• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.32-45
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• 1996

Background : A critical path defines an optimal sequencing and timing of interventions by physicians, nurses, and other staff for a particular diagnosis or procedure, designed to better utilize resources, maximize quality of care, and minimize delays. It can be thought of as a visualization of the patient care process. In this study, a review of appendectomy patient records was undertaken to identify a critical path for the management of this treatment. Methods: For this study, records of patients under 15 or over 65 years of age were excluded ; cases where the patient was pregnant, or where complications developed were also excluded. The remaining 21 cases were divided into two categories according to the indication for appendectomy : for acute appendicitis, and for perforated appendix or drainage of periappendical abscess. The time frame for the review was from patient examination immediately prior to operation, through discharge. The study team was composed of a surgeon, research head nurse, education head nurse, surgical part head nurse, and medical recorder. Following their review of the 21 charts, the team determined an appropriate progression and schedule for an appendectomy. Result : Through the chart and literature review, the following aspects of the care process were identified as typical and tracked : monitoring/assessment, treatment, lines/drains, medication, activity, diet, tests and patient education. Conclusion : From this study, the design team determined two separate critical paths : one for appendectomy only, and one for appendectomy plus drainage. Next, these paths must be validated and fine-tuned through clinical implementation. In addition, a comparison of our design with the critical paths determined at other hospitals would be extremely valuable for advancing research in this area. Lastly, the critical path approach to improving patient care and maximizing hospital resources should be applied to other procedures.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.396-412
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• 2014

Background: As a reform plan of health care system, Accountable Care Organization (ACO) has became an object of attention in the United States after Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was enacted. ACO is a group of various health care providers and provide coordinated care to its assigned beneficiaries. If ACOs improve the quality level and reduce the cost of care, they can get financial incentives. Under the discussion for a quite long time and demonstration projects, ACO has been established. We aimed to analysis and discuss the history, policy mechanism, contents, status and outcomes of ACO. Also, we intended to suggest political implication Korean health care system with regard to ACO. Methods: We searched the articles related ACO in PubMed and selected several available papers about ACO. Total 56 studies were reviewed and categorized three parts; demonstration projects for formation of ACO, policy mechanism and agenda, empirical results of ACO performance. Results: As a result, establishment of ACO was successful partly in the US. It seems to be due to various project and pilot test for verification in the long time. The empirical effect of ACO was also identified in a few study but it needs more evidences to judge its positive effect. Conclusion: In Korea, there are arguments for the application of ACO. However it is difficult to implement a ACO by different political conditions between Korean and US. Nevertheless ACO proposed us the necessity of paradigm shift in our health policy and could be significant to national policy orientation in the future.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.85-89
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• 2014

Pleural metastasis from breast cancer is a common manifestation. While pleural effusion is the most frequent finding, it is relatively rare for pleural nodularity and plaque that do not accompany pleural effusion. We report a patient with a rapidly growing huge pleural mass without pleural effusion caused by breast cancer. The patient was treated for severe dyspnea caused by the pleural mass. Along with the case report, we performed a systematic review of management of dyspnea in terminal cancer patients.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.81 no.3
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• pp.241-246
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• 2018

Background: The "Tuberculosis Relief Belt Supporting Project (Tuberculosis Patient Management Project for Poverty Groups)" is a national program for socioeconomically vulnerable tuberculosis (TB) patients. We sought to evaluate the clinical and socioeconomic characteristics of poverty-stricken TB patients, and determined the need for relief. Methods: We examined in-patients with TB, who were supported by this project at the National Medical Center from 2014 to 2015. We retrospectively investigated the patients' socioeconomic status, clinical characteristics, and project expenditures. Results: Fifty-eight patients were enrolled. Among 55 patients with known income status, 24 (43.6%) had no income. Most patients (80%) lived alone. A total of 48 patients (82.8%) had more than one underlying disease. More than half of the enrolled patients (30 patients, 51.7%) had smear-positive TB. Cavitary disease was found in 38 patients (65.5%). Among the 38 patients with known resistance status, 19 (50%) had drug-resistant TB. In terms of disease severity, 96.6% of the cases had moderate-to-severe disease. A total of 14 patients (26.4%) died during treatment. Nursing expenses were supported for 12 patients (20.7%), with patient transportation costs reimbursed for 35 patients (60%). In terms of treatment expenses for 31 people (53.4%), 93.5% of them were supported by uninsured benefits. Conclusion: Underlying disease, infectivity, drug resistance, severity, and death occurred frequently in socioeconomically vulnerable patients with TB. Many uninsured treatment costs were not supported by the current government TB programs, and the "Tuberculosis Relief Belt Supporting Project" compensated for these limitations.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.347-355
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• 2022

Background: Since November 2019, long-term care hospitals have been able to provide patients with discharging programs to support the elderly in the community. This study aimed to identify both patient- and hospital-level factors that affect successful community discharge from long-term care hospitals. Methods: A multilevel logistic regression model was performed using hospitals as a clustering unit. The dependent variable was whether a patient stayed in the community for at least 30 days after discharge from a long-term care hospital. As for the patient-level independent variables, an agreement between a patient and the family about discharge, length of hospital stay, patient category, and residence at discharge were included. The number of beds and the ratio of long-stay patients were selected for the hospital-level factors. The sample size was 1,428 patients enrolled in the discharging program from November 2019 to December 2020. Results: The number of patients who were discharged to the community and stayed at least for 30 days was 532 (37.3%). The intraclass correlation coefficient was 22.9%, indicating that hospital-level factors had a significant impact on successful community discharge. The odds ratio (OR) of successful community discharge increased by 1.842 times when the patients and their families agreed on discharge. The ORs also increased by 3.020 or 2.681 times, respectively when the patients planned to discharge to their own house or their child's house compared to those who didn't have a plan for residence at discharge. The ORs increased by 1.922 or 2.250 times when the hospitals were owned by corporate or private property compared to publicly owned hospitals. The ORs decreased by 0.602 or 0.520 times when the hospital was sized over 400 beds or located in small and medium-sized cities compared to less than 200 bedded hospitals or located in metropolitan cities. Conclusion: The results of the study showed that the patients' and their family's willingness for discharge had a great impact on successful community discharge and the hospital-level factors played a significant role in it. Therefore, it is important to acknowledge and support long-term care hospitals to involve active in the patient discharge planning process.

