• Health Policy and Management
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.136-160
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• 2005

Before introducing the national long-term care insurance in 2008, the want for long term care service has to be estimated and analysed. This study estimates the demand and analyses what determines the want of long term care service. This study investigated data of 3f6 elderlies, that was collected by age stratified random sampling. The elderies resided in Onyang 4 - dong (urban area) and Dogo-myun (rural area) In the city of Asan. The researchers visited the elderlies and their care giver, and assessed their demand for the long term care service and examined physical, mental, socio-economic status by the assessment tools for Korean Long-Term Care System. $64\%$ of the those who are entitled to be served refuse the long term care service. $26.7\%$ of them wants for home care service and $7.9\%$ want facility care service. It is estimated that the want of home care service are three or four times as much as that of facility care service. The demand for long term care service is 5.155 times higher for those who live in rural area (p=0.000), 3.040 times higher for those who do not have spouse(p=0.057), and 3.356 times higher for the people who is in medicaid than medical insurance(p=0.029). However, income(p=0.782), means(p=0.614), living alone(p=0.223), number of family to live with (p=0.341) and age of the elderly(p=0.420) are not related with the demand of long term care service. The assessment tools for Korean Long-Term Care System for need evaluation of the long term care service can reflect the demand well.(p=0.024) If medical care will cover $80\%$ of total cost, the willingness to pay of the out of pocket money of the people with medical insurance is 67,400 Korean Won(66.77 US$) for the home care service and 182,500 Korean Won(180.78 US$) for the facility care service. There is possibility that long term care demand is still small after Introducing the long term care Insurance due to the care given by family members. When developing service delivery system of long term care insurance, rural area has to be given more consideration than urban area because of the higher demand. The people who do not have spouse or are in medicaid have to be given special consideration as well.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.202-207
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• 2020

Purpose: COVID-19 infections have been erupting in places of worship, long-term care facilities, and call centers in Korea since January 2020. This study aims to diagnose and present an infection control system solution for long-term care facilities where at-risk elderly individuals are actively engaged in communal life. Methods: We conducted comparative analyses of infection control systems between long-term care facilities and medical institutions respective of relevant laws and this study's evaluation system. Results: To prepare for future infectious diseases, it is necessary to establish a long-term care facility infection control system and strengthen the standards thereof, to strengthen long-term care facility evaluation standards and to newly establish medical charges for infection control. Conclusion: Systematic procedure fortification and financial support provisions are necessary for infection control at long-term care facilities.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.522-530
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• 2020

Background: In 2008, Korea implemented a new type of social insurance known as "long-term care insurance". We examined the association between ownership of long-term care facilities and the incidence of pressure ulcers after the implementation of "long-term care insurance". This study is a population-based retrospective cohort study from 2006 to 2013. Methods: We used medical claims data from the Korean National Health Insurance Corporate Elderly Cohort Database from 2006 to 2013. These data comprise a nationally representative sample. To avoid confounders, only patients admitted to one long-term care facility and who stayed for >70% of the follow-up time were included; as a result, 3,107 individuals were enrolled. The main independent variable was the operating entity of the long-term care facility (local government, corporate bodies, and private for-profit owners), and the dependent variable was the 1-year incidence of pressure-ulcers. Survival analysis (Cox proportional hazard model) was used as an analysis method. Results: Compared to patients admitted to local government long-term care facilities, patients admitted to private long-term care facilities had a significantly higher 1-year risk of pressure ulcers (hazard ratio [HR], 1.94; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.29-2.91); the risk was especially high among patients who were cognitively dependent (HR, 2.34; 95% CI, 1.25-4.37). Conclusion: Patients admitted to private for-profit long-term care facilities were more likely to have pressure ulcers compared to those in local government and corporate body long-term care facilities. Appropriate assessment tools and publicly available information, as well as more restricted legal requirements, are needed to improve the care quality and outcomes of patients in long-term care facilities.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.141-151
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• 2023

