• 대한치과의사협회지
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• 제57권8호
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• pp.428-436
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• 2019

In cases of a patient referral, the general dentist should communicate the patient's dental information as clearly as possible to the specialist to whom he/she is referring his/her patient. For this reason, it is necessary to write a referral letter in an accurate and complete manner. The purpose of this study is to analyze the referral letters of patients who are referred to the department of conservative dentistry in a dental university hospital. From January, 2017 to December, 2018, we gathered the information of the patients who were referred to the department of conservative dentistry in a dental university hospital with referral letter. We evaluated the fidelity of a total of 750 referral letters and recorded the information of the referral dentist and the dental clinic. The relationship between each item and fidelity was analyzed using SPSS 18.0 program. The analysis of the contents of the referral letters yielded the following results: The fidelity of the referral letter was higher when the patient was referred during the root canal treatment, or when there was a root canal filling or when there was pain during chewing. The fidelity of referral letter was low in cases where the referring clinic is close to and has cooperative relationship with dental university hospital. Among the factors affecting the fidelity, the year of graduation of the referral dentist was the most influential. This study confirmed the fact that the clinical practice of writing patient referral letters still leaves much to be desired. In order to solve this problem, it is necessary to create more clear and standardized guidelines for writing referral letters.

• 대한간호학회지
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• 제48권5호
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• pp.554-564
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• 2018

Purpose: This study aimed to construct a management model for patient transfer in a multilevel healthcare system and to predict the effect of counseling with nurses on the patient transfer process. Methods: Data were collected from the electronic medical records of 20,400 patients using the referral system in a tertiary hospital in Seoul from May 2015 to April 2017. The data were analyzed using system dynamics methodology. Results: The rates of patients who were referred to a tertiary hospital, continued treatment, and were terminated treatment at a tertiary hospital were affected by the management fee and nursing staffing in a referral center that provided patient transfer counseling. Nursing staffing in a referral center had direct influence on the range of increase or decrease in the rates, whereas the management fee had direct influence on time. They were nonlinear relations that converged the value within a certain period. Conclusion: The management fee and nursing staffing in a referral center affect patient transfer counseling, and can improve the patient transfer process. Our findings suggest that nurses play an important role in ensuring smooth transitions between clinics and hospitals.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제22권2호
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• pp.236-241
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• 1989

The purpose of this study was to introduce the methodology of intervention analysis with time series data and to investigate the influence of the patient referral system on medical care utilization in Kangwha county. The data were obtained at the Kangwha Medical Inurance Society and we analysed the material based on the outpatient care fee. The results were as fellows: 1. The average outpatient care utilization in the hospital decreased by 41.7% due to the patient referral system. 2. The utilization of the health instituation increased by 278.8 persons per month due to the patient referral system. 3. The patient referral system did not influence the total outpatient are utilization. The methodology of intervention analysis, which detected the effect of intervention, will be helpful to the study of public health area.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제24권4호
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• pp.485-495
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• 1991

This study examined the effects of referral requirements for insurance patients which have been enforced since July 1, 1989 when medical insurance coverage was extended to the whole population except beneficiaries of medical assistance program. The requirements are mainly aimed at discouraging the use of tertiary care hospitals by imposing restrictions on the patient's choice of a medical service facility. The expectation is that such change in the pattern of medical care utilization would produce several desirable effects including increased efficiency in patient care and balanced development of various types of medical service facilities. In this study, these effects were assessed by the change in the number of out-patient visits and bed-days per illness episode and the share of each type of facility in the volume of services and the amount of expenditures after the implementation of the new referral system. The data for analysis were obtained from the claims to the insurance for government and school employees. The sample was drawn from the claims for the patients treated during the first six months of 1989, prior to the enforcement of referral requirements, and those of the patients treated during the first six months of 1990, after the enforcement. The 1989 sample included 299,824 claims (3.6% of total) and the 1990 sample included 332,131 (3.7% of total). The data were processed to make the unit of analysis an illness episode instead of an insurance claim. The facilities and types of care utilized for a given illness episode are defined to make up the pathway of medical care utilization. This pathway was conceived of as a Markov Chain process for further analysis. The conclusion emerged from the analysis is that the enforcement of referral requirements resulted in less use of tertiary care hospitals, and thereby decreased the volume of services and the amount of insurance expenses per illness episode. However, there are a few points that have to be taken into account in relation to the conclusion. The new referral system is likely to increase the use of medical services not covered by insurance, so that its impact on national health expenditures would be different from that on insurance expenditures. The extension of insurance coverage must have inereased patient load for all types of medical service organizations, and this increase may be partly responsible for producing the effects attributed to the new referral system. For example, excessive patient load for tertiary care hospitals may lead to the transfer of their patients to other types of facilities. Another point is that the data for this study correspond to very early phase of the new system. But both patients and medical care providers would adapt themselves to the new system to avoid or overcome its disadvantages for them, so as that its effects could change over time. Therefore, it is still necessary to closely monitor the impact of the referral requirements.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• 제5권2호
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• pp.94-100
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• 2002

