• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.210-221
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• 1997

Background : Willingness to satisfy patients(WSP) among nurses is essential to promoting patient satisfaction which is a critical component in the quality of health care and its outcomes. This study was carried out to empirically find out the affecting factors of WSP among nurses in hospital settings. Methods : The model contains seven job relating determinants and two intervening variables as follows: i) job relating variables of professional status, task requirements, pay, physician-nurse interaction, nurse-nurse interaction, organizational policies, and autonomy, ii) intervening variables of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Data were collected from 205 nurses in two general hospitals owned by one foundation located in Pusan, Korea, using a structured and self-administered questionnaire. Results : The major results were as follows: First, the results of ANOVA on WPS by personal characteristics showed a statistically significant relationships between WPS and hierarchical orders(p<.01) ana tenure(p<.10). Comparing with the lower orders and shorter tenure, the higher orders and the longer tenure showed better WPS. Second, the results of simple correlation analysis between WPS and determinants and intervening variables showed the following variables, in order of importance, were statistically significant(p<.01): work satisfaction(+), organizational commitment(+), task requirements(+), nurse-interaction(+), professional status(+), physician-nurse interaction(+). Third, the results of path analysis showed that two intervening variables of job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and three determinants of task requirements, professional status, and nurse-nurse interaction had a positively significant direct effect to WPS. Conclusion : The results suggest that nurses who are more satisfied with task requirements, status, nurse-nurse interaction, overall job satisfaction, and organizational commitment, will behave in ways that patients find more satisfied.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.105-116
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• 2019

Purpose: Pediatric palliative care (PPC) is emphasized as standard care for children with life-limiting conditions to improve the quality of life. In Korea, a government-funded pilot program was launched only in July 2018. Given that, this study examined various PPC delivery models in other countries to refine the PPC model in Korea. Methods: Target countries were selected based on the level of PPC provided there: the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, and Singapore. Relevant literature, websites, and consultations from specialists were analyzed by the integrative review method. Literature search was conducted in PubMed, Google, and Google Scholar, focusing publications since 1990, and on-site visits were conducted to ensure reliability. Analysis was performed on each country's process to develop its PPC scheme, policy, funding model, target population, delivery system, and quality assurance. Results: In the United Kingdom, community-based free-standing facilities work closely with primary care and exchange advice and referrals with specialized PPC consult teams of children's hospitals. In the United States, hospital-based specialized PPC consult teams set up networks with hospice agencies and home healthcare agencies and provide PPC by designating care coordinators. In Japan, palliative care is provided through several services such as palliative care for cancer patients, home care for technology-dependent patients, other support services for children with disabilities and/or chronic conditions. In Singapore, a home-based PPC association plays a pivotal role in providing PPC by taking advantage of geographic accessibility and cooperating with tertiary hospitals. Conclusion: It is warranted to identify unmet needs and establish an appropriate PPD model to provide need-based individualized care and optimize PPC in South Korea.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.42-64
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• 2008

