• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.97-114
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• 1996

INSTRODUCTION Service quality is, unlike goods quality, an abstract and elusive constuct. Service quality and its requirements are not easily understood by consumers, and also present some critical research problems. However, quality is very important to marketers and consumers in that it has many strategic benefits in contributing to profitability of marketing activities and consumers' problem-solving activities. Moreover, despite the phenomenal growth of medical service sector, few researchers have attempted to define and model medical service quality. Especially, little research has focused on the evaluation of medical service quality and patient satisfaction from the perspectives of both the provider and the patient. As competition intensifies and patients are demanding higher quality of medical service, medical service quality and patient satisfaction has emerged as a critical research topic. The major purpose of this article is to explore the concept of medical service quality and its evaluation from both nurse and patient perspectives. This article attempts to achieve its purpose by (1)classfying critical service attibutes into threecategories(satisfiers, hygiene factors, and performance factors). (2)measuring the relative importance of need criteria, (3)evaluating SERVPERF model and SERVQUAL model in medical service sector, and (4)identifying the relationship between perceived quality and overall patient satisfaction. METHOD Data were gathered from a sample of 217 patients and 179 nurses in Seoul-area general hospitals. From the review of previous literature, 50 survey items representing various facets of the medical service quality were developed to form a questionnaire. A five-point scale ranging from "Strongly Agree"(5) to "Strongly Disagree"(1) accompanied each statement(expectation statements, perception statements, and importance statements). To measure overall satisfaction, a seven-point scale was used, ranging from "Very Satisfied"(7) to "Very Dissatisfied"(1) with no verbal labels for scale points 2 through 6 RESULTS In explaining the relationship between perceived performance and overall satisfaction, only 31 variables out of original 50 survey items were proven to be statistically significant. Hence, a penalty-reward analysis was performed on theses 31 critical attributes to find out 17 satisfiers, 8 hygiene factors, and 4 performance factors in patient perspective. The role(category) of each service quality attribute in relation to patient satisfaction was com pared across two groups, that is, patients and nurses. They were little overlapped, suggesting that two groups had different sets of 'perceived quality' attributes. Principal components factor analyses of the patients' and nurses' responses were performed to identify the underlying dimensions for the set of performance(experience) statements. 28 variables were analyzed by using a varimax rotation after deleting three obscure variables. The number of factors to be extracted was determined by evaluating the eigenvalue scores. Six factors wereextracted, accounting for 57.1% of the total variance. Reliability analysis was performed to refine the factors further. Using coefficient alpha, scores of .84 to .65 were obtained. Individual-item analysis indicated that all statements in each of the factors should remain. On 26 attributes of 31 critical service quality attributes, there were gaps between actual patient's importance of need criteria and nurse perceptions of them. Those critical attributes could be classified into four categories based on the relative importance of need criteria and perceived performance from the perspective of patient. This analysis is useful in developing strategic plans for performance improvement. (1) top priorities(high importance and low performance) (in this study)- more health-related information -accuracy in billing - quality of food - appointments at my convenience - information about tests and treatments - prompt service of business office -adequacy of accommodations(elevators, etc) (2) current strengths(high importance and high performance) (3)unnecessary strengths(low importance and high performance) (4) low priorities(low importance and low performance) While 26 service quality attributes of SERPERF model were significantly related to patient satisfation, only 13 attributes of SERVQUAL model were significantly related. This result suggested that only experience-based norms(SERVPERF model) were more appropriate than expectations to serve as a benchmark against which service experiences were compared(SERVQUAL model). However, it must be noted that the degree of association to overall satisfaction was not consistent. There were some gaps between nurse percetions and patient perception of medical service performance. From the patient's viewpoint, "personal likability", "technical skill/trust", and "cares about me" were most significant positioning factors that contributed patient satisfaction. DISCUSSION This study shows that there are inconsistencies between nurse perceptions and patient perceptions of medical service attributes. Also, for service quality improvement, it is most important for nurses to understand what satisfiers, hygiene factors, and performance factors are through two-way communications. Patient satisfaction should be measured, and problems identified should be resolved for survival in intense competitive market conditions. Hence, patient satisfaction monitoring is now becoming a standard marketing tool for healthcare providers and its role is expected to increase.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.24 no.4 s.36
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• pp.485-495
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• 1991