목적 : 말기 암 환자가 삶의 마지막 시간 동안 정서적, 사회적으로 안정을 취할 수 있는 곳은 대형화된 3차 의료기관이 아니라, 거주지에서 가까운 1, 2차 의료기관이나 호스피스 기관, 혹은 가정일 것이다. 그러나 현재 우리 나라는 말기 암 환자들을 3차 의료기관에서 1, 2차 의료기관, 호스피스 시설 등으로 연계(referral)하여 주는 시스템이 매우 미약한 상태이다. 본 연구는 현재 연계 상황의 문제점을 파악하여 이에 대한 개선점을 제시해 보고자 한다. 방법 : 2001년 4월부터 2002년 3월까지 서울대학교 병원으로부터 각 기관으로 연계된 말기 암 환자 76명의 보호자와 이 환자들을 연계 받은 35개의 의료기관을 대상으로 하여 설문 조사를 실시하였다. 환자의 보호자에게는 직접 전화를 하여 조사하였고, 의료기관에 대해서는 우편으로 설문지를 발송하였다. 결과 : 환자 보호자를 대상으로 한 47부의 설문지 분석 결과는 다음과 같다. 연계를 결정하는 데 있어서 의료진의 권유가 44%로 가장 큰 영향을 미쳤으며, 32%가 환자의 편의, 24%가 가족의 편의를 주로 고려하여 결정하였다. 연계 결정 과정에서는 가족의 생활권, 연계 기관의 인지도, 환자가 마지막으로 지내고 싶어하는 곳, 가족의 경제 상황, 장례 장소가 순서대로 영향을 많이 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 연계 과정에서는 47명 중 38명이 어려움을 겪었다고 응답했으며, 이들은 원하지 않는 퇴원의 종용을 가장 큰 어려움으로 꼽았다. 이 외에도 연계 기관에 대한 정보 부족, 환자의 고통에 대한 염려, 환자 및 가족의 거부 등으로 인해서도 어려움을 겪은 것으로 나타났다. 이와 같이 연계 과정에서는 어려움을 표현하였지만, 실제로 연계된 기관에서는 47명 중 35명이 완화 의료에 대해 대체로 만족스러웠다고 응답하였다. 그 이유로 환자가 안정과 평안함을 찾았고, 가족들도 편안하였으며 경제적 부담이 감소하였다는 점을 꼽았다. 그러나 15명은 연계 전후에 별 차이가 없다고 응답하였다. 연계된 기관을 대상으로 한 24부의 설문지 분석 결과는 다음과 같다. 24명의 응답자 중 1명을 제외한 23명이 완화 의료 연계 시스템에 대해 찬성하였고, 좀더 활발한 연계가 이루어질 수 있는 제도적 뒷받침의 필요성을 절실히 표현하였다. 의뢰된 환자를 돌보는 데 있어서 경험하는 어려움으로는 가장 큰 것으로 환자에 대한 정보 부족을 꼽았고, 그 외에도 환자의 경제적인 어려움이나 완화 의료 연계 기관에 대한 이해 부족, 통증 조절의 어려움 등을 호소하였다. 대부분(96%)의 기관 종사자들은 환자들이 연계된 이후의 보살핌에 만족하고 있다고 생각하는 것으로 나타났다. 결론 : 3차 기관으로부터 1, 2차 의료기관 및 호스피스로 말기 암 환자들이 연계되는 과정에서 환자, 보호자 뿐만 아니라 연계 기관도 많은 어려움을 겪고 있다. 향후 완화 의료의 연계 시스템 개발과 제도적 뒷받침이 절실히 필요하다.

• 보건행정학회지
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• 제12권2호
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• pp.115-135
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• 2002

Many tertiary hospitals have started to establish cooperative relationships with small and medium sized hospitals in Korea. But the performance of the relationship is not satisfactory to both of partners. The relationship and performance of cooperation for small and medium sized hospitals are analyzed according to the framework of inter-organizational cooperation. Data are collected by 4 focal hospital and 34 small and medium sized hospitals through interview and questionnaire. The findings are : a) The cooperation is focused on management area, such as healthcare technology transfer and information sharing, rather than patient referral. b) Patient referral is not yet active in cooperative relationship. But some partner hospitals which is located close and managing internal organization for cooperation show a significant number of referrals. c) The characteristics of high performers are positive attitude about cooperation, and recognition of the relationship as flexible, experiences of cooperation, internal and external management activities.

