• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.112-134
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• 2003

The purpose of this study is to analyze the consumer's expectation before the health care service and the consumer's satisfaction after it. The participants of the study are inpatients in a general hospital located in Seoul. The resources were collected from the self-administration questionnaire survey run parallel with face to face interview. In order to measure the degree of the consumer's expectation, 349 samples were collected from the first questionnaire survey on the date of admission to the hospital. The second questionnaire survey was carried out on the date of discharge to the hospital with the participants responding to the first questionnaire survey. There are 154 samples collected from this survey. The results from the analysis of these resources are as follow. First, the survey shows that one of the highest consumers' expectations was about the generosity, kindliness and sincerity from the staff at the hospital, specially from doctors. Second, according to the analysis of the factors affecting the expectations of the consumers, with regard to path of admission to a hospital relating to patient's features, outpatient who gets into a hospital expected good medical care much more than the other patients. In regard of doctor's features, patients usually and highly expect good medical care from doctors who have good carrier and much experience. Third, according to the second questionnaire survey, what patients are satisfied most with is about the generosity and sincerity from staff at a hospital, especially from doctors and their gem attitudes. The results from survey show that the differences among the degree of consumers' satisfaction are very variable, depending on surrounding environments and facilities. The only fact that expectation didn't meet with satisfaction appeared to the case about technology and skill of medical care and the case about updated medical skills and equipments. Fourth, comparing the degree of expectation with the degree of satisfaction of consumers, correlative analysis was concerned significantly and specifically about the part of overall cleanliness relating to facilities and surrounding environments, the items about medical examination and test plan procedure relating to skill of medical care, professional specialties and convenience for procedure, and the items about satisfying explanations and concern about patients from doctors relating to staff's generosity and sincerity. Fifth, the analysis of the factors affecting the degree of how much patients are satisfied with shows that relating to sociodemographical features, patients are not satisfied with the case when the time and process of medical treatment are getting longer. It is surveyed that consumer were satisfied with the motivation to visit a hospital and the insurance type in patient's feature and so were the medical department and the factor of the degree of the expectation in disease's feature. Sixth, according to analysis based on the survey, patients would join again a hospital when they get satisfaction from the medical care and also they want to come again regarding to doctor's capability. For example, when doctors are old, have a good carrier and much experience, patients would come again. As seen from the above, consumers are usually satisfied with the medical treatment more than that they expected before. They would intend to use again when they get satisfaction from the medical care provided at a hospital. Patients and consumers highly expect good attitude as well as capacity from medical doctors and they are also generally satisfied with those things. Therefore, in order to increase the degree of consumer's satisfaction and their intention to come again, the hospital staff would have to commit themselves to achieve high quality service continuously and would have to make an effort to offer the finest quality service.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.57-71
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• 1998

