• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
• /
• v.38 no.1
• /
• pp.23-36
• /
• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to suggest direction for dental technicians and management of dental laboratories to contribute to the improvement of oral health of citizens with high-quality dental prosthesis by researching operational status and management satisfaction of dental laboratories. Methods: In order to investigate operational status and management satisfaction of dental laboratories, this study conducted a questionnaire survey by mailing questionnaires to heads of dental laboratories designated as clinical training workshops of Department of Dental Technology of G University and a total of 158 questionnaires were used for analysis. Results: As for gender, males were 142 persons (89.9%) and females were 16 persons (10.1%). For location of the laboratories, number of laboratories in metropolitan cities was 94 (59.5%) while small and that in mid-sized cities was 64 (40.5%). As for the satisfaction with job, those who have managed dental laboratories for 23-30 years ($1.92{\pm}77$), transact with 7-12 dental clinics ($1.70{\pm}75$), had monthly income of 4-8 million won ($1.74{\pm}.80$) and had 8-10 employees ($2.33{\pm}.68$) were the highest in their satisfaction. As for satisfaction with management, those who have managed their business for 15-20 years ($2.86{\pm}.52$), transact with more than 20 dental clinics ($2.00{\pm}.04$), had monthly income of less than 4 million won ($2.00{\pm}.85$) and had less than 3 employees ($2.00{\pm}.62$) were the highest in their satisfaction. As for monthly income, those with less than 2 million won were 24 persons (15.2%), 2-4 million were 64 persons (40.5%), 4-6 million were 40 (25.3%), 6-8 million were 14 (8.9%) and over 8 million won were 16 persons (10.2%). As for number of employees, those with less than 3 employees were 32perosns (20.3%), 4-7 were 82 (51.9%), 8-10 were 26 (16.5%) and more than 11 were 10 persons (6.3%). As for severance payment, 84 persons practiced it according to Labor Standard Act (53.2%) and 34 practice it to a proper degree (21.5%) while 20 did not practice it at all (12.7%) and 20 persons did not respond to the question (12.7%). Conclusion: Although dental laboratories have rapidly expanded in number from 473 in 1986 to 2,400 in 2015, dental technician circles are facing difficulty in their management due to fierce competition and low profitability. Therefore, in order to improve this problem, it is necessary to readjust prices for dental prosthesis to realistic ones.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
• /
• v.46 no.1
• /
• pp.65-82
• /
• 2008

Statement of problem : Today's market economy has been changed more and more to consumer concerned. It is owing to not only consumers ' rising standard of living and education, but also purchasers' easy accessibilities to products through various mass media. The consumer centered market system, where customer can choose items with diverse alternatives to satisfy their self esteem, is also applied to the field of medical business, and accelerated by an increasing income level of shoppers and introducing the whole nations' medical insurance system. Today, the medical industry has become competitive due to increasing number of medical institutions and medical personnel, and this offers wide choices to consumers in the medical market place. At this point of time, it is essential to survey on the primary factor of gratification for the patient in the Dental clinic, as well as on the problems and suggestions in medical service. Purpose : The analysis in this study shows essential factors and expected influential elements in satisfaction of the patient in the Dental Hopsital, and strategic suggestions for the provider of dental service, which can be of benefit to the prospective customer as well as can make improvement in the quality of dental treatment service. Material and method : This study had been researched by collecting and analyzing the organized questionnaires, which were filled in directly from 784 patients, who visit Dental Hospital, Yonsei University in Seoul, from January 23rd to April 15th. Result : It can be summarized like the followings. 1. The social and demographical peculiarities of respondents are as follows. Samples of gender and marital status are adequately extracted, but data on occupation and treatment are are under a bias toward students, undergraduates and graduate students, and orthodontics. 2. 74% of patients who answer the questionnaire were highly satisfied with the service of dental clinic in the section of overall satisfaction. 3. The survey result about specific service of dental treatment, within sections of independent variables, is like the followings; Patients are highly gratified with service system, kindness, explanation, explanation on expected waiting hours, reservation system, emergency measures, expert treatment, existence of knowledge of dentistry, size of hospital, disinfection, equipment and parking, but lowly satisfied with expense of treatment, preparatory hours for treatment, waiting hours, treatment hours and the period of subscription. 4. The correlation analysis showed that there is no significant linear relationship between the independent variables. 5. The probit regression analysis showed that 8 out of 34 independent variables explained the dependent variables at the level of 0.01. 6. It shows that 8 independent variables, which can affect customers 'satisfaction, are clearing up of inconvenience, service system, kindness, explanation, treatment hours per attendance, reservation system, existence of knowledge of dentistry, and contentment of equipment in the hospital. Conclusion : The consumer's satisfaction totally relies on subjective evaluations of customers. Providing appropriate service, which can meet the criteria for the customer who demands various wares, pursues luxury goods, and expects high quality of medical service, is essential to fulfill patients' satisfaction. Many medical institutions do their best to satisfy their customer, touch their consumer, and offer patience centered services, and it is also applied to the field of dentistry. Establishing brand new strategic managements and elevating the quality of dental service based on this survey are required to improve the satisfaction of patience in the Dental Hospital.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.55 no.4
• /
• pp.478-483
• /
• 2022

