The aim of this study was to examine differences in the level of satisfaction with medical care at a public health center between patients receiving free-care compared to those paying out-of-pocket. SERVQUAL(Comprehensive Service Quality Measurement Scale), a pyschometrically valid measure for evaluating hospital service quality, was used to assess patient satisfaction. The study sample consisted of 279 patients who received medical care at a public health center. The interview was conducted between April 23 and May 7, 1998. The results was as follow: 1. There were more elderly people among free-care patients than out-of-pocket patients. Education and income levels were lower amongs those receiving free-care. There were, however, no differences in the distribution of gender and religion between the two groups. Patients receiving free-care tended to visit the public health center more frequently compared to those self-paying patients. 2. Overall, free-care patients showed higher satisfaction level than that of self-paying patients. except for the dimension on sympathy and shape.

Background : As many previous studies proved, the quality of medical record is thought to reflect the quality of care. In this study, we analyzed the relationship between the quality of record and some factors influencing the quality of record, especially the commitment of the attending physician. Method : We developed checklist for evaluation of medical record with 36 criteria. 300 inpatient records of 10 attending physicians' patients were evaluated and the quality' of records were scored. The attending physician's commitment to medical records were scored by 34 residents. The relationship of the quality of records with physician's commitment to records, and some other factors were analyzed. Results : More than 75% of the immediate postoperative notes on the progress note were missed. More than 69% of the contents of explanation about the procedures on the consent form or on the other forms were also missed. The physician whose quality score of records was the highest(78.9) got the highest commitment score. The score of attending physician's commitment to the record, and his seniority were positively related with the quality score of his medical records when number of patients and department were adjusted. Conclusion : The quality of the 5 forms of the record reviewed were evaluated as moderate or excellent except 2 or 3 items. The quality of record was positively related with the attending physician's commitment to the record, and the seniority of the physician.

Background : Many patients have been frequently complaining that they have to spend couples of hours in hospital on visiting outpatient clinic. Among several steps, two major time consuming steps were waiting to see a doctor and/or waiting at pharmacy to get medicine. Therefore not only to provide the proper guidance for medication or counseling on health affairs but also to make waiting time short is very important for the better hospital services. The aim of this study is to validate several time-saving processes to reduce waiting time at outpatient pharmacy and its efficacy. Methods : We surveyed the time interval actually taken to receive medicine after issuing prescription by doctors, and analyzed the data on the bases of relevant or possible causative factors. Then following processes were given to reduce waiting time and resurveyed and compared both data to validate efficacy of those processes : 1. No work-off on Monday and Tuesday 2. Work hour shift to start 30 minutes earlier 3. Changeable work shift between outpatient pharmacy and ward pharmacy according to work load 4. Use of pre-made medicines prescribed more frequently by certain doctors at certain time 5. Cooperation with doctors to use set prescriptions. Results : Before the process, mean waiting time at pharmacy was 29.2 minutes and most time consuming period was from noon to 1 PM, 3 to 4 PM, 1 to 2 PM in order of frequency. Only 37.7 % of patients could get the medicine within 20 minutes. Three times of surveys after process showed mean waiting time at pharmacy were 18.1 minutes, 19.0 minutes, and 17.6 minutes, respectively. And 72.7 %, 81.3%, and 82.2% of patients could get the medicine within 20 minutes. Conclusion : The mean waiting time was markedly reduced with above mentioned processes which applied intradepartmently event hough with little cooperation from other department. Consequently, the complaints of patients were decreased with increasing the satisfaction degree. In conclusion, those suggestions were recommanded to improve the degree of satisfaction of patients.

Background : It is increasing the concern for patient satisfaction as a customer information. This study was planned to investigate the activities related to patient satisfaction survey at the Korean hospitals. Methods : We performed the nationwide survey on 235 general hospitals by using the self-administrated checklist from Sep. 9 to Oct. 9, 1996. The response rate were 50.2%. We analyzed the descriptive statistics and chi-square test by SAS software on 118 hospitals. Results : First of all, 62.7% of study hospitals showed to conduct the patient satisfaction survey, and most of hospitals which did not conduct it had a plan to do it within 5 years. The reason that hospitals did not conduct satisfaction survey was due to a lack of administrator's interest or adequate questionnaire form. Second, the bigger, public and being more located in the big city or opened more than 10 years, the more hospitals conducted the patient satisfaction survey. Also, patient satisfaction survey was mainly handled by planning dept. or administrative team. Third, most hospitals had their own way of making questionnaires without proving reliability and validity. The results of the survey were applied to hospital management timely, and were mostly reported to top manager level. Most CEO concerned about the results of satisfaction survey. Fourth, the staffs in charge of survey had problems such as skill related to data analysis and development of questionnaire and they suggested that this problems could be solved through inducing the implementation of the survey results on hospital management, support for the development of standardized questionnaires and increasing the top manager's interests. Fifth, most questionnaires composed of lots of questioning items on hospital equipments and environment, and kindness of hospital employee to patients. Conclusions : Although this study had some limitations in generalization due to low response rate in big hospitals, it is meaningful to find the present state and the problems related to patient satisfaction survey of the general hospitals. We can conclude that there are increasing the concern for patient satisfaction survey among the hospitals nationwide, and it can be needed for technical support related to development of survey tool or method.

