• Journal of Information Technology Applications and Management
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.31-48
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• 2014

The concept of Health Related Quality of Life and its determinants have evolved since the 1980s. Although many researchers have published articles of technology usage in hospitals and the installation of technology based healthcare system, the research about applying the information technology to improve the patients' perceived quality of healthcare services is still limited. In general, services are deeds, processes and performances that are essentially concerns of the consumer. The healthcare service quality depends on tangible factors, such as equipments, facilities, and the quality of hospital staff and also the intangible ones. The main purpose of this work is to establish new model and find out the contribution of information technology to enhance the patients' perceived quality of healthcare service. We attempted to examine the main information technology related factors in 3 aspects, namely quality of information, the technology accessibility and the community that can improve patients' perceived quality of healthcare services. Offline and online questionnaires were used to measure the patients' perceived quality and were distributed to 384 people in 2 countries, Laos and South Korea. A principle component analysis and multiple regressions were used to verify our model. Results show that the use of information technology has partial positive effect on patient-physician interaction in both countries. However, patient knowledge and patient autonomy which are the 2 dimensions of patient-physician interaction has significant positive effect on patients' perceived quality of healthcare service.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2022

Background: This study aims to empirically compare and evaluate the current status of medical accessibility and health inequality between people with disabilities and without. We calculated the ACSC hospitalization rate, which is a medical accessibility index, for hypertension, a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease that accounts for more than 20% of deaths among people with disabilities using the 2016 National Health Insurance Big Data. Methods: The subjects of the study were a total of 601,520, including 64,018 people with disabilities and 537,501 people without. Logistic regression was performed to analyze the differences in hypertension hospitalization rates adjusted for demographic and sociological characteristics and disease characteristics using SAS 9.4 program. Results: Before adjusting for the characteristics, the hypertension hospitalization rate of people with disabilities was 1.55%, and the people without disabilities were 0.49%. After adjusting, it was found that people with disabilities were 2.11 times higher than people without disabilities, and it was statistically significant. Conclusion: The preventable hospitalization rate of people with disabilities is higher than that of people without, suggesting that the disabled have problems with access to medical care and health inequality. Therefore, the government's policy improvement is required to close the medical gap for the disabled.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.90-97
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• 2019

This study investigated the healthcare status of South Korea and member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). By employing the position value for relative comparison index, healthcare status was measured through the following components: demand, supply, accessibility, quality, and cost. Statistical analysis was conducted through the Mann-Kendall test from analyzing trends from 2000 onwards. Results showed that while Korea, on average, scores higher than the OECD average in most of the investigated components, it is below average in certain indexes including primary care and mental health care. Considering the various health issues that have been raised about these indexes, it is important these components be improved upon by policy-makers.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.13-20
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• 2024

I investigated the relationship between social support, environmental factors, and color design within the public spaces of healthcare facilities. Through a comprehensive literature review and case studies from major hospitals in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Scotland, I explored how these elements contribute to public spaces' overall concept and function. The study emphasizes the need to establish a clear relationship between the social functions of these spaces and their physical and environmental characteristics. By examining theoretical frameworks and observed examples, I analyzed the impact of color design and the integration of internal and external spaces. The findings highlight that well-designed spaces, especially those utilizing effective color schemes and connecting indoor and outdoor areas, enhance user satisfaction and support healing processes. The results underscore the importance of communal spaces in healthcare facilities for psychological and social healing. I conclude that these spaces should be intentionally designed to foster social interactions among patients and visitors by improving pedestrian accessibility and incorporating social support structures.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.41-53
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• 2018

Purpose: This study was conducted to identify the factors affecting on unmet healthcare needs of married immigrant women, especially who are working in South Korea. Methods: It is designed as a cross-sectional descriptive study. We analyzed data from 8,142 working married immigrant women to the 'National Survey of Multicultural Families 2015.' Based on Andersen's health behavior model, logistic regression was conducted to determine the predictors of unmet healthcare need. Results: The prevalence of unmet healthcare needs among the subjects was 11.6%. In multivariate analysis, significant predictors of unmet needs included existence of preschooler, country of origin, period of residence in predisposing factors, monthly household income, helpful social relationship, social discrimination, Korean proficiency, working hour per week in enabling factors, and self-rated health, experience of grief or desperation in need factors. Conclusion: The association between labor-related factors and unmet healthcare needs of marriage immigrant women currently working was found from nationally representative sample. Support policies for immigrant women working more than legally defined hours and having preschooler should be supplemented to reduce unmet healthcare needs. In addition, eradicating discrimination in workplace, enlarging social relationship, and developing culturally competent nursing services tailored to health problems caused by labor are needed.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.82-85
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• 2019

Unmet healthcare needs are being used as an important indicator of the accessibility of healthcare services worldwide. To examine current status and trends of unmet needs in Korea, we used data from four sources: the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES, 2007-2017); the Community Health Survey (CHS 2008-2017); the Korea Health Panel Survey (KHP 2011-2015); and the Korean Welfare Panel Study (KOWEPS 2006-2017). The proportion of individual reporting unmet healthcare needs as of 2017 was 8.8% (KNHANES), 10.6% (CHS), and 12.4% (KHP as of 2015). The proportion of households reporting unmet healthcare needs due to cost was 0.5% (KOWEPS). Annual percentage change was -19.2%, -13.3%, -5.8%, and -13.3% respectively. Low income populations had more unmet healthcare needs than high income populations. However, unlike the last two studies, the main reason for unmet medical reasons was that there was no time regardless of income level.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.157-165
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• 2023

Background: We aimed to provide basic data for improving the effectiveness of the invitational training and reflecting it in the program in the following year by identifying the satisfaction level of trainees who participated in the "Dr. LEE Jong-wook Fellowship Program" funded by the Korea Foundation for International Healthcare. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted using a questionnaire interview. In the first stage of analysis, only the interview contents related to the research topic were classified by the researcher for the conversations recorded at the interview site, and in the second stage of analysis, the interview contents classified in the first stage were classified into each of those mentioned in this study. Results: The longer the trainees participated in the program and the better the accessibility, the higher the satisfaction with the program. In addition, the level of achievement of the trainees' goals and the level of improvement in their competence affected their satisfaction, and their difficulty in language communication during the training period was identified as a factor affecting the trainees' satisfaction level. In addition, competency improvement and satisfaction