• 대한간호학회지
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• 제24권2호
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• pp.313-318
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• 1994

To build a suitable National Health Care System for the coming 21s1 century, Nursing must also be renewed. The future Korea will be united and the majority of its population will raidly consist of the aged. Economically standing on the same level with developed countries the growth of scientific technologies will foster communications, firing astounding changes in the medical field. While the overall life style pattern of Koereans not to mention the structure of diseases undergo change, the possibility that the reckless induction of high-tech health care may only cause medical fees to eascafate. It can전so be expected that the health care system will evolve towards the consumers. Nursing in the 21s1 century will be of two scenarios according to WHO, which presents the role of the nurse. The first scenario is that "a gen-eric health care work force" namely a "care giver" will replace all other health professions. If Nursing does not become the compatent profession fitting to this purpose it will eventually dei out. The second scenario is that nurses who are educated in a well grounded and extensive general background and have command of a specialized area will undertake services varying from health pro-motion to treatment and rehabilitation both direct and indirectly, while supervising other personnel. The nurse here would become the "care giver". To become the necessary health care profession in the 21s1 century, nurses should be provided with more educational opportunities, variating in its con-tents, course, and system, enabling them to grow. Clair Faign points out that the minimal educational entry for the nursing profession is a 4 year undergraduate education in this aspect, now in the time to set the future of Nursing into the course of the first scenario. A new educational system stipulating a baccalaureate nursing degree is in urgent need, and aside from govermental actions nurse themseives should formaily officiallze this process, striving for quality assurance. While considering 6 years nursing education programs, multifarious degree courses for existing 3 years educated nurse should be provided Junior nursing schools must devise measures to grow into baccalaucate institutions, also. Among the existing courses, the Self Study Degree Program should be converted into RN, BSN courese provided by universities, and clinical training for the University on the Air must be supplimented, The possibility of establishing nursing courses into commercial high school programs only jeopardizes the development of the nursing profession.

• 한국병원경영학회지
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• 제2권1호
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• pp.1-21
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• 1997