This study purports to examine sociodemographic characteristics and those factors associated with osteoarthritis in women experiencing the disease in order to make suggestions for the prevention and management of osteoarthritis in women. The subjects were 143 women who were diagnosed to have osteoarthritis and under follow-up care at an outpatient department of a university-affiliated hospital. The data were collected through personal interviews by using the structured questionnaire between October 6 and October 24, 1997. The degree of daily living activities was measured with 24 items, which were made based upon Katz Index, Barthel Index and Functional Status Index. Each item has 4 response categories : (1) being able to do alone with any difficulty, (2) being able to do alone with some difficulty, (3) being able to do alone with the help of a person or an instrument, (4) not being able to do at all. The data was analyzed with correlation analysis, t-test, ANOVA, and regression analysis. The results are summarized as follows : 1. As for the age of the subjects, 59.4% were between 45 and 64 years, while 28% were 65 years and above. The subjects having religion were 71.7% and 44.1% of the subjects were protestants. The educational level was low : 31.5% graduated from elementary school, while 30.1% had no formal education. Those married subjects were 72%. Fifty nine percent of the subjects evaluated their economic status as middle class. 2. Those people from whom the subjects currently receive some help were spouses in 35.8% of the subjects. Likewise, 50% of the subjects indicated spouse as the people from whom they want to receive help. 3. The score of the ability of daily living activities ranged between 48 and 96, with the mean of 78.94. Those means of physical activity, ADL(activities of daily living) and IADL(instrumental activities of daily living) were 14.89, 13.97 and 50.09, respectively. Except for the items of carrying heavy stuff and of washing clothes in the sitting position the subjects showed independence in more than 90% of the items, where Independence is defined as being able to do alone or with the help of a person or an instrument. 4. The increase in age was a significant predictor of the decrease in the ability of daily living activities. Those graduated from middle school and above showed a significantly higher degree in the ability of daily living activities than those with less educational level. The married women revealed significantly higher scores in physical activity, ADL, and IADL than the unmarried ones. The ability of daily living activities was not significantly related to having religion, economic status and living with family. 5. The average duration of experiencing osteoarthritis was 4 years and 7 months. Regarding the site of the onset, 65% of the subjects indicated knees. The women with osteoarthritis for less than 3 years were 65%. The ability of daily living activities was significantly different by the duration of illness : the longer the duration of illness, the less the ability of activities. The above findings suggest the need for developing those programs for prevention disabilities in performing daily living activities and for managing diseases targeting the women of middle and old age, with low educational level, and with unmarried status. In addition, there should be developed an instrument for measuring the ability of daily living activities which reflects daily lives of Korean women with osteoarthritis in order to examine comprehensive effects of osteoarthritis on women's daily lives in this country.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.26 no.3 s.43
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• pp.457-468
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• 1993

This study was conducted to investigate the repeat test rate for diagnosis at a tertiary hospital for the outpatients who were referred themselves to the hospital by the clinics and other medical facilities. The study population consisted of 498 patients who visited outpatient department of internal medicine, general surgery, orthopedic surgery and neurosurgery in the hospital between March 16 and April 11, 1992. This study was surveyed by the questionnaire about the tests for diagnosis at first level medical facilities, and then, was investigated by the medical record about the tests for diagnosis at a tertiary hospital. The proportion of test among the patients who utilized the first level medical facilities was 20.9% for the X-ray test, 10.6% for the urinalysis, 9.0% for the electrocardiogram, 3.4% for the computer tomogram and 6.4% for the ultrasonogram. At the tertiary hospital, the X-ray test was 45.2%, the liver function test was 24.1%, the urinalysis was 19.1%, and the electrocardiogram was 15.7%. The proportion of patients who possessed results of test for diagnosis at the first level medical facilities was 76.5% for the computer tomogram, and 31.3% for the ultrasonogram. As the repeat test rate between the first level medical facilities and the tertiary hospital, the thyroid function test was the first rank as 71.4%, the second rank was the routine CBC as 67.9%, and the third rank was the X-ray test as 64.4%. But among the patients that brought the result for tests at the first level medical facilities, the repeat test rate was as follow : the routine CBC was 75.0%, the liver function test was 72.1%, and the computer tomogram was 15.4%.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.115-120
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• 2012