A single specimen (522.0 mm in total length) of the family Muraenidae, collected from the waters off south-western Jeju-do Island in November 2021, was identified as Echidna nebulosa on the basis of morphological and molecular methods (DNA barcoding). This species is characterized by several morphological traits as follows: 10 rounded molar, median intermaxillary, and vomerine teeth; 4 predorsal vertebrae, 50 preanal vertebrae and 123 total vertebrae; and a pale background color with two rows of 17-20 blackish brown starry blotches along the head and body. As this is the first record of E. nebulosa in Korea, we propose the new Korean names, "Dung-Geun-Ni-Gom-Chi-Sog" for the genus Echidna, and "Beol-Kkok-Gom-Chi" for E. nebulosa.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.49-71
• /
• 2003

The purpose of the study is exploring the relationship among patient perceived quality of dental care, satisfaction, and royalty in dental clinics and hospitals. The observation of the study is outpatient visiting dental clinics and hospitals located in Seoul and Kyung-Gi Do area, and surveyed the outpatients. The contents of the survey are consisted with questions including quality of care perceived by the patients, costumer satisfaction, and royalty, and measurement for each question is using five point Likert scale. According to result of bi-variate analysis, there was the significant relationship among specialized care, value of the care, and kindness in quality of dental services, level of care in dentists significantly influenced on costumer satisfaction and costumer royalty, and there was the significant relationship between costumer satisfaction and royalty. According to result of regression analysis on the costumer satisfaction, the costumer satisfaction positively related with the convenience of facility, specialized care, value of care, patient age, number of visit, and spend time for treatment, and housewives and self-employees were likely to satisfy on care than regular employees. By result of full regression model and reduced model on costumer royalty, satisfaction could explain 86% on the costumer royalty such as re-visit and promoting other people, and increase of explain power is not significant when other independent variables joined model (full model). Considering efficiency of model, costumer royalty could be explained by satisfaction only rather than other independent variables used. Finally, This study shows that the social-demographic variables of patient influenced the patient satisfaction, and the patient satisfaction influenced patient royalty directly.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.263-272
• /
• 2021

This study investigated the oral health knowledge and educational needs of adults by life cycle. We aimed to provide basic data for developing oral health education plans for well -aging. The survey was conducted online and through mobiles by Gallup Korea during February 2021. A total of 319 adults over the age of 19 were surveyed. The study aimed at investigating the general characteristics, the quality of life-related to oral health, knowledge of oral health, and the need for well-aging education. The PASW Statistics ver 18.0 statistical program was used for data analysis. The analysis of the data suggests that prevention was the highest priority among all age groups. Furthermore, there was a difference in the perceived educational need among different age groups. The cause of the youth, the treatment of the middle-aged and the elderly were significantly related to oral and systemic disease. The need for education related to oral diseases was ranked in the order of aches, bad breath, periodontal diseases, and tooth discoloration. For information, the subjects reached out to the internet, dental and medical institutions, and public health centers. The teaching methods experienced by those surveyed included lectures combined with experience, videos, and expert lectures. We believe that this study can be used to develop an education plan that reflects the needs of the subjects when conducting life cycle education for well-aging.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.49-64
• /
• 2022

This study aims to investigate unmet healthcare needs due to economic or non-economic difficulties among the elderly aged 65 or older. Using Korea Health Panel Survey (KHPS) data from 2018, the elderly are classified into one of four groups (health insurance subscribers, non-take-up, lower income relief, and medical aid recipients) based on their level of medical vulnerability. For hospital or dental care, the prevalence rates of unmet healthcare needs due to economic and non-economic difficulties are 12.6% and 10.6%, respectively. The prevalence rate of unmet healthcare needs due to economic difficulty in the medically vulnerable group was much higher than that of the non-vulnerable group-that is, health insurance subscribers. After controlling for other influential factors, medical vulnerability has a great impact on the prevalence rates of unmet healthcare needs due to economic difficulties. Compared to health insurance subscribers, the non-take-up, the lower relief, and the medical aid recipients are 1.4 times, 3.3 times, and 2.4 times more likely to experience unmet healthcare needs due to economic difficulty, respectively. The results of this study can provide important policy implications for securing essential healthcare resources for the elderly.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.74-90
• /
• 2021