In order to analyze the shifts in the volume and profits of Computed Tomography(CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging(MRI) utilization for a year before and after the implementation of insurance coverage for CT, this study has been undertaken examining CT and MRI cost data from 'Y' University Hospital situated in Seoul, Korea. Following are the results of this study: 1. The medical insurance payment for CT, implemented on January 1, 1996, increased CT utilization from January 1996 to April 1996 due to low insurance premiums: however, from May 1996 the number of CT cases significantly decreased as a result of strengthened medical cost reviews and the new 'Detailed standards for approval of CT' announced near the end of April 1996 by the insurer. 2. Since the implementation of insurance coverage for CT, CT fee reduction rates for reimbursements by the insurer to the hospital were 50% and 40% for January and February, respectively, and 31% and 15% for March and April. A significant point in the lowering of the reduction rate was reached in May at 11%; furthermore, since June the reduction rate fell below the average reduction rate for reimbursements for all procedures. If the 'Detailed standards for approval of CT' had been announced before the implementation of insurance coverage for CT, CT utilization would not have been so high due to the need to meet those 'standards'. In addition, loss of hospital profits resulting from the reduction for reimbursements would not have occurred. 3. The shifts in MRI utilization showed that there was no particular change with the beginning of insurance coverage for CT, and the introduction of the 'Detailed standards for approval of CT' made MRI utilization increase because MRI is free of restrictions imposed by the insurer. 4. The relationship between CT utilization and MRI utilization showed that they were supplementary to each other before insurance coverage for CT, but that CT was substituted for MRI because of strengthened medical cost reviews after t~e beginning of insurance coverage for CT. 5. The shifts in volume by patient characteristics showed that the number of inappropriate case patients, according to the insurer's "Standards for approval", decreased more than the number of appropriate case patients after the introduction of insurance coverage for CT. Therefore, the health insurance fee schemes for CT have influenced patient care. 6. The shifts in profits from CT utilization showed a net profit decrease of 31.6%. In order to match the pre-coverage profit level, 5,471 more cases would need to be seen and productivity would need to be increased by 32.7%. This profit decrease resulted from a decrease of CT utilization and low reimbursements. With insurance coverage, net profits from CT were 24.4%, and a margin of safety ratio was 39.6%. Because of the net profits and margin of safety ratio, CT utilization fees for insured appropriate cases could not be considered inappropriate. 7. The shifts in profits from MRI utilization before and after the introduction of CT coverage showed that in order to match pre-CT coverage profit levels, 2,011 more cases would need to be seen and productivity would need to be increased by 9.2%. The reasons for needing to increase the number of cases and productivity result from cost burdens created by adding new MRI units. But with CT coverage already begun, MRI utilization increased. Combined with a minor increase in the MRI fee schedule, MRI utilization showed a net profit increase of 18.5%. Net profits of 62.8% and a 'margin of safety ratio' of 43.1% for MRI utilization showed that the hospital relied on this non-covered procedure for profits. 8. The shifts in profits from CT and MRI utilization showed the net profits from CT decreased by 2.33billion Won while the net profits from MRI increased by 815.7million Won. Overall, these two together showed a net profit decrease of 1.51billion Won. The shifts in utilization showed a functional substitutionary relationship, but the shifts in profits did not show a substitutionary relationship. From these results, We can conclude that if insurance is to be expanded to include previously uncovered procedures using expensive medical equipment, detailed standards should be prepared in advance. The decrease in profits from the shifts in coverage and changes in fees is a difficult burden that should be shared, not carried by the hospital alone. Also, a new or improved fee schedule system should include revised standards between items listed and the appropriateness of the fee schedule should constantly be ensured. This study focused on one university hospital in Seoul and is therefore limited in general applicability. But it is valuable for considering current issues and problems, such as the influence of CT coverage on hospital management. Future studies will hopefully expand the scope of the issues considered here.

• 대한영양사협회학술지
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• 제21권2호
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• pp.123-139
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• 2015

The objective of this study was to document how clinical dietitians working at tertiary hospitals spend their time based on several categories of activities using a time measurement study. The questionnaires were distributed to 14 tertiary hospitals, and dietitians answered by classifying their work activities into several categories such as general care, indirect care, direct care, outpatient care, and food service management. A total of 129 clinical dietitians replied and their answers were analyzed according to the categories of activities. The times spent on the categories are as follows: general care (76.7 mins/day, 14%), indirect care (228.4 mins/day, 35%), direct care (120.1 mins/day, 22%), outpatient care (61.5 mins/day, 11%), and food service management (99.0 mins/day, 18%). The total working hours for dietitians was 590.0 mins, which exceeds the standard working hours of 540.0 mins (9 hrs) a day. From this study, we found that clinical dietitians spent very limited time on direct care. Times spent on activities were different according to type of employment and food service. Internship dietitians spent their more time on general care (P<0.001) while irregular dietitians spent more time on outpatient care (P<0.05). In contracted managed food service hospitals, clinical dietitians spent significantly less time on food service management (P<0.001). Regardless of doctors' order and consultation fees, clinical dietitians performed more than 95 percent of free consultation to patients. Entry-level knowledge and skills of dietitians working at hospitals are very important for quality service, but it is equally important to create an administrative and social environment that encourages clinical dietitian to spend more time on direct patient care.

