related to economic burden, 31.6% physical constraints, and 12.5% time constraints. As a result of the analysis, older people with chronic diseases were more likely to experience unmet healthcare needs if they were relatively low in age, low in education level, no spouse, low in household income, poor subjective health, complex chronic diseases, and functional restrictions. However, by major reasons for experiencing unmet healthcare needs, living in rural areas were more likely to experience unmet healthcare needs due to physical constraints, and those who participated in economic activities and who had were more likely to experience unmet healthcare needs due to time burden. These results were not derived when only unmet healthcare needs was set as the dependent variable. Conclusion: This study emphasizes the need for an approach by cause of unmet medical occurrence by suggesting that there are differences in influencing factors by reason for experiencing unmet healthcare needs.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.94-102
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• 2024

Background: There is controversy surrounding the claim that current nursing workforce policies exacerbate the geographic imbalance of nurses in Korea, but very few studies have confirmed this assertion. Therefore, this study aimed to identify factors influencing the distribution of nurses at the regional level, including variables related to nursing workforce policies. Methods: This study analyzed the distribution of 225,462 practicing nurses across 250 regions in Korea as of 2020. National statistics were collected for these 250 regions, and regression analysis was conducted. Results: Factors influencing the distribution of practicing nurses included the number of annual inpatient days, integrated nursing care service beds, public healthcare institutions, tertiary hospitals, and general hospitals. Additionally, the number of nursing graduates and healthcare institutions with nurse staffing grade 1 and 2 had an impact on nurse distribution in non-capital regions. Conclusion: To prevent exacerbating the geographic imbalance of nurses, careful decisions should be made regarding the expansion of integrated nursing care service beds. Furthermore, it is necessary to increase the number of nursing students in non-capital regions and prioritize the improvement of wages and working conditions for nurses in those areas.

• Journal of Korea Entertainment Industry Association
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• v.15 no.8
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• pp.351-361
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• 2021

This study was conducted to identify the factors of hypertension treatment in Gwangju and to establish a hypertension cure rate management plan by using local community health surveys to provide the hypertension cure rate management plan centering around the wellness local community. The research collected 13,714 Gwangju research data among a total of 685,820 local community health surveys of KDCA (Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency) from 2017 to 2019. Among the data, 2,941 subjects, those with diagnosed hypertension aged over 30, were selected and analyzed through SAS 9.4, SAS Enterprise Miner 15.1. The results are as follows. The differences in hypertension diagnosis cure rate in Gwangju based on the subjects' socioeconomic characteristics were shown in gender, age, marital status, level of educational attainment, economic activity status, and monthly income. The significant differences in hypertension cure rate based on health behavior characteristics were shown in current smoking, monthly alcohol consumption, high-risk drinking, breakfast, recognition of good health level, diabetes and treatment, annual unmet medical needs, and annual health center use. As a result of the logistic regression analysis and interactive decision tree analysis to identify the factors affecting hypertension treatment, the research found that the factors that appear are age, marital status, diabetes and treatment, and annual unmet medical needs. Accordingly, to increase the recognition of the importance of hypertension treatment to people of young ages and not to develop complications, public health-educational effort in Gwangju is needed with an effective preparation plan.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.139-148
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• 1987

The community health practitioners (CHP) play an important role in primary health care services to the underserved population in rural area. Time and motion study of 26 CHPs in Kyungpook Province was conducted through work diary method for 6 consecutive days from the time they arrived until they left the primary health post(PHP) during the past 3 weeks from November 16 to December 5, 1987. The allocation of activity time by working category, service category, location of activity and CHP's function was analyzed according to the characteristics of CHPs i. e., age, marital status and experience as CHP. The major findings are as follows : The mean activity time per CHP in a week was 2,918 minutes. The length of their working hours was longer for older, married and more experienced CHPs than others. About 80% of the CHP's activities took place within the PHP and only about 20% occured outside of the PHP. Working hours for the outdoor activities were longer for younger, single and less experienced CHPs than others. The allocation of activity time by working category showed 46.3% in the technical work and 18.7% in the administrative work. Working hours for the technical activities were longer for younger, single and less experienced CHPs than others. The percentage of activity time revealed greatest as much as 63.1% for direct patient care in technical work and 61.6% for record keeping in administrative work. Of the total working hours in a week, direct patient care and public health activities accounted for 29.2% and 16.2%, respectively. Of the indoor activities, working hours for direct patient care were longer than those for public health activities. However, of the outdoor activities, working hours for public health activities were longer than those for direct patient care. The allocation of activity time by CHP's function showed 49.7% in management of common disease, 31.8% in management of PHP and technical supervision of village health workers, 9.5% in MCH and family planning, 6.6% in community health management and 2.4% in community approach. Based on these findings, it was found that CHPs were mainly working in the PHP with a majority of their time being spent for direct patient care rather than preventive and promotive health cares. To enhance the preventive and promotive health services of the CHPs and to involve the activities for community development, refresher course for CHPs should be reinforced and supervision mechanism of the CHPs should be established and operated in Gun- and province-level.