• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.369-378
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• 2012

Asthma requires continuous long-term management with at least 5% outcome of general population as well as being the second cause of death and disability after cancer. The present study developed an efficient self management system based on the commercial mobile phone network. The spirometric test results are input to the mobile phone through the communication line connected to the portable spirometer. The doctor or the care-giver can search, identify, and review the data accumulated daily by the patient, and feedback to the patient necessary recommendations by short message and color mail services. Patient can also send an emergency call to the doctor and/or the care-giver. User interface was designed as convenient as possible for maximum efficiency of these operations. The present system provides a desired remote medical services, thus would enhance health management of chronic diseased patients.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.400-415
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• 2013

The purpose of the study was to examine the current status of nutritional management at elderly nursing homes. A survey was performed of 83 nursing homes from January 5, 2011 to January 21, 2011 via mail. A total of 34 nursing homes responded to the survey and 149 elderly subjects were analyzed according to the presence of a dietitian. Among the 34 nursing homes, 70.6% had a dietitian on duty. All of the facilities with a dietitian had the dietitian making the meal plan, whereas 70% of the facilities without dietitian served meals planned by a non-professional person. Overall, however, a low proportion of nursing homes implemented dietetic treatments for residents with diseases. For the nutritional assessment of these residents, a mini nutritional assessment (MNA) was performed. MNA scores were significantly associated with body mass index (BMI), mid-arm circumference (MAC), calf circumference (CC), ingestion problems, and weight loss during the last 3 months (P<0.001). Among the elderly studied, 5.4% were malnourished, and 36.9% were at risk for malnutrition by MNA score. The results of this survey show that the current management of nutrition at nursing homes is insufficient because the elderly who needed dietetic treatment did not receive proper care. Dietetic management is the most important service in all nursing homes. Therefore, to improve the nutritional status of elderly residents in nursing homes, systematic nutrition management by nutrition experts should be implemented.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.149-169
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• 2018

Purpose : This study was to develop a strategy for modeling future workforce projections to serve as a basis for analyzing annual supply of and demand for physical therapists across the South Korea into 2030. Methods : In-and-out movement model was used to project the supply of physical therapists. The demand was projected according to the demand-based method which consists of four-stages such as estimation of the utilization rate of the base year, forecasting of health care utilization of the target years, forecasting of the requirements of clinical physical therapists and non-clinical physical therapists based on the projected physical therapists. Results : Based on the current productivity standards, there will be oversupply of 39,007 to 40,875 physical therapists under the demand scenario of average rate in 2030, undersupply of 44,663 to 49,885 under the demand scenario of logistic model, oversupply of 16,378 to 19,100 under the demand scenario of logarithm, and oversupply of 18,185 to 20,839 under the demand scenario of auto-regressive moving average (ARIMA) model in 2030. Conclusion : The result of this projection suggests that the direction and degree of supply of and demand for physical therapists varied depending on physical therapists productivity and utilization growth scenarios. However, the need for introduction of a professional physical therapist system and the need to provide long-term care rehabilitation services are actively being discussed in entering the aging society. If community rehabilitation programs for rehabilitation of disabled people and the elderly are activated, the demand of physical therapists will increase, especially for elderly people. Therefore, healthcare policy should focus on establishing rehabilitation service infrastructure suitable for an aging society, providing high-quality physical therapy services, and effective utilization of physical therapists.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.335-343
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• 2021

Background: The purpose of this study was to extract the major areas of interest in health insurance research in Korea, and infer policy agendas related to health insurance by analyzing research keywords. Methods: For this study, 2,590 articles were selected from among 7,459 academic papers related to health insurance published between January 1987 and December 2018, which were looked up using the Research Information Sharing Service (RISS). Keyword extraction and keyword network analysis were performed using the KrKwic, KrTitle, and UCINET software. Results: First, the number of studies in the area of health insurance continued to increase in all government terms, and it was not until after the 2000s that the subjects of health insurance researches were diversified. Second, degree centrality showed that 'medical expenditure' and 'medical utilization' were consistently high-ranking keywords regardless of the government in power. Aging and long-term care insurance-related keywords were ranked higher in the Lee Myung-bak government, Park Geun-hye government, and Moon Jae-in government. Third, betweenness centrality showed the same high ranking in key topics such as medical expenditure and medical utilization, while the ranking of key keywords differed depending on the interests and characteristics of each government policy. Conclusion: We confirm that health insurance as a research topic has been the main theme in Korean health care research fields. Research keywords extracted from articles also corresponded to the main health policies promoted during each government period. Efforts to systematically investigate policy megatrends are needed to plan adaptive future policies.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.1565-1570
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• 2015

