• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.90-99
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• 2011

Objectives: Comparison of the status of herbal medicine management carried out by traditional Korean medicine hospitals and clinics, and changes in the prices of the herbal medicines offered by them. Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted for 126 traditional Korean medicine hospitals and 4,200 traditional Korean medicine clinics. Questionnaire sheets were dispatched to them by mail in 2008. Rate of response: 57 hospitals (45.2%) and 465 clinics (11.0%) Results: 1. Concerning the herbal medicines kept by them, the hospitals and the clinics kept 295 and 147 kinds of medicine, respectively, on average. As for their monthly expenditure on the purchase of herbal medicines, the hospitals spent an average of KRW 28.38 million while the clinics spent an average of KRW 1.64 million. 2. The average monthly expenditure of the clinics on the purchase of herbal medicines decreased by 32% from 2006, which can be interpreted as a reduction of their business. 3. The prices of herbal medicines for disease treatment ranged from KRW 140,000~190,000 per jae(dosage form) in the hospitals compared to KRW 140,000~168,000 in the clinics. 4. Compared to 1994, the prices of herbal medicines used for disease treatment have risen, whereas the prices of herbal medicines used as tonics have decreased. Conclusions: There are no conspicuous differences between the hospitals and the clinics in terms of the prices charged for herbal medicines, regardless of whether they are used to treat diseases or prescribed as tonics.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.29-46
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• 2013

A survey conducted on 1,103 patients or caretakers visited Korean medical clinics and hospitals between August 25, 2011 to September 30, 2011 by the Ministry of Health and Welfares and Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs was analyzed and obtained following results: 1. For sociodemographic distribution, female(813) outnumbered male(290) patients with majority of patients ranging from 30s to 60s. Married patients(793) outnumbered unwed(150) patients and 65.0% with higher than high school education. Statistical significance was seen in gender, age, marital status, and education level but no significant difference for status of employment, income level, and types of insurance between the clinics and hospitals. (P<0.05). 45.1% had less than \2,000,000 in monthly salary and most of coverage was provided by either regional or work insurance. 2. 67.9% of the patients rated health conditions to be better than average and 32.1% listed as poor. People in good health showed tendency to visit Korean medical facilities. Musculo-skeletal conditions such as arthritis, ankle sprain, lumbago, muscular injury, and frozen shoulder were common conditions, followed by gastric disorders, common cold and herbal tonics. No significant difference was observed between the clinics and hospitals for above conditions, but significance was seen in atopic dermatitis, stroke, and sequela from traffic accidents (P<0.05). 3. Ten most common conditions addressed at Korean medical facilities were lumbago, arthritis, muscular injury, back sprain, gastric disorders, ankle sprain, common cold, herbal tonics, frozen shoulder and stroke. Major treatment modalities rendered were herbal medicine, herbal supplements, acupuncture and moxibustion, cupping, tuina, and Korean midical physical therapy. No significant difference existed between the clinics and hospitals. 4. All modalities showed at least 85% effectiveness. No statistical significant difference between the clinics and hospitals except for herbal decoction. (P=0.0452) 5. 88.3% of responses showed treatment satisfaction with significant difference between the clinics and hospitals (P=0.002). The occurrence of side effects was at 2%, mostly corning from treating digestive, skin, kidney disorders and neurological issues. No significant difference was observed between the clinics and hospitals. From the above results, the typical population visiting Korean medical facilities can be summarized as being middle aged female with relatively higher education and moderately low income. The health condition is generally good and the purpose of visit is to receive traditional treatments of acupuncture, herbal medicine, and physical therapy. Treatment efficacy and satisfaction were high with no significant differences between the clinics and hospitals.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.452-459
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• 2018

Objectives: We aimed to examine whether dental waste was being managed adequately at different types of dental institutions in City D in South Korea. Methods: The staff responsible for disinfection at 101 dental offices and clinics (six dentistry departments of general hospitals, 12 dental hospitals, and 83 dental clinics) was interviewed. Results: Solid suction pump waste was handled appropriately at four of the general hospital dentistry departments (66.7%), six dental hospitals (50.0%), and 15 dental clinics (18.1%). Solid spittoon waste was handled appropriately at four general hospital dentistry departments (66.7%), seven dental hospitals (58.3%), and 14 dental clinics (16.9%). Developer and fixer were handled appropriately by a subcontractor at two general hospital dentistry departments (100.0%), five dental hospitals (100.0%), and 24 dental clinics (75.0%). Impression materials were handled appropriately at four general hospital dentistry departments (66.7%), six dental hospitals (50.0%), and 11 dental clinics (13.3%). The plastic covers of intra-oral radiography films were handled appropriately at five general hospital dentistry departments (100.0%), eight dental hospitals (72.7%), and 22 dental clinics (30.1%). Conclusion: South Korea must implement detailed and specialized guidelines for the disposal of solid and general medical waste from dental institutions. Moreover, waste disposal training should be provided annually, and not only once every three years.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.408-414
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• 2011

