• Archives of Plastic Surgery
• /
• v.49 no.2
• /
• pp.215-220
• /
• 2022

Background In Japan, there is a large regional disparity in plastic surgery availability. In order for plastic surgery to be widely available for all citizens, it is essential for at least one plastic surgery facility to be located in each secondary medical zone. Methods Using the Japan Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery homepage and some databases, we extracted data on secondary medical zones that do not have a plastic surgery facility. The national and regional coverage rates were calculated. The coverage rate for each group divided by the degree of population concentration was also calculated. Results We found that 147 of 344 secondary medical zones did not have a plastic surgery facility, and the area coverage rate was found to be 57.27% nationwide. The coverage rate in terms of population was 87.07% (correlation coefficient of area and population coverage = 0.983). The area coverage rates in Hokkaido-Tohoku, Kanto, Chubu, Kansai, Chugoku-Shikoku, and Kyushu-Okinawa districts were 47.46, 72.15, 76.47, 62.79, 52.08, and 32.81%, respectively. The corresponding population coverage rates were 79.92, 91.62, 94.27, 90.59, 80.68, and 69.54%, respectively. The area coverage rates in metropolitan areas, provincial cities, and rural areas were 98.08, 75.90, and 15.87%, respectively. In contrast, the area coverage rate of dermatology was 62.79% and that of orthopaedics was 97.09%. Conclusion Unfortunately, it is estimated that more than 40% of secondary medical zones are underserved by plastic surgery, and 13% of the population is not able to fully benefit from this specialty in Japan.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
• /
• v.45 no.1
• /
• pp.96-97
• /
• 2018

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
• /
• v.47 no.1
• /
• pp.70-77
• /
• 2020

Background As the demand for cosmetic surgery continues to rise, plastic surgery programs and the training core curriculum have evolved to reflect these changes. This study aims to evaluate the perceived quality of current cosmetic surgery training in terms of case exposure and educational methods. Methods A 16-question survey was sent to graduates who completed their training at a U.S. plastic surgery training program in 2017. The survey assessed graduates' exposure to cosmetic surgery, teaching modalities employed and their overall perceived competence. Case complexity was characterized by the minimum number of cases needed by the graduate to feel confident in performing the procedure. Results There was a 25% response rate. The majority of respondents were residents (83%, n=92) and the remaining were fellows (17%, n=18). Almost three quarters of respondents were satisfied with their cosmetic training. Respondents rated virtual training as the most effective learning modality and observing attendings' patients/cases as least effective. Perceived competence was more closely aligned with core curriculum status than case complexity, i.e. graduates feel more prepared for core cosmetic procedures despite being more technically difficult than non-core procedures. Conclusions Despite the variability in cosmetic exposure during training, most plastic surgery graduates are satisfied with their aesthetic training. Incorporation of teaching modalities, such as virtual training, can increase case exposure and allow trainees more autonomy. The recommended core curriculum is adequately training plastic surgery graduates for common procedures and more specialized procedures should be consigned to aesthetic fellowship training.

• Knowledge Management Research
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.45-75
• /
• 2019

Recently, the growth of beauty industry such as plastic surgery and beauty is continued every year in Korea. With the increased interest in appearance based on the improvement of life standard and the development of media, people's perception of cosmetic plastic surgery is changing. Now, as the service for consumer satisfaction based on their desire, the perception of plastic surgery medical service is changed to the high value-added industry with the high growth potential. Thus, this study aims to suggest the strategies for providing the medical service that could satisfy customers, by drawing the factors cognized as important when customers aim to get the cosmetic plastic surgery, and then additionally analyzing the relationships of those factors. On top of performing the topic modeling based on customers' comments data of social commerce related to cosmetic plastic surgery, this study also conducted the network analysis for visualizing the relations of each keywords. The drawn main factors were divided by applying the sub-categories of the SERVQUAL theory, and the additional characteristics of plastic surgery were shown by referring the relevant previous researches. Moreover, the interview with the cosmetic plastic surgery specialists (plastic surgeons) and customers who actually received the plastic surgery, helped the understanding of the interpretation of each factor and the actual relevant phenomenons. The significance of this study is to draw and discuss the main factors that should be observed by Korean cosmetic plastic surgery medical institutes, by mining and analyzing the opinions of customers interested in the cosmetic plastic surgery and procedure with the use of topic modeling. In other words, the quality of medical service of cosmetic plastic surgery could be improved by presenting the key factors that could be considered by the cosmetic plastic surgery medical service suppliers and also the actual strategies.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
• /
• v.46 no.6
• /
• pp.608.2-608.2
• /
• 2019

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
• /
• v.42 no.2
• /
• pp.250-252
• /
• 2015

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
• /
• v.42 no.2
• /
• pp.240-241
• /
• 2015

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
• /
• v.42 no.2
• /
• pp.241-243
• /
• 2015

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
• /
• v.43 no.1
• /
• pp.93-95
• /
• 2016

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
• /
• v.45 no.6
• /
• pp.604-605
• /
• 2018