• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.351-360
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to propose optimal hospitalization fees for nurse staffing levels and to improve the current nursing fee policy. Methods: A break-even analysis was used to evaluate the impact of a nursing fee policy on hospital's financial performance. Variables considered included the number of beds, bed occupancy rate, annual total patient days, hospitalization fees for nurse staffing levels, the initial annual nurses' salary, and the ratio of overhead costs to nursing labor costs. Data were collected as secondary data from annual reports of the Hospital Nursing Association and national health insurance. Results: The hospitalization fees according to nurse staffing levels in general hospitals are required to sustain or decrease in grades 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7, and increase in grades 5 and 6. It is suggested that the range between grade 2 and 3 be sustained at the current level, the range between grade 4 and 5 be widen or merged into one, and the range between grade 6 and 7 be divided into several grades. Conclusion: Readjusting hospitalization fees for nurse staffing level will improve nurse-patient ratio and enhance the quality of nursing care in hospitals. Follow-up studies including tertiary hospitals and small hospitals are recommended.

• Journal of The Korean Digital Architecture Interior Association
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.5-11
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• 2011

The present study investigated the actual conditions of physical therapy rooms at long-term hospitals in Korea and conducted a comparative analysis to develop an efficient floor plan and facility improvement measures. 1. At hospitals surveyed, physical therapy services were used at a high frequency but they did not have enough space for rehab treatment and long paths of patient flow were found to make patient management inconvenient. Therefore, physical therapy units should be conveniently located both in terms of distance and direction so as to be accessible from patient rooms or wards. The space should be organized in a concentrated layout for efficiency of physical therapy, and floor planning for therapy units should ensure the best possible viewing angle to therapists. 2. With regard to the disease characteristics of patients, many physical therapy rooms were in difficult circumstances because of poor facilities, so they need to secure skilled personnel, supplement apparatuses and equipment and have rooms for functional recovery, hydrotherapy and operation treatment. In addition, each of the curtained or partitioned areas for treatment should be set up with consideration for the amount of space taken up by medical equipment. The area under each bed should be designed for patient convenience so that it can be used as storage space for patient's belongings and shoes. 3. Patients complained about the lack of physical therapy space, resting places or exercise areas and demanded the expansion of rehab programs and facilities. Physical therapy facilities need to be improved for patient privacy and effective natural ventilation. 4. At most of the long-term hospitals surveyed, physical therapy units were found to have small areas and treatment equipment and devices were insufficient compared to the number of patients. Therefore, it is required to secure more space (at least 138.24 sq. meters per 100 beds) and improve facilities for better physical therapy services.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.29-39
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• 2012

Window and shading designs have a great influence on energy consumption and daylighting in buildings. As far as energy is concerned, small window area is advantageous. But it is not good to the patient healing in hospital. So it is important to find out the optimum window shape which is favorable for both energy consumption and patient healing. In this study, annual energy consumption and daylight illumination levels were analyzed according to the window shapes and shading devices for a multi-beded patient room in hospitals. The simulations were conducted for 19 different cases by COMFEN 4.0 computer simulation program. The results of this paper are as follows. First, window to wall area ratio and shading devices have great influences on annual energy consumption. But it is a problem in that they decrease significantly daylight level in bed room. Second, considering the same energy consumption, reducing the width of window rather than the hight of window is desirable for the secure of daylight level. Third, increase of the number of horizontal shade is not desirable in south face of the building for the energy consumption and daylight level. Fourth, sun shade is not necessary in north face of the building for the energy consumption and daylight level.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.10-21
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• 2014

Purpose: This study was done to identify determinants of registered nurse (RN) skill mix and staffing level focused on hospital characteristics. Methods: Data were obtained from health insurance claims data and hospital reporting system in the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) for the year 2010. Data from 2,998 hospitals were analysed using t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and regression analysis. Results: The RN skill mix and staffing level were positively related to hospital size and the percentage of inpatients to total patients. RN skill mix and staffing level were statistically different across regions. Including nursing aides (NA), however, there was no difference in staffing levels across regions. Medically vulnerable regions, bed operation rate, and the number of patients per doctor were also related to RN skill mix and staffing level. Conclusion: The statically significant determinants of RN skill mix and staffing level included hospital size, region, bed operation rate, percentage of inpatients, doctor-patient ratio. Further study needs to be done to investigate factors including RN supply and wages.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.39-47
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• 2020