• 한국보건간호학회지
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• 제2권2호
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• pp.21-44
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• 1988

In Korea, fee-for service reimbursement has been adopted from the begining of medical insurance system in 1977, and the importance of the relative value unit is currently being investigated. The purpose of this study was to find out the level of propriety of the difference in the fees for different surgical services, and the appropriateness of the classification of the insurance fee schedule. For the purpose of this study, specific subjects and the procedural methodology is shown as follows: 1. The propriety of the Relative Price System(RPS). 1) Choice of sample operations. In this study, sample operations were selected and classified by specialists in general surgery, and the number of items they classified were 32. For the same group of operations the Insurance Fee Schedule(IFS) classified the operations into 24 separate items. In order to investigate the propriety of the RPS, one of the purpose of this study, was to examine the 24 items classified by the IFS. 2) Evaluation of the complexity of surgery. The data used in this study was collected The data used in this study was collected from 94 specialists in general surgery by mail survey from November I to 15, 1986. Several independent variables (age, location, number of bed, university hospital, whether the medical institution adopt residents or not) were also investigated for analysis of the characteristics of surgical complexity. 3) Complexity and time calculations. Time data was collected from the records of the Seoul National University' Hospital, and the cost per operation was calculated through cost finding methods. 4) Analysis of the propriety of the Relative Price System of the Insurance Fee Schedule. The Relative Price System of the sample operation was regressed on the cost, time, comlexity relative ,value system (RVS) separately. The coefficient of determination indicates the degree of variation in the RPS of the Insurance Fee Schedule explained by the cost, time, complexity RVS separately. 2. The appropriateness of the classification of the Insurance Fee Schedule. 1) Choice of sample operations. The items which differed between the classification of the specialist and the classification of medical, Insurance Fee Schedule were chosen. 2) Comparisons of cost, time and complexity between the items were done to evaluate which classification was more appropriate. The findings of the study can be summarized as follows: 1. The coefficient of determination of the regression of the RPS on-cost RVS was 0.58, on time RVS was 0.65, and on complexity RVS was 0.72. This means that the RPS of Insurance Fee Schedule is improper with respect to the cost, time, complexity separately. Thus this indicates that RPS must be re-shaped according to the standard element. In this study, the correlation coefficients of cost, time, complexity Relative Value System were very high, and this suggests that RPS could be reshaped I according to anyone standard element. Considering of measurement, time was thought to be the most I appropriate. 2. The classifications of specialist and of the Insurance Fee Schedule were compared with respect to cost, time, and complexity separately. For complexity, ANOVA was done and the others were compared to the different values of different classifications. The result was that the classification of specialist was more reasonable and that the classification of Insurance Fee Schedule grouped inappropriately several into one price unit.

• 보건행정학회지
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• 제25권3호
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• pp.185-196
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• 2015

Background: Issues concerning with the classification accuracy of Korean Outpatient Groups (KOPGs) have been raised by providers and researchers. The KOPG is an outpatient classification system used to measure casemix of outpatient visits and to adjust provider risk in charges by the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service in managing insurance payments. The objective of this study were to refine KOPGs to improve the classification accuracy and to evaluate the refinement. Methods: We refined the rules used to classify visits with multiple procedures, newly defined chemotherapy drug groups, and modified the medical visit indicators through reviews of other classification systems, data analyses, and consultations with experts. We assessed the improvement by measuring % of variation in case charges reduced by KOPGs and the refined system, Enhanced KOPGs (EKOPGs). We used claims data submitted by providers to the HIRA during the year 2012 in both refinement and evaluation. Results: EKOPGs explicitly allowed additional payments for multiple procedures with exceptions of packaging of routine ancillary services and consolidation of related significant procedures, and discounts ranging from 30% to 70% were defined in additional payments. Thirteen chemotherapy drug KOPGs were added and medical visit indicators were streamlined to include codes for consultation fees for outpatient visits. The % of variance reduction achieved by EKOPGs was 48% for all patients whereas the figure was 40% for KOPGs, and the improvement was larger in data from tertiary and general hospitals than in data from clinics. Conclusion: A significant improvement in the performance of the KOPG was achieved by refining payments for visits with multiple procedures, defining groups for visits with chemotherapy, and revising medical visit indicators.