Purpose: This study explored caregivers' support needs to relieve their physical burden while working in long-term care facilities. Methods: Participants were 12 caregivers with more than 10 years of experience working at six long-term care facilities in Gwangju, South Korea. Data were collected through individual interviews conducted between June and July 2023. The results were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Of the four sub-categories and 13 codes, two categories emerged: "need for welfare medical devices" and "need for improved working conditions." Conclusion: Caregivers working in long-term care facilities require support in deploying and utilizing welfare medical devices to reduce their physical burden, along with improving staffing standards and ensuring they receive the proper amount of days off. Therefore, it is necessary to mandate the provision of a certain level of welfare medical devices to ease the physical burden on caregivers and improve the standards for the placement of caregivers in long-term care facilities.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.50-61
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• 2015

Advances in healthcare technology and rapid economic growth lead to the increased life expectancy and consequently the size of elderly population. Korea is one of the countries that are rapidly aging. Thus, it is particularly important to prepare for the aging society. Recently, the number of healthcare institutions for the elderly citizens has increased. The purpose of selecting a hospital for the elderly is, in general, maintenance of health rather than improvement of health receiving proper treatment. Unlike choosing a hospital for treatment, customers of a long term care hospital have a different set of factors to consider. Especially, when choosing a long term care hospital, the influence of patient's family is greater than the patient. This study examines the factors they consider for long term care hospital. A total of 198 questionnaires were collected from the families of actual patients of long term care hospitals. Twelve questionnaires were found to be non-usable because of missing and unsatisfactory responses. Consequently, 186 questionnaires were used for the analyses. Findings of this study are as follows. First, seven factors have been identified to consider when choosing a long term care hospital for the elderly. They include convenience of facilities, costs variety of facility programs, service hours, reputation, accessibility, quality of medical staff, medical facilities, and facility size. Second, This study measured both importance and satisfaction with these attributes and analyzed the difference between them. Satisfaction was lower than importance in the categories of convenience of facilities, costs, and programs, and accessibility. On the other hand, satisfaction was higher in terms of service hours, reputation, and quality of medical staff. Finally, the current study found positive impact of accessibility and quality of medical staff on reuse intention of a long term care hospital.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.1-14
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• 2004

Although the proportion of frail elderly among the elderly population has been rapidly increasing, there is little preparation to provide housing alternatives for them in Korean society. Long-term care facility a housing alternative for frail elderly that enables them to receive social and medical care services that enhance the quality of their life. This research was conducted to study the opinions of middle-aged Koreans about long-term care facilities for the frail elderly. This study provides useful suggestions for the development of user-paid long-term care facilities in the near future. A survey questionnaire was administered to 600 adults in their 50s to collect data. The sample was stratified according to region, gender, and housing structure type. The results showed that most of the respondents were aware of long-term care facilities for the frail elderly; but they were relatively unwilling to live in these facilities, as compared to other housing alternatives. However, a larger number of respondents said that as they became very frail, they would be willing to live in these facilities. The respondents expressed a high level of need for user-paid long-term care facilities as an alternative to hospitalization. Also, they wanted to have a variety of long-term care facilities that are designed for different levels of disability. The education level of respondents and their spouses, average monthly income, subjective economic level, and religion were major variables that differentiated significantly the opinions about long-term care facilities for the frail elderly.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.21-53
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• 2002

The purpose of this study is to measure the resource use of the elderly in long-term care services and to examine the effects of patient and facility characteristics on their use of resources. The data were collected from 510 old people over sixty years of age, residing in five long-term care hospitals and two skilled nursing homes during the period between December 1, 2000 and February 28, 2001. For a full sample, when the first level of RUG(Resource Use Group)-III categories were employed as the proxy of patient severity, facility characteristics, such as location, size and ownership, have large effects on the resource use measured by service intensity, whereas patient characteristics such as severity have little or no effect. The resource use is significantly high if the facility: (1) is located in rural areas (gun): (2) has mare than 200 beds; (3) is a long-term care hospital; (4) is private; and (5) has a low percentage of medical aid patients. The analysis of the resource use in each RUG-III categories, for which ADL(Ability of Daily Living) were employed as the prosy of patient severity, shows a similar result. The loose relationship between the needs of residents and the resource use seems to be closely associated with the ineffective reimbursement system for providers. The current reimbursement system has no provision for quality improvement and reimburses facilities simply according to their types: fee-for-service for long-term care hospitals, and monthly-flat-rate or full-coverage-national-aid for skilled nursing facilities. It will be necessary to develop a more reasonable reimbursement system that takes patient's severity into account and gives incentives for long-term care providers to offer cost-effective services.

