• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.553-564
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• 2014

Purpose: The aim of this study is to identify the expectations and perceptions of health center users as to the services. SERVQUAL scale was used for measurement of service quality. The purpose of this study is to offer baseline data for improving the quality of health care services. Methods: The subjects were users of a health center in S City in Kangwon-do; 170 people participated in this study. Results: Regarding service quality depending on general characteristics, the following results were obtained. First, there were statistically significant differences depending on the gender, purpose of visit, and satisfaction in the health center. Second, the services fell short of the expectations. Third, the quality of 'safe, accurate services' scored the highest, while 'empathy and friendliness' scored the lowest. Fourth, 'internal, external environment of the health center' scored the highest, while 'courtesy of staff' scored the lowest. There were no statistically significant differences. Conclusion: Based on the findings, the following are suggested. First, employee education should be provided for development of empathy and interaction with patients; those are the weakest areas in the health care services. Second, a system allowing patients to understand and participate in their treatment should be developed.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.15-24
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• 2007

Purpose: The study aim was to provide basic data needed for formulating systematic visiting nursing strategies by comprehending the characteristics and self-care ability of the object families of public health centers in Korea. Method: The research examined 252 families and 339 family members of the vulnerable class that were registered in a visiting nursing program of an urban public health center. The data of 220 families were analyzed using descriptive analysis, t-test, and ANOVA, after excluding any incomplete data. Result: 1. The most frequent characteristics of families were solitary families (52.8%) and financially vulnerable families (87.3%). The most frequent way of family detection was request of the community office. 2. The most frequent type of family problems were vulnerable families (93.2%), followed by patient families (91.0%). 3. The mean score was 11.67 for family self-care ability. 4. The variables of the number of family members, disease type of the patient family members, and the type of vulnerable family showed a significant difference of family self-care ability. Conclusion: This study suggests that vulnerable families demand specific nursing interventions focused on their own problems and that visiting nurses need to obtain and use supportive resources.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.196-209
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• 1997

• Korean Parent-Child Health Journal
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.23-36
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• 2005

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of an education program promoting attitude, knowledge, and practice of safety for teachers in child care centers. Method: This education was provided at one public health center in Kyunggi Province. One group pretest-post test design was used, and knowledge on safety and emergency care, practice of safety, health belief and self confidence on safety practice were assessed from 74 teachers. Theoretical framework for this program was Pender's health promotion model. Result: After two hours group education session on safety management, knowledge on safety and emergency care was significantly increased and perception on the main cause of injuries was significantly changed. Practice on safety was significantly related to the knowledge, health belief and confidence on safety, and social support. Conclusion: The education program for teachers in child care centers regarding the child safety and emergency care was effective in promoting knowledge and perception on the main cause of injuries of infants.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.323-335
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• 2010

Purpose: This study identified sociodemographic characteristics, health status, health care utilization and related factors of Asian immigrant women in Korea. Methods: Data were collected from 465 immigrant women from China, Vietnam, the Philippines, and other Asian countries using standardized questionnaires. Descriptive statistics and $X^2$-test were performed utilizing SPSS version 17. A p-value <.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Subjects had relatively good subjective health. The most prevalent conditions were, in order, anemia, gastrointestinal diseases, gynecological diseases, and depression. Subjects utilized mostly hospitals or clinics when sick. There were significant relationships between health care utilization and factors including residence, time since immigration and economic status. The rate of non-treatment in hospitals or clinics was 30.1% during the previous year, with significant relationships between non-treatment and factors including time since immigration and economic status. The major reasons for non-treatment were the burden of hospital expenses followed by communication difficulty. Conclusion: Public health efforts should be targeted to Asian immigrant women to improve their health status and support health care utilization.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.22 no.2 s.26
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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.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.90-109
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• 2008