• 대한한방부인과학회지
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• 제19권1호
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• pp.219-235
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• 2006

Purpose : To investigate the medical information related to HRT online and the medical treatment of perimenopausal and postmenopausal women in the Dept. of Ob&Gy Korean Medicine Hospital, after the discontinuance of the WHI trial in U.S, July 2002. Methods : With the key-words "HRT", "Hormone Replacement therapy", "호르몬 대체요법(HRT)", 갱년기 증후군(perimenopausal syndrome)", “폐경기후증후군(postmenopausal syndrome)", I searched for the information from July 2002 to 2005 on DAUM, the representative portal site in Korea, and I've got a grasp of the tendency of the informational propagation on HRT. Moreover, I investigated chief complaints and tendency of give up HRT of the perimenopausal and postmenopausal women(aged between 47 and 60) who visited Dept. of Ob&Gy Korean Medicine Hospital for 2 years and 6 months since July 2002. Results : 1) Searching for the news on DAUM, I found; 2 articles on the methods of HRT: 4 on the positive effects of HRT: 4 on the general items including the positive effects of HRT: 19 on the side effects of HRT: 1 on the insignificant effect of HRT :4 on the apprehensions about HRT: 3 on the strengthening of the criteria on medical fees review: 3 on the discontinuance of HRT: 8 on the alternative materials and medicines to HRT: 4 on the guidance for the phyto-estrogen. 2) I analyzed chief complaints of 120 women. The majority of chief complaints were vasomotor symptoms like hot flush and sweating. There were only 4 patients who wanted to give up HRT. Conclusion : The side effects of HRT were objectively dealt with online but there was not enough effective and continuous guidance. In the case that a woman not on HRT wishes to overcome perimenopausal period through KM therapy, this information may have affected her decision. However, not many women who were already on HRT terminated the therapy for fear of side effects and switched to KM therapy. Promotion of KM therapy in improving health during perimenopausal and postmenopausal period is desperately needed.

• 한국실내디자인학회논문집
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• 제21권4호
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• pp.146-154
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• 2012

As Damyang has preserved both beautiful natural environment and tradition very well, it needs colors which can coexist with Damyang while preserving it as it is rather than colorful and refined colors. However, the present Damyang deteriorates the quality of beautiful natural scenes by chaotic uses of colors. Therefore, colors which can represent symbolism based on the present colors of Damyang should be used so that everyone can be pleased with them. Finally, the basic colors decided were classified into main, supplement and highlight colors in consideration of characteristics of each scene and they were effectively arranged based on the colors decided. If such colors and color schemes are properly applied according to characteristics of scenes, ecological, historical, cultural and traditional scenes of Damyang can be preserved consistently. Academic literature uses the abstract to succinctly communicate complex research. An abstract may act as a stand-alone entity instead of a full paper. As such, an abstract is used by many organizations as the basis for selecting research that is proposed for presentation in the form of a poster, platform/oral presentation or workshop presentation at an academic conference. Most literature database search engines index only abstracts rather than providing the entire text of the paper. Full texts of scientific papers must often be purchased because of copyright and/or publisher fees and therefore the abstract is a significant selling point for the reprint or electronic version of the full-text. Abstracts are protected under copyright law just as any other form of written speech is protected. However, publishers of scientific articles invariably make abstracts publicly available, even when the article itself is protected by a toll barrier. For example, articles in the biomedical literature are available publicly from medline which is accessible through design. It is a common misconception that the abstracts in medline provide sufficient information for medical practitioners, students, scholars and patients. The abstract can convey the main results and conclusions of a scientific article but the full text article must be consulted for details of the methodology.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• 제32권3호
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• pp.168-175
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• 2020