This study examined the effects of referral requirements for insurance patients which have been enforced since July 1, 1989 when medical insurance coverage was extended to the whole population except beneficiaries of medical assistance program. The requirements are mainly aimed at discouraging the use of tertiary care hospitals by imposing restrictions on the patient's choice of a medical service facility. The expectation is that such change in the pattern of medical care utilization would produce several desirable effects including increased efficiency in patient care and balanced development of various types of medical service facilities. In this study, these effects were assessed by the change in the number of out-patient visits and bed-days per illness episode and the share of each type of facility in the volume of services and the amount of expenditures after the implementation of the new referral system. The data for analysis were obtained from the claims to the insurance for government and school employees. The sample was drawn from the claims for the patients treated during the first six months of 1989, prior to the enforcement of referral requirements, and those of the patients treated during the first six months of 1990, after the enforcement. The 1989 sample included 299,824 claims (3.6% of total) and the 1990 sample included 332,131 (3.7% of total). The data were processed to make the unit of analysis an illness episode instead of an insurance claim. The facilities and types of care utilized for a given illness episode are defined to make up the pathway of medical care utilization. This pathway was conceived of as a Markov Chain process for further analysis. The conclusion emerged from the analysis is that the enforcement of referral requirements resulted in less use of tertiary care hospitals, and thereby decreased the volume of services and the amount of insurance expenses per illness episode. However, there are a few points that have to be taken into account in relation to the conclusion. The new referral system is likely to increase the use of medical services not covered by insurance, so that its impact on national health expenditures would be different from that on insurance expenditures. The extension of insurance coverage must have inereased patient load for all types of medical service organizations, and this increase may be partly responsible for producing the effects attributed to the new referral system. For example, excessive patient load for tertiary care hospitals may lead to the transfer of their patients to other types of facilities. Another point is that the data for this study correspond to very early phase of the new system. But both patients and medical care providers would adapt themselves to the new system to avoid or overcome its disadvantages for them, so as that its effects could change over time. Therefore, it is still necessary to closely monitor the impact of the referral requirements.

• Journal of the Korean Orthopaedic Association
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.117-126
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• 2020

Total knee arthroplasty is performed widely in degenerative arthritis of the knee joint, and the frequency of use is increasing. Efforts should be made to achieve functional recovery, such as returning to daily life, and the recovery of strength and range of motion after surgery. The procedure should be approached from a range of perspectives, such as patient factors, surgical technique and rehabilitation. The patient's age, degree of obesity, sex, and strength of the quadriceps muscle can affect the functional recovery after surgery. In addition, the patient's mental state, such as expectation value and satisfaction, can also have an effect. For functional recovery, patient education, pain control, and strengthening of the quadriceps muscle can be performed prior to surgery. Postoperative physiotherapy, such as icing and compression, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation therapy, neuromuscular electrical stimulation therapy, low frequency low intensity magnetic field therapy, strengthening of quadriceps muscle, and range of motion exercise can also be applied. In recent years, hydrotherapy, which restores the strength and balance of the leg, is being performed increasingly. These treatments are not only performed shortly after surgery, but are also performed continuously. In addition, the surgeon should apply it appropriately considering the patient's condition, compliance, and social and psychological conditions.

• Proceedings of the Korea Contents Association Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.856-859
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• 2006

Patient's position who muscle ache curer for hospital undergoes person entrance and treatment that take advantage of biological, physical force of low frequency and it is equipment that treat body muscle ache, but use equipment when use patient into compensation in hospital specially, that consider everybody is important first of all. This research question investigation with market survey of old product enforce because preference degree reflected officer a result and apply opinion tuned with product development connection engineers on DESIGN direction via typical product design development process close. This curer development research analyzed data involved directly taking advantage of FGI techniques with literature investigation collection. Investigation examined laying stress on muscle ache curer for hospital and a nurse than a doctor answered on question and purchase selection criterion or price portion to user focus. Direct market survey research that see item indicated by competition four provision shortcomings consequently in NEW MODEL development hereafter supplement and expectation. by contributing greatly in M/S security strategy hereafter because design development consisted for side that improve.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.18-41
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• 2013

This study was aimed to identify the current status of medical service quality of medical institutes; propose improvements; and find out the impact of medical service quality by its attribute on overall customer satisfaction. The research was conducted on the out-patients and in-patients in a high-level general hospital located in A city. To examine the research, the IPA was utilized to identify the priority requirements for improving the medical service quality. The study also applied an extended theory to the analysis on mismatch between the level of satisfaction and importance recognized by the clients, to examine the impact of the above mentioned factors on the overall satisfaction and intention to revisit and recommend the hospital. For out-patients, the result showed that "hospital hygiene" had a positive and negative impact on the clients' intention to revisit the hospital in priority improvements. In terms of the sustainable improvements, "doctor's skill" had a negative impact on the overall service satisfaction, whereas "state-of-the-art facility" and "nurse's instruction" had a positive impact on the intention to revisit the hospital. In long-term improvements,"complaint remedy" had a positive impact on the intention to recommend the hospital but there were no relevant factors in excessive investment. On the other hand, for in-patients, the result demonstrated that there were no relevant factors in priority improvements and sustainable improvements. The factor of"service procedure speed"had a positive as well as negative impact on the intention to revisit the hospital. In excessive investment,"nurse's empathy"had a positive impact on the intention to recommend the hospital.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.287-300
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• 2000

