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

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.62-74
• /
• 1987

The term 'nursing' is often defined as a therapeutic and interpersonal process that ultimately functions to help clients. In the process of helping, empathic ability(ability to entering into the another's feeling or motives) is an essential factor that has been proved in the fields of psychology and social psychology. In the sense, nursing personnel with high level of empathy is required to accomplish the comprehensive nursing. The purpose of this study was (1) to investigate empathy between nursing and non-nursing students, (2) to examine changes of empathic ability in accordance with their academic years, and (3) to show relationships, if any, between the two concepts, empathy and need-affiliation. For the survey, 325 respondents for nursing department and 378 from non-nursing departments were randomly selected from the two universities in Seoul. The instruments used in this questionaire survey method were Hogan's Empathy Scale and Mehrabian's Need-Affiliation Scale, each of them has established its validity and reliability in many different people and settings. For the analysis, descriptive stative statistics were mostly used by calculating frequencies, percentages and mean scores. T-test, analysis of variance and correlation coefficient were employed to test the differences and the statistical significance. The results of this study are summarized as follows: (1) There was no significant difference in empathic ability detween the nursing and non-nursing student (2) The levels of empathy among the nursing students, 'surprisingly enough, were negatively correlated with their academic years, even though statistical significations was not found. The scores of the empathy are somewhat dropped as academic year going up. (3) No significant relationship was revealed between empathy and need-affiliation. In conclusion, the results of the study repeatedly support the claim that the nursing education must empathize and, also, include the programs that enable nursing students to develop the ability of empathy for their clients.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.173-183
• /
• 2004

The purpose of the present study was to assess food hygiene and safety knowledge, attitudes, and practices of food-service personnel in school food-service programs and to find factors affecting their knowledge, attitudes, and practices. A self-administered questionnaire was offered to a random sample of 40 kitchen employees in elementary schools in one region of Korea, with 37 completing the survey, a response rate of 92.5%. The survey was carried out over a two-month period (April-May, 2001). Knowledge score of the employees was high with a mean/standard deviation of 4.75/0.32 on a 5.0-point scale. They had significantly lower attitude score (4.55$\pm$0.33) and practice score (4.55$\pm$0.45) compared to the score of knowledge (p＜0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that (1) the employees＇ education level and work experience in school food-service programs affected their knowledge, (2) age, level of living, monthly income, and housing type affected their attitudes, and (3) monthly income, level of living, housing type, and work experience in school food-service programs affected their practices. Pearson＇s correlation analysis confirmed that the knowledge and attitude scores were significantly correlated (r=0.598, p＜0.001). The results indicate that the knowledge, attitude, and practice levels of the employees regarding the food hygiene and safety were better than expected, however, the results suggest a need for the adoption of approaches which take account of socio-economic and environmental influences on behavior to improve and maintain their practice level. The food-handling practices of school food-service employees need to be monitored routinely in order to ensure that safe food is served to our school children.

• Journal of Korean Academic Society of Home Health Care Nursing
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.74-84
• /
• 2001

This descriptive study was conducted to determine the awareness by doctors and patients of the hospital based home nursing service, and the willingness of the patients as well as the doctors to use the service if provided. The convenience samples consisted of 240 hospitalized medical-surgical patients, and 64 doctors from one' hospital. The data was collected from June 1 to June 30, 2000, by questionnairs and interviews. The results of the study were as follows: 1. 57.4% of the subjects were male patients. 35.8% were over 60 years old. and incomes ranged from 1.000,000 to 1.990,000 Won per month in 33.2% of the subjects. 2. 61.3% were unaware of home nursing. 52.7% of the subjects got information about home nursing via TV, magazines, and newspapers, and 83.4% of them showed a willingness to use the service if available. For doctors, 87%, of them said that they were aware of home nursing, and 84.4% viewed the service as necessary. However, only 39.1% responded that they are willing to refer their patients to the home nursing service if it is available. 3. Those who know about the service perceived it more advantageous; however, many do not know about it. Based on the above findings, the following suggestions are made: (1) It is necessary to hold a workshop or a seminar about hospital based home nursing service to draw attention of hospital personnel. (2) There is a need to publicize home nursing service to patients and their family members. (3) Further research is necessary to analyze cost/effectiveness of a hospital based home nursing service for the hospital.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.26-36
• /
• 1998