This study was conducted to evaluate the quality in medical records by analyzing its completeness through setting up the level of record on the patient's past history and through examining the actual medial records. Targeting the information on the patient's past history in interns' records, residents' records and nurses' records toward 403 inpatients who were admitted first in 2004 at an university hospital due to stomach cancer. We analyzed whether the charts were recorded or not, recording level, the satisfaction with the expectant level of the records in the hospital targeted for a research and the level of agreement. The results were as follows; first, as for the rate of recording those each items, they were high in the chief complaint & present illness and the past illness history. Depending on the group of recorders, the recording rate showed big difference by items. Second, as a result of measuring the level after dividing the recording level of items for the patient's past history from Level 1 to Level 4 by each item, the admission history, the past illness history, and the family history were about Level 3, and the smoking history, the medication history, the chief complaint & present illness, the drinking history and allergy were about Level 2. In the admission department, it was excellent in the interns' records for the medical department. Third, as a result of its satisfactory level by comparing the expect level of a record and the actual record by item in information on the patient's past history, which was expected by the medical-record committee members of the hospital targeted for a study. And forth, we analyzed the level of agreement with Kappa score in the level of 'Yes' or 'None' related to the corresponding matter in Level 1, in terms of information on the past history in the intern's record, the resident's record, and the nurse's record. The level of agreement in the resident's record & the nurse's record, and in the intern's record & the resident's record was from "excellent" to "a little good". There were differences in the level of completeness and in reliability for the information on the past history by the recorder group or by the admission department. The encounter process that was performed by the admission department or the recorder group, indicated the result that was directly reflected on the quality of medical records, thus it was required further study about the medical record documentation process and quality of care. The items that showed the high recording rate quantitatively were rather low, consequently we'd should develop the tool for the qualitative inspection and evaluate the medical records further. And the items were needed to be detailed in the record level were rather low, and hence there needed to be a documentation guideline and education by the clinical departments.

• Journal of Korean Academic Society of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.2
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• pp.5-18
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• 1995

While the socioeonomic status of Koreas has been dramatically increasing in recent years, chronic and geriatric diseases have also been on the rise, bringing about many changes in our health care system. The basic goals of the home health care are to reduce health care costs, to increase the attrition rate in general hospitals, and to care for patients effectively and conveniontly at home. The purpose of this paper is to review and examine the current status of the home health care in Korea throughout the reports, surveys, other informations and education system of home health nurse. We identified the various types of home health care services programs, such as hospital-based home health care operated in public sector(demonstration project) and community-based home health care in health centers or in private sector, that is, Korean Nurse Association. Hospital based home heatlh care model was established as an alternative to traditional in-patiet services. Quality assurance and client satisfaction is an important measure of care received and establishment of payment and reimbursement for home health care services is important in promotng the home health care. We found out a fee-per-visit system composed of three kinds of fees : a basic service fee(16,000 Won), a travel fee(5,000 Won), and per-service fees (variables). Like fees paid for in-patient care, insureds pay 20% and insurers pay 80% of the basic and per-service fee. The travel fee is borne totally by the insured. Home health care continues to be viewed as not only the most preferred way to provide care to clients, but also the most cost effective. Home health care is that component of a continuum of comprehensive health care whereby health services are provided to individuals and families in their places of residence for the purpose of promoting, maintaining, or restoring health, or of maximizing the level of independence, while minimizing illness. Services appropriate to the needs of the individual patient and family should be planned and provided, nursing is to be a force for positive change and enhanced the nursing professionalism. Whatever type of involvement of home health care, it is essential to remember that home health care is highly service-oriented and highly touch health car deilvery system.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.768-781
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• 1996

