• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.176-189
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• 1998

This study was conducted to evaluate the subjective ideas about the determinants of quality in ambulatory care unit among outpatients and medical staff of a university hospital, and to compare the differences of the ideas, between patients themselves and hospital staff. A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted covering 799 outpatients and 190 hospital staff in March, 1998. The questionnaire included general characteristics and 26 determinants of ambulatory care quality. The following are summaries of the findings: 1. Both of outpatients and hospital staff perceived, "Physician's knowledge" as the most important determinant of medical care quality. 2. In respect of 7 determinants related to physician's knowledge and skill, both outpatients and hospital staff perceived "physician's knowledge and skill" as important determinants. The scores of determinants such as, "Not doing unnecessary examinations", and "Assignment of adequate number of patients and duty schedule for the physician" were significantly different between outpatients and hospital staff. 3. In respect of 4 determinants related to doctor-patient relationship, both outpatients and hospital staff perceived "attention to patient's complaints" as the most important determinant. The scores related to the determinants such as "kindness of physician" and "explanation of treatment outcome" were significantly different between outpatients and hospital staff. 4. Among the amenities related determinants, "Modern facilities and equipments" were perceived as the most important determinant in both group. 5. In respect of 8 determinants related to non-financial accommodation, outpatients perceived, "Waiting hours for treatment" as the most important determinant, and hospital staff perceived, "Kindness of hospital staff". 6. In respect of 4 determinants related to financial accommodation, outpatients perceived, "Fare account of medical cost" as the most important determinant, and hospital staff perceived, "Increasing reimbursements". Further comprehensive research should be made on the evaluation of perceptions of medical care quality, both of outpatient and inpatient care, among patients and hospital staff. So good quality in medical care will be achieved based on clients' needs.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.22 no.3 s.27
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• pp.398-405
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• 1989

A change in the consumer's surplus was measured in order to evaluate the social benefit to be derived from expanding health insurance to the entire population. The most refined and correct way to measure a project's net benefit to society is to determine a change in the consumer's surplus. Benefits from introducing the health insurance program to the uninsured people can be classified into two elements. The first is the pricing-down effect(E1) which results from applying the insurance price system, which is lower than the actual price, to the uninsured patients. The second effect(E2) is a decrease in actual payment because an insured patient pays only a portion of the total medical bill(copayment). We collected medical price information from the data banks of 93 hospitals, and obtained information of medical utilization by referring to the results of other research and from data published by the Korean Medical Insurance Societies. The total net benefit was estimated as \214 billion, comprising the first effect(E1) of \57 billion and the second effect(E2) of \157 billion. The price elasticity of physician visits is less than that of hospital admissions: however, benefits from the increase in physician visits are greater than those from hospital admissions because there are considerably more of physician visits than hospital admissions. The sensitivity analysis also shows the conclusion that expansion of the health insurance program to the entire population would result in a positive net benefit. Therfore, we conclude that the National Health Insurance Program is socially desirable.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.sup3
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• pp.161-166
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• 2016

Iranian women are at high risk of low compliance with repeat mammography due to a lack of awareness about breast cancer, negative previous experiences, cultural beliefs, and no regular visits to a physician. Thus research is needed to explore factors associated with repeated mammography participation. Applying the concept of perceived risk as the guiding model, this study aimed to test the fit and strength of the relationship between perceived risk and physician recommendation in explaining repeat mammography. A total of 601 women, aged 50 years and older referred to mammography centers in region 6, were recruited via a convenience sampling method. Using path analysis, family history of breast cancer and other types of cancer were modeled as antecedent perceived risk, and physician recommendation and knowledge were modeled as an antecedent of the number of mammography visits. The model explained 49% of the variance in repeat mammography. The two factors of physician recommendation and breast self-examination had significant direct effects (P < 0.05) on repeat mammography. Perceived risk, knowledge, and family history of breast cancer had significant indirect effects on repeat mammography through physician recommendation. The results of this study provide a background for further research and interventions not only on Iranian women but also on similar cultural groups and immigrants who have been neglected to date in the mammography literature.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.100-129
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• 1993