Background: In Aotearoa/New Zealand cervical screening programmes have reduced cervical cancer; however, half of cervical cancer cases among Pacific women are found among clients who had not attended cervical screening. Hence, we set out to determine health provider perspectives on barriers that prevent their services reaching Pacific women within Aotearoa/New Zealand. Materials and Methods: Twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted with health care providers, Pap smear takers and community workers in the Wellington region. Participants were asked their views on factors that enabled and/or constrained the participation of Pacific women in their cervical screening services. Results: Six interrelated themes influencing participation in cervical screening among Pacific women in the Wellington region were apparent: the funding and practice of service delivery; family always coming first; the cost of screening services; type of employment; the appropriateness of information; and attitudes to self and screening. Conclusions: Determining specific ethnic group actual health needs and meeting them contributes to overall improvement in New Zealand's health status. The results identified the need for improvements to the delivery of screening services including adapting cervical screening services to the requirements of Pacific women through more outreach services at alternate clinic hours; culturally appropriate practitioners; the ability to take up opportunities for health checks and foster long-term relationships; as well as appropriate monitoring and evaluation of approaches. Funding and reporting relationships also need to be compatible with the goal of improving outcomes for Pacific women. Further research into client voices for their particular needs to compliment the service provider perspective as well as minority groups is called for.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.89-100
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• 2019

Objectives We are going to analyze patient's medical and Korean medicine use trends after lumbar surgery, and examine the percentage of use of Korean medicine after surgery and its relevance to the medical care outcome after lumbar surgery. Methods Using 3% patients' sample data of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, two groups were compared the treatment progress of the Korean Medicine treatment group and the untreated group after lumbar surgery by hierarchical logistic regression analysis. After hierarchical logistic regression analysis(including propensity scores), two groups were compared after lumbar surgery, the Korean Medicine treatment group within 50days and untreated group within 50days. Results Lumbar surgery was performed in 2750 patients in 2015. It was 3.72 that the risk(odds ratio) of finished treatment of patients treated without Korean Medicine, compared to patients with Korean Medicine. It was 0.12 that the risk of continuing treatment(odds ratio) of patients treated with Korean Medicine within 50 days, compared to patients treatment more than 50 days. Conclusions The ratio of Korean Medicine treatment after lumbar surgery was 14.8%. The group that did not have Korean Medicine showed a higher possibility of treatment termination than the group who did not. Among the groups treated with Korean Medicine, the early treatment group was more likely to end treatment than the late treatment group. Considering various situations in the medical environment, further studies such as prospective studies and long-term data analysis are considered to be necessary.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.23-32
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• 2023

Purposes: Caregivers are placed in a poor working environment because there is no special legal basis or definition in the current medical system, and they have difficulty in supplying manpower due to frequent job change and retirement. Therefore, this study aimed to find out the effect on job consciousness, job stress, job satisfaction, and turnover intention of caregivers in nursing hospitals for the elderly. Methodology: In this study, a survey was conducted from May 2nd to 16th, 2022, targeting caregivers with more than 6 months of work experience working at 10 nursing hospitals in D City. Data were collected through convenience sampling, and a self-administered questionnaire method was used, in which subjects filled out a questionnaire. A total of 240 questionnaires were distributed, and 220 copies were considered for the final analysis after excluding non-response or inappropriate questionnaires for data use. Data analysis used t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and multiple linear regression analysis, and the main results are as follows. Findings: Job stress and job satisfaction showed a significant correlation with the level of turnover intention, and were also found to be major determinants. On the other hand, among the occupational characteristics of the study subjects, employment type, job motivation, service period, number of patients, injury experience, and license status showed a significant difference from turnover intention. Conclusion: As a result of the above research, in order to prevent job turnover and retirement by improving job stress and job satisfaction of caregivers engaged in nursing hospitals, it is necessary not only to legalize caregivers, but also to secure an appropriate level of caregivers for nursing hospitals and improve specific treatment for caregivers. Ultimately, a policy alternative that can provide quality nursing service is required.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.275-307
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• 2010

