• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.221-227
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• 2016

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of maternal age on fertilization, embryo quality, and clinical pregnancy in patients undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) using testicular sperm from partners with azoospermia. Methods: A total of 416 ICSI cycles using testicular spermatozoa from partners with obstructive azoospermia (OA, n = 301) and non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA, n = 115) were analyzed. Female patients were divided into the following age groups: 27 to 31 years, 32 to 36 years, and 37 to 41 years. The rates of fertilization, high-quality embryos, clinical pregnancy, and delivery were compared across maternal age groups between the OA and NOA groups. Results: The rates of fertilization and high-quality embryos were not significantly different among the maternal age groups. Similarly, the clinical pregnancy and delivery rates were not significantly different. The fertilization rate was significantly higher in the OA group than in the NOA group (p< 0.05). Age-group analysis revealed that the fertilization and high-quality embryo rates were significantly different between the OA and NOA groups in patients aged 27 to 31 years old, but not for the other age groups. Although the clinical pregnancy and delivery rates differed between the OA and NOA groups across all age groups, significant differences were not observed. Conclusion: In couples using testicular sperm from male partners with azoospermia, pregnancy and delivery outcomes were not affected by maternal age. However, women older than 37 years using testicular sperm from partners with azoospermia should be advised of the increased incidence of pregnancy failure.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.391-401
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• 2018

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of implementation of the healthcare accreditation system on patient safety, quality of medical care, organization culture and management performance of convalescent hospitals. Ten hospitals were selected at random from among 36 convalescent hospitals in Daegu that had obtained accreditation until September 2015. To accomplish this, hospital staff were surveyed from 15 February to 25 March, 2016 using a questionnaire with 253 objects. We investigated how the healthcare accreditation system has influenced patient safety, service quality, organization culture and performance of hospital management. The change in the treatment support system showed the highest score of 3.93 among quality change and medical service items, while that of personnel source culture showed the highest score of 3.78 points among organization culture items, and that of internal process view, study and growth view showed the highest score of 3.71 among management performance items. Multiple regression analysis revealed that factors positively changing hospital management performance were nurses, employees and managers, basic value systems, organization culture, personnel source culture, open system culture, hierarchical culture, and production oriented culture. The quality of patient safety and medical care was positively influenced by changes in the quality of convalescent hospitals after implementation of the healthcare accreditation system. However, among the four types of organizational culture, the financial perspective was relatively low compared to other perspectives.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.57-70
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• 2010

Nowadays, medical services can be performed through online. This entails a lot of human resources and different healthcare information. The rapid changes in the healthcare environment through web should be accounted so that the information would be maximally useful. However, medical information acquired online is not regulated; it is not favorable to users because it creates doubts to its reliability and benefits. This study focuses on the online medical information. It gives help to the users through its accessibility" comprehensiveness, continuity and efficiency. An empirical analysis of research model using PLS(partial least squares) shows that the quality of medical information influences the reliability and benefit of the related medical information. If users recognize medical information to be reliable and beneficial, their intention to use the medical information becomes strong.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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• no.31
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• pp.41-48
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• 2002

The purpose of this study is to suggest healthcare facilities as ecological architecture. The physical environmental health of human mainly depends on the Quality of architectural natural environment, so it is very important to prepare healing environment on the healthcare setting. This study proceeds to search planning factors of healthcare facilities in ecological architecture through configuration of three main goals. It also explain the importance of ecological planning methods, and suggest a way of architectural planning of health-care facilities in future, through the study of the features and analysis of application methods. The future hospital should provide reduction of the effect on environments, increasing amenity, healing landscape. To create healthcare facilities ecological is essential not only to human health but also human survival.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.35 no.7
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• pp.1238-1247
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• 2005

Purpose: This study aimed at developing integrated clinical performance indicators(CPIs) through the analysis of quality improvement(QI) activities of a hospital and literature review about performance measures. Method: The CPIs were developed through the following three stages; 1)Identifying preliminary CPIs 2)A staff validity test in preliminary CPIs 3)Developing final CPIs. Result: One hundred twenty-three preliminary CPIs were developed through QI activities of the target hospital for 8 years and literature review. The results of the validity test for the preliminary CPIs supported ninety-one items. Sixty-two CPIs were selected through integration, reclassification and renaming. Then, eighteen items were deleted on account of an imprecise calculation method. Finally, forty-four CPIs were confirmed. They consisted of twenty-six items at the hospital level and eighteen items at the department level. Conclusion: CPIs can be used as criteria to evaluate the performance of healthcare organizations, and to decide the quality of healthcare for customers. This study may contribute to establishing an integrated system between QI activities and performance measurement of healthcare organizations.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.319-326
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• 2023

