• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.46-57
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• 2022

Purpose: This study aimed to identify factors affecting the number of emergency department visits by caregivers of children with fever. Methods: Data were collected from 145 caregivers whose children aged six or less with two or more emergency department visits annually mainly because of fever. Collected data were analyzed with descriptive frequency analysis, independent t-test, Fisher exact, one-way ANOVA, Scheffé test, Dunnett T3, Pearson's correlation, and stepwise multiple regression using SPSS 25.0 software. Results: Regression analysis results revealed that among factors influencing the number of emergency department visits by caregivers of children with fever were state anxiety (β= .35, p= .009), self-efficacy (β= -.29, p= .029), and gestational age of the children (β= .17, p= .010). These variables had an explanatory power of 42.3% concerning the number of emergency department visits. Conclusion: Our findings revealed that caregivers' level of state anxiety and self-efficacy were major factors influencing the number of emergency department visits. It is expected that providing education concerning fever and emotional support for caregivers of children with fever can relieve their anxiety and enhance their self-efficacy levels, which in turn may reduce the number of unnecessary emergency department visits of children with fever and ultimately address the issue of over-crowding in emergency department.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.39-46
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• 2023

Purpose: Korean medical services are not balanced across regions and social classes. To prevent mortality gaps, Korea must distribute its medical resources more efficiently. Patient factors affecting emergency room visits serve as basic data for determining best practices for public healthcare distribution. Methods: The data included 18 473 visits by 14 949 de-identified patients who visited a public emergency room over one year. The dependent variable was the number of emergency room visits. A Poisson regression was conducted with the independent variables, comprising sociodemographic, socioeconomic, and spatial accessibility factors and patient characteristics. Results: Older men with higher Korean Triage and Acuity Scale scores visited more frequently. Greater patient-hospital distance decreased visits; however, the presence of a hospital within 1 km of a patient's residence did not affect the number of visits. The use of 119 services was negatively correlated with the number of visits. Visits increased with more medical benefits. Conclusions: Patient age, distance to hospital, use of 119 services, and medical benefits should be considered when planning or managing public hospitals in Korea.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.25 no.1 s.37
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• pp.73-87
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• 1992

The level of copayment increased in order to stabilize the financial condition of the health insurance on 1986. An important question regarding the policy was whether the increase in the level of copayments reduced the utilization of medical services in the poor selectively. In spite of the importance of the research question, no study has been reported. This study was designed to find out changes in numbers of physician visits, to explain characteristics influencing the difference of utilization before and after the program. Finally the interaction effect between the program and the level of income was examined for the abover question. A total of 10,421 persons from eight institutions was selected as the study sample. Research findings are as follows. 1. The number of physician visits decreased by ten percent as a result of increasing the level of copayment. 2. The decrease was remarkable in some groups such as children, rural area and large family. 3. The most important factor which explained the difference was the number of physician visits before the introduction of the new program. The more numbers of physian visits during the last year were, the more numbers of physian visits decreased after the program. 4. The interaction term between the program and the level of income was statistically significant in the multiple regression model which explained physician visits and its coefficient was negative. It means that an increase in copayment did not reduced the number of physician visits in the poor, selectively. 5. It can be concluded that imposing adequate copayment reduces the use of medical services as well as medical costs without serious damage in access especially for the poor people.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.159-176
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• 1993

The utilization of outpatient care services involves two steps of sequential decisions. The first step decision is about whether to initiate the utilization and the second one is about how many more visits to make after the initiation. Presumably, the initiation decision is largely made by the patient and his or her family, while the number of additional visits is decided under a strong influence of the physician. Implication is that the analysis of the outpatient care utilization requires to specify each of the two decisions underlying the utilization as a distinct stochastic process. This paper is concerned with the number of physician visits, which is, by definition, a discrete variable that can take only non-negative integer values. Since the initial visit is considered in the analysis of whether or not having made any physician visit, the focus on the number of visits made in addition to the initial one must be enough. The number of additional visits, being a kind of count data, could be assumed to exhibit a Poisson distribution. However, it is likely that the distribution is over dispersed since the number of physician visits tends to cluster around a few values but still vary widely. A recently reported study of outpatient care utilization employed an analysis based upon the assumption of a negative binomial distribution which is a type of overdispersed Poisson distribution. But there is an indication that the use of Poisson distribution making adjustments for over-dispersion results in less loss of efficiency in parameter estimation compared to the use of a certain type of distribution like a negative binomial distribution. An analysis of the data for outpatient care utilization was performed focusing on an assessment of appropriateness of available techniques. The data used in the analysis were collected by a community survey in Hwachon Gun, Kangwon Do in 1990. It was observed that a Poisson regression with adjustments for over-dispersion is superior to either an ordinary regression or a Poisson regression without adjustments oor over-dispersion. In conclusion, it seems the most approprite to assume that the number of physician visits made in addition to the initial visist exhibits an overdispersed Poisson distribution when outpatient care utilization is studied based upon a model which embodies the two-part character of the decision process uderlying the utilization.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.12-20
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• 2022

In order to prevent mass infection of food poisoning in children, children's foodservice facilities should always thoroughly manage the hygiene and safety of meals. In this study, the hygiene management levels of daycare centers and kindergartens were compared according to the characteristics of foodservice facilities for four years from 2018, and the effect of the number of visits on the meal hygiene management scores analyzed. The facilities were divided into a small-scale and the group foodservice facilities and was divided into the Sprout group and the Fruit group according to the meal hygiene management level. As a result, the meal hygiene management of the Fruit group was generally better than that of the Sprout group, and the meal hygiene management scores in the second half of each year increased compared to the first half of the year. In addition, it was confirmed that the meal hygiene management scores in 2020, when the number of visits to foodservice facilities decreased due to COVID-19, was the worst compared to other years, and the decrease in the number of visits could affect the level of hygiene management. In conclusion, meal hygiene management of children's foodservice facilities should be applied differently depending on the characteristics of the facilities. Moreover, the number of visits and the hygiene management scores correlated, so it is considered that the appropriate number of visits should be maintained to improve the meal hygiene management level. However, in situations where it is necessary to prevent the spread of mass infectious diseases such as COVID-19, other active measures to replace visits should be proposed.