The problem of care of patients and families with Alzheimer's disease has become a conscious raising social policy issue in Korea. The government of the Republic of Korea has become cognizant of the situation and has begun searching for ways to remedy it. Thus, there is a need for a comprehensive under-standing of the situation in which patients and their families are struggling and the enormous problems of care. With a realization of the urgent need, this study was done to investigate the situation and the care needs of families with patients with Alzheimer's Disease, and to compare the effectiveness of services utilized by the families in terms of cost and effects on patient's conditions and on family live. The Subjects for the study were 29 families with hospitalized patients, 25 families utilizing hospital outpatient clinics, 14 families utilizing day care facilities, and 16 families with homebound patients. A total of 84 families were interviewed by four trained interviewers using structured and semistructured questionnaires. The data produced from these interviews included : the patient's stage of Alzheimer's disease, patient's bizarre behavior, hours spent on patient care per day, family burden and quality of life, direct and indirect costs encountered in the care of patients, and the families' evaluation of the effectiveness of the services received. The data were analyzed to determine the relationships between family charactersistics, patient's conditions and services utilization. The effectiveness of each of the service entities was assessed through families evaluation and hoped for service and comparisons were made between services in terms of the cost-effectiveness ratios. After initial comparison of cost-effectiveness ratios, further analysis was done to compare between groups for incremental effectiveness for each incremental unit of cost to determine the most cost-effective service entities. The findings of the study are as fellows : 1. The choice of living arrangement and the types of services are a function of the stage of Alzheimer's condition and the economic status of the family. 2. Comparision of the cost of care showed that most expenses were encountered in by families with hospitalization, families using outpatient services, and families using day care services in that order. The least expense was involved in the care of homebound patients. The economic burden felt by families was in the same order as expenses. 3. The average number of hours spent on daily patient care was 9.9 hours for the outpatient clinic users, 9.7 hours for homebound patients, and 5.4 hours for day care users. 4. There were significant differences in the patient's conditions (CDRL), bizarre behaviors and the families's burden by living arrangement and /or types of service. However, no significant difference was found between groups in the family's quality of life. 5. The families rated the services of day care center as most effective for the care of the patients and families, except for a few families who had experienced some improvement in the patient's conditions. The outpatient clinic users expressed psychological comforts mainly in that the patient was being taken care of. For those hospitalized patients, families expressed the comfort of being relieved of the burden of care and that the patient is being professionally cared for. Form the analysis of the costs, hours of patient care, patient's bizarre behaviors, family's quality of life and burdens, and family's evaluation of services, it is concluded that up to the mid stage of Alzheimer's condition, the utilization of day care center services is found to be the most cost-effective, and toward the end stage of the Alzheimer's disease, it is hoped that there will be a establishment of long term or short term in-patient facilities for the protection of patients and preservation of the integrity of families for less cost. Thus. it was concluded that the family centered system of care is the most effective for Korea with systematic support systems developed for the care of patients and their families according to the needs of families as the patient's condition deteriorates.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.5-24
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• 2001

The purpose of this study was to serve as a basis for providing quality medical service and mapping out consumer-centered marketing strategies to successfully cope with the rapidly changing medical environment and meet consumer needs, by examining what affected the satisfaction and revisit of health Promotion center Client. The subjects in this study were 186 of visitor to health Promotion center in a university hospital in the city of Busan. A survey was conducted with structured questionnaire from March 2 to 30, 2001. The collected data were analyzed with SPSS for Windows (ver10.0). For more statistical analysis, frequency analysis, component analysis, t-test, ANOVA and correlation analysis procedures were utilized. Results of the study can be summarized as follows: 1. Regarding demographic characteristics, 51.6% of the Client investigated were male, and 48.4% were female. The greatest number of them were in their 40s(38.9%). 86.5% were married, and 34.2% were self-employed. 44% were a high-school graduate, and the monthly mean income of 59.4% was one to three million Won. And, the residential area of 46.8%, the largest percentage, was a half-an-hour distance from health Promotion center. 2. The most common motivation of their selection of the health Promotion center was a recommendation by Staff and neighborhood(59.7%), followed by excellent facilities and services(17.2%), the tradition and reputation of the hospital(7.5%), and its publicity pamphlets(7.5%). 3. 45.9%, the largest percentage, acquired health-related information from their friends or acquaintances. 43.8%, the greatest percentage, visited there because they felt there's something wrong with their body. 53.4% worried about the possibility of being attacked by cancer, and 57.5% wanted to take a precise cancer examination. For health maintenance, 50.1% got regular exercise. Regular exercise was considered most crucial for health maintenance or promotion. 4. The largest reason they used that examination center again was the kindness of employees(52.7%), followed by the tradition and reputation of the hospital(21%) and excellent examination setting and equipment(10.8%). 5. By demographic factor, there was no significant difference between the man and women in satisfaction level with examination and expenses. The women expressed more satisfaction at facilities, and the high-school graduate group were more contented with expenses. 6. As a result of investigating their satisfaction level according to the motivation of selecting that examination center, the group that chose the center due to excellent facilities and services were more satisfied with examination and expenses. 7. As for the relationship of total examination satisfaction to revisit. intention, there was a higher correlational relationship between total health examination satisfaction and expense satisfaction. Especially, the more they were satisfied with examination, the more they were willing to revisit there for another examination.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.201-206
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• 2016

