• Health Policy and Management
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.167-176
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• 2017

Background: This study aimed to analyze the impact of community health care resources on the place of death of older adults with dementia compared to those with cancer in South Korea, using public administrative big data. Methods: Based on a literature review, we selected person- and community-level variables that can affect older people's decisions about where to die. Data on place-of-death and person-level attributes were obtained from the 2013 death certification micro data from Statistics Korea. Data on the population and economic and health care resources in the community where the older deceased resided were obtained from various open public administrative big data including databases on the local tax and resident population statistics, health care resources and infrastructure statistics, and long-term care (LTC) insurance statistics. Community-level data were linked to the death certificate micro data through the town (si-gun-gu) code of the residence of the deceased. Multi-level logistic regression models were used to simultaneously estimate the impacts of community as well as individual-level factors on the place of death. Results: In both the dementia (76.1%) and cancer (87.1%) decedent groups, most older people died in the hospital. Among the older deceased with dementia, hospital death was less likely to occur when the older person resided in a community with a higher supply of LTC facility beds, but hospital death was more likely to occur in communities with a higher supply of LTC hospital beds. Similarly, among the cancer group, the likelihood of a hospital death was significantly lower in communities with a higher supply of LTC facility beds, but was higher in communities with a higher supply of acute care hospital beds. As for individual-level factors, being female and having no spouse were associated with the likelihood of hospital death among older people with dementia. Conclusion: More than three in four older people with dementia die in the hospital, while home is reported to be the place of death preferred by Koreans. To decrease this gap, an increase in the supply of end-of-life (EOL) care at home and in community-based service settings is necessary. EOL care should also be incorporated as an essential part of LTC. Changes in the perception of EOL care by older people and their families are also critical in their decisions about the place of death, and should be supported by public education and other related non-medical, social approaches.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.107-119
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• 2001

There has been pointed out that a great portion of hospitalized patients stay in hospitals longer than necessary, often even after the completion of necessary care. This causes that hospital resources are not used efficiently. In order to identify underlying forces in postponing inpatients' discharge, this study aimed to investigate reasons for long-term stay of patients admitted in general hospitals. A total of 135 patients, who were staying at 7 general hospitals in Inchon and Kyonggi-Do for more than 60 days, were surveyed with a self-administered questionnaire between April 3 and April 10, 2000. Medical reasons including incompleteness of necessary care, difficulty in receiving outpatient-based care, and being under physical therapy were the most significant factors associated with long-term stay, followed by the lack of familial resources to take care of patients after discharge. Financial problems such as inability to pay for hospital bills were not significant factors influencing long-term stay. Regression analyses were conducted for medical reasons, familial resources, and financial problems, respectively. It was shown that receiving physical therapy and the number of admission in the past were significant predictors for medical reasons. The lack of familial resources as a reason for long-term stay had a positive relationship with the degree of need for aid in daily living. It may be recommended for the hospitals to cope with administrative problems due to the patients' long-term stay, considering the reasons of it, and their characteristics. And also, institutional efforts like vitalizing the home care service systems by hospitals as the continuing care after discharge should be needed.

• Journal of Korean Academic Society of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.5-15
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• 2016

Purpose: This study was conducted to evaluate health service delivery and attitudes, toward multi-cultural clients amongst community health practitioners (CHPs). Methods: A survey was conducted among 242 CHPs from December 10-22, 2015. The collected data were analyzed using chi-square test, t-test, and ANOVA using SPSS 18.0. Results: General awareness of multi-culturalism varied significantly by CHPs age and language ability. Additionally, utilization of services in accordance with the location of community health centers (CHCs) was significantly higher in rural areas than urban areas CHCs in post-partum maternal & neonate care giver service (in maternal child health), management of health educational programs and management of physical exercise (in implementing healthy life style) and networking resources in & outside of CHCs (in management of chronic disease). Conclusion: CHPs deliver health-care services to multi-cultural clients, but have not received sufficient training or education to serve these clients effectively. CHPs who received multi-cultural and foreign language training had more positive experiences with multi-cultural clients. This supports the needs for developing educational programs to enhance multi-cultural understanding amongst CHPs.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.109-121
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• 2018

Purpose: This study was conducted to identify the barriers and improvements to promoting physical activity among children using community child care centers. Methods: A qualitative research using focus group interviews was employed. Three focus group interviews were conducted with a total of 18 service providers, and open-ended questions were used. All interviews were recorded as they were spoken and transcribed and data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Two main themes in the barriers to promoting physical activity were 'lack of resources' and 'limitations of program composition'. In addition, five sub-themes emerged as a result of analysis: 1) lack of human resources, 2) lack of finance, 3) lack of space, 4) one-off and short-term physical activity programs, 5) learning-oriented programs. Conclusion: The results indicate that it is necessary to have adequate human resources and a realistic government subsidy that allow community child care centers to provide sufficient services to children. In addition, promoting physical activity can be achieved through physical activity programs focused on peer group advisors, habituation, and development of programs suited to the needs of children and their environment.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.4-11
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• 2016