Purpose: Clinical laboratory of hospital has been demanded to extension or relocation regarding with the test number increase and analyzer development. Space area criteria per test numbers, lab functions, hospital bed and lab staffs are needed for draft space programing. So, the purpose of this study is to provide the space area guideline of clinical laboratory for space calculation in planning and design the spatial environment. Methods: Literature review has been used in checking the standards and guidelines. And questionnaire surveys to laboratory supervisors in hospitals have been conducted for the data collection. 60 answers have been analysed statistically by MS Excel program. Results: The result of this study can be summarized into three way calculations. The first one shows that the basic standard workspace and distance is applied in lab design. The second one shows that average space area criteria resulted from case studies is applied by 19㎡ per one staff, 0.9~1.0㎡ per one bed, and lastly linear length calculation of workbenches and analyzers on the bench top and floor mount, is multiplying it by the sum of the counter depth plus aisle width. Implications: In updating the space area calculation guidelines, it is necessary to cooperate with medical staffs and designers.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.73-82
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• 2017

Purpose: Since the facility guidelines for National Designated Isolation Unit wards(NDIUs) had been edited since 2016, all hospital who want to expand or install NDIU should adapt the new guidelines. Instead of providing area requirement, by the way, only essential or optional facility requirements are suggested except patient bedroom in the guidelines. So, as analyze area and area composition of the NDIUs, it could be expected that this study has a role as an area planing reference for not only NDIU but also another airborne infection isolation room. Methods: For the area analysis, 18 sample hospitals are selected among 2016 year applicants. All rooms in NDIUs are grouped as zones whether those are negative air pressurized or not and programed room or not. At the end, area of the zones are summarized and analysed a relationship between area increase and bed number by both correlation analysis and regression analysis. In addition, department usable and gross area per bed, N/G ratio, G/N ratio, and average area ratio of each zone is calculated. Results: First of all, rooms in none negative air pressurized zone of the NDIUs haven't shown a regular installation so that only those in negative air pressurized zone are targeted for the area analysis. Second of all, patient room unit(0.92) and support area(0.79), by correlation analysis, are correlated with total net area. Patient room unit(0.94) and total net area(0.79) are also shown a correlation with bed number. Department usable area($R^2=0.63$, y=36.278x + 102) and patient room unit area($R^2=0.89$, y= 27.993x - 0.8924) has a relationship with bed number by regression analysis. Average N/G is shown as 0.85 and G/N 1.36. Average area ratio of circulation, doffing area, patient room unit, and support area are 25.4%, 9.1%, 50.9%, and 14.6% in order. Implications: This study is a basic research for exploring the NDIUs guidelines to find resonable evidence to develop it for its practical use. Still, it is possibly expected that the guideline is to be developed by post occupancy evaluation in the area of where minimum requirement or facility grade needs to be defined, and by further studies with various perspectives.

• Korean journal of food and cookery science
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.105-116
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• 2001

The current status of Korean hospitals on foodservice hygiene was evaluated by a survey in the March of 2000 from 96 hospitals in terms of general sanitation management, education and training, and from 35 hospitals on the observance of hygienic practices in the whole stages of foodservice, personal hygiene, and kitchen equipment and facility hygiene. The questionnaire was filled directly by the dietitian working in the subject hospital. The status of general sanitation management was satisfactory overall; however, the record-keeping or documentation of the practices was the weak point which needs to be improved. only 4% of the subjects appeared to have implemented HACCP for the hospital foodservice. Comparison of the hospitals in their observance rate of hygienic practice by the type of hospital, the location of hospital, the number of bed, and the separation of dietitian's duties as clinical nutrition and foodservice showed characteristic trends among the groups. General hospitals often showed better scores than tertiary hospitals in their observance rates. As the location of hospital moved from large cities to small towns, the observance rate for hygienic practice decreased. Hospitals with entrusted foodservice system showed better scores in hygienic practice than those with owner-operated one in the stage of planning and equipment/facility hygiene (p＜0.05). And the scores of the hospitals having dietitian's duties separated into clinical and food services were higher than the ones with un-separated duties. Detailed information obtained in this study would serve for the development of guidelines or programs to improve the hygienic level of Korean hospital foodservice.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.691-700
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• 2006