This study was carried out to analyze the utilization of ultrasound machines in animal hospitals and focused on surveying the present condition of diagnostic ultrasound on veterinary medicine in South Korea. Total 279 veterinary hospitals were surveyed with e-mail questionnaires or telephone survey. E-mail questionnaires consist of 17 items of questions including existence of ultrasound machine, types of ultrasound machine, ultrasound examination costs, frequency, purposes, other diagnostic imaging equipments, and referring system of ultrasound. Telephone surveys asked about the existence of the ultrasound machine and types of the ultrasound machine to 279 animal hospitals. Two hundred and seventy-one out of 279 animal hospitals holds ultrasound machine. Seventy-two percents clinics purchased used ultrasonographic machines and mean years after the date of manufacture is 7.5 years and the proportion of superannuated machines are relatively high. Also many clinicians prefer single organ scanning rather than general scan technique and more than 60% of clinics perform ultrasonographic examination less than 5 times a week. Clinics located in Seoul area tend to have more expensive and brand-new ultrasonographic machines and the distribution of radiology specialist are higher in this area. Problems associated with the present condition were oversupply of machines, unequal distribution of the medical equipment in different localities, ineffective use of the medical equipment, and high percentage of old poor-quality medical equipments. There should be a viable alternative proposal to control amount and quality of the ultrasound machines. Also, the improved management system for the ultrasound machine is required.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.83-94
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• 2012

Objectives : This study aimed to investigate the use and patterns of health care resources of local patients and to analyze the health seeking behaviors focusing on shopping around phenomenon. Methods : Questionnaires on the use of health institution were developed and administered to the residents in Yangsan city, Korea. We selected patients who were suffering from any diseases two months and over. Patients' health seeking behaviors were categorized, and the factors for selecting health institutions in each visiting stages were analyzed. Results : 139 local patients participated in the survey, and 130 completed questionnaires were analyzed. We found that there were sixty eight different types of medical utilization paths. The most frequent path was 'western clinics ${\rightarrow}$ Korean medicine hospitals or clinics ${\rightarrow}$ western clinics'. Only 6 patients started at Korean medicine, however, 16 patients(12.3%) finalized their treatment at Korean medicine hospitals or clinics. In most health seeking stages, patients tended to select health resources by their own decisions, and the geographic factor was the key reason to select health resources. Conclusions : Patients had not any stable forms to treat with their diseases, and we observed diversified patterns in the health seeking behaviors of patients, a typical shopping around phenomenon.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.15-27
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• 2003

Objectives: This study was conducted to compare the medical care patterns of hypertensive patients between rural and urban areas. Methods: We selected one rural county(Region A where there were 19 public health centers; one health center, 8 health sub-centers and 10 community health posts) and two urban districts(Region B and C where there was no health sub-center and community health post) in Daegu city. Region B had similar socioeconomic characteristics with rural county A while region C had different characteristics. The medical insurance records of 14,422 incident patients (2,501 in region A, 4,873 in region B and 7,048 in region C) with diagnostic code of hypertension from September 1998 to August 1999 were reviewed. Incident patient was defined as a patient who had no record of medical fee claim for hypertension to the national health insurance corporation in past 6 months and visited a medical facility for hypertension for the first time. The data for annual visit days, annual prescription days and annual total medical expenses were abstracted. The medical care pattern was categorized by the number of annual visit days and prescription days. The most proper care group was defined as the patient who visited 6-15 days with 240 prescription days or more in a year. Results: The type of medical facilities for the most visit was clinics, 373.% and it was followed by general hospitals, 28.2%; public health centers, 24.7%; and hospitals, 9.8% in region A(p<0.05). In region B, it was clinics, 63.1% and followed by general hospitals, 27.6%; health center, 5.2%; and hospitals, 4.1%(p<0.05). In region C, it was clinics, 53.8% and followed by general hospitals, 35.0%; health center, 6.3%; and hospitals, 4.9%(p<0.05). Annual mean total medical expenses per patient was highest in region C(won195,993) and followed by region A(won191,683) and region B(won178,713). The proportion of the most proper care group was 7.7% in region A, 5.2% in region B and 6.7% in region C(p<0.05). According to the type of medical facilities for the first visit, the proportion of the most proper care group was highest(14.7%) in the patients of public health centers, and it was followed by general hospitals, 8.8%; clinics, 3.6%; and hospitals, 2.0% in region A(p<0.05). In region B, it was highest in general hospitals, 9.7% and followed by hospitals, 4.0%; health center, 3.6%; and clinics, 3.4%(p<0.05). In region C, it was highest in general hospitals, 10.1% and followed by clinics, 5.2%; hospitals, 4.1%; and health center, 3.1%(p<0.05). Conclusions: The proportion of proper care for hypertension was higher in rural area and it was attributed to the care of health center, sub-centers and community health posts which appeared to follow patients better than hospitals and clinics.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.12-19
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• 2013