This study is designed to find out some intra-clinic factors affecting the content of practice provided by primary care physicians in Korea, and proposed factors in this study are characteristcs of each private clinc --- physician-related variables(age, sex, specialty), bfed-related variables for inpatient care, laboratory-related variables for precise diagnosis. We have tried to estimate the difference of disease entities cared by each primary care physician according to above factors by analyzin gdisease data claimed during one month(April, 1992) to National Federation of Medical Insurance. The diagnosis codes by ICD-9 in the research disease data were reclassified to 'diagnosis clusters' by virtue of clinical similarities for effective analyses. We have converted frequent-tsing ICD-9 codes to 86 diagnosis clusters, which incorporated 97.4 percents of all ambulatory visits to private clinics. This result means proposed diagnosis-cluster method is effective tool for analysis of the content of ambulatory medical care carried out by primary care physicians. Comparisons and analyses of multiple diagnosis-clusters made on the basis of presented factors were done and the results were as follows; - Major factors affecting the difference between diagnosis-cluster pattern by each variables were phyusician's age, sex, specialty and bed counts of each private clinic for inpatient care and the size of laboratories of each clinic. - Middle aged(30th to 40th) group physicians are providing more comprehensive care than 20th or above 50th aged groups. Male physicians are more adequate for comprehensive care than female physicians, because woman-doctors are providing narrow-spectrum care. The content of practice of obstetricians and gynecologists shows much difference from primary medical practice, and they cannot be included in primary care physician, this study suggested. Pediatricians are also providing short-spectum acre, and nearly all visits to pediatricians were incorporated only 2-3 diagnosis-clusters. General surgeons' practices are very similar to general practioners' or family physicians' practices, the means they are providing primary care rather than special surgical care. And small number of beds(under 5 beds) and only basic(2-3 sorts of)diagnostic apparatuses are sufficient for primary physicians' clinic to carry out primary care. In conclusion, to reinforce primary care department in Korea, there must be support with health policy to expand office-based primary care practice-- with small number of beds for inpatient care and only basic laboratories-- provided by general practitioner of family physician.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.487-494
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• 2007

Objectives : Little is known about the physician-related factors that are associated with the management of Hypertension. The purpose of this study was to determine the physician-related factors associated with blood pressure control in hypertensive patients. Methods : We surveyed 154 physicians at 117 public health (subhealth) centers in Gyeonggi-do, Forty-one physicians completed the survey (response rates : 26.6%) and 31 physicians were finally included as the study subjects. Using the information obtained from the self-reported survey, we measured the physician-related factors associated with hypertension control, including their perception of hypertension, prescription patterns (combination prescription rates, specific antihypertensives prescription rates among patients with diabetes mellitus), and sociodemographic factors. We then collected data on blood pressure and medication use in patients seen by these physicians from the health center#s information system. We compared the physicians# perceived hypertension control rates with the actual rates, and then evaluated the rate of high overestimation (overestimation by more than 25% of the median degree of hypertension control rate overestimation) among the physicians. The physicians# antihypertensive prescription patterns were also evaluated. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the independent association between hypertension control and physician-related factors. Results : The physicians tended to overestimate the proportion of their patients with controlled blood pressure (79.5% perceived vs. 57.8% actual). The percentage of physicians with high overestimation was 35.5% (11 physicians). The physicians with lower control rates were more likely to highly overestimate their patients# control rates. Physicians with below-median actual control rates tended to prescribe fewer combination treatments for patients with uncontrolled blood pressure and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or fewer angiotensin receptor blockers for patients with diabetes mellitus. The rate of high overestimation by physicians was 1.31 times higher in patients with uncontrolled blood pressure than in patients with other conditions (OR=1.31, 95% CI : 1.17-1.48). Conclusions : Physicians have a tendency to overestimate the rates of hypertension control in their patients. Because physicians have a direct role in treatment outcomes, physicians# overestimation about hypertension management contributes to inadequate blood pressure control. Thus, interventions for improving physician# awareness regarding the management of patients with hypertension are needed.

• 대한예방의학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.348-348
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• 2005

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.23 no.2 s.30
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• pp.155-157
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• 1990

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.411-418
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• 2006

