• Quality Improvement in Health Care
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.35-45
• /
• 2020

Purpose: This study was conducted to identify patients' dissatisfaction with health care through a content analysis of newspaper articles published between 1990 and 2015. It focused on developing a systematic coding scheme for content analysis as well as exploring changes over time. Methods: Among articles published by 8 major national newspapers, our content analysis used those that specifically covered the dissatisfaction of patients. Coding taxonomy was developed in two domains: (1) contents of dissatisfaction and (2) special circumstances and groups where complaints were filed. All articles were then coded according to this coding taxonomy to conduct descriptive analysis. Results: A total of 794 complaints were discovered in 338 articles. Contents of dissatisfaction were classified into 7 categories and 50 subcategories. Complaints regarding accessibility, technical care, and administration were noticeable in special circumstances, including strikes and spread of epidemic diseases, whereas complaints on interpersonal care and cost were prominent in general population and circumstances. When comparing the proportion of articles covering patient dissatisfaction in general population/circumstances between 1990-2000 and 2001-2015, complaints on administration and physical environment diminished over time, whereas complaints on outcome of health care increased. Conclusion: This study offers a rare window to view the responsiveness of the Korean health care system on a long time horizon.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.121-129
• /
• 2017

The study is to identify the status of the ward of public hospital for integrated nursing care service. Integrated nursing service has expanded nationwide from 2016 but 10 out of 34 public hospitals are currently unable to operate as nurses due to the shortage. Analyze each floor plan and space program of ward and provide the basic data for the construction of the architecture plans for Integrated nursing care service. For this study, selecting 14 wards of public hospital in Korea and then analyzes space organization, distance from NS to bedroom and NS to core(Elevator) and spatial hierarchy of them. Among the 14 public hospitals, there are 7 types of double-loaded corridor, 4 types of double corridor and 3 types of single corridor. If NS is placed centrally, the control of the outsider and the patient's control would be efficient, but most of NS are lean on one side of floor. the placement of NS should be independent of individual arrangements, but it should be smooth alignment with patient spaces, staff spaces, and public spaces. This study could serve as basic research for the architectural plan for future integrated nursing care in ward of public hospital.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.15-24
• /
• 2007

Purpose: The study aim was to provide basic data needed for formulating systematic visiting nursing strategies by comprehending the characteristics and self-care ability of the object families of public health centers in Korea. Method: The research examined 252 families and 339 family members of the vulnerable class that were registered in a visiting nursing program of an urban public health center. The data of 220 families were analyzed using descriptive analysis, t-test, and ANOVA, after excluding any incomplete data. Result: 1. The most frequent characteristics of families were solitary families (52.8%) and financially vulnerable families (87.3%). The most frequent way of family detection was request of the community office. 2. The most frequent type of family problems were vulnerable families (93.2%), followed by patient families (91.0%). 3. The mean score was 11.67 for family self-care ability. 4. The variables of the number of family members, disease type of the patient family members, and the type of vulnerable family showed a significant difference of family self-care ability. Conclusion: This study suggests that vulnerable families demand specific nursing interventions focused on their own problems and that visiting nurses need to obtain and use supportive resources.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
• /
• v.41 no.1
• /
• pp.17-28
• /
• 2024

This study aimed to analyze whether the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic affected the characteristics of first-visit patients with peripheral facial palsy (PFP) and observe changes in their characteristics. This study analyzed the electronic medical records of 2,310 first-visit patients with PFP who visited the Facial Palsy Center, Kyung Hee University Korean Medicine Hospital from January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2021, in terms of demographic characteristics, disease phase, residence locations, hospital visit route, and patient care. During COVID-19, the proportion of acute patients increased by 5.3%, the proportion of visits by residents in Seoul increased by 3.8%, and the proportion of patients receiving only outpatient treatments increased by 12.8%. Significant relationships were present between the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the number of patients by disease phase (p = 0.043), residence locations (p = 0.003), and patient care (p = 0.003). Thus, several differences in the characteristics of first-visit patients with PFP visiting a Korean medicine hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of demographic characteristics, disease phase, residence locations, and patient care.

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

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.51-60
• /
• 2019

Purpose: This study aims to analyze design guidelines for hospice facilities in the US, UK, and Canada focused on design considerations and space requirements, and utilizes them as baseline data for establishing standards for Korean hospice facilities. Methods: Comparative review was carried out to investigate hospice care models, design consideration, and room sizes and requirements for design guideline of hospice facilities in United States, UK and Canada identified on electronic database and review articles, and to examine major characteristics and tendencies of hospice facilities. Results: The hospice care models characteristics in design guidelines is generally largely divided into hospital-based hospice facility, Nursing home-based hospice facility, and daycare hospice. The design considerations in hospice facilities focused on medical efficiency, flexibility, barrier-free environment, person-centered care, and stability. There is also a need for single resident room, rooms for the patient's family, and isolation room for infection control. Implications: it is recommended to establish standards for the installation and operation of required and recommended rooms and considerations when establishing the standards of hospice facilities in Korea. This Study is limited to a simple comparative analysis of the framework of guideline.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.2-14
• /
• 2023