In the presidential new-year address in January 2, 2009, the President declared that 17 kinds of new driving force of growth that could create high-added value be selected to step up job creation and an increase in national wealth. The Ministry of Strategy & Finance announced plans for the 17 kinds of new driving force of growth after the presidential address. Specifically, that ministry announced an ambitious plan to select health care service named 'Global Health Care' as one of the five service industries that could create high-added value in a move to provide jobs to approximately 7,000 people and produce pervasive economic effects coming up to a trillion and 10 billion won. To attain the goal, several action plans were mapped out to globalize domestic medical institutions, to rearrange the relevant law and system for the purposes of raising awareness of domestic medical institutions among foreign patients and improving their accessibility and post-satisfaction level, and to lure lots of foreign patients through financial assistance. At the same time, the government announced plans to lure severe patients such as those in want of surgery or organ transplant, cancer patients or patients with heart diseases to create high-added value on a long-term basis. Thus, the government announced that it planned to formulate such strategies and to enter an agreement with foreign governments to attract plenty of foreign patients. In fact, however, there are little full-scale evaluation of medical tourism though it's been a year since it was introduced, and there are few actual efforts to implement what the government announced, either. According to the results of the evaluation of medical tourism, domestic hospitals are said to undergo little significant changes after the introduction of medical tourism, which shows that they take a dim view of medical tourism instead of having expectations for that. The medical tourism industries in major Asian countries have been dynamized, and there are several factors of their success. First of all, they are successful in creating new market opportunities by incorporating related industries such as medicine, tourism and IT and in developing medical tourism products and differentiated marketing by taking advantage of their competitive edge. They have offered full-fledged assistance to this sector, and another reason is the improved international credibility of their medical service. If our country fails to pinpoint our problems in consideration of the cases of the Asian countries or to provide appropriate financial aid, our country is bound to lag behind them. Given this reality, how to assess medical tourism and what challenges this sector is confronted with are discussed.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.97-119
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• 1991

Korea has made a rapid economic development since the last three decades. This has helped Korea narrow the gap in health service differences in resource availability and in quality of care. However urban and rural differentials are still remarkable. This study has maintained that health status of rural residents is inferior to that of urban dwellers. Therefore, this study was carried out to develop policy measures for improving health services in rural areas. In order to achieve the objective of this study the authors collaborated closely and made field visits, interviews and conducted an extensive literature review regarding rural health services. The following policy options are recommended as a summary ; First, the quality of rural health personnel is a single most important factor influencing the level of rural health services. An innovative program for public health doctors to the internship and/or residency training program such as specialty board program of family medicine. Second, dissatisfaction regarding employment of public health doctors is problematic. More rational employment and deployment programs are needed to meet their personal desire. One way to do this is to make it wide open and competitive. Third this study shows how to increase physician productivity in the rural public health sector. Incentive system needs to be elaborated for the career development of rural health workers. University linked job opportunity as clinical professor is an example. Fourth, without straightening the function of health centers and subcenters, the future of rural health services is doomed to failure. Straightening primary health care is one way to enrich the program of public health facilities and reactivating the operation of health center/hospital is another. A close linkage of public facilities with private hospitals is a minimum requirement for the operation of health delivery system within a health district. Fifth, some measures are urgently required to enhance hospital services in medically underserved areas. Financial subsidy, tax exemption, long-term public loans and higher priority of health manpower deployment are some of them. Sixth, new health programs should be in tiated to meet changing needs of peoples in rural areas. Home health care program, hospice program, nursing home, residential program for the elderly are recommended.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.324-334
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• 1998

Background : Strategic planning is an organizationwide or systemwide, ongoing look into the future usually of 2~3 years, based on objective analysis of the current environment and trends, but it can incorporate both short-term and long-term goals. The strategic planning process includes external analysis, internal analysis, issue analysis, development of mission, vision and values, and lastly development of organizational goals and objectives. As a part of the strategic quality planning process, certain service lines, important organizationwide functions, or key processes supporting these functions can be prioritized to expedite and roll out certain strategic goals. This is called strategic quality initiatives. Methods : We organized a quality improvement team, a subgroup of 21st century vision planning corps of our medical center, and pursued QI activities for improvement of healthcare environment, particularly in the admission setting. We developed a strategic quality initiative based on the results of patient satisfaction surveys, and carried out functions of self-directed work team. Results : The strategic goal was to be the benchmark for peer group hospitals in Korea for providing cost-effective best-practice. The QI team included 3 medical doctors, 1 nurse, 1 social worker, and 1 QI consultant as well as many operational members to support services and quality initiatives met every Tuesday for 18 weeks. Outcome objectives were to improve patient satisfaction score. The issues included in the objectives were comfort, temperature, noise, cleanliness of the admission wards, quality and education of patient meals, matters regarding the admission process, and an appurtenant facility such as restaurant or convenience store. Every issue was discussed and recommendations, conclusions and opportunities were implemented. Conclusions : By developing a strategic quality initiative as a part of the strategic quality planning process, and pursuing a self-directed work team, certain sen/ice lines, important organizationwide functions, or key processes supporting these functions can be improved effectively within a short period. Strategic quality initiatives serve to support, or roll out, certain strategic goals that are relevant to performance improvement and development of specific measurable outcome objectives, and associated performance measure for each initiative. Each strategic quality initiative should include a statement of intent outcome objectives, and performance measures. We will come back with follow up of the strategic quality initiative, for improvement of healthcare environment, and results of patient satisfaction re-survey.