Objective: Direct current cardioversion for atrial fibrillation could be associated with the risk of thromboembolic events. Anticoagulation therapy with warfarin (INR 2.0-3.0) is recommended 3 weeks before and 4 weeks after cardioversion to reduce the risk of thromboembolism. This study evaluated warfarin therapy in pharmacist-managed anticoagulant services (ACS). Methods: This retrospective study was performed in 106 patients with atrial fibrillation from 2012 to 2013. The primary efficacy endpoint was the composite of stroke, transient ischemic attack, myocardial infarction, and cardiovascular death. The primary safety measure was major bleeding. To evaluate the peri-procedural effects of warfarin treatment, we studied whether target INR was maintained, as well as the maintenance period of the therapeutic range. Quality of treatment was measured by time in therapeutic range (TTR) by using the Rosendaal method. Results: There were no thromboembolic events, but TEE examination at time of cardioversion showed a left atrial thrombus in three patients (2.8%). Bleeding complications after cardioversion occurred in 2 patients (1.9%). The average INR value at the time of cardioversion was $2.59{\pm}0.8$, and was within the therapeutic range in 83 patients (78%). Analysis of the patients in whom the value was within the therapeutic range twice consecutively showed that the ratio of TTR was 80% and the therapeutic range was maintained in 67 patients (63%) for an average of 4.90 weeks prior to cardioversion. Similarly, 76 patients (72%) had a stable INR within the therapeutic range for an average of 5.70 weeks and a mean TTR of 83%. Conclusion: Pharmacists significantly contributed to appropriate warfarin treatment with close monitoring during cardioversion. Likewise, active pharmacist monitoring and systemic management should be considered to reduce thromboembolism and bleeding complications in the peri-cardioversion period.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.67-84
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• 2011

Purpose: The aim of this study is to present the basic data for qualitative improvement of emergency care for emergency patient by paramedic in fire station by understanding the level of awareness and practice in prehospital and transfer step, and understanding the level of emergency care and improvement of clinical knowledge through hospital clinical training. Methods: The researchers explained the objective for 143 persons who completed hospital clinical training from June 2nd, 2006 to October 23rd, 2009 among paramedic in fire station. The questionnaire in this research consisted of 80 questions. In the reliability for the awareness of emergency patient assessment, cronbach's $\alpha$ was 0.95, and in the reliability for emergency care fulfillment, cronbach's $\alpha$ was 0.93. reliability for clinical knowledge improvement is cronbach's $\alpha=.95$, and reliability for emergency care fulfillment is cronbach's $\alpha=.82$. Collected data was analyzed through SPSS 18.0 statistics program for frequency, percentage, average, standard deviation, Paired t-test, t-test, Correlation Coefficient, and internal consistency reliability was analyzed by cronbach's $\alpha$. Results: 1) The paramedic awareness and practice difference for emergency patient is statistically signification for general patient assessment(t=14.159, p=.000), trauma patient assessment(t=11.288, p=.000), internal medicine patient assessment(t=10.898, p=.000), and it shows the level of practice is lower than the level of awareness. 2) The paramedic difference between the level of awareness and practice according to whether or not they have clinical career is not signification on awareness(t=3.119, p=.125), and is high on practice(t=3.119, p=.002). 3) The correlation between paramedic awareness and the level of practice shows positive correlation(r=.61, p=.000). The higher the awareness of emergency patient assessment is, the higher the level of practice is. 4) The difference between paramedic clinical knowledge improvement and the level of emergency care practice is statistically significant(t=3.351, p=.001). 5) 89.6%(128 persons) of paramedic replied hospital clinical training experiences are helpful for field activity. 92.3%(133 persons) replied they apply well for clinical knowledge learned during hospital clinical training and emergency care skills in the field. Conclusion: Paramedic in fire station must evaluate the patient's initial assessment and activate the transfer system to the emergency department. It is necessary to develop and implement the effective education program continuously. The education program should systemize currently operated hospital clinical training. emergency disease and symptoms emergency care method, and practice mainly skill education should be progressed. In the prehospital and transfer management, high quality of medical assessment is required to the emergency medical service system. Medical direction from the doctors can feedback the paramedic continuously and continuing education must be provided to the paramedic in fire station.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.129-155
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• 2008