Background: It is getting important to improve the oral health status of the elderly because oral health status may affect their health status of the whole body. In this respect, we aimed to explore the association of oral health status and behavior factors with self-rated health status by sex. Methods: Using the data from the 7th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for health surveys and oral examinations (2016-2018), we analyzed a total of 3,070 people aged 65 or older (men: 1,329; women: 1,741). Our dependent variable, self-rated health status, was divided into two groups: not good (bad and very bad) and good (very good, good, and fair), whereas our independent variables of interest were oral health status and behavior factors. In addition to descriptive analysis and the Rao-Scott chi-square test, reflecting survey characteristics, we conducted hierarchical multivariable logistic regression analyses adjusted for socio-demographics and health status and behavior factors. All analyses were stratified by sex. Results: The proportion of people having 'not good' self-rated health was 36.5% in women but 24.5% in men. In a model adjusted for all covariates, the self-rated health status showed significant association with the self-rated oral health status. For example, in men, the risk of having 'not good' self-rated health was high in people having 'poor' (odds ratio [OR], 5.31; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.34-12.03) self-rated oral health status and in those having 'fair' (OR, 4.03; 95% CI, 1.68-9.70) in comparison with those having 'good' self-rated oral health status. Dental status regarding speaking difficulty seemed to be very important in influencing self-rated health status. For instance, in women, compared to people having 'no discomfort' speaking difficulty, the risk of having 'not good' self-rated health was high in people having 'not bad' (OR, 1.60; 95% CI, 1.14-2.24) and 'discomfort' (OR, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.30-2.47) speaking difficulty. The covariates significantly associated with the risk of having 'not good' self-rated health were: physical activity, chronic disease, stress, and body mass index in both sexes; health insurance type and drinking only in men; and economic activity only in women. Conclusion: Oral health status and behavioral factors were associated with self-rated health status among the elderly, differently by sex. This suggests that public health policies toward better health in the elderly should take their oral health status and oral health behaviors into account in a sex-specific way.

• Asia Marketing Journal
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.209-237
• /
• 2012