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate and report the current status of physical therapy (PT) performed in Korean neonatal intensive care units (NICU) to present foundational data that promotes the advances in neonatal PT in Korea. Methods: Based on the Health Insurance Review and Assessment (HIRA) data, we administered a questionnaire survey to 74 hospitals (39 tertiary and 35 general hospitals) in Korea equipped with a NICU and pediatric PT unit. We developed a 32-item questionnaire with reference to previous Korean studies. The questionnaires were distributed and retrieved via regular mail and an online system. Results: Of the 74 hospitals, 58 (78%) practiced neonatal PT and the duration of each session significantly differed according to the hospital rating. PT was given, depending on clinical symptoms, to infants who were preterm and low birth-weight (96.5%), had brain and spinal cord diseases (84.5%), had pathological tonus (94.8%), with respiratory problems (65.5%), for range of motion exercises (82.8%), for neurodevelopment approaches (72.4%), and for positioning (70.7%). Interdisciplinary meetings were held to share clinical decisionmaking in 17.2% of the hospitals surveyed and parent-participating education to ensure a family-centered approach was offered in 63.8% of the hospitals. The barriers of neonatal PT included low insurance fees, insufficient awareness of colleagues, and the severity of the patient. Conclusion: This study is the first report of the current status of neonatal PT in Korea. The findings of this study will serve as foundational data to review the current neonatal PT practice and promote further advances.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• 제20권4호
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• pp.61-69
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• 2008

Purpose: We evaluated caregivers' understanding of patients' diseases and disuse syndrome, the understanding of exercise and massage related to rehabilitation and the necessity of education about these, the difference in education and realities of the care-giving field, and the extra services needed in the field. Methods: The survey using questionnaires was performed from June 2008 to August 2008 with 220 people participated in caregive education programme in daegu city and area near dagu city. Among the 220 submitted questionnaires, 184 which were faithfully answered were selected and they were analyzed by i-STATistics statistical program. Results: The educational focus of the first and second level caregivers, as defined by the second clause of the 29th article of the Elderly Welfare law, is on basic knowledge of diseases such as dementia, stroke, and depression. However, other diseases are not covered and the information does not include information on decreased function, complications, functional rehabilitating exercises, or preventing disuse syndrome for long term patients. The most common diseases, in order of prevalence, are stroke, dementia, diabetes mellitus, Parkinson disease, arthritis, and geriatric inertness. The general level of awareness about disuse syndrome was low, and patients, while understanding the need for massage and rehabilitative exercise, receive little education about the proper methods and therefore cannot use them. Patients also did not understand how participating in these activities could reduce medical fees, indicating that further education on massage and rehabilitative exercise is needed. Caregivers desired to include positive rehabilitation, massage, and exercise-related services in their services. Finally, differences in caregiver education and reality resulted from a lack of diversity in education. Conclusion: We suggest providing education on disuse atrophy and improving the lack of diversity in the care-giving education system.

• 보건행정학회지
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• 제16권1호
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• pp.17-40
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• 2006

With the prospect of rapidly growing health insurance expenditures, particularly spending for ambulatory care, the introduction of a case-based payment method is discussed as an alternative to the current fee-for-service based method. A system to measure case mixes of providers is a core component of such payment systems. The objective of this study were to develop a classification system for ambulatory care, Korean Ambulatory Patient Group (KAPG) based on the U.S. APG version 2.0 and to evaluate the classification accuracy of the system. A database of 64,258,386 records was constructed from insurance claims submitted to the Health Insurance Review Agency (HIRA) during three months from August 2002. A total of 41,347,307 records with a single visit was used for the development and 7% random sample of the database was used for the evaluation. Additional groups were defined to include both physician and hospital fees in the classification, age splits were added to classify the entire population as well as the population older than 65, and the definition of medical groups used by the HIRA was adopted. The variance reduction in charges achieved by KAPGs was computed to evaluate the accuracy of classification. A total of 474 KAPGs was defined compare to 290 groups in the U.S. APG. The variance reduction for charges of all visits ranged from 20% to 37% depending on the type of provider, and ranged from 22% to 42% for non-outliers, that were better than those achieved by the system currently used by the .HIRA for its internal review purpose. Although further study is required to improve the classification for complicated care in larger hospitals, the results indicated that KAPGs could be used for better management of costs for ambulatory care.