• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.49-58
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• 2008

Considering the rapid growth of elderly population and the increase of medical demand for aged, many of geriatric hospitals are needed in Korea. On the other hand, supplies of hospitals for acute care are considered to be excessive. So many of small and medium hospitals facing management problems have been converged to geriatric hospitals. These attempts are considered resonable for efficient utilization of health care resources in Korea. This paper aims to identify the concept of geriatric hospital and to analyze the problems and then to seek the alternatives for architectural planning on the basis of surveying the geriatric hospitals converged from hospitals for acute care.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.20-30
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• 2022

Purposes: This study purposed to evaluate the effect of a value incentive program(VIP) on the in-hospital mortality of acute stroke. Methodology: Study period was from January 2010 to December 2018. This study included 63 hospitals for acute hemorrhagic stroke that the mortality rate per month was more than one during study period. Independent variables were time variables and hospital characteristics such as hospital type, district and bed number. Interrupted time series analysis was applied to analyze the data. Findings: In case of general hospitals, the in-hospital mortality rate per month for acute hemorrhagic stroke tends to be increased by 0.03% in overall study periods but decreased by 0.32% after the implementation of the policy. On the other hand, tertiary hospital changes are not statistically meaningful. Conclusion: This study provides evidences how the VIP was effective in improving quality of acute hemorrhagic stroke care. General hospitals showed higher policy effect compare to that of tertiary hospitals.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.61-72
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• 2019

Purpose : The aim of this study was to explore the attributes, antecedents, and consequences of patient-centered care (PCC) for older adults with multimorbidity in acute care hospitals. Methods : The concept analysis performed by Walker and Avant was used to analyze PCC. Fifteen studies from the literature related to PCC appear in systematic literature reviews in the fields of theology, medicine, psychology, and nursing. Results : PCC in acute care hospitals was defined according to the five attributes of 'maintaining patient autonomy', 'empowering self-care', 'individualized and relationship-based care', 'shared decision-making', and 'creating a homelike environment'. Antecedents of PCC were found to be a respect for patients' preferences, qualifications of the nursing staff, care coordination and integration, and organizational support. Consequences of effective PCC were a functional status; health-related quality of life; satisfaction with care, mortality, and medical costs from the perspective of the patient and family; and quality of care and therapeutic relationships from nurses' viewpoints. Conclusion : PCC as defined by the results of this study will contribute to the foundation of institutionalization and the creation of a safe and healthy acute care hospital culture focused on patients' preferences and values.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.18-31
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• 2000

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.

• Perspectives in Nursing Science
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.77-83
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• 2009

The number of nurses per bed at acute-stage hospitals is quite low in Korea compared with other OECD countries. In order to prevent the degradation of the quality of inpatient nursing services due to insufficient nurse staffs, the national health insurance introduced the differentiated nursing care fee system. This did not work as a motive for inducing the employment of nursing staff due to insufficient cost compensation. Because of insufficient nursing staff, family members have to stay with the patient or patients have to hire a personal care attendant. This increases the burden and cost to families. For the activation of hospitals without guardians, there should be policies for raising additional nursing staff such as standardizing jobs among nursing staff, particularly between nurses and nursing assistants, setting adequate standards of staffing in nursing according to medical service, substantiating the cost of nursing under the differentiated nursing care fee system, improving the medical fee system of hospitals without guardians including health insurance payment, supplying nursing staff stably through improving their working conditions such as providing child rearing services and salary increase, clarifying the qualification of personal care attendants working at acute.stage hospitals, developing indexes for assessing the quality of nursing care services, and monitoring for the management of uniform quality.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.66-72
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• 2014

Although stress has been implicated to be a risk factor that can threaten physical and mental health, there have been no sufficient studies that analyze the different levels of stress among employees working in the different levels of the hospitals. We aim to identify the general characteristics of hospitals at different levels, to compare the stress levels among customer service representatives working in the tertiary care hospitals as well as acute general hospitals. In addition, we also wanted to analyze the relationship between the types of hospitals and the stress level. The work stress was measured using the Korean Occupational Stress scale. Study subjects' demographic characteristics and lifestyle factors were analyzed using analysis of frequency and multiple regression analysis. Our study revealed that the levels of medical facility were significantly associated with the levels of job stress(P=0.043), and the stress levels of employees working in the acute general hospital's medical facilities were higher than those who were working in tertiary care facilities. We also found that those with higher depression level tended to have higher job stress (P<0.001). Therefore, it is urgent to implement some kind of job stress interventions, especially in the acute general hospital's medical facilities. Moreover, further studies including social and policy research are necessary in order to analyze the overall impact of stress on physical and mental health and to reduce health inequalities among healthcare workers.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.741-750
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• 2009