Background : In Korea, the rational use of antibiotics are rarely controlled, and their patterns of utilization are not understood. In order to reduce the excessive use and to improve the appropriate use of antibiotics, it is necessary to accurately determine present uses of antibiotics in hospitals. Methods : Analysis of the use of prescription drugs was performed on NFMI(National Federation of Medical Insurance) 1994 medical expense claim data. A stratified sampling by types of hospitals, departments, and diseases was obtained from 1994 August data. Patients with secondary diseases were excluded. In this study, 2,697 adults with URI, 6,397 children with URI, 704 adults with bronchitis, and 1,838 children with bronchitis were included. Results : Most patients were prescribed medication (95.2-99.6%). Of the patients prescribed medication, more than 85% of URI patients and more than 91% of bronchitis patients were prescribed antibiotics. Antibiotics expenses accounted for 14% of total medical expenses in adults and 9% of total medical expenses in children. In adults with URI, antibiotics expenses accounted for 52% of drug expenses. Of the patients prescribed antibiotics, average number of antibiotics used was 1.6-1.7. For patients who are prescribed antibiotics, drug expenses were 62-97% greater than patients not prescribed antibiotics. When children were prescribed antibiotics, the highest price of drugs prescribed were 3.4-fold greater. In addition, the number of drugs prescribed also increased by more than one. Elderly patients, more than 60 years, were prescribed antibiotics less frequently. Children less than 10 years and elderly patients greater than 60 years old were prescribed fewer antibiotics than other patients. And they were prescribed medications for longer days than other patients. Conclusion : This study demonstrated that the average rate of prescribing antibiotics was higher in Korea than other countries. Measures to reduce overuse of antibiotics and to improve the appropriate prescription of antibiotics must be considered for cost effective treatment and overall health of people.

Background : The purpose of this study was to understand general attitudes of physicians toward hospital quality improvement activities who have been members of QA committee in 32 Korean university hospitals. Methods : A postal survey about opinions of hospital quality improvement activities and desirable policy directions was sent to 328 QA committee member physicians. The questionnaires were composed of 48 items. In total 152 physicians responded to this survey(response rate: 49.3%). This study was carried out from January to February 1996. Results : Most physicians(97.5%) recognized the necessity of hospital QA activities. The most dominant supporting reason for quality activities was to improve clinical outcome. Two thirds of physicians regarded their own hospital activities for quality improvement as inactive. They considered that the obstacles were too little concern(33.6%), unclear objectives(28.9%), lack of human resources(14.3%), and insufficient education and training for quality improvement(10.1%). The most favoring policy among respondents was to give health care providers economic incentives. Provision of education and training for implementing quality improvement was the next to it. Physicians revealed their preferences for professional society, government, health insurance societies, consumer groups, hospital labor unions, and mass media in sequence as sponsoring agencies for hospital accreditation program. Conclusion : These study suggested that the concrete means for motivating physicians and promoting constructive partnership among related parties should be developed in order to activate current hospital quality activities in Korea.

Background : Hospitals in Korea are in trouble at ecomomic matters because of low cost of medical insurance, and consumers' demand for high quality. The management of inpatient clothing is very difficult. Especially the management of patient's clothing size is very difficult because the case mix of patients in wards is very different from the stocked clothing size. Because of the economic matters, the ward does not prepare enough size of clothing. The nurses in ward are in trouble with managing the clothing. So the nurses want free size patient clothing for ease management of clothing size. Method : The experimental inpatinets clothing is designed for in 170cm height refer to Korean standard. The fit of 8 subjects from 150 cm to 185 cm wearing experimental were evaluated by clothing specialists, nurses and patients. Result : 75.8% of evaluators like free size clothing. This results show that the fit of subjects from 160cm to 180cm was good in general but subjects with 150cm, 155cm, 185cm height showed poor fit.

Background : This study was done to assess the relationship among multiple patient outcomes of cataract surgery perioperatively, 3-4 months and 12 months after surgery. The patient outcomes include changes in visual acuity(operated eye, better eye), visual function(VF-14), patient satisfaction, subjective satisfaction with vision, and subjective overall health status. Methods : For the assessment of relationship, prospective study was performed with 92 patients who had undergone either one or both eye cataract surgery by 3 ophthalmologists practicing at a university hospital. Patients were interviewed. and clinical data were obtained. Doctors were questioned with self-entered questionnaire forms. Medical record was examined to understand surgery process. The survey was conducted at 4 stages : preoperatively, perioperatively, postoperative 3-4 months, and postoperative 12 months. Results : The correlations within patient outcomes at 4 stages - the visual acuity of operated eye and that of better eye, patient satisfaction and VF-14, subjective overall health status and relative health status as against others - were found to be positively correlated. The change in the visual acuity of operated eye and better eye was correlated with VF-14 as well as with patient satisfaction. The change was also correlated with overall health status. However, the correlations between variables were decreased as the postoperative period got longer. Conclusion : As for the postoperative clinical patient outcomes, VF-14 is acted to linker between visual acuity - clinical outcomes and overall health status - endpoint outcomes. Therefore. VF-14 is the index of patient-sided and disease-specific outcome for cataract surgery.