This primary study was done to develop an ethical guideline for organ transplantation, a life-saving treatment which helps improve the quality of life. This study tried to identify the current situation in Korea, in terms of ethical considerations in organ transplantations. This study collected basic data in organ transplantations, in the hope that procedure of organ transplantations could be developed that would be fair to both organ donors and recipients. The immediate goals of this study were : 1)to identify staff in charge of organ transplantations and their jobs in the hospital, 2)to survey whether there exists a Hospital Ethics Committee(HEC), 3)to research what consideration are formally taken in selecting recipients, and 4)to accumulate data on how consent from donors are currently obtained. The study used a survey questionnaire and received responses from 31 hospitals out of 45 hospitals where organ transplantation are being done. Organ transplantation coordinators were found in 16 hospitals, but the job description varied among hospitals. The survey showed that all 16 hospitals with an HEC that health care personnel unnecessarily dominate the committee. The study notes that HECs should be vitalized by recruiting, as members, ethicists, theologians, patients, guardians, as well as the general public outside of the hospital. The study revealed that in selecting recipients the hospital take into account ABO blood type, histocompatibility, age, waiting time. and level of patient compliance. Finally, it was shown that in the cases of living donors the transplanting hospitals seek a formal consent, whereas there are no common consenting practice established for cadaveric donors. The study concludes with three proposals. First, a nationwide institution responsible exclusively for procurement and distribution of cadaveric organs for transplantation should be established. Second. we should rebuild the national health insurance system so that have costly organ transplantation expenses are substantially covered. Last, but certainly not least. there is a need to emphasize the HEC's committment to prepare a proper ethical guideline for organ transplantation in general.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
• /
• v.7 no.4
• /
• pp.102-122
• /
• 2002

It has been 2 years since the implementation of the separation policy of drug prescription and dispensing. This study analyzes the changes in community pharmacy operation after the implementation of the policy. The main purposes of the analysis are to determine whether the changes in community pharmacy operation have occurred and to evaluate that the changes are consistent with the intention of the policy, if the changes actually have occurred. For the study a survey on 961 pharmacies chosen by stratified sampling method has been performed. Of the 961 sample pharmacies, 438 pharmacies were responded resulting 45.6% response rate. The sample pharmacies are classified by the location that the pharmacy are operating: the pharmacies around large size hospitals, the pharmacies around clinics or medium to small size hospitals and the pharmacies with no hospitals or clinics around. Based on the classification, the number of pharmacies, number of prescriptions processed, the personnel structure, the changes in facility, and other operational characteristics are compared. The results showed that the pharmacies were tended to concentrate around hospitals and clinic since the implementation of the policy. The number of pharmacists per pharmacy was increased, the size of pharmacy was increased and the facilities were improved to accomodate the requirements of the policy. The work hours a pharmacist spent on dispensing drug have increased almost twice, however, there was no corresponding increase in the time spent on patient education and medication history management, indicating a problem in the provision of quality pharmaceutical services. Based on the results, suggestions to minimize the negative effects of the policy are provided.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.16 no.11
• /
• pp.7885-7892
• /
• 2015

This study public hospital productivity and private hospitals, comparative analysis was divided into capital productivity, labor productivity, value-added productivity, based on the findings public hospitals are able to ensure the public interest to provide stable and profitable health services of good quality. It proposes measures to improve productivity. Investigation period were based on the fiscal year 2013, the target of 39 public hospitals are private hospitals surveyed were selected for a total of 147 hospitals with 108. ANOVA analysis was performed the analysis, hierarchical regression analysis. In the conclusions showed as the most important factor in the profitability of labor productivity, the productivity of public hospitals variables, because exert a significant impact on the productivity and efficiency of future public hospitals are required to establish an effective personnel management system. It should also Productivity and specific assessment of the effective management be analyzed by the association between the margins would have to be.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.145-162
• /
• 2021