Purpose: This study aimed to identify strategies to enhance the competencies of patient safety coordinators in Korea. Methods: Fourteen participants from nine hospitals were interviewed between May and November 2022. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the data. Results: As for the strategies to enhance patient safety management competency, 3 themes and 11 sub-themes were derived. The first theme was 'Having individual competence as a patient safety coordinator', and the sub-themes were 'Communication skills with members', 'Flexible thinking from multiple perspectives', and 'Preparing for administrative work competencies that they had not experienced as a nurse.' The second theme was 'Responding strategically to promote improvement activities', and the sub-themes for it were 'Multi-angle approach to the problem', 'A careful approach so as not to be taken as criticism in the field', 'Increasing the possibility of improvement activities through awareness', 'Activating the network between patient safety coordinators', and 'Expanding learning opportunities through patient safety case analysis.' The third theme was 'Obtaining support to facilitate patient safety activities', and the sub-themes for this were 'Improving staff awareness of patient safety', 'Providing a training course for nurse professional of patient safety', and 'Expanding the manpower allocation standard of patient safety coordinators.' Conclusion: This study explored personal competencies such as document writing and computer utilization capabilities, focused on ways to improve the field of patient safety management, and emphasized the need for organizational and political support.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.204-216
• /
• 2000

Background : There has been a concern that the quality of care provided to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients in the United States may not be as good as recommended. This paper illustrates a composite measure to assess, the quality of care received by ESRD patients undergoing in-center hemodialysis by incorporating outcomes for 4 major treatment areas. The 4 treatment areas are: dialysis treatments, anemia control, nutritional management, and blood pressure control. Methods : The major data source for the study was the United States Renal Data System (USRDS) Dialysis Morbidity and Mortality Study Wave 1 (DMMS-1) d Sixteen categories of a composite quality indicator were constructed by combining 4 dichotomous variables (16=2*2*2*2). representing the optimal vs. less than optimal level of outcome for each of the 4 treatment outcome measure respectively. Optimal outcome level for each treatment area was defined based on the recommendation from the National Kidney Foundation: (a) delivered dialysis doses (Kt/V) ${\geq}$ 1.2; (b) hematocrit level ${\geq}$ 30%; (c) serum albumin concentration ${\geq}$ 3.8g/dl ; and (d) blood pressure of <140 / <90mmHg. The 16 quality indicator were ranked according to their relative quality weights, which were estimated from its association with the relative risk of survival, adjusting for patient's baseline severity and dialysis facility characteristics. Results : Out of the entire sample of 2,179 patients, only 229 (10%) meet th recommended outcome levels for all 4 treatment areas. Overall, the study patients were distributed evenly over the 16 quality indicators, indicating a great variation in the quality of ESRD care. It appears that the rank of the 16 quality-indicators is driven by serum albumin concentration, suggesting that serum albumin concentration may be the most powerful predictor of ESRD patient survival among the 4 outcome measures. Conclusion : The developed quality indicator has the advantage of describin a range of care for dialysis patients and thus providing a more complete picture of care as compared to previous studies that have focused on only single or few components of the ESRD care.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.183-202
• /
• 1998

This study is to investigate patient's choice of health care and the demand for Korean traditional medicine care in rural areas in 1995. It tried to evaluate the effect of out-of-pocket expenditure, travel time, and waiting time on improving care-seeking and substituting clinical medicine for pharmacy care and Korean traditional medicine care in rural areas. The statistical model of this study is conditional logit to estimate effects of choice-specific and individual-specific characteristics on the choice of type of services. This study used, as explanatory variables, average out-of-pocket payment, travel time, and waiting time of services required to use the services. The model was empirically tested using data from 1995 Korean National Health Survery. The results showed that rural Koreans responded to out-of pocket payment and travel time. Increases of out-of-pocket payment and travel time decreased the probability to choose care in rural Korea. Rural Koreans were more likely to seek care than others with low out-of-pocket payment and travel time. The probability of choosing Korean traditional medicine were higher among the members of the households with higher education level and older persons, while they were lower in the households with large family than others compared with the probabilities of choosing public health facilities. The result of this study implies that policy on use of health care in rural Korea can be focused in managing travel time and out-of-pocket payment.

• The Korean Nurse
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.66-80
• /
• 1996

Reacently one the main issues has been to develop useful strategies to improve hospital services for patients in the health care delivery system in our rapidly changing society. This study has focused on exploring the perceptions that the clinical nurses have concerning who they are and what they are going to become in the days ahead as medical care reaches a new stage of advancement centered around the patient and hospital services. This study in also based upon the premise that the role of the clinical nurse practitioner. is central to the progress of any patient centered nursing program. This study was carried out by the members of the academic committee of Seoul Branch of Korean Nurses Association from January 1995 to February 1995. The interview method was a semi-structured questionnaire used to collect data from 25 staff nurses who were working more than 3 years at 3 different university hospitals in Seoul. The 6 interviews were selected from each hospital and they were trained for the interviewing techniques. The data were analysed qualitatively and 10 elements of the nurse's responsibilities classified such as caring for the patients (which includes specific medical care as well as general); assessing; diagnosing; coordinating with other health personnel; careful listening; teaching and the patient guiding; administering the prescriptions; giving information and counseling the patient; ward management. Although the premise of this study was based on a wholistic concept, the overall behavioral aspects of hospital clinical nursing were the major thrust of the questionnaire. Broad philosophical questions regarding the nature of nursing need to be further explored. The data gathered for this questionnaire should be useful as a reenforcement tool in educating nursing students as well as in continuing education for clinical nurses. For the future, another study should be done to determine the nursing/patient relationship.