Objectives Children's unique taste bud often gives them difficult time to take oriental medicines. To overcome, survey was conducted focusing on useful and practical tips on how to take them. Methods The survey was carried out by posting mail questionnaire. Target clinics for the survey were selected by the internet search engine, Google, Daum, and Naver, and typing in "oriental treatment + pediatrics", "pediatrics + oriental medicine", "pediatric oriental clinic". 24 clinics were searched, but they were further narrowed down to the specialized pediatric oriental clinics. Also, total of 38 inquiry leaflets were distributed to 14 University Oriental Hospitals. Results If children refuse to take the medicine, mixture with sweeteners can be prescribed for them. Among them, oligosaccharide is the most recommended followed by sugar and honey. To avoid rejection to medication, use of different formulation, such as distillation medicine, soft X-Section, granulated medicine, and character printing can be used. Conclusions The most effective method is to investigate the mixture first, and then the alternative formulations.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.28 no.1 s.49
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• pp.207-223
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• 1995

A new medical delivery system which regulated outpatient department(OPD) use from tertiary care hospitals was adopted in 1989. Under the new system, patients using tertiary care hospital OPD without referral slip from clinics or hospitals could not get any insurance benefit for the services received from the tertiary care hospital. This study was conducted to evaluate the Patient Referral System(PRS) with respect to health care expenditures and utilization. Two data sets were used in this study. One was monthly data set(from January 1986 to December 1992) from the Annual Report of Korea Medical Insurance Corporation(KMIC). The other was monthly joint data set composed of personal data of which 10% were selected randomly with their utilization data of KMIC from January 1988 to December 1992. The data were analyzed by time-series intervention model of SAS-ETS. The results of this study were as follows: 1. There was no statistically significant changes in per capita expenditures following PRS. 2. Utilization episodes per capita was increased statistically significantly after implementation of PRS. The use of clinics and hospitals increased significantly, whereas in tertiary care hospitals the use decreased significantly immediately after implementation of PRS and increased afterwards. 3. Follow-up visits per episode were decreased statistically significantly after implementation of PRS. The decrease of follow-up visits per episode were remarkable in clinics and hospitals, whereas in tertiary care hospitals it was increased significantly after implementation of PRS. 4. There was no statistically significant changes in prescribing days per episode following PRS. Futhermore, clinics and hospitals showed a statistically significant decrease in prescribing days per episode, whereas in tertiary care hospital it showed statistically significant increase after implementation of PRS. 5. Except high income class, the use of tertiary care hospitals showed statistically significant decrease after implementation of PRS. The degree of decrease in the use of tertiary care hospitals was inversely proportional to income. These results suggest that the PRS policy was not efficient because per capita expenditures did not decrease, and was not effective because utilization episodes per capita, follow-up visits per episode. and prescribing days per episode were not predictable and failed to show proper utilization. It was somewhat positive that utilization episodes per capita were decreased temporarily in tertiary care hospitals. And PRS policy was not appropriate because utilization episodes per capita was different among income groups. In conclusion, the PRS should be revised for initial goal attainment of cost containment and proper health care utilization.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.35-43
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• 1983

Health institutions in Korea include a wide range of traditions, most notable of which are hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and health centers as foci for the dispension of western medicine care ; and herb clinics and shamans acting as centers for traditional medicine. Health consumers have pluralistic conceptions of illness(or disease) and act accordingly, using what they consider as appropriate medical practices. The research conducted surveyed residents of Jeomdong-Myon(a rural farming district), Guro 6-Dong(an urban district) and the Banwol(a semiurban district) area on attitudes about health institutions and their utilization of them. The results indicate that the hospital is considered the most reliable health institution, however, the most widely known and commonly used institution was the pharmacy. Hospitals and clinics were found to be utilized more frequently by those residents who were familiar with them than by others less familiar with them. In addition respondents with higher education, those with medical insurance, and those living in urban areas tended to utilize hospitals and clinics more frequently than their less educated, uninsured, or rural counterparts. Converse to the ranking of western medical institutions, traditional health institutions were rated low with regards to reliability, familiarity and utilization. This indicates that western medical care has pervaded the Korean medical system.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.86-98
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• 2019

Objectives: This study analyzes the electronic medical record (EMR) data of the spine specialist oriental hospital and clinic in various regions, and reports the actual number and used cases of Chuna therapy. Methods: 2,470,772 data was extracted retrospectively from electronic medical records of all inpatients and outpatients who were treated chuna therapy at 21 Korean medicine hospitals and clinics from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018. The characteristics of medical treatment using chuna therapy reflect the minimum, maximum and average values of the number of hospitalized patients, length of hospitalization, frequency of hospitalization, number of outpatients, frequency of treatment and frequency of visit. Diseases were classified in the proportion of Chuna treatment according to the KCD, 7th edition. The chuna and blindness charts were derived accordingly from illness and disease of each part of the body. Results: During the study period, a total 1,342,022 inpatients and outpatients visited the study sites. The male proportion was a little higher than the females' (male: 53.7%, female: 46.3%). According to age, the 30s and 40s were more than half the total(30s: 33.0% and 40s: 20.1%). Chuna therapy was treated to more outpatients than hospitalized patients (outpatient: 83.6%, hospitalization: 16.4%), and most treatments were related to musculoskeletal illness(99.06%). Conclusions: As a result of this study, 1,342,389 chuna therapy was performed in 21 hospitals for one year. As highly demanded by the public, we look forward to ensuring national health care options and medical access when health insurance for chuna therapy is applied beginning March 2019.