Government has extended the benefit coverage and reduced out-of-pocket (OOP) payment for cancer patients in 2005. This paper intends to examine the impact of the above policy on the equity in health care utilization. This paper analyzed the national health insurance data and compared the health care utilization of cancer patients before and after the policy change for people with 10 different income levels. For the equity in health care utilization, we examined the change in concentration index (CI) for visit days, inpatient days, and health expenditure. In the case of outpatient care, CI of visit days and health expenditure were positive(favoring the rich) in both regional and employee health insurance members and both 'before' and 'after' the policy change. CI values rarely changed after the policy change, and the policy change seems to have little impact on the equity of outpatient care utilization except expenditure of regional subscriber. In the case of inpatient care, CI of inpatient days was negative and CI of health expenditure was positive in both regional and work subscriber and both 'before' and 'after' the policy change. After the policy change, CI of inpatient expenditure in both groups of members decreased. CI of inpatient days changed in the direction favoring the poor in regional insurance members, but it rarely changed in employee insurance members. These results suggest that the policy of reducing OOP payment has a positive impact and reduced the inequity particularly in the utilization of inpatient care of cancer patients.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.258-271
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• 2022

The rapidly aging trend of Korea is a major factor that threatens the sustainability of the long-term care insurance system. Therefore, looking at how Japan and Germany mitigated the financial burden when they managed similar long-term care insurance systems will provide important implications for improving the Korean system in the future. The study was conducted using the literature review method, and the "country" was set as a unit for the case analysis. The three countries selected are Korea, Japan, and Germany. Recently in Korea, the insurance premium rates of all subjects have been rapidly rising, which can exacerbate the issue of intergenerational equity. On the other hand, Japan has responded to the aggravating finances for long-term care insurance due to aging by raising coinsurance for selected groups like the wealthy elderly. Germany is selectively raising the insurance premium rates by additionally increasing the premium rate for childless recipients. A more preventive and quality-oriented care service plan can be promoted by referring to the recent changes in Japan and Germany. In addition, a more effective and selective increase in payment burden in Japan and Germany could be considered in response to a recent equity issue in Korea.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.152-157
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• 2014

Background: As health care workers face a wide range of psychosocial stressors, they are at a high risk of developing burnout syndrome, which in turn may affect hospital outcomes such as the quality and safety of provided care. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the moderating effect of job control on the relationship between workload and burnout. Methods: A total of 352 hospital workers from five Italian public hospitals completed a self-administered questionnaire that was used to measure exhaustion, cynicism, job control, and workload. Data were collected in 2013. Results: In contrast to previous studies, the results of this study supported the moderation effect of job control on the relationship between workload and exhaustion. Furthermore, the results found support for the sequential link from exhaustion to cynicism. Conclusion: This study showed the importance for hospital managers to carry out management practices that promote job control and provide employees with job resources, in order to reduce the burnout risk.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.107-130
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• 2001

During the last year, we had a very severe situation with the strike of physicians working in medical facilities. From that time, many politicians and scholars insisted on the expansion of public hospitals to enhance the public role in the medical care sector. They think that private medical facilities work for profit motivation and that the high proportion of private to whole facilities is an obstacle to the public function of medical care under social insurance system. They found that one of the reasons for failing to prevent the physicians' strike was the high proportion of private facilities. Others insisted that the strike was not a good reason for the expansion of public hospitals. The physicians' strike was a very rare case, and it is not a good basis for generalization of the discussion of public hospitals. Last year almost all apprentice physicians in public facilities took part in the strike, and consequently the public hospitals also lost the role of public function. They view this increasing involvement of government in the medical sector as improper and the cause of inefficiencies. In this paper we review the debate over the expansion of public facilities. To clarify the debate, we review traditional criteria for the role of government in a market system and to apply these criteria to medical care. There are two traditional areas where government Is acknowledged to have a role in a market system: market imperfections and market failure. Where market imperfections and market failure exist, there may be a role for government. The justifications for government intervention are consumer protection and the existence of externalities. One of externalities is to provide medical care for the poor. The appropriate measures to provide medical owe to the poor can be sought in both demand and supply side subsidies. National health insurance is a method of demand subsidies and establishment of public hospitals is a method of supply side subsidies. Under the National Health Insurance System, the expansion of public hospitals is not an appropriate subsidy policy.