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the prevalence of cognitive impairment, behavioral problems, and the state of mental health for elderly Korean people who have been institutionalized. Methods: A cross-sectional, nationwide survey was performed using an anonymous questionnaire. The participants in this study were 2,521 institutionalized elderly Korean people. A proportional stratified random sampling method was employed. Results: 1) Elders admitted to subacute hospitals and long term care (LTC) facilities showed a higher level of cognitive impairment compared to elders admitted to acute care hospitals. 2) Elders confined in LTC facilities showed a higher level of behavioral problems compared to elders in acute or subacute hospitals. 3) Elders admitted to subacute hospitals and LTC facilities showed more serious mental health problems, such as depression or suicidal ideation, compared to elders in acute care hospitals. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that the severity of cognitive-behavioral or mental health problems do not match well with type of care setting. Therefore, health personnel working with elderly people should be provided guidance on detection and management of cognitive-behavioral and mental health problems. The necessity of a decision support system for eligibility and placement in long-term care is also discussed.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.59-69
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• 2016

Objectives: Healthcare Accreditation Program in Korea started in 2011. The aim of this study is to contribute to the development of the Healthcare Accreditation Program in Korea by comparing the perception of the Healthcare Accreditation Program for the accredited hospitals and the surveyors. Methods: This study was performed targeting 77 accredited acute care hospitals and 245 surveyors who have surveyed acute care hospitals from 2010 to February 2014. They responded to our questionnaire via a survey website, and we analyzed the results. Results: We found that the hospitals rated the professionalism of surveyors more positively than surveyors. While average score of the hospitals was higher for 'The understanding of the accreditation standards and survey methods was correct' than that of the surveyors (p<0.01), average score of the surveyors was higher for 'Mediation and collaboration between surveyors were smooth' than that of the hospitals (p<0.05). And we found that the surveyors rated the Accreditation Program more positively than hospitals. While average score of the hospitals was higher for 'Surveyors have the professionalism' than that of the surveyors (p<0.05), average score of the surveyors was higher for 'It is easy to understand the accreditation standards and evaluation items' than that of the hospitals (p<0.01). Conclusion: In order to development of the accreditation program, it is necessary to strengthen the professionalism of surveyors and improve the acceptability of the accreditation program.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.81-96
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• 2009

The expansion of long-term care hospitals (LTCHs) is expected to contribute to meeting the long-term care needs of the elderly with chronic diseases in a rapidly aging society. It is also expected to increase efficiency of health resource use and decrease elderly health expenditures by transferring patients from acute care hospitals (ACHs) to LTCHs. This study aimed to empirically examine how the expansion of LTCHs had influences on the length of hospitalization of the elderly in ACHs. Panel regression analysis was employed as an analytic tool using data of the National Health Insurance and the National Statistical Office from 2002 to 2006. The expansion of LTCHs was measured as location quotient (LQ) of LTCHs, denoting the share of LTCHs in a large city or province relative to the share of LTCHs at the national level. In addition, per capita GRDP (gross regional domestic product) and the proportion of population over 65 were included as control variables. The main findings are as follows. First, it was observed that LQ of LTCHs showed a statistically significant negative association with the length of hospitalization of the elderly in ACHs. Second, the negative correlation was evident among general hospitals with over 100 beds while it was not among hospitals with less than 100 beds. Third, LQ of LTCHs had more influences among the elderly over 85. In conclusion, the expansion of LTCHs seems to contribute to decrease in the inpatient cost of the elderly in ACHs and to increase efficiency in the utilization of health resources.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.44-54
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the experiences of acute care hospital nurses' on spiritual care with focus group interviews. Methods: Data were collected from 24 nurses recruited from one acute-care hospital in a southern province of Korea. Six focus groups were assembled considering age and religion. All interviews were recorded and transcribed. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Five categories with 14 sub-categories emerged: 1) ambiguous concept: confusing terms, an additional job; 2) assessment of spiritual care needs: looking for spiritual care needs, not recognizing spiritual care needs; 3) spiritual care practices: active spiritual care, passive spiritual care ; 4) outcomes of spiritual care: comfort of the recipient, comfort of the provider; and 5) barriers to spiritual care: fear of criticism from others, lack of education, lack of time, space constraints, and absence of a recording system. Conclusion: Participants perceived spiritual care as an uncertain concept. Some participants recognized it as a form of nursing care, and others did not. They practiced spiritual care in acute-care settings according to their personal perceptions of spiritual care. Therefore, in order to perform spiritual nursing in acute-care hospitals, it is a priority for nurses to recognize the concept of spiritual nursing accurately. It is also necessary to prepare a hospital environment suitable for the provision of spiritual care.