• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
• /
• v.27 no.10
• /
• pp.506-514
• /
• 2015

During the progression of this study, we visited 17 medical institutions. These medical institutions underwent inspection for facility eligibility of national inpatient isolation units to care for patients. Seventeen consultation meetings were held to gather expert opinions, and conferences were held with the medical institutions and local levels of government. Based on these facts, we established a field application model of the criteria of safety-management and conducted a study on this method in order to create more scientific and systematic safety-management criteria including criteria regarding facilities maintenance and methods of equipment inspection. According to an analysis on the 17 medical institutions examined, facility eligibility of 17 national inpatient isolation units was found to be 78.3% on average. Through analysis of the present domestic and foreign conditions of medical institutions, we proposed improvements for when remodeling becomes necessary and established criteria for safety-management in national inpatient isolation units for the care of patients in accordance with the domestic healthcare system.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.67-75
• /
• 2017

Purpose: This study is for the facility eligibility and improvement evaluation analysis for the patient care environment of 7 facilities which has national inpatient isolation units. Methods: For the evaluation, first of all, the patient care environment of national inpatient isolation units are scrutinized by the checklist which is used on from 2014 with the 4 fields of criteria : architectural planning and layout, general requirement and condition for operating the negative pressured isolated patient room, HVAC system, and waste water discharging system. Finally, the evaluation results are compared with that of 2014. Results: The result shows that the average value of facility eligibility is 89.3 percent and which is 8.9 percent higher than the value before the MERS occurred. Implications: It is clear that facility remodeling of 7 institutions is being performed continuously, and the result of facility eligibility evaluation is reflected on design of a new 21 national inpatient isolation units those are going to be constructed from 2016. Therefore, it is expected that this study is used as a practical reference to establish the criteria of patient care environment management and safety management for both infectious disease outbreak and general service condition.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.57-69
• /
• 2017

Purpose: This study aims to emphasize interrelation between healthcare policies, design standards and hospital architecture of the United States since 1950s; to examine spatial characteristics of inpatient care facilities through case studies; and to consider the social implication of these spatial changes. Methods: In this study, reviewing the overall healthcare system, design standards and inpatient care facilities of the United States since 1950s, a total of five inpatient care facilities, one for each period, were selected in order to analyze the spatial characteristics. The spatial maps of Space Syntax were employed for analyzing five case studies. Results: The distance between the nursing station, the support service, and inpatient room were getting closer. The spatial structure of inpatient care facilities is transformed from tree structures to annular tree structures. This result shows that the efficiency between patient, staff and support service is higher and the depth of the spaces is getting deeper, which indicates that efficiency for improving healthcare quality affect the spatial structure of inpatient care facilities. Implications: In the future, if Korea's health policy is changed to a demand-oriented health care policy, this conclusion predicts medical planning of hospital will be focused on the efficiency.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.22-29
• /
• 2017

This paper investigates the evaluation criteria in order to manage healing environment of long-term care elderly hospital. Elderly hospital evaluation tool developed by Korean Government is used to assess elderly hospital facilities to check the hospital facility and maintain its quality. However, the evaluation indicators and questions mainly focusing on safety indicators. Some questions are too vague for precise evaluation. In this paper, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the present evaluation criteria to establish new assessment tool for precise evaluation. The literature research was conducted tp set up the new evaluation criteria. From this research, we developed an elderly focusing on healing environment checklist for elderly care hospital which contains 7 factors as the primary hierarchy structure (Safety, Accessibility, Amenity, Sensibility, Friendly to nature, Territory, Interaction) and 23 factors as the secondary hierarchy structure. This evaluation criteria will help healthcare facility designers and healthcare organizations to build the healthcare facilities.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.299-305
• /
• 2021

This study examined to identify the factors influencing on inpatients' satisfaction with hospitalization and willingness to recommend hospital to others. Data from the 2018 National Patient Experience Survey were used for the analysis. Of the 593 patients experiencing inpatient services, multivariate linear regression analysis was conducted to explore the factors such as physician care, nursing care, facility and administrative support, and healthcare system on inpatients' satisfaction after controlling for their socio-demographic and health related factors. The study found that physician care, nursing care, administrative support and healthcare system were related to inpatients' satisfaction and willingness to recommend hospital. To improve inpatients' satisfaction, it is necessary to improve healthcare professionals' overall patient-centerdness attitude, user friendly hospital facilities and administrative support services and efforts to trust and satisfaction on healthcare system from the patients' perspectives.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.103-113
• /
• 2018

Objectives: The study aimed to compare the indicators of infrastructure of the whole country with those of Busan through National Medical Care Psychiatric (hospital level) Quality Assesment and to provide the basic evidence for presenting vision and strategies of mental health policy. Methods: National Medical Care Psychiatric (hospital level) Quality Assesment Data was used from 2011 to 2015. A total of 8 indicators were analyzed including facility and workforce. Results: The median value of the capacity per ward was decreasing with years both whole country and Busan. The number of beds out of total inpatient occupancy was improved over the years. There was no clear change in the number of inpatients per toilet in the hospitalized ward, but the indicator was decreasing obviously. Therefore, the median value of whole country and Busan was same with 10.2 in 2015. Conclusions: We confirmed that indicators for infrastructure were improving in a generally positive change over the years. The infrastructure is related to the patient-centered treatment environment, and the workforce is related to the quality of care. Therefore, the structural area should be continuously evaluated and improved.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.171-184
• /
• 2023