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine whether the disabled have worse access to primary care than the non-disabled. Methods: We used the National Disability Registry data and the National Health Insurance data for the calendar year 2003, and we analyzed 807,380 disabled persons who had been registered until December 2001 and we also analyzed 1,614,760 non-disabled persons for nine ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs). The rates of physician visits and hospitalizations for the patients with ACSCs were compared between the disabled and the nondisabled. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the association between medical care utilization and disability and to assess the association between hospitalization and the number of physician visits while controlling for potential confounders. Results: The numbers of physician visits per 100 patients were $0.78{\sim}0.97$ times lower for the disabled than that for the non-disabled with five of nine ACSCs. The numbers of hospitalizations per 100 patients were $1.16{\sim}1.77$ times higher for the disabled than that for the non-disabled with all the ACSCs. While the ORs of a physician visit for the disabled were significantly lower than that for the non-disabled with all the ACSCs (OR: $0.44{\sim}0.70$), and the ORs of hospitalization for the disabled were significantly higher (OR: $1.16{\sim}1.89$). The lower physician visit group (number of physician visits ${\leq}$1) was more likely to be hospitalized than the higher physician visit group (number of physician visits ${\geq}$2) (OR: $1.69{\sim}19.77$). The effect of the physician visit rate on hospitalization was larger than the effect of disability on hospitalization. Conclusions: The results suggest that the disabled were more likely to be hospitalized for ACSCs due to their lower access to primary care.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 1976

Introduction Recently, changes in the patterns and concepts of maternity care, in both developing and developed countries have been accelerating. An outstanding development in this field is the number of deliveries taking place in hospitals or maternity centers. In Korea, however, more than 90% of deliveries are carried out at home with the help of untrained relatives or even without helpers. It is estimated that less than 10% of deliveries are assisted by professional persons such as a physician or a midwife. Taking into account the shortage of professional person i11 rural Korea, it is difficult to expect widespread prenatal, postnatal, and delivery care by professional persons in the near future, It is unrealistic, therefore, to expect rapid development of MCH care by professional persons in rural Korea due to economic and sociological reasons. Given these conditions. it is reasonable that an educated village women could used as a "maternity aid", serving simple and technically easy roles in the MCH field, if we could give such a women incentive to do so. The midwife and physician are assigned difficult problems in the MCH field which could not be solved by the village worker. However, with the application of the village worker system, we could expect to improve maternal and child hoalth through the replacement of untrained relatives as birth attendants with educated and trained maternity aides. We hope that this system will be a way of improving MCH care, which is only one part of the general health services offered at the local health centre level. Problems of MCH in rural Korea The field of MCH is not only the weakest point in the medical field in our country hut it has also dropped behind other developing countries. Regarding the knowledge about pregnancy and delivery, a large proportion of our respondents reported having only a little knowledge, while 29% reported that they had "sufficient" knowledge. The average number of pregnancies among women residing in rural areas was 4.3 while the rate of women with 5 or more pregnancies among general women and women who terminated childbearing were 43 and 80% respectively. The rate of unwanted pregnancy among general women was 19.7%. The total rate for complications during pregnancy was 15.4%, toxemia being the major complication. The rate of pregnant women with chronic disease was 7%. Regarding the interval of pregnancy, the rates of pregnancy within 12 months and within 36 months after last delivery were 9 and 49% respectively. Induced abortion has been increasing in rural areas, being as high as 30-50% in some locations. The maternal death rate was shown 10 times higher than in developed countries (35/10,000 live births). Prenatal care Most women had no consultation with a physician during the prenatal period. Of those women who did have prenatal care, the majority (63%) received such care only 1 or 2 times throughout the entire period of pregnancy. Also, in 80% of these women the first visit Game after 4 months of gestation. Delivery conditions This field is lagging behind other public health problems in our country. Namely, more than 95% of the women deliveried their baby at home, and delivery attendance by a professional person occurred only 11% of the time. Attendance rate by laymen was 78% while those receiving no care at all was 16%. For instruments used to cut the umbilical corn, sterilized scissors were used by 19%, non-sterilized scissors by 63% and 16% used sickles. Regarding delivery sheets, the rate of use of clean sheets was only 10%, unclean sheets, vinyl and papers 72%, and without sheets, 18%. The main reason for not using a hospital as a place of delivery was that the women felt they did not need it as they had previously experience easy deliveries outside hospitals. Difficult delivery composed about 5% of the total. Child health The main food for infants (95%) was breast milk. Regarding weaning time, the rates within one year, up to one and half, two, three and more than three years were 28,43,60,81 and 91% respectively, and even after the next pregnancy still continued lactation. The vaccination of children is the only service for child health in rural Korea. As shown in the Table, the rates of all kinds of vaccination were very low and insufficient. Infant death rate was 42 per 1,000 live births. Most of the deaths were caused by preventable diseases. Death of infants within the neonatal period was 83% meaning that deaths from communicable diseases decreased remarkably after that time. Infant deaths which occurred without medical care was 52%. Methods of improvement in the MCH field 1. Through the activities of village health workers (VHW) to detect pregnant women by home visiting and. after registration. visiting once a month to observe any abnormalities in pregnant women. If they find warning signs of abnormalities. they refer them to the public health nurse or midwife. Sterilized delivery kits were distributed to the expected mother 2 weeks prior to expected date of delivery by the VHW. If a delivery was expected to be difficult, then the VHW took the mother to a physician or call a physician to help after birth, the VHW visits the mother and baby to confirm health and to recommend the baby be given proper vaccination. 2. Through the midwife or public health nurse (aid nurse) Examination of pregnant women who are referred by the VHW to confirm abnormalities and to treat them. If the midwife or aid nurse could not solve the problems, they refer the pregnant women to the OB-GY specialist. The midwife and PHN will attend in the cases of normal deliveries and they help in the birth. The PHN will conduct vaccination for all infants and children under 5, years old. 3. The Physician will help only in those cases referred to him by the PHN or VHW. However, the physician should examine all pregnant women at least three times during their pregnancy. First, the physician will identify the pregnancy and conduct general physical examination to confirm any chronic disease that might disturb the continuity of the pregnancy. Second, if the pregnant woman shows any abnormalities the physician must examine and treat. Third, at 9 or 10 months of gestation (after sitting of the baby) the physician should examine the position of the fetus and measure the pelvis to recommend institutional delivery of those who are expected to have a difficult delivery. And of course. the medical care of both the mother and the infants are responsible of the physician. Overall, large areas of the field of MCH would be served by the VHW, PHN, or midwife so the physician is needed only as a parttime worker.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.56-80
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• 1984