Background : This study is to identify preoperative patient characteristics associated with a lack of improvement on one or more measures peri operatively, postoperative 3-4 months, and postoperative 12 months. Methods : For the assessment, prospective study was performed with 92 patients who had undergone either one eye or both eye cataract surgery by 3 ophthalmologists practicing at a university hospital. The criteria of improvement were (1) Snellen visual acuity, (2) a cataract-related symptom score(possible range: 0, 0 of 6 symptoms present or bothersome, to 18, all 6 symptoms very bothersome), and (3) VF-14 score - a measure of functional impairment in patient with cataract - (possible range: 0, inability to perform any of the applicable activities, to 100, no difficulty in performing any of the applicable activities). Results : Although 14 patients (15.2%) failed to improve on one or more of the outcome measures assessed, no one failed to improve on all three measures. Both eyes of surgery than one eye, preoperative cataract symptom score of 1-4, 5 or higher than 0 were associated independently with the increased likelihood of improvement (odds ratio 8.95, 7.16, 8.87 respectively). And the preoperative level of Snellen visual acuity was not associated with the likelihood of improvement Conclusion : We conclude that specific preoperative characteristics (both eyes, cataract symptom score) are independent predictors of patient outcome after cataract surgery.

Background : There is increased recognition that rigorous approach to functional assessment will complement the assessment of clinical status. This study is to develop the appropriate visual function index in Korean patients with cataracts by the assessment of the reliability, validity of visual function indexes including VF-14. Methods : An prospective study was performed with 92 patients who had undergone either one eye or both eye cataract surgery by 3 ophthalmologists practicing at a university hospital. Patients were interviewed. and clinical data were obtained. Doctors were questioned with self-entered questionnaire forms. Medical record was examined to understand surgery process. The survey was conducted at 1-2 days before cataract surgery. Results : We used following measures : 7 visual function indexes, global measures of patients' trouble and satisfaction with vision, and best-corrected visual acuity(VA) in each eye. 7 visual function indexes showed a high internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's alpha coefficients ${\geq}$ 0.86). The better visual acuity(operated eye, better eye), the higher patient satisfaction with vision, the lower symptom score, the lower patient trouble with vision was correlated with preoperative visual function index scores. Among 7 indexes, VF-12 with the exclusion of 2 items drivings from VF-14 is a high Cronbach's alpha coefficient and correlation coefficient and the highest $R^2$. Conclusion : We conclude that VF-12 is reliable and valid in Korea. So we suggest that in Korea, all items of VF-14, the visual function index, which is in use internationally, ought to be surveyed and VF-12 which has been excluded by 2 items of drivings from VF-14 ought to be used for analysis.

A mailed survey with structured questionnaire was conducted to study the demand of private physicians who were operating their own clinics in the community to be a attending physician at the general hospital. The responding proportion was 21.6 percent of the 960 private physicians. A total of 207 responders; 65.2 percent wanted to be a attending physician. In particular, the physicians who were male, young, surgeon and teaching hospital careered after specialist were more highly motivated. The major activities what they wanted as a attending physician were medical care for the admission patients. They responded that the hospital charges for the medical services and the responsibility of malpractice issues should be fairly shared by attending physician and hospital according to their contributions. There is growing consensus that the need of attending physician at the general hospital will become wide spread, but little organizational preparation to assure the quality of medical care of attending physicians including training of resident physicians and students. In addition, the effective reimbursement system should be develop to compensate appropriately according to the medical achievement of the attending physicians.

Background : In this paper patient outcomes research is going to be reviewed and described, to be compared with relevant studies, and to consider the application in Korea. Methods : We compiled and reviewed the articles and materials related to patient outcomes research especially by PORT(Patient Outcomes Research Team) and rearranged them for seeking the main point and comparing with relevant studies. Results : Patient outcomes research emphasizes patient outcomes as well as conventional clinical outcomes. It is prospective study observing effectiveness in real situation instead of efficacy in ideal condition. Patient outcomes research comprises of 6 fields ; literature review and meta-analysis, use of claims data, decision modeling, outcomes assessment, cost of care, dissemination of research findings. SAA(small-area variations analysis), appropriateness study and clinical practice guideline are connected with patient outcomes research. Conclusion : In view of the fact that current medical policy in Korea is shifting its focus from accessibility to the improvement in quality and cost containment, and is stressing patient-based research, patient outcomes research is one direction for which the medicine is accountable and assessable. Considering that the number of patient receiving medical treatment in Korea is higher than the West, patient outcomes research has competitive power as against the West.