Objectives: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has increased the workload of healthcare workers (HCWs), impacting their health. This study aimed to assess sleep quality using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and identify factors associated with poor sleep among HCWs in Vietnam during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 1000 frontline HCWs were recruited from various healthcare facilities in Vietnam between October 2021 and November 2021. Data were collected using a 3-part self-administered questionnaire, which covered demographics, sleep quality, and factors related to poor sleep. Poor sleep quality was defined as a total PSQI score of 5 or higher. Results: Participants' mean age was 33.20±6.81 years (range, 20.0-61.0), and 63.0% were women. The median work experience was 8.54±6.30 years. Approximately 6.3% had chronic comorbidities, such as hypertension and diabetes mellitus. About 59.5% were directly responsible for patient care and treatment, while 7.1% worked in tracing and sampling. A total of 73.8% reported poor sleep quality. Multivariate logistic regression revealed significant associations between poor sleep quality and the presence of chronic comorbidities (odds ratio [OR], 2.34; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.17 to 5.24), being a frontline HCW directly involved in patient care and treatment (OR, 1.59; 95% CI, 1.16 to 2.16), increased working hours (OR, 1.84; 95% CI,1.37 to 2.48), and a higher frequency of encountering critically ill and dying patients (OR, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.03 to 1.95). Conclusions: The high prevalence of poor sleep among HCWs in Vietnam during the COVID-19 pandemic was similar to that in other countries. Working conditions should be adjusted to improve sleep quality among this population.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.10-20
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• 2017

Purposes: This study analyzed activities for improvement of quality of care in nursing units to identify group-level success factors of quality improving efforts. Methodology/Approach: Research subjects were 31 general wards of C university hospital, which has 1,200 beds. Data were collected through survey and focus group interview. The mean value of nurses in a ward was converted to unit-level variable value of the ward. The SPSS 24.0 version was used to analyse the data. The units were classified into two groups, high performing and low performing, by the subjective level of quality improvement performance. Findings: The main findings are as follows: 1. The high performing groups participated more in education related to quality improvement and showed more quality improvement cases in progress than that of their counterpart. 2. The high performing group's nurses show more positive perception and attitude on quality improvement activities, and they have positive assessment on the necessity, effect, satisfaction about the quality improvement activities. 3. Middle managers' ability, attitude, motivation, and effective communication across members of the ward played pivotal roles in boosting the quality improvement activities of wards.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.43-56
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• 2019

Purpose: Importance of patient satisfaction related to patient-centeredness has been emphasized, and it is known to have effect on various health outcomes including health resource utilization. However, the effect of patient satisfaction has been discussed mostly in terms of hospital marketing in Korea. This study aims to examine the effect of patient satisfaction in patient-physician communication on healthcare utilization in a nationally representative adult population of South Korea. Method: Patient satisfaction with physician communication is assessed using 4 items in the 2011 Korea Health Panel Survey. Generalized linear regression analysis is conducted using 9,325 adults' healthcare utilization in 2012. Findings: Adjusting for the socio-demographic, economic factors, individual health status, health behaviors and healthcare utilization in 2011, more satisfied individuals, more likely to utilize the outpatient service, especially in clinical setting. Practical Implications: The study findings suggests that in context of South Korea healthcare system such as insufficient medical consultation time and the absence of health delivery system, patient satisfaction as a subjective healthcare quality indicator would have effect on the individual's outpatient visit. This study contributes to stimulate patient satisfaction research and discussion in South Korea to further explore its relationship with potential and various health related outcomes. Further implications of the study are discussed.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.115-125
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• 2011

Objectives : The aim of this study is to investigate the relevant factors which determine the use of oriental healthcare services among subjects with chronic illnesses. Method : This study utilized the data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2005. Out of all the participants of the survey, 11,665 individuals who are older than 19 years old and have one or more chronic diseases were included in this study. Results : The factors that affect utilization of oriental healthcare services were significantly associated with gender, educational level, job, personal income, the number of chronic illnesses, experiences of nontreatment or delayed treatment and admission experiences for the last one year(p<.001). Although some of these factors need further studies, the determining factors for the use of oriental healthcare services are the presence of chronic illness and the number of chronic disease. That is, the chronically ill are more likely to seek oriental healthcare services. And the more chronic diseases the clients have the higher probability of seeking oriental healthcare services was found. Conclusions : The results suggest that the national integrated care services should be established for diverse development of policy regarding the quality of care of chronic illness and cost-effectiveness.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.248-261
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• 2019

Establishing a healthcare delivery system is key to building a cost-effective healthcare system that can prevent the waste of healthcare resources and increase efficiency. Recently, the rapid increase in the national medical expenditures due to the aging of the population and the increase in chronic diseases has raised the question about the sustainability of the healthcare system including the health insurance system. This is why we need to reform the medical delivery system, including the function setting of medical institutions. Accordingly, gradual and practical efforts based on the recognition of reality are needed for solving the problems and improving the medical delivery system. The first effort is to secure policy measures to establish functions and roles of medical institutions which are the basis of the healthcare delivery system, and a systematic medical use system for appropriate medical use. This approach can be achieved through a reasonable health insurance schemes. Without reasonable reform efforts, it will be difficult for Korea's health care system to develop into a system that can provide cost-effective and high-quality medical services that the people want.