• 한국노년학
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.855-869
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to identify how to efficiently integrate long-term care facilities into geriatric hospitals. We conducted a survey on the current operations of facilities and medical services of 2009 of 192 long-term facilities and 168 geriatric hospitals in Korea between October and November. Technical statistics and chi-square test were conducted on the collected data using the SPSS 13.0/Win program. There was a difference between the two facility types in terms of the co-payment levels of the food services. Both types selected the budget deficit as their major management problem. Ease of access and the surrounding environment were critical factors used to select the location of both types of facilities. Facility users benefited from the discounted co-payments of both facility types. However, facility users wanted more frequent visits and support from their family members during their stay at the facilities. It was discovered that users in the long-term care facilities stayed longer, that is until they died, compared to their counterparts in geriatric hospitals. The two types of facilities provided their services totally separately to users. Users of the two types of facilities are poorly supported and cared for by their families. This study suggests that setting reasonable service fees, paying caretakers, introducing an integrated facility, strengthening facility assessment standards, introducing the family doctor system, and introducing the handling of long-term care insurance by geriatric hospitals would allow the integration between long- term care facilities and geriatric hospitals to be beneficial.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.260-269
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• 2008

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify differences in health status and the utilization of long-term care service between urban and rural aged residents in Korea. Methods: Through convenience sampling, 1,405 elders (829 from urban areas and 576 from rural areas) were selected during March 1 to May 31 in 2004. All the subjects agreed to participate and filled out the survey questionnaire after signing the consent form. The instruments utilized in this study were the impairment of physio-sensory function, ADL IADL, cognitive function, and psycho-social function scale. This instrument was developed by modifying the scab developed by Gurland & Wilder (1984). Data was analyzed using the SPSS Win program. Results: There were significant differences in economic status, duration of living and type of medical insurance between rural and urban elderly(p<.05). Physio-sensory functions (t=4.53. p<.001), ADL (t=3.61. p<.001), IADL (t=2.45, p=.014), cognitive functions (t=-2.63. p=.024) and psycho-social functions (t=3.69. p<.001) were significantly different between the two groups. The utilization of long-term care facility in the urban elderly was significantly higher than that in the rural elderly ($x^2=10.14$, p<.001). Conclusion: Considering these findings. the need for long-term care should be assessed by residence characteristics. Because of different utilization of long term care facility according to the elderly's needs, long-term care services should be considered the residence characteristics.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.282-291
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• 2004

Objectives : The aim of this study was to investigate the functional status variables related to the care time of health professionals for patients in long-term care facilities. Methods : The functional stati of 1001 patients in 8 long-term care hospitals were examined by the Resident Assessment Instrument for Long-term Care Facility Version 2.0. The care time of health professionals for patients was calculated using data from a self-reported task survey by nurses, auxiliary nurses, private aides, doctors, physiotherapists and social workers. Results : The average care time per diem was 240.6 minutes. The care time by doctors, nurses and private aides were 11.0, 71.0 and 139.5 minutes, respectively. The lower the function of activities of daily living (ADL) and the greater the symptoms of extensive services, special care and clinical complexity, the more care time was served. On the contrary, the greater the symptoms of nursing rehabilitation, depression, cognitive disorder, behavior problem and psychiatry/mood disorder, the less care time was served. Age and gender were not significantly related to the care time. Conclusions : Developing a case mix classification system for elderly long term care patients may be helpful for both of patients and health care providers. The ADL, extensive services, special care and clinical complexity of variables should be considered in the development of a case mix system for the long term care of patients in Korea.