Purpose: The study explored the meaning of experiences within a family art therapy process among terminal cancer patients and their families. Methods: Ten participants, including four terminal cancer patients currently admitted to the hospice ward at an inpatient hospice facility in S City and four caregiving family members, engaged in four cycles of family art therapy sessions. The sessions were conducted weekly or bi-weekly, and each lasted approximately 50 minutes. Results: Nine cross-case themes emerged: "feeling unfamiliar and intimidated by the idea of expressing my thoughts through art," "trying to accept the present and positively overcome sadness," "expressing hope through emotional bonds during the process of parting," "conveying and preserving personal and family beliefs," "feeling upset about family imbalances caused by deteriorating health," "valuing togetherness and striving for stability amidst the current challenges," "art as a medium of empowerment for patients and facilitator of family conversations, even amidst difficulties," "sharing a range of emotions-not just joy, but concerns and sorrow-through art," and "gratitude for art' s role in improving family communication and connection through artwork. Conclusion: The findings of this study lead to several conclusions. First, patients and their families faced psychological challenges when confronted with impending death, yet they strove to remain optimistic by seeking meaning in their struggles. Second, families practiced open and expressive communication, sharing a spectrum of complex emotions with one another. Third, even as the patient's condition worsened, resulting in family fatigue, their support and cohesion strengthened.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.54-90
• /
• 2006

Medical clinics are core institutes that cover the primary medical care in Korea. Financial viability of the clinics is essential for them to conduct their roles and functions, and can be improved by increasing their operating profitability. On this ground, this study aimed at finding important factors that affect the operating profitability, and thereby at suggesting strategic alternatives that can contribute to the improvement of the profitability. Operating margin was set as a dependent variable, and such factors as general management conditions, number of visits, medical revenue, marketing activities, input resources, medical cost as independent variables. Nineteen hypotheses related to the variables were established and tested using data collected from 138 sample clinics for the year 2003. The results of the study are as follows : Firstly, such variables as percent ratio of the depreciation plus rent costs to total administration costs, type of clinical department manifested whether medical, surgical, or quasi-surgical, percent ratio of the interior facility investment to total fixed assets, and total number of outpatient visit are important factors that affect, positively or negatively, the medical profitability of the clinics. Secondly, following measures are needed to be established and implemented to improve the medical profitability. (1) Administration costs share 53.2% of the total medical costs, and depreciation plus rent costs 16.3% of the total administration costs. This implies that such measures as reinforcement of marketing activities, establishment of the cooperative utilizing system of the facility and equipment, or group practice are needed to increase cost-effectiveness. (2) Occupancy rate of the clinics with inpatient bed is as low as 45.5%, causing high fixed costs and low medical profitability. For its improvement, the resource input structure should be reorganized. Thirdly, in the future, a study that can increase sample representativeness of the study and explanation power of the variables should be performed for each type of clinical department to find more specific determinant factors and to contribute to the improvement of the medical profitability of the clinics.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.29-37
• /
• 2020

Purposes: The purpose of this study was to identify the factors related to the long-stay hospitalization of dementia patients aged 65 years or older who had received inpatient care at geriatric hospitals according to the minute facility characteristics and patient features. Methodology: This study was conducted on 317,353 cases of 1,512 geriatric hospitals using the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service dataset. The data collected were processed using the SAS Enterprise Guide 4.3 for descriptive statistics, the chi-square test, and the binary logistic regression analysis. Findings: As a result of the study, in the facility characteristics of geriatric hospitals, the long-stay hospitalization of the aged with dementia were found to be related to the type of facility establishment, the number of hospital beds, the number of medical specialists, the number of nursing personnel, and the number of geriatric hospitals by region and province. In the personal features of patients, the long-stay hospitalization was found to be associated with the gender, age, insurance, and the patient classification groups. Practical Implication: Considering the results of this study, it seems that securing the sufficient medical personnel in a geriatric facility, providing the good quality medical services, and preparing the appropriate discharge plan can reduce the unnecessary long-stay hospitalization and spend the medical expenses for the older patients.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.31 no.4 s.63
• /
• pp.814-827
• /
• 1998

In this study we analyzed the insurance claims data to investigate the medical care utilization pattern of tuberculosis patients in private sector. We selected the claims of principal or secondary diagnosis with tuberculosis from claims database of National federation of Medical Insurance, from December 1995 to November 1996. Both spell-based analysis and person-based analysis were carried out. In spell-based analysis, type and location of treatment facilities, distribution of diagnoses, number of outpatient/inpatient treatments were analyzed. Additionally in person-based analysis, number of tuberculosis patients, demographic characteristics, number of treatments per person, frequency and pattern of change in source of care were analyzed. The results were as follows 1. The number of treatments with tuberculosis was 863,641 from 1 December 1995 to 30 November 1996. The number of patients was 313.964. 2. Most of tuberculosis patients in private sector were treated in general hospital (45.8%) and clinics(42.2%) 3. About 77.7% of tuberculosis patients who were treated more than two times did not change the source of care. 18,9% of tuberculosis patients changed source of care only once. Even when we limited tuberculosis patient to those who were treated more than five times and whose treatment period were longer than six months, 94.7% of patients did not change source of care at all, or changed treatment facility only once. 4. The probability of change in source of rare was higher in pulmonary tuberculosis, in twenties, and in rural area respectively than other tuberculosis. In conclusion, healer shopping of tuberculosis patients was not serious as expected. However special attention is needed to pulmonary tuberculosis in twenties and rural area.