Background: Hospital admissions for ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs), which are widely used as an indicator of poor access to primary care, can be used as an efficiency indicator of healthcare use in countries providing good access to health care. Korea, which has a national health insurance (NHI) system and a good supply of health care resources, is one such country. To quantify admission rates of ACSC and identify characteristics influencing variation in Korean health care institutions. Methods: By using NHI claims data, we computed the mean ACSC admission rate for all institutions with ACSC admissions. Results: The average ACSC admission rate for 4,461 institutions was 1.45%. Hospitals and clinics with inpatient beds showed larger variations in the ACSC admission rate (0%-87.9% and 0%-99.6%, respectively) and a higher coefficient of variation (7.96 and 2.29) than general/tertiary care hospitals (0%-19.1%, 0.85). The regression analysis results indicate that the ACSC admission rate was significantly higher for hospitals than for clinics (${\beta}=0.986$, p<0.05), and for private corporate institutions than public institutions (${\beta}=0.271$, p<0.05). Conclusion: Substantial variations in ACSC admission rates could suggest the potential problem of inefficient use of healthcare resources. Since hospitals and private corporate institutions tend to increase ACSC admission rates, future health policy should focus on these types of institutions.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.72-111
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• 1996

Background: Group occupational health program by non-for-profit agency, started five years ago, for management of health problems in small and medium sized industries, is one of the measures to cope with limited human and financial resources in occupational health. The program has been rapidly expanding to include 54 participating institutions, private as well as public, all over the country. In spite of its potential impact on health of employees and practice of occupational health in small and medium sized industries, comprehensive evaluation in terms of quality has not been tried. Objectives : The aim of this study are to develop and apply criteria to assess quality of newly developed Korean group occupational health program. Methods : By defining occupational health services, in particular for small and medium sized industries, as one of the primary health care, we included followings as core elements of sound occupational health program; accessibility, continuity, intersectoral collaboration, comprehensiveness, community participation, technical quality, adequacy, focus on preventive services, acceptability, and workers' satisfaction. Again we divided each elements into five major components of national health system infrastructures developed by World Health Organization; development of health resources organized arrangement or resources, delivery of health care, economic support, and management. In turn, we categorized each component into input, process and outcome aspects. After discussions in expert panel, several criteria were selected for evaluation of program. The criteria were modified according to each group of interviewees. Results: We developed five sets of questionnaire that evaluate the quality of 'Group occupational health program'. Conclusion : The refining of the measurement tool and the continuing evaluation process for the 'Group occupational health institute' should be done further.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.146-159
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• 1994

The conecpt of hospice care for the terminally ill is a development of relatively modern times, although it has its origins in antiquity. The hospice will be able to handle progressively more and more patient, to the limit of its resources. The purposes of this study were to review of demand and issues of the hospice care programes and to recommand the hospice care approaches in south Korea that using the book-review method. At this point, although at present there is a general unawareness of hospice throughout Korean society, the public will become gradually aware of hospice. This will thus aid the development of hospices. Awareness will come about because of the educational efforts of medical schools, nursing schools, allied health training programs, practicing hospice care giver, universities, and others interested in hospice education. At present, there are many issues of the hospice care program that are hospice resources problems of manpower, facilities, finances, and cost of hospice services, quality of care, and ethics. Additional studies are needed to determine the most efficacious organizational hospice models for varying conditions. They will insist upon reasonable regulatory agency regulations that will promote the hospice idea and. permit adequate remuneration for services provided. More research is needed on health professionals', patients', and others' attitudes towards death.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.22-46
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• 1995

This is an effort to project health care resources in need for the elderly in the future when advanced transportation systems would greatly reduce geographical accessibility to health care services for the rural elderly. Two areas, Kimhae and Chuncheon, were selected for the study. Projection of health professionals and health care institutions for the elderly were made based on the analysis for the morbidity and illness behavior reported to two data sources, National Survey for the Elderly in 1992 by Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs and beneficiary data by Korea Medical Insurance Cooperation for those living in the study areas in 1992. Projected number of health professionals and health care institutions were estimated for each area under study in years of 2010 and 2030, with those in a Japanese being used as a standard. Policy implications were discussed.

• Proceedings of the Korea Inteligent Information System Society Conference
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• 2001.01a
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• pp.373-377
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• 2001

This study is to examine the factors that influence the performances of service quality in university hospitals by investigating systematically the condition of service quality. A synthesis of the health care quality is conducted to identify physical quality, operating process quality, and human resources quality that relate to both the overall satisfaction and intention of revisit. Based on the proposed hypotheses, the relationships between the service quality factors and performance are examined using data collected from 167 patients in three hospitals, Korea. Reliability and validity tests are performed for examining its relationship with service quality in health care systems. Total eight independent variables with respect to three service quality levels and two dependent variables for performance are identified for relationships between service quality and performance in health care systems. The results provide health care managers with a managerial insight to the planning function of performance with service quality in health care systems as well as other operations (business, government, or other service organizations) systems. Implication of the study for theory, future studies, and practices are discussed.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.39-51
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• 2016

Objectives : This study investigated the health care utilization patterns of workers' compensation insurance(WCI) pneumoconiosis patients with excessively long hospital stays. Methods : The discharge summary data of 3,094 WCI pneumoconiosis patients were analyzed. The study sample was divided into 3 groups based on the length of stay(LOS). Health care utilization patterns were compared among the groups with logistic regression analysis, and the LOS determinants were identified with linear regression analysis. Results : The average LOS of the 222 long stay group patients was 1,448 days. Patients in this group tended to use private general hospitals, were admitted through the emergency room and discharged without the consent of a doctor. Conclusions : Many of the long LOS patients will maintain their inpatient status for the rest of their lives. For quality of life and efficient use of health care resources, policy makers need to establish a policy that enables patients to receive outpatient care in appropriate living conditions outside the hospital.