Purpose: This study was done to analyze variations in unit staffing and recommend policies to improve nursing staffing levels in intensive care units (ICUS). Method: A cross-sectional study design was used, employing survey data from the Health Insurance Review Agency conducted from June-July, 2003. Unitstaffing was measured using two indicators; bed-to-nurse (B/N) ratio (number of beds per nurse), and patient-to-nurse (P/N) ratio (number of average daily patients per nurse). Staffing levels were compared according to hospital and ICU characteristics. Result: A total of 414 institutions were operating 569 adult and 86 neonatal ICUs. Tertiary hospitals (n=42) had the lowest mean B/N (0.82) and P/N (0.76) ratios in adult ICUs, followed by general hospitals (B/N: 1.34, P/N: 0.97). Those ratios indicated that a nurse took care of 3 to 5 patients per shift. Neonatal ICUs had worse staffing and had greater variations in stafnng ratios than adult ICUs. About 17% of adult and 26% of neonatal ICUs were staffed only by adjunct nurses who had responsibility for a general ward as well as the ICU Conclusion: Stratification of nurse staffing levels and differentiation of ICU utilization fees based on staffing grades are recommended as a policy tool to improve nurse staffing in ICUs.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.25 no.3 s.39
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• pp.312-329
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• 1992

The purpose of this study is to estimate cesarean section rate in Korea and analyze the socioeconomic variables and health resources which affect regional variation in the rate. Samples were drawn from the record of vaginal and cesarean section deliveries based upon insurance claim bills which have been submitted to the National Federation of Medical Insurance for the first three months, January through March, 1991. The results are obtained as follows : It was found that. cesarean section rate was increasing rapidly up to 23.1% in 1991. Cesarean section per 10 thousand insured people was 4.8 and the number of cesarean section per 10 thousand insured eligible($15{\sim}49$ years old) female was 7.6. The fee for normal delivery was 109,489 won and that for cesarean section was 390,024 won. The average days of hospitalization in normal delivery was 2.3 days, and those in cesarean section was 7.6 days. On the average cesarean section has a longer of stay as much as by 4.3 days and cost 3.6 times more than normal deliveries. Cesarean section rates vary among medical facilities 19.8% at clinics 37.6% in small-scale hospitals, and 29.1% in general hospitals. The regional variation of cesarean section rates was also fairly prominent. The South Cheju Gun has the highest rate of cesarean section, 56.2%. Meanwhile no cesarean section cases has been reported in Sunchang Gun during the period of this study. The variation is noted among provinces. The rate for Cheju province has been 3.4 times higher than that for Chunnam. The number of cesarean section per 10 thousand insured people vary greatly among regions, too. This study has found that there exists significant regional variations among various geographic units in terms of average length of stay, average cost, number of obsretricians and number of beds. Multiple regression analysis was done to identify factors explaining the regional variance of various cesarean section rates : In the urban areas, no significant explaining variables were noted except the number of beds for the dependent variable of cesarean section cases per 10 thousand insured eligible females. The smaller the number of bed, the more cases of cesarean section was noted for an urban area. The is mostly because the rate of cesarean section is higher in medium-size hospitals than in large general hospitals. In the rural areas, the factor of education has been found significant for all three deplendent variables. The higher the educational level, the rate of cesarean section is most likely to rise. An income variable measured by the amount of monthly insurance contribution has been identified a powerful predictor in explaining the valiance of cesarean section rates. The same has been noted for the number of obstetricians. Similar findings are observed for the country as a whole. The income level has veen found as the most powerful explaining factor in the regional variance of cesarean section rates. In general the rate is higher in the urban areas, and lower in the area with more small hospitals. As this is the initial attempt to identify the factors relevant to the regional difference in the rates of cesarean section, more elaborated study is urgently required.

