• Health Policy and Management
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.85-108
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• 2012

One of the ways to achieve the principle of equal access for equal needs, availability and geographical accessibility of health care resources regardless of resident sites is important. The purpose of this paper is to measure socioeconomic inequities in distribution of health care resources among regions in the Republic of Korea (hereafter Korea). Data were extracted from regional statistics of National Health Insurance, Community Health Survey, Korea Social Science Data Archive, and Korean Statistical Information Services at the same period of 2009. The dependent variables were the number of health workforce and health care facilities in each region. The proxy indicator of regional socioeconomic status was local tax per person. To identify whether inequalities among regions, we examined the concentration index(CI) and indirectly standardized CI by controlling each region's demographics and need factors. Total observations were 232 districts in nationwide, and we analyzed separately Seoul(25 districts) and non-Seoul areas(207 districts). The standardized CI values of health care resources were positive(favoring the rich region) across the nation in almost all kinds of resources. Especially the number of specialist, dentist, dental clinics, clinics, oriental medical clinics, pharmacists, and pharmacies were statistically significantly favoring the rich region. But the CI for the number of long-term care hospitals, public health centers were negative(favoring the poor region). The tendency of CI presenting positive values were increased in Seoul area. But in the case of non-Seoul, the CI indexes were nearly zero. The results suggest that except the Seoul area, little regional socioeconomic-related inequalities were observed in the distribution of health care resources in Korea.

• Journal of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.33-45
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• 2006

Purpose : The purpose of this study is to present the desirable level of home health care services by identifying the roles and activities by task of home health nursing specialists as well as to raise the level of professionalism in home health care services. Method : This is a methodological study. The roles and activities by task were identified through a review of literature and a state-of-the-practice survey, and were structured into a questionnaire after being reviewed and modified through a consensus of experts. The field survey was conducted on 136 home health nursing specialists at medical institutions, public health centers. public medical institutions, non-governmental organizations, and religious institutions in Seoul, Gyeonggi Province. Incheon, Busan, Daegu, and Gwanggju from June 4 to August 4. 2004. Seven roles. 34 tasks and 130 activities were identified in association with home health nursing specialists. Result : The roles of home health nursing specialists were identified as professional nursing service provider, advisor, educator, administrator, case manager, researcher and leader. Under these roles. 34 tasks and 134 task-specific activities were identified. Conclusion : The the roles and activities of home health nursing specialist identified in this study can be used in various home health care settings. These the roles and activities should provide the evaluation criteria of home health care services for institutions with existing home health care programs. An evaluation tool should be developed in order to ensure the hish quality of home health care services.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.11-18
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• 2017

Objectives : In an effort to suggest a developmental plan of Traditional Korean Medicine health promotion project(TKM-HPP), this study was conducted to identify the problems experienced by public health Traditional Korean Medicine(PH-TKM) doctors in duty and to analyze successful cases of the health promotion project. Methods : Two PH-TKM doctors in duty at the Public Health Centre branch and Public Health Centre respectively, and one TKM doctor in charge of Public Health Centre participated in the in-depth interview. The research procedure was as follows; 1) inform study objectives and interview questions to participants, 2) in-depth interview with semi-structured questions, and 3) post-confirmation and verification. The interview was recorded and transcripted. In-depth interview was composed of 6 subsections: 1) Introducing participants and share purpose of interview, 2) Confirmation of the job status and difficulty of public health centre, 3) Reflecting and sharing experiences of public health clinic job performance cases, 4) Current status and improvement needs of TKM-HPP, 5) Discussions on improvement of TKM-HPP in public health center, 6) Sharing and reconfirmation of interview results. Thematic analysis was conducted from the narratives. Results : The study showed that; 1) the support from the local government was critical for the successful TKM-HPP and participation of the PH-TKMs; 2) the major problems experienced by PH-TKMs were lack of training for TKM-HPP in the field and lack of knowledge at local government level; 3) the suggestions to provide PH-TKMs with manual to educate residents effectively and redefine roles of PH-TKMs in the project. It also suggests that TKM-HPP model should be developed by the district in a way of reflecting regional characteristics. Conclusions : Firstly, more efforts should be made on the projects rather than medical treatment in public health centers, except for areas where medical institutions are scarce. Secondly, in order to facilitate participation of PH-TKM doctors, each local office should reduce medical care and increase efforts related with projects. Thirdly, the institution has to develop feasible TKM-HPP plans that can be carried out by PH-TKMs by the manual. Lastly, pre-training should be provided to PH-TKMs to understand contents of TKM-HPP related to public health centre work before the placement.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.49-60
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• 2010

Purpose: This study investigated the quality of life, mental health and subjective health status of community dwelling cancer patients. Methods: Subjects were 212 out-patients with cancer at Kangwon University Hospital. The study was conducted from July 10 to August 14, 2008. Quality of life as determined by the Euro Quality of life-5 Dimensions (EQ-5D) was measured using Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(KCDC). Mental health and subjective health status were measured using KCDC. Results: EQ-5D determined degrees of difficulty were 25.5%(mobility), 25.2%(anxiety or depression), 23.6%(pain or discomfort), 20.3%(activities of daily living), and 13.7%(self care). An analysis of the association between several factors and mental health showed that the statistically significant factors were age, gender, medical coverage, and private insurance. An analysis of the association between several factors and subjective health status showed that the statistically significant factor was occupation. Conclusion: Cancer patients suffer from significant psychological distress. Programs that address mental and physical health would be beneficial.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.53-67
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• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to obtain the basic data for the development of maternal health care by analyzing the status and needs of service target persons in Timor-Leste. Methods: The subjects were selected through the non-probability sampling method applying the FGI. Researchers interviewed 3 maternal health service managers, 6 midwives at Gleno and Railaco Health Centers and 2 women between 15 and 45 years of age. Results: In the results of on-site visit of the delivery facility and the FGI, we found poor sanitation in delivery room, lack of medical equipment related to antenatal consultation and delivery. In the case of the health center manager, the public health center provides various maternity health services, but the lack of the staff has difficulty in providing the service and managing the subjects. Midwives asked for regular maintenance education. Women in child bearing age living in mountainous areas had poor access to delivery facilities and lack of awareness of delivery services. Conclusions: It is necessary to increase the maternity management rate through regular maternity and maternal health check service and application to maternal management database, to improve the sanitation of the maternity clinic in the public health center, to strengthen the midwife competency program.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.207-218
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• 2009