The purpose of this study was to identify nursing needs for hospice patients and their families in order to establish a foundation for appropriate Korean hospice care. To achieve the purpose of this study, 1 interviewed 50 patients who were going to die within 3 or 6 months and 42 family members of these patients who were registered in Pusan National University Hospital Hospice Program. The interview was done in the patient's room using semi-dialog style questionnaire. Data collection was done from March 1, 1999 to September 30. 1999. The important results of this study are summarized as follows : 1. Nursing needs that patients and their families have experienced were classified into six nursing domains; physical, emotional, economic, educational, spiritual and postmortal care. 2. Nursing needs of hospice patients are; pain control(80%), physical comfort(72%), consideration from medical personnel(68%), provision of information(64%), best treatment(60%), help of volunteers(36%), and continuous hospital treatment(32%). 3. Nursing needs of the families are; pain-control in Patients(97.6%), best treatment(97.6%), physical comfort of patients(95.2%), continuous hospital treatment(92.8%), provision of information(80.9%), consideration from medical personnel(76.1%), expectation of recovery(66.6%), emotional support of family(61.9%), and physical comfort of family(40.4%). It is concluded that there is a real difference between the nursing needs of patients and the nursing needs of their families. Therefore we must examine and intervene for the demands of patients and their families using a holistic approach in order to meet their hospice needs.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.292-302
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• 2012

The patient dose in advanced radiotherapy techniques is an important issue. These methods should be evaluated to reduce the dose in diagnostic imaging for radiotherapy. Especially, the Computed Tomography in radiotherapy has been used widely; hence the CT was evaluated for dose and image in this study. The evaluations for dose and image were done in equal condition due to compare the dose and image simultaneously. Furthermore, the possibility of dose and image evaluations by using the Monte Carlo simulation MCNPX was confirmed. We made the iterative reconstruction for low dose CT image to elevate image quality with Maximum Likelihood Expectation Maximization; MLEM. The system we developed is expected to be used not only to reduce the patient dose in radiotherapy, also to evaluate the overall factors of image modalities in industrial research.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.167-172
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• 2000

Background: As the internal mammary artery is far superior to the vein in the patency rate recently there has been a tendency to use the arterial graft as much as possible in coronary artery bypass grafts with the expectation of better the short- and long-term patency rate. Material and Method: We sequentially grafted the diagonal and the left anterior descending artery significantly influencing the cardiac function with the internal mammary artery. There were 32 cases of sequential grafts from July 1993 to December 1998: 21 men and 11 women. The age range was from 43 to 69 years with a mean age of 56.64$\pm$6.41 years. There were 22 unstable angina 7 stable angina and 3 acute myocardial infarction. 8 cases of them were accompanied by stenosis of the left main coronary artery. The grafts for coronary artery bypass surgery included the great saphenous vein at 60 the right gastroepiploci artery at 5 and the left internal mammary artery at 64 coronary arteries. Result: One patient died from sepsis and multiorgan failure. Complications included wound infections in two cases and gastrointestinal bleeding in one patient. All patients showed decrease or disappearance of angina after operation. The postoperative coronary angiogram performed in 9 patients showed neither occlusion nor stenosis of the grafts. Conclusion: This study suggests that sequential anastomosis of the internal mammary artery to the diagonal and the left anterior descending artery may result in excellent short-term patency diagonal and the left anterior descending artery may result in excellent short-term patency rate and be useful for the coronary artery bypass graft using only arterial grafts

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.1243-1254
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• 2004

Purpose: This study was performed to give direction to quality improvement strategies of nursing services by comparing the differences in quality perceptions and satisfaction for nursing services between patients and nurses in small-medium sized general hospitals with 200 beds. Method: The subjects, who were 150 inpatients and 162 nurses of 4 general hospitals in a community, answered a self-report questionnaire with a SERVQUAL scale. Result: There were differences between patients' and nurses' expectations and perceptions of nursing service and satisfaction. In the service expectation, the highest factor was 'the responsiveness', and in the perceived performance, the highest was the 'assurance'. In addition, overall patients' perceptions on nursing services showed higher than nurses'. There were positive correlations among the expectations and perceptions on nursing service, and satisfaction. The correlation between perception and satisfaction was higher than the correlation between expectations and satisfaction. Conclusion: To improve the nursing service quality at small-medium hospitals, strengthening the 'assurance' factor and improving the nursing service support system is needed. Also, this study on nurses' perceived nursing service at small-medium sized hospitals should be duplicated.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.87-96
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• 2006

Purpose: This study was conducted to provide fundamental information for a system establishment of advanced practice nursing for gynecological cancer patients (APN-GCP). Method: Data was collected by focus group and individual interviews and analyzed in the framework of the Grounded theory method mapped by Strauss and Corbin (1990). There were 13 subjects in this study (nurses, doctors, patient and her family). Result: We identified 87 concepts, 22 sub-categories, and 10 categories. Categories for role expectation were arrangement of diagnosis and treatment process, giving information of treatment course, support of treatment process, patients' right toward making a decision of treatment, counseling and teaching after discharge from hospital, medical insurance and financial problems, counseling about sexual problems and use of family and community resources. All subjects perceived the necessity of an APN-GCP. An APN-GCP requires over 2$\sim$7 years clinical experience and a master's degree. Services would be performed from initial registration to termination of treatment or death, and accomplished on an outpatient clinic basis. Conclusion: The nursing delivery system and curriculum should be developed for a women's health nurse practitioner including APN-GCP. As a further step, cost-effectiveness and projected estimation of manpower of APN-GCP should be studied in the future.