• Journal of Korean Academic Society of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.145-154
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• 2019

Purpose: This study was conducted to identify and analyze organizational commitment, patient safety culture, and patient safety nursing activities on patient safety in public hospitals. Methods: The data were collected from 190 nurses in 6 public hospitals within the Gyeonggi region and were analyzed using SPSS 23.0 for descriptive statistics and multiple regression. Results: Patient safety nursing activity was positively correlated with the number of participants in patient safety training programs, organizational commitment, and patient safety culture awareness. Patient safety culture awareness was positively correlated with the number of participants in patient safety training programs and organizational commitment. Organizational commitment was positively correlated with age and total work experience. Factors affecting patient safety activities, frequency of patient safety training, and patient safety culture awareness were significant influencing factors with an explanatory power of 30.1%. Conclusion: In order to increase patient safety nursing activities in public hospitals, systematic patient safety training policies are required. In addition, diverse interventions are required to increase organizational commitment.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.92-104
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• 1998

Background : Hospitals in Korea are in trouble at ecomomic matters because of low cost of medical insurance, and consumers' demand for high quality. The management of inpatient clothing is very difficult. Especially the management of patient's clothing size is very difficult because the case mix of patients in wards is very different from the stocked clothing size. Because of the economic matters, the ward does not prepare enough size of clothing. The nurses in ward are in trouble with managing the clothing. So the nurses want free size patient clothing for ease management of clothing size. Method : The experimental inpatinets clothing is designed for in 170cm height refer to Korean standard. The fit of 8 subjects from 150 cm to 185 cm wearing experimental were evaluated by clothing specialists, nurses and patients. Result : 75.8% of evaluators like free size clothing. This results show that the fit of subjects from 160cm to 180cm was good in general but subjects with 150cm, 155cm, 185cm height showed poor fit.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.152-157
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• 2016

Purpose: Operating room management is the serious and complex task for hospital managers and the common approach is to develop relevant standard operational procedures. From patient and staff safety perspective, operating room management should be well-studied and hospital should identify and address any potential risks. Simultaneous usage of different imaging and less-invasive treatment technologies demands strong management control. Materials and Methods: We have formed the multidisciplinary expert panel (surgeons, anesthesiologists, radiologists, healthcare managers etc.) for hybrid theater management standard operational procedure development. On the first stage the general concept of hybrid room design and patient routing was developed. The second stage included the technical details discussion. For patient safety improvement we modified the Surgical Safety Check-list in accordance with potential MRI-related safety challenges and concerns. Results: WHO Surgical Safety Checklist is a simple and easy-to use tool which includes three blocks of question (grouped by the surgery process). We have developed two additional blocks of questions for the intraoperative magnetic resonance investigation. It is very important to have a special detailed routing with a strong control of ferromagnetic devices and anesthesiology care. Conclusion: High-energy MRI (1.5-3.0T) is characterized by potential influence on patient and staff safety in case of hybrid surgery. It is obvious to have a strong managerial control of ferromagnetic devices and anesthesiology care. Surgical Safety Checklist is the validated tool for improving patient safety. Modification and customization of this check-list potentially provides the opportunity for surgery processes improving.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.84-106
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• 2010

Ensuring the confidentiality of patient records is critical requirement for quality of care and in fulfilling legal obligation of healthcare organizations. This study analyzed the behavior of hospital employees who are dealing with confidential patient information in a hospital. Theory of Planned Behavior(TPB) model and TPB expanded models that add habit concept to TPB are tested for the validity in explaining the predisposing factors that affect the behavior of hospital employee in ensuring the confidentiality of patient records. Data were collected by administrating a survey to the 350 employee of a tertiary care hospital. Of the 350 questionaries distributed, 321 were responded resulting 92% of response rate. The mean differences among the groups classified by age, years of experience, gender, and occupation were analysis using ANOVA. The relationships among the concepts suggested in the models were analysed by applying the Structural Equations Modeling method. The results of ANOVA indicated significant mean differences in the frequency of confidentiality ensuing behavior. Administrative staff and medical technicians show higher frequency of ensuing behavior compared to the physicians and the nurses. And more experienced employee show more confidentiality ensuring behavior. The results of Structural Equations analysis showed that the strong effect of habit and attitude in predicting the behavior. However, the effect of perceived behavioral control was not significant. Based on the results the theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.27-35
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• 2018

This study aimed to analyze the association among dental care consumers' responses to waiting time, hospital image, and patient satisfaction and provide basic data that could help qualitative waiting conditions management related to health care service. A survey was conducted from May 18 to June 20, 2016 in adults who had spent waiting time at dental hospitals or clinics, and the following conclusion was drawn: Hospital image was associated with the changes in reliance on dental care centers in case of long wait, the changes in reuse intentions, and the reservation system, and patient satisfaction was associated with gender, explanation of expected waiting time, the changes in reliance on dental care centers in case of long wait, the changes in reuse intentions, and the reservation system. The positive responses to waiting time was positively correlated with hospital image and patient satisfaction; the negative reaction to waiting time was negatively correlated with hospital image and patient satisfaction; and hospital image was positively correlated with patient satisfaction.