1. Research Purpose Consumers rely on various clues to evaluate their decision to patronize a retail store, and store brand is one of them (Dodds 1991; Grewal et al. 1998). As consumers find ever increasing variety of contact points connecting them to specific store, the value of experiential shopping as a means of increasing store's brand equity warrants greater attention from scholars of retail management. Retail shopping values are credited for creating not only cognitive experiences like brand knowledge but also emotional experiences such as shopping pleasure and pride (Schmitt 1999). This may be because today's consumers place emphasis on emotional values associated with shopping pleasure, lifestyle brought to life, brand relationship, and store atmosphere more than utilitarian values such as product quality and price. Many previous literature found this to be true (Ahn and Lee 2011; Mathwick et al. 2001). This brings forth important research issues and questions regarding the roles of shopping experiential values and brand equity with regard to consumer's retail patronage choice. However, despite this importance, research on this area remains quite inadequate (Hwang 2010). For this reason, this study aims to verify the relationships among experiential shopping values, retail store brand equity and tries to link that with customer loyalty by surveying large-scale discount store shoppers in Korea and China. 2. Research Contents In order to carry out the research objective, this study conducted comprehensive literature survey on previous literature by discussing major findings and implications with regard to shopping values and retail brand equity and store loyalty. For data collection, researcher employed survey-based research method where data were collected in two major cities of Korea (Seoul) and China (Bejing) and sampling frame was based on patrons of large discount stores in both countries. Specific research questions raised in this study are as follows; RQ1: How do Korean and Chinese consumers differently perceive of shopping values regarding shopping at large-sclae discount stores? RQ2: Are there differences in consumers' emotional consumption propensities? RQ3: Do Korean and Chinese consumers display different perceptions of brand equity towards large-scale discount stores? RQ4: Are there differences in relationships between shopping values and brand equity for Korean and Chinese consumers? For statistical analysis, SPSS17.0, AMOS17.0 and SmartPLS were employed. 3. Research Results The data collected through face-to-face survey conducted in Seoul and Bejing revealed appropriate data validity and reliability as a result of exploratory/confirmatory factor analysis and reliability tests, andh SEM model yielding satisfactory model fitness. The result of the study may be summarized by three main points. First, as a result of testing differences in consumption dispositions, Chinese consumers showed higher scores in aesthetic and symbolic dispositions, whereas Korean consumers scored higher in hedonic disposition. Second, testing on perceptions toward brand equity of large discount stores showed that Korean consumers exhibited more positive perceptions of brand awareness and brand image than Chinese counterparts. Third, the result of exploratory factor analysis on the experiential shopping values revealed different factors for each country. On Korean side, consumer interest value, aesthetic value, and hedonic value were prominent, whereas on Chinese side, hedonic value, aesthetic value, consumer interest value, and service excellence value were found salient. 4. Research Implications While many previous studies on inter-country differences in retailing area mainly focused on cultural dispositions or orientations to explain the differences, this study sets itself apart by specifically targeting individual consumer's shopping values from an experiential viewpoint. The study result provides important theoretical as well as practical implications for large-scale discount store, especially the impotance of fully exploring the linkage between shopping values and brand equity, which has significant influence on loyalty. Therefore, the specific implications deriving from the result shed some important insights upon the consumption values based on shopping experiences and brand equity. The differences found in store shoppers between the two countries may also provide useful insights for Korean and Chinese retailers who plan to expand their operations globally. Related strategic implications derived from this study is the importance of localizing retail strategy which is based on the differences found in experiential shopping values between the two country groups. Especially the finding that Chinese consumers value consumer interest and service excellence, whereas Koreans place importance on hedonic or aesthetic values indicates the need to differentiate the consumer's psychographical profiles when it comes to expanding retail operations globally. Particularly important will be to pursue price-orienated strategy in China in consideration of the high emphasis on consumer interests and service excellence, but to emphasize the symbolic aspects of brand equity in Korea by maximizing the brand equity associated with aesthetic values and hedonic orientations. 5. Recommendations This study focused on generic retail branded discount stores in both countries, thus making it difficult to tease out store-specific strategies based on specific retail brands. Future studies may benefit fro employing actual brand names in survey questionnaire to verify relationship between shopping values and brand-based store strategy. As with other studies of this nature, this study needs to strengthen the result's generalizability by selecting respondents from a wider spectrum of respondents.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.199-203
• /
• 2011

This study compared the needs for entering graduate school of Dental Hygiene students in Bachelor's Degree Completion Program(BDCP) and 4-year course to provide information about entering graduate school. This survey was conducted for one month from the $26^{th}$ May to the $24^{th}$ June, 2010. The collected data was analyzed using a SPSS WIN 18.0 program. More BDCP students answered that they wanted to enter graduate school (p<0.001). More BDCP students wanted to study Dental Hygiene but more of the 4-year course students wanted to study Dentistry in graduate school (p<0.001). Both groups prefer the part-time curriculum but only if it was the same as the full-time curriculum and more 4-year course students answered in this way (p<0.05). The major was the highest consideration when they choose graduate school, but the BDCP students also considered other reasons (distance, registration fee, period) (p<0.05). Most information was obtained from visiting the web-site (p>0.05). Both groups responded 'yes' to the need for development of a master's course in dental hygiene but a higher proportion of BDCP students (76.6%) answered in the affirmative (p<0.001). In conclusion, graduate schools should find the various ways to give more information to the students.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
• /
• v.9 no.4
• /
• pp.443-451
• /
• 2009

The purpose of this study was to examine the views of dental hygiene students about the possible countermeasure of domestic hospitals for the opening of the medical market. The subjects in this study were 269 dental hygiene sophomores, juniors and seniors at two different colleges in the region of Busan. The findings of the study were as follows: The opening of the medical market and views of possible countermove, whether they agreed to that or not made a statistically significant difference to their opinions on the necessity of customer-oriented marketing strategy(p=0.023), analysis of foreign medical markets/attempt to make inroads into the markets(p<0.000) and the improvement of the quality of medical services/the diversification of the services(p=0.025). As to an intention of going to a foreign hospital, they had a statistically significantly different intention about whether to go to a foreign hospital regardless of medical bills(p<0.000), whether to consult a doctor in a foreign hospital after going to a domestic hospital first (p<0.000), whether to consider the distance between their houses and a foreign hospital(p=0.05) and whether to take considerations on the assistance of an interpreter(p=0.023). In regard to preference for foreign hospitals, American hospitals ranked first(41.9), followed by Australian hospitals(19.9) and Canadian ones(14.2).