Purpose: In an attempt to develop a parental health improvement education program for day care children, survey questions were devised to measured the extent of parental health knowledge, health-guidance execution and needs. Method: Participants were 727 parents whose children attended daycare centers in J province informed consent was provided prior to participation. Result: Respondents were overwhelmingly (91.6%) mothers. Questions with high percentage of incorrect answers were "What should I do if my child swallows harmful drugs, bleach or detergents?" (98.1%) and "What should I do if insects or other bugs enter my child's ear?" (96.6%). In most cases, parental health-guidance execution exceeded 90% except in response to the survey question "Does your child have a dental check-up every 6 months" (51%). Taken together, parental education is necessary concerning growth and development (12.8%), nutrition (12.1%), healthy life styles (10.3%) and general health issues (10.0%). Conclusions: Parental health knowledge about preschooler's health varies with degree of income, education and type of employment. Consideration of these variables is important in a parental health education program.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.333-346
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• 2014

Purpose: This study was conducted in order to identify factors that influence depression for low-income elderly who live at home from the International Classification of Functioning model (ICF). Methods: The subjects were 205 elderly people living at home in two public health centers located in metropolitan cities. Subjects were divided according to their depression scores, which were measured using the GDS-short form, including normal, risk, and depression groups. Each variable was consistent with factors of the ICF model, including health condition, individual factors, environmental factors, body function, activities, and participation. Data were collected using structured questionnaires. ANOVA, $x^2$, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and Multinomial logistic regression with IBM SPSS 21.0 were used for analysis of the data. Results: Statistically significant differences were observed among normal, risk, and depression groups regarding personal factors. Gender, education level, numbers of diseases, perceived health, life satisfaction, and social support were identified as the variables that had a significant impact on depression of low-income elderly living at home. Conclusion: Results of this study indicate that there is a need for construction and implementation of strategies that strengthen life satisfaction and social support in order to lower depression of low-income elderly.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.283-294
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• 2006

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the factors influencing childhood immunization. Method: Data were collected by questionnaires from 251 Parents who have 6 months to 7 years old children at public health centers in Seoul and Kyunggi Province. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, and multiple regression. Result: According to general characteristics of the parents and children, there were statistically significant differences in education level of parents, child immunization card, gender, age, and birth order of children. The main factors that affected children's immunization were perceived barriers of action, perceived control, birth order of children, child immunization card, and education level of parents, and these factors explained 49.4%(explanatory power of this model was 49.4%). Conclusion: The results of this study showed strategies for compliance of children immunization. Therefore, when the program are developed for public immunization, these factors need to be considered.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.131-144
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• 2016

One of the main indicators of the health status of a country is the Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR). In order to improve the MMR in Indonesia, the government has made a number of primary health centers (PHC) capable of providing basic obstetric and neonatal emergency care (PONED) services. The aim of this research is to learn how well PONED services have been implemented at the Baso PHC in Agam Regency as of 2015. We used a qualitative approach, with in-depth interviews and observations from June-August 2015. Ten respondents participated in the in-depth interviews, and observations were made about the infrastructure. The validity of the data is based on the standard of credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability of the content of the interviews. The analysis shows that there are still some obstacles in PONED PHC implementation, including the lack of human resources at the PHC and insufficient facilities, funding, and oversight, which causes many cases that should be handled by a PONED team to be referred to the hospital. Suggestions are provided to help improve policies and ultimately patient care.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.55-64
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• 2023

Background: Despite the various activities of the regional public hospitals, discussions are being made as to whether or not to continue due to the issue of financial deficit. Therefore, the main factors affecting the fiscal deficit were analyzed with 10-year data. Methods: This study is a panel analysis that analyzed the characteristics of 34 regional public hospitals and influencing factors on medical benefits for 10 years from 2010 to 2019. First, we analyze the determinants of medically vulnerable areas set by the government, analyze the trend of medical profit per 100 beds and medical profit rate from 2010 to 2019, and identify the factors that affect them. Results: Differences in medical profit per 100 beds and medical profit-to-medical profit rate were caused by market share representing regional characteristics, and both indicators improved as the number of outpatients increased. The important influencing variables are the number of doctors and nurses, and both indicators improve when there are specialists, but medical benefits decrease as the number of doctors increases when judged by the number of people per 100 beds. In addition, the number of nurses per 100 beds does not contribute to medical profit and has a negative effect on the medical profit ratio. Conclusion: As only regional characteristics were taken into account for medically vulnerable areas, operational characteristics need to be considered. The greatest impact on the finances of local medical centers is the proper staffing of doctors and nurses, and their efficient arrangement is the most important factor in financial stability.