The main objectives of the present study is to evaluate Physician's Health Education Activities by means of physician's direct response to the prepared questionnaire and patient's perception to the physician in the course of medical care. For the data collection, the present study was conducted from Aug. 16 to Oct. 7, 1983 for 739 patients and 91 physicians who were attended outpatient clinics of 5 general hospitals in Seoul. The major findings are summarized as follows: 1. Self-evaluation on Physician's Health Education Activities (1) In consideration of health education services for the patient, the data revealed that 9.9% of the sampled physician wanted to strength public health and preventive medicine lecture in the curricula at medical education. On the other hand, only 1.1% expressed that they wanted to make it short. (2) In consideration of the necessity of health education service, it was shown that 95.6% of physicians agreed to take it into consideration. Self expression for the practice of health education was placed on the 3.15 score when 5 point scale used. (3) To evaluate the degree of an explanation about medical care for the patient, Index score with 4 point scale was employed. The Index score for the first time was shown that scale was placed on 3.23 for 'diagnosis', 3.12 for 'progress of the disease', 3.11 for 'discription of procedure' and 3.02 for 'cause of the disease' respectively. In comparison of the physician's explanation about the status of disease for the first and the second visitors to clinic, they evaluated themselves as giving more detailed explanation for the second visitors rather than the first visitors. 2. Physician's Health Education Services evaluated by patients (1) To evaluate physician-patient communication at beginning time for taking history about disease, the Index score with 5 point scale was employed. The data on taking history have shown that the score placed on 3.07 for those patients who visited the first time and 2.53 for second visitors. And the score about listening from the patients was placed on 3.52 and 3.42 respectively. (2) The Index score with 5 point scale, as used before, was also employed to evaluate medical care services for the patient. The data evaluated by the patients was shown that the score placed on 4.21 for patient treatment in general, 4.58 for physician's credibility, and 3.6 for physician's kindness. However, approximately 80% of those who failed to understand physician's explanation was caused by highly sophisticated medical terminology. (3) According to the Index score with 4 point scale, to evaluate physician's explanation, the data was shown that the patient who visited the first time gave 2.51 for 'diagnosis', 2.35 for 'progress', 2.11 for 'cause of the disease' and so on. It is acknowledged on the whole that the patients who visited the second time have more satisfaction in physician's explanation about their disease, than those who visited the first time. 3. Comparison of self-evaluation of Physician's Health Education Activities and patient's perception. (1) There was communication barriers between physicians and patients in expressing some medical terminology. For example physician understood that they explained more than 50% of medical terminology into common words for the patient, but 30% of patient complained medical terminology used by physician. (2) Comparing the index score of health education practice recognized by patients and physicians for both first visit and revisit groups, it was shown that the Index score of health education activities evaluated by physicians themselves were slightly higher than the score evaluated by patients.