• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.98-108
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• 2007

Purpose: The objective of this research was to explore the levels of patient satisfaction and job satisfaction according to the level of nurse manpower, in order to provide effective management for nurses. Methods: The research was conducted from November 1 to December 30, 2006, with a survey of 310 nurses and 240 patients at eight tertiary hospitals in Seoul. Data were collected according to the level of nurse manpower from the first (a nurse vs. patient ratio of below 2.0) to the sixth (a ratio of over 4.0) rank. The survey tools were used Park-Yoon's job satisfaction (1992) and Wandelt and Ager (1974)'s patient satisfaction. The acquired data were analyzed with SPSS $PC^+$ 12.0 program using descriptive methods, ${\chi}^2$ test, ANCOVA, and Scheffe. Results: Overall job satisfaction of nurses showed 3.10 and patient satisfaction of patients showed 4.15. Analysis based on the level of nurse manpower showed that hospitals of first and second rank had higher scores than those of lower rank for nurse's job satisfaction and patient satisfaction. Conclusion: Hospitals with a higher level of nurse manpower showed higher score of nurse's job satisfaction and patient satisfaction.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.312-323
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• 1998

Background : Evaluation of patient's satisfaction is one of the most important aspects of quality improvement. If the patient highly satisfies with the medical service provided in the hospital, he/she will be likely to visit the same hospital again. Patient's satisfaction of a particular hospital is directly correlated with hospital profits as well as reputation in the community. For this reason, various kinds of survey measuring satisfaction level have been performed and many kind of QI activities for enhancing the profits as well as reputation in the community. For this reason, various kinds of survey measuring satisfaction level have been performed and many kind of QI activities for enhancing the patient's satisfaction. This study is to find the effect of hospital QI activities on the patent's satisfaction level. Methods: After questionnares were developed, survey of measuring satisfaction level was performed in August, 1998. On the basis of survey results, QI activities were carried out to attain the target point of 4.0 and subsequent survey was done in November, 1998. Results: With three main principles of "problem solving approach with kindness". "helping patient to participate in medical procedure with sufficient information", and "putting employees into practice of attitude with human respect", the average level of satisfaction was enhanced from 3.45 to 3.55 level. Also kindness level of employees was increased from 3.71 to 3.82. Level of dissatisfaction about insufficient explanation and unkind attitude was dropped from 69% to 48% and from 82% to 46% respectively. Conclusion: With the result of this study overall satisfaction level was enhanced. In order to keep these advantages a operation of Quality Improvement Task Force Team in each subject will be required.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.109-121
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to determine factors influencing patient satisfaction with medical services in hospital, which is classified into environmental aspect, human services and procedural services. Based on the results of literature review, the study focused on effects of social-demographical factors on patient satisfaction. The environmental aspect of medical care services included medical equipment and facilities, hygiene, ventilation, heating and air-conditioning, waiting and resting space, ward space and parking facilities. Procedural service included registration process, bill payment, waiting time after registration, examination and prescription as well as appointment process. Human services consisted of physicians listening to stories of patients, examination duration, physicians' explanation and physicians' service. As for nurses, explanation about disease, examination procedure and results, kindness and nursing care were evaluated. Services provided by other staff members were also evaluated. Patient satisfaction, defined as individual attitude toward medical service as a whole, was measured using a questionnaire. A total of 700 in-or out-patients were surveyed in 6 hospitals with more than 300 beds in North Gyeongbuk Province. 1. The level of patient satisfaction varied with characteristics of patients. Male patients and those in their 30s had a low level of satisfaction. Dissatisfaction level was positively related to education level but negatively related to economic condition. 2. As for patient satisfaction with medical service providers and other employees in hospital, satisfaction level with physician's explanation about treatment was higher. But dissatisfaction levels with treatment duration and the lack of explanation about examination procedures were high, calling for improvement. Dissatisfaction level with nursing care was high, calling for training of nurses for better service. Given the low level of satisfaction with human services, hospital employees need to be trained to improve their service. 3. It Was found that administrative service was also a significant factor influencing patient satisfaction in addition to medical service. It is therefore important for hospitals to provide patients with prompt and convenient procedural service. 4. Environmental factors such as medical equipment and amenity facilities also affected patient satisfaction. Thus environmental condition, procedural service and human service are all important to improve medical service in hospital. In summary, procedural service was the most significant factor for patient satisfaction. The level of satisfaction in patients was also affected by human service and environmental condition. It is therefore necessary to take patient-oriented approach in providing medical service in an effort to improve patient satisfaction. The finding of a lower level of satisfaction with human service signifies the need for training of healthcare providers and other hospital employees for better services. The introduction of advanced management programs is also needed to improve procedures that patients go through in hospitals.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.73-85
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• 2009