The rate of antibiotics prescription for an acute airway infection significantly varies depending upon the diagnosis type, specialty, and the location of the hospital along with many other related factors. The objective of this study is to empirically investigate the possible relationship between the antibiotics prescription rates for an acute airway infection and the degree of competition in the hospital market regions of mainly the providers of primary medical care services such as clinics, internal medicines, pediatrics and otorhinolaryngology department. Using the data from Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) regarding the hospitals' antibiotics prescription rates for the acute airway infection and controlling for selected variables of demand and supply sectors, this study tries to figure out that the degree of competition in the hospital market, regardless of what type of competition indexes we employed, has a statistically significant effect on the variations of antibiotics prescription rate of the clinics in local areas. This result implies that as an economic consideration itself, the change in the degree of competition in the hospital market can play a crucial role influencing the treatment behaviors of the medical doctors. More specifically, this study reveals that as the degree of competition increases the antibiotics prescription rate goes up. This result means that if the market becomes more competitive in a specific region so that it might cause a reduction in doctor's income, doctors with rational decision-making process, recognize that the benefit created from inducing patients' seemingly unnecessary demand for medical care (income effect) would be higher than the costs associated with sustaining their targeted income (substitution effect). It is because that the doctors are more likely to prescribe antibiotics which create relatively higher margins than other medical care services in order to sustain their targeted income when the hospital market competition becomes tighter. Even though this study empirically confirms that antibiotics prescription can be affected by the economic incentives, it still raises following issues as limitations of the study: first issue is about the representativeness of the hospital regions segregated for this study, which might be weak in explaining whether these regions are mutually exclusive in reality. Patients actually consider the quality of services, transportation cost, time costs, and any other related factors choosing the doctors or hospitals, and in that sense, this study rules out 'border-crossing' in using the medical care services. Second issue arises in capturing the data of antibiotics prescription rate. Since we use the average rate for each medical institution, we cannot figure out the average rate for each patient so that we are not able to control for the variation of patients' medical conditions. It is because of the unavailability of data regarding each patient's medical condition from HIRA. Thirdly, since this study mainly analyzes the medical institutions providing primary care such as clinics, internal medicines, pediatrics, and otorhinolaryngology department, it is skeptical of whether those institutions can represent the hospital market in respective regions and truly reflect the degree of competition. It needs to extend the study areas and disease types as well as any micro data for future studies.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.367-372
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• 2018

The supply of medical services using high-priced medical equipment is increasing due to the medicalization of medical science. The level of medical knowledge of medical consumers and the ability to select medical institutions are required to provide high quality medical services because of the popularization of medical information. As the attitudes of medical consumers toward medical institutions change, medical institutions also need to change their perception to improve customer satisfaction. The purpose of this study is to analyze the difference of medical service satisfaction according to the medical knowledge about the utility of PET / CT in order to change the consciousness structure of medical service. The results of this study showed that both medical satisfaction and environmental satisfaction were high in those who had medical knowledge about their own illness and the usefulness of PET / CT. Therefore, medical institutions will need a practical medical service countermeasures to provide medical information by noticing the changes in perception of the medical knowledge of medical consumers, rather than providing formal medical services.