Purpose: The 2018 General survey of emergency assistance was conducted to examine the working conditions and welfare, including educational direction, interests, and awareness of work, of the fire department emergency medical technicians (EMT). This would be used as basic data for future policy directions. Methods: Among the fire-fighting officers in 16 cities nationwide, emergency rescue workers engaged in first-aid activities were targeted. With prior consent, a survey was conducted through electronic documents. Of the total 1,227 people, responses from 1,151 were finally analyzed, excluding 76 who did not respond appropriately. Results: The working conditions and welfare of 119 firefighters were moderate, but in the fields of education and interest, the learning according to the regulations was high. In particular, satisfaction with the scope of work was found to be below average. However, it was positive that it will play a role as a social safety net in the future and will converge with cutting-edge science. Conclusion: Although this study was a total investigation of the EMT survey, conducting an EMT survey on all fire fighters in Korea is difficult. Further research is needed, particularly on first-class emergency medical personnel who play a major role in 119 paramedics.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.58-69
• /
• 2021

Purpose:In this study, we reviewed existing victim support programs implemented in Korea to aid in the development of psychosocial support programs for patients and guardians who have experienced patient safety incidents. Methods: We reviewed similar programs: a support program for suicide survivors operated by the Korea Psychological Autopsy Center (Korea Foundation for Suicide Prevention), a family harmony program for workers in industrial accidents operated by the National Center for Forest Therapy, and the support services for crime victims provided by the Korean Crime Victims Support Association. We reviewed the contents of each website and conducted interviews with key personnel from each institution. Results: The support program for families who have experienced suicide was developed based on the suicide prevention project at the Central Psychological Autopsy Center. The family harmony program for workers who suffered industrial accidents is operated by the National Center for Forest Therapy at the behest of the Korean Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service. The Korean Crime Victims Support Association was established by the Ministry of Justice in accordance with the Crime Victim Protection Act and provides support to victims of crime. Each program was designed and implemented considering the objectives and goals, defining their recruitment plans as well as the selection criteria for their participants, and creating quality content that adequately addressed the struggles of their participants. Conclusion: The summarization of the various types of victim support programs in this study can be helpful in the future development of psychosocial support programs for victims of patient safety incidents.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.1-12
• /
• 2022

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the association between the nurse staffing level and the patient mortality using Korean National Health Insurance data. Methods: The data of 1,068,059 patients from 913 hospitals between 2015 and 2016 were analyzed. The nurse staffing level was categorized based on the bed-to-nurse ratio in general wards, intensive care units (ICUs), and hospitals overall. The x² test and generalized estimating equations (GEE) multilevel multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to explore in-hospital mortality and 30-day mortality after admission. Results: The in-hospital mortality rate was 2.9% and 30-day mortality after admission rate was 3.0%. Odd Ratios (ORs) for in-hospital mortality were statistically lower in general wards with a bed-to-nurse ratio of less than 3.5 compared to that with 6.0 or more (OR=0.72, 95% CI=0.63~0.84) and in ICUs with a bed-to-nurse ratio of less than 0.88 compared to that with 1.25 or more (OR=0.78, 95% CI=0.66~0.92). ORs for 30-day mortality after admission were statistically lower in general wards with a bed-to-nurse ratio of less than 3.5 compared to that with 6.0 or more (OR=0.83, 95% CI=0.73~0.94) and in ICUs with a bed-to-nurse ratio of less than 0.63 compared to that with 1.25 or more (OR=0.85, 95% CI=0.72~1.00). Conclusion: To reduce the patient mortality, it is necessary to ensure a sufficient number of nurses by improving the nursing fee system according to the nurse staffing level.