• 보건행정학회지
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• 제32권3호
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• pp.323-329
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• 2022

Background: This study aimed to identify the characteristics of the referral and return of patients to clinics in the endocrinology and cardiology departments at the National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital to evaluate the "referral and return of patients to clinics" program and reduce the rate of returning patients. Methods: From May 2018 to December 2020, we identified the number of visits to referral hospitals and hospital usage status at Ilsan Hospital after returning to clinics. We also identified the patients who returned to Ilsan Hospital within 6 months, defined as "failure to transport," among those recommended to be transported to clinics of the Medical Cooperation Center. Additionally, we evaluated the characteristics of the "failure to transport" patients. Results: Among the returning patients, the rate of visiting Ilsan Hospital within 6 months was higher in cardiology than in endocrinology (25.1% vs. 16.7%). Older age, more severe disease, and more number of visits to the department were associated with a high rate of failure to transport. The rate of failure to return was low in cases diagnosed with hyperlipidemia/lipoprotein metabolism disorder. With respect to diabetes, the rate of failure to transport differed according to each type of diagnosis of diabetes. Conclusion: The success rate of the "referral and return of patient to clinics" program differed based on each patient's characteristics, department of visit, and diagnosis. Individualizing according to the visit department and diagnosis is required to ensure successful transfers, and infrastructure expansion and institutional arrangements must be facilitated.

• 한국병원경영학회지
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• 제25권4호
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• pp.13-28
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• 2020

Purposes: The purpose of this study is to analyze the institutional and personal factors that affect the medical utilization of patients transferred to tertiary medical institutions. Methodology: We retrospectively analyzed the 2 weeks electronic medical records of 1,556 patients, who were referred to the tertiary hospital, from June 15 to 26, 2015. The patient's personal characteristics, referral hospital, referral path, medical experiences and expenses were analyzed for 6 months after the patient's first visit. Findings: The largest proportion (848; 54.5%) of referrals was referred from primary clinic but the referrals of the same tertiary hospital level were one in seven (228; 14.7%) of the patients. Most patients (1,401; 90%) were referred from the clinics and hospitals directly and only one in ten (155; 10%) of the patients utilized the medical referral center. Patients who had been referred from tertiary care institutions had significantly higher medical costs than those referred to primary care (7,560,000 vs 2,333,000 won). The institutional factors including the numbers of visits to outpatient clinic, previous history of hospitalization and operation, consultation to other medical departments and hospitalization fee significantly influenced on medical utility pattern. Personal factors including patient's medical diagnosis and department of disease have a highly correlation with patient's referrals. Practical implications: The medical utilization of medical expenses and experiences is influenced by institutional and individual factors, and it is important to establish a referral system considering the institutional factors of the type of referral hospital.

• 한국임상수의학회지
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• 제41권4호
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• pp.223-227
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• 2024

Air accumulation in the cranial cavity is referred to as pneumocephalus. Tension pneumocephalus is a neurosurgical emergency that can cause headaches, seizures, reduced consciousness, and even death owing to increased intracranial pressure. We report a case of tension pneumocephalus. The patient underwent a frontal sinusotomy for a mass invading the frontal sinus and nasal cavity. One month later, the patient was admitted to the emergency room with seizures and neurotic symptoms, and computed tomography (CT) revealed tension pneumocephalus with significant gas dilatation of both lateral ventricles. Prompt treatment of the dural defect resulted in the immediate improvement of neurological signs. A CT re-examination 1 week after surgery showed that the pneumocephalus had completely resolved. Tension pneumocephalus should be considered a potential complication in patients with worsening neurological signs after skull base surgery. An accurate diagnosis requires an understanding of imaging features and a high index of suspicion, and immediate intervention is essential.

• 한국병원경영학회지
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• 제10권3호
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• pp.67-84
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• 2005

To compare differences of LOS between the group of inpatients via referral centers(the referral group) and the group of inpatients via different routes (the general group) and analyze factors which determine the difference. The 9,484 cases of newly inpatients of Mar., Jun., Sep., Dec. of year 2003 were used for the data. We calculate the Case-mix index of length of stay($CMI_{LOS}$) to compare LOS adjusted with the disease as the ratio of a patient' LOS to all patients' average LOS by 21 classification diagnosis group. We conducted t-test to compare differences of $CMI_{LOS}$ between two groups and multiple regression to analyze factors determining the difference. $CMI_{LOS}$ was 0.94 in the referral group, which was smaller than 1.01 in the general group. LOS was 7.5days in the referral group, which was 0.6day shorter than that in the general group. Multiple regression also showed that $CMI_{LOS}$ was smaller in the referral group than in the general group after controlling patients' general characteristics, diagnostic information variables. The referral centers can be said to playa role in decreasing LOS. We suggest that variety of depth studies on referral centers should be continued at the strategic level of hospital management using additional medical informations.