• Journal of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.5
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• pp.84-99
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• 1998

The objectives of this study are to identify the actual educational contents of management for head nurse and to propose the educational subjects according to identity the needs of head, charge, and staff nurses. The subjects were investigated the actual Management Development Programs and educational needs of head nurses and prospective nurse manager(charge nurse, staff nurse with a lot of clinical experiences) in general hospitals. The tools were composed of two questionnaires: One was developed from the literature review for making items to measure actual situation. The other was revised Katz's model for measurement of educational needs. The first respondents of actual situation were 27 general hospitals with over 400 beds in Seoul and the second respondents were 89 head nurses, 67 charge nurses and 136 nurses at 3 hospitals by convenient sampling out of 27 general hospitals. Data were collected by telephone interview, mail questionnaire and visiting from 7th of October through 30th of November in 1997. In data analysis, general characteristics of the respondents and actual status of Management Development Programs were analyzed by frequency and percentage. Educational needs according to general characteristics were analyzed by ANOVA The results were as follows: 1. Actual situation of Management Development Program 1) Seven hospitals(26%) had Management Development Program for prospective managers and 14 hospitals (52%) for head nurses. 2) Education Department existed in 14 hospitals (52%). 3) One hospital(4%) had top level managers took part in the Management Development. 4) Two hospitals selected head nurse, who had finished courses of Management Development. Eight hospitals(30%) assessed educational needs. The assessment tools consisted of making a question via questionnaire(75%), determining at department meeting(12%) and interview(13%). 5) Educational programs had 3 types: 10 lecture type, 7 discussion type and 4 role play type programs. 6) One hospital evaluated the change of learner's attitude. 7) Four hospitals scored educational point, but that was measured only by attending. 8) Actual Management Development Programs were as follows. parenthesis indicates the number of hospitals. (1) Management Development Programs for Prospective manager. Role perception of Middle level Manager (1) . Role reconstruction of Nurse Manager (1). Workshop for Charge Nurse (1). Nursing Delivery System and Nursing Process (1). Communication (1). Motivation (1) (2) Management Development Programs for Head nurse.. Head nurse's Role (5). Administrative Work (7). Service Education (4). Prevention and Countermeasure of Nursing Incidence (3). Appraisal (3) 2. The results of needs on Management Development subject 1) The educational needs of all respondents on 3 skill domains showed positive agreement to strongly positive agreement. 2) High priority(more than 4.5) items were 12 of 24 Human skill items(50%), 1 of 6 Technical skill items(16%), and 2 of 13 Conceptual skill items (15%). 3) Out of high priority items, 8 items were instituted. 4) All respondents showed high needs on 3 skill domains regardless of 3 positions (head nurse, charge nurse, and nurse). Educational needs of Human skill domain, according to position were 108. S, 108.7, 106.8 (mean score = 72) , needs of Technical skill domain were 26.5, 26.6, 26.I(mean score=18), and needs of Conceptual skill domains were 56.9,56.7, 55.1(mean score=39). 5) Needs of 3 skill domains according to clinical career showed significant difference. Out of respondents, nurses with career of over 16years showed lowest degree of needs in Human skill domains(F=4.47, P=.004) and Conceptual skill domain(F=2.93, P=.034). 6) Educational needs according to educational background were not significant difference. But out of respondents, nurses educated at 3-year junior college relatively showed lowest needs in all of the 3 skill domains. With the above-mentioned findings, further study is necessary for generalization of this study at hospitals with different bed size and location. Also it is needed to study about management skill of nurse and charge nurse, and effective educational method.