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to analyze the nursing care needs which can properly cope with patients' needs in emergency room, and grasp the patients' satisfaction level which can assess the care quality. It was aimed to check the level of today's care and provide basic data for care performance and care standard. Method : Data were collected from 192 patients in general hospitals in Daegu. The results are as followed. Results : First, the result of analysis conducted on the degree of overall patients' need for nursing care revealed that the need for nursing information (4.21+57) was the highest, followed by the order of information of patient's condition (4.05+53), emotional support (3.98+47), and nursing participation (3.65+54). Secondly, our study revealed that there was a significant negative correlat interrelation between care need and care satisfaction (r=.516, p<.01), indicating the higher the overall emergency room patients' nursing care need, treatment and nursing information, patient's condition, emotional support and nursing participation were, the lower the actual feeling of their satisfaction turned out. Conclusion : The study shows that treatment and nursing related information is the most highly needed and the patients' satisfaction level relies on actual care participation.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.57-101
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• 2002

These days, the environment of hospital marketing is changing rapidly. The level of expectation and demand of patients have become greater and more diversified, and patients have more alternatives in selecting hospitals. The standard of hospital selection and the type of using hospital have been changed, and competition among hospitals has been accelerated due to the opening of the medical market through globalization. Accordingly, differentiation strategies are critical in hospital marketing. The quality of medical service oriented toward patient satisfaction becomes a strong strategic weapon to secure a hospital's competitive advantage. Therefore, marketing and communication strategies should be focused on patient-oriented, rather than hospital-oriented. Considering the changes in the hospital environment and the increase in the patients' expectation level, this study categorizes doctors' communication styles into four different ones: trust-type, professional-type, cooperation-type, and control-type. The effects of these communication styles on patient satisfaction were empirically examined. The moderating roles of the patient's characteristics and clinical characteristics between the doctors' communication styles and patient satisfaction were also investigated to find out managerial implications for hospital management. To achieve such goals, data were collected from patients of 12 general hospitals in Busan. The data were analyzed to test research hypotheses that examine 1) the relationships between doctors' communication styles and patient satisfaction, 2) the moderating roles of the patient characteristics and clinical characteristics in the research model, and 3) the impact of patient satisfaction on positive word-of-mouth and repurchase. The following summarizes the major results of this research. First, the data showed that patient satisfaction varied across doctors' communication styles. Trust-type style had the strongest impact on patient satisfaction while control-type style had the weakest influence on patient satisfaction. Professional-type style and cooperation-type style also had positive effects on patient satisfaction but the impact of the two are not statistically different. Second, significant differences in terms of patient satisfaction were found depending upon demographic variables such as gender, marital status, age, occupation, and education. Patient satisfaction, however, was consistent across varying income groups. Third, patients' medical insurance types were also related to patient satisfaction. It implies that a doctor may need to use different communication styles depending on a patient's medical insurance type. Fourth, out-patient and in-patient showed a different level of satisfaction with varying communication styles. Fifth, highly professional knowledge and strong control can influence patient satisfaction depending on the characteristics of the patient treatment field. Sixth, patient satisfaction were proved to have significantly positive effects on word-of-mouth and repurchase. The implications drawn from this study must be tempered by its limitations. First of all, the subjects used in this study were patients in Busan and small- and medium-size hospitals were excluded from the research. Therefore, future research should examine the research model by using a variety of hospitals and clinics throughout Korea. Another research agenda has to do with finding more determinant and moderating variables which will increase an explanatory power of the model. In short, this study may be the first empirical research that investigates the effects of doctors' communication styles on patient satisfaction. Interestingly enough, the results showed that each communication style had a unique impact on patient satisfaction. The findings from this research can be very useful in developing hospital marketing strategies.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.293-303
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• 2000

This study was designed to acknowledge the satisfaction levels of patients who have been treated in the emergency center. Specifically, to acknowledge the factors influencing patient's satisfaction levels related in the usage of emergency centers. Data was collected through patients who have used anyone of four emergency centers of university hospitals holding over 550 hospital beds, and located in Seoul. Questionnaires consisted of 31 questions. Cronbach's alpha was 0.94. Data analysis was executed with the SAS program by t-test, ANOVA and stepwise multiple regression. The results were summarized as follows. (1) The total average score for the level of satisfaction was 3.3. Regarding the service of doctors and nurses, the score was high. While the score regarding reception process, payment and second hand environment were relatively low. (2) There was a differentiation in the level of satisfaction according to the type of injured. Patents of industrial calamities had the highest level of satisfaction while patient injured by traffic accidents had the lowest level of satisfaction. (3) The factors that affect the level of satisfaction were presence of medical insurance, lapse time until treatment and the education level of the patient. Based on this, we will provide the basic data of satisfaction levels according to the characteristics of patients and the types of injuries for improvement of emergency treatment centers.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.16-28
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• 2001