Purpose: We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of Octyl-2-cyanoacrylate (Dermabond$^{TM}$) as a topical skin adhesive for pediatric urologic open surgery. Methods: From August 2010 to August 2011, we retrospectively evaluated pediatric patients who underwent urologic open surgery at our institution. A total of 128 pediatric patients with 210 incisions used Dermabond$^{TM}$ for skin closure. Results: We divided the 128 patients into 3 groups according to type of surgery. Group 1 underwent hydrocelectomy (55 cases, 41.3%), Group 2 underwent orchiopexy (43 cases, 32.3%), Group 3 underwent penoplasty (35 cases, 26.4%). One hundred and twenty eight patients who underwent 133 surgeries in total, with a total of 210 incisions visited our outpatient department postoperatively, and a total of 5 wound complications (2.3%) occurred, but were simple inflammations and no dehiscence was observed. When analyzed according to groups, no wound problems occurred in Group 1 (0/55, 0%), one occurred in Group 2 (1/43, 2.3%) and four cases occurred in Group 3 (4/35, 11.4%) respectively. When re-analyzed according to wound locations, one occurred in an inguinal wound (1/120, 0.83%), none occurred in scrotal wounds (0/55, 0%), and four occurred in penile wounds (4/35, 11.4%). In Group 3, the incidence of penile wounds was significantly increased compared to other groups (P=0.008). All 5 wound problems were inflammatory and healed at an average of 13.8 days (13-15 days) with antibiotic ointment application only. Conclusion: Dermabond$^{TM}$ is feasible and safe topical skin adhesive alternative to standard skin suture in pediatric urologic surgery. However, further research about its efficacy and safety could be valuable in the future.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.95-103
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• 2002

This study was carried out to investigate recognition level and practical application status of oral hygiene devices through making a survey of Seoul inhabitants. And survey was implemented in order to propose oral hygiene device for household health care activities. The following results were obtained by analyzing personal interviews of 347 commuting patients at two university hospitals and seven dental clinics. 1) The average length of toothbrush head was estimated as 22.3 mm and average changing cycle was 2.3 months. The user ratio of flat-headed brush was estimated as 51.9% and 46.7% were using fluoridated toothpaste. 2) Generally the ratio of toothpick users was higher than other device users. But the user ratio of dental floss was higher than toothpick in case of patients under orthodontic treatment. 3) The patients under orthodontic treatment were not familiar with handling orthodontic toothbrush. Though 45.8% among orthodontic patients recognized this type of toothbrush, only 25.4% of them knew how exactly to use it. 4) It was shown very low user ratio of oral hygiene devices that the patients who had periodontal problem, hypersensitive trouble, halitosis, implant or denture 5) The patients who had halitosis showed the highest user ratio of toothpick. The patients who had separation of teeth showed the highest user ratio of dental floss. The patients who're under orthodontic treatment showed the highest user ratio of interproximal brush and motorized brush. 6) In response to the most interesting dental disease, it's surveyed as follows; 60.3% of dental caries, 24.0% of periodontal disease, 14.8% of false occlusion and 0.9% of oral cancer. 7) Regarding the motivation of using those oral hygiene devices, 45% responded that it was because of recommendation by dental clinics. Among the negative answers, 38.6% responded that it was because of no selection guidance. 31.3% answered that they didn't use hygiene device because it's inconvenient. 12.0% answered that it's difficult to buy and expensive. 7.8% responded that they didn't feel significant improvement. 4.8% answered that dental hospitals and clinics didn't even introduce those hygiene devices. Therefore efficient campaign for those hygiene devices over all Korea nation should be developed and education program must be prepared for each case of patients in every dental hospitals and clinics.

• Proceedings of the KOR-BRONCHOESO Conference
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• 1983.05a
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• pp.6.4-7
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• 1983

Hoarseness is the most common and early symptom in laryngeal diseases. A clinico - statistical analysis was performed on 228 cases with chief complaint of hoarseness at the department of otolaryngology, Jeonbug National University during the past 3 years from January 1980 to December 1980. 1) The number of the patient with hoarseness were 228 cases (2.3 %) among total outpatient of 10110 cases. 2) Among the 228 cases with hoarseness, male were 115 cases and female were 113 cases, so sex ratio was nearly same. 3) The underlying diseases causing hoarseness in order of frequency were acute laryngitis 43 cases (18.9 %), chronic laryngitis 36 cases (15.8 %), vocal nodule 30 cases(13.2 %), vocal polyp 30 cases (13.2 %), vocal cord paralysis 26 cases (11.4 %), laryngeal carcinoma 18 cases (7.9 %) and laryngeal tuberculosis 15 cases (6.6 %). There were other diseases of larynx in 30 cases (13.2 %). 4) The incidence of age distribution in order of frequency were 4th decade (26.8 % ), 3rd decade (18.9%), 5th decade (17.1 %), 2nd decade (15.8 %) and 6th decade (9.6 %). 5) The duration from onset to consultation in order of frequency were 11 days-1 month (22.8 %), 1 month-3 months(19.7%), 3 months -6 months (18.9 %), within 10 days (13.6 %), 6 months-l year (13.2 % ), 1 year -3 years(7. 9 %) and 3 years over. 6) The duration from onset to consultation for underlying diseases were as follows ; acute laryngitis was within 10 days, chronic laryngitis was 3 months - 6 months, vocal nodule was 1 month-3 months, vocal polyp was 3 months -1 year, vocal cord paralysis was 11 days -1 month. 7) Associated symptoms with hoarseness in order of frequency were sore throat (25 %), sputum (8.8 %), swallowing difficulty (7.9 %) and dyspnea (6.1 %). But 84 cases (36.8 %), there were no other symptoms except hoarseness.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.221-237
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• 1992

The reasons for cost inflation in medical insurance expenditure are classified into demand pull inflation and cost push inflation. The former includes increase in the number of beneficiaries and utilization rate, while the latter includes increase in medical insurance fee and the charges per case. This study was conducted to analyze sources of increases of expenditure in medical insurance demonstration area by the period of 1982-1987 which was earlier than national health insurance and the period of national health insurance(1988-1990). The major findings were as follows: Medical expenditure in these areas increased by 9.4%(15.1%) annually between 1982 and 1990 on the basis of costant price(current price) and for this period, the yearly average increasing rate of expenses for outpatient care[10.5%(15.8%)] was higher than that of inpatient care [7.3%(12.6%)]. Medical expenditure increased by 6.3%(8.9%) annually between 1982 and 1987, the period of medical insurance demonstration, while it increased by 10.7%(18.9%) after implementing national health insurance(1988-1990). Medical expenditure increased by 35.9%(45.9%) between 1982 and 1987. Of this increase, 115.2%(92.1%) was attributable to the increase in the frequencies of utilization per beneficiary and 61.0%(68.1%) was due to the increase in the charges per case, but the expenditure decreased by 76.2%(60.2%) due to the reduction in the number of beneficiaries. Beteen 1988 and 1990, the period of national health insurance, medical expenditure increased by 21.2%(41.4%). Of this increase, 87.5%(46.4%) was attributable to the increase in the frequencies of utilization per beneficiary and 52.4%(73.4%) was due to the increase in the charges per case, and of the increase in the charges per case, 69.6%(40.8%) was attributable to the increase in the days of visit per case. Medical expenses per person in these areas increased by 78.2%(89.0%) between 1982 and 1987. Of this increase, 76.6%(69.1%) was attributable to the increase in the frequencies of utilization per beneficiary and 23.4%(30.9%) was due to the increase in the charges per case. For this period, demand-pull factor was the major cause of the increase in medical expenses and the expenses per treatment day was the major attributable factor in cost-push inflation. Betwee 1988 and 1990, medical expenditure per person increased by 31.2%(53.1%). Of this increase, 60.8%(37.2%) was attributable to the demand-pull factor and 39.2%(62.8%) was due to the increase in the charges per case which was one of cost-push factors. In current price, the attributalbe rate of the charges per case which was one of cost-push factors was higher than that of utilization rate in the period of national health insurance as compared to the period of medical insurance demonstration. In consideration of above findings, demand-pull factor led the increase in medical expenditure between 1982 and 1987, the period of medical insurance medel trial, but after implementing national health insurance, the attributable rate of cost-push factor was increasing gradually. Thus we may conclude that for medical cost containment, it is requested to examine the new reimbursement method to control cost-push factor and service-intensity factor.