• Journal of the Korean Operations Research and Management Science Society
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.35-39
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• 2000

Expected number of visits in the steady state of the regenerative process is one of the most useful characteristics. The formula for this expected number of visits in the steady state of the regenerative process is presented in this paper. Because this formula is for the general model, it can be applied to many special systems including 2-unit redundant system. An example for this formula is also presented.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.63 no.4
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• pp.407-414
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• 2020

Objective : Since the first discovery of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19), rapid and wide spread of the disease has been reported and the World Health Organization announced that a 'pandemic' has started. Up to date there is little known regarding the impact of this outbreak on spinal specialists' daily clinical practice. We intended to evaluate how COVID-19 has affected the number of spinal disease patients we meet and operate in daily practice. Methods : The de-identified data regarding number of patients visiting the spine clinic at a tertiary referral hospital and a secondary level hospital from January, February and March of 2017 to 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. The number of out-patient department (OPD) visits, number of emergency room (ER) visits as well as number of surgeries performed during the reviewed period were collected and analyzed, comparing 2020 to the previous 3 years. Results : The number of daily OPD visits showed a steady decrease starting from January, and presented a statistically significant decrease by early March 2020, compared to the previous 3 years. During the same period, decrease in number of daily ER visits was statistically significant as well. The number of elective surgeries or number of surgeries for patients admitted via ER during COVID-19 outbreak remained similar to that of 2017-2019 suggesting, despite the decrease of patients visiting the hospital for spinal diseases, those whom required surgery still visited the hospital. The results were consistant among other hospital level. Conclusion : The outbreak of COVID-19 affected our daily practice as OPD and ER visits reduced but did not affect the number of surgeries. We believe that this report will be informative to spinal specialists worldwide fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.117-124
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• 1981

In order to observe the frequency of visits and the distribution of endodontically treated patients according to age, sex, diagnosis, type of teeth, the author had surveyed the 17,250 outpatients of the Infirmary of the College Dentistry, Yonsei University from January 1976 to December 1978. 773 cases, 660 patients among 728 endodontically treated patients were studied. The obtained results were as follow; 1. The average frequency of visits were 5.95 in uppers and 5.88 in lowers. 2. The average frequency of visits were 5.79 in males and 6.02 in females. 3. At the age of under 14, the average frequency of visits were 7.42 in uppers and 6.76 in lowers. 4. According to diagnoses, the average frequency of visits in periapical granuloma or cyst were 2.80 in uppers and 3.16 in lowers. 5. The number of endodontically treated teeth had revealed as follow; upper incisors 27.94%, lower molars 25.87%, and upper molars 15.13% 6. The number of endodontically treated teeth by diagnoses were as follow; periapical abscess 45.27%, pulpit is 37.51%, tooth fracture 8.40%. 7. The number of endodontically treated teeth were 51.99% in the age of from 20 to 34.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.50-61
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• 2020

Background: This study aims to analyze the effects of air pollutants, such as particular matter, to the number of outpatient visits for allergic rhinitis in eup, myeon, and dong administrative boundaries. Methods: Dependent variable was the number of outpatient visits for allergic rhinitis per 10,000 people by region. Independent variables were air pollutants such as PM₁₀, PM_2.5, SO₂, O₃, CO₂, NO₂, and temperature that estimated by using Kriging analysis in all eup, myeon, and dong boundaries. Panel analysis was applied for the analysis to prove the relation between outpatient visits and the concentration of air pollutants. Results: Analysis results showed that particular matter concentration varied by regions and season. Panel analysis showed that outpatient visits for allergic rhinitis had positive relationships with PM₁₀, PM_2.5, SO₂, O₃, and CO₂ in all panel models. Conclusion: Regional variation of particular matter concentration should be considered in establishing regional policies for allergic rhinitis.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.41-48
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• 2004

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the colony count of airborne microbes contamination every hour in the Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit (NSICU) in order to identify the relationship of colony count to person-visits. Method: Data were collected during from 11:00 a.m. September 5 to 11:00 a.m. September 6, 2002. This study used blood agar & nutrient agar and handtally counter (USA) for collection of airborne microbes and number of person-visits. Data was analyzed using the SPSSWIN 10.0 with means, Pearson correlation coefficient, and simple regression. Result: The result of this study are as follows. Total colony count of airborne microbes for 24 hours in the NSICU was 4,609. Total number of person-visits to the NSICU was 15,347. The highest scores fur the total colony count in different areas of the NSICU was the rear door, followed by the preparation room, and the front entrance, while the lowest count was in the isolation rooms. There was a statistically significant relationship between colony count and number of person-visits to the NSICU. The most frequently airborne microbes in the NSICU were Micrococcus, CNS, Staphylococcus Micrococcus, Aureus. Conclusion: These findings indicate that the number of person-visits in hospitals influences total colony count of airborne microbes. This study contributes to assessment of biological indoor air quality in hospital and in the development of an NSICU care plan.