This study was to compare multidimensional outcomes of patient's satisfaction after cataract surgery and to identify factors influencing satisfaction after operation. Patient's satisfaction was measured with three dimensions : interpersonal care, physician explanation and hospital care. Overall satisfaction was measured as means of three dimensional scores. For the study, a prospective study was performed with 389 patients who had undergone cataract surgery for either one eye or both eyes. The surgery was performed by 20 ophthalmologists who were practicing at university hospitals and general hospitals. Patients were interviewed and clinical data (the visual acuity of operated eye, visual function, symptom score and satisfaction with vision) were obtained. The doctors were questioned with self-reported questionnaire forms. Medical records were also examined to understand surgery Process. The survey was conducted before(389) and after operation(327). Alter excluding cases with incomplete data, 3n cases were enrolled In this study. Both the overall satisfaction and the satisfaction with physician explanation increased after the operation whereas the satisfaction with interpersonal care and hospital care did not change significantly. Multiple regression analysis showed that the level of education, baseline satisfaction scores and the degree of vision improvement were statistically significant variables. The preoperative lower level of education, higher level of overall satisfaction (interpersonal care, physician explanation, hospital care scores) and the more the satisfaction with vision improvement were associated with the improvement of postoperative satisfaction scores.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.29-39
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• 2001

The purpose of this study was to identify factors influencing patient satisfaction and to evaluate the utility of patient satisfaction as an outcome indicator. The study was conducted by mailed questionnaire. The subjects were 900 patients discharged from adult nursing units in a tertiary teaching hospital. On the discharge date, questionnaires were distributed by two trained research assistants. The questionnaire developed by the researchers was based on Larson(1996)'s study, and consisted of 71 items with the following components: overall satisfaction, domain-specific satisfaction(administration process, hospital facility and environment, nurses, and doctors), patients' loyalty(intention to use the health care service of the hospital in the future), recommendation to others, health benefits, and demographic characteristics. Each item was rated using a five point Likert scale ranging from '1=strongly disagree' to '5= strongly agree'. The response rate was 43%(387/900). The satisfaction level with the health care service was generally high. Perceived health status was the only significant factor influencing satisfaction level. Satisfaction with doctors contributed the most to explaining overall satisfaction. Overall satisfaction was significantly correlated with patient loyalty, recommendation, to other and perceived health benefit. It was found that the score of satisfaction was positively correlated with the score of loyalty, recommendation, and health benefit. Therefore, patient satisfaction seems to be a good outcome indicator.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.541-554
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• 2006

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to provide basic data for the improvement of the quality in the emergency nursing services by investigating the expectation level and actual received level with nursing care and identifying the factors that influence patient satisfaction with the emergency nursing care in the military hospitals. Method: Using a self report questionnaire, data were collected from 150 patients who had been admitted in military hospitals emergency department. The data collection was done between April 17 and April 30, 2006. At least, 145 questionnaires were analyzed and used in this study. Results: The average sum score was 61.93 out of 76 with standard deviation 9.590. The mean of the patient's expectation levels with the overall emergency nursing services was $(3.25{\pm}.504)$ out of the highest score 4. the average sum score was 63.27 out of 76 with standard deviation 9.902. The mean score of the patient's actual levels with the overall emergency nursing services was $(3.33{\pm}.521)$ out of the highest score 4. Conclusion: nursing management strategies must be established to remove patient's dissatisfaction factors and to improve the emergency nursing care quality through continuous measurement and assessment of the patient's satisfaction with emergency nursing services in military hospitals.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.456-467
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• 2009

For this study, self-completion survey for 149 implant patients of dental clinics and hospitals in Seoul and Kyunggi areahas been executed in order to provide basic data for increasing patient satisfaction level by effective consultation and various information for the patients who want dental implantation. The conclusion of the study is like below. 1. In terms of demographics of the study, sample size of female patients(n=85) was more than that of male patients(n=64) and patients in their 50s were major age group. When it comes to the educational level, university graduates were 85 and high school graduates were 44. And 132 were married and 6 were single. In the income level, monthly income between KRW 2~4 million was major group(n=59). 2. In the study, patients' most concern was complication or adverse events(n=41), and price(n=39) & annual dental check-up(n=49) were following it. And 80 patients responded that dental health is the most valuable(n=80) and whole body health was following(n=37). In terms of knowledge on dental implant, 100 patients responded 'know just a little', 31 and 13 answered 'generally know' and 'well know' each. 3. As a result of analyzing implant patients' satisfaction level by segment, general satisfaction rate was highest as 4.20, social satisfaction rate was 4.20, psychological function was 4.06 and masticatory function was 3.90. 4. Based on the result of comparing patient satisfaction level by general characters of dental implant patient, chewing function was the highest in the age group of 60s with score of 4.21 and in terms of social function, the group with over KRW 8 million of monthly income showed highest score with 4.54. When it comes to the psychological function, patients in their 70s showed highest satisfaction level with 4.52. In the end, patients in their 70s showed highest score with 4.81 in the overall satisfaction and it was also statistically significant. 5. In the overall satisfaction level by interest in dental health, appearance showed highest score with 4.57 and it was also significantly higher than that of whole body. In the variance by dental knowledge, 'well know' group showed highest score with 4.58, and that of 'just a little' group was 4.33. That means there are correlations between dental knowledge and satisfaction level. 6. As a result of analyzing correlations amongst variances of the study, there were strong positive correlations among them. And there were very significantly positive correlations especially between social and psychological function and between psychological and overall satisfaction level. In conclusion, higher psychological function has strong relations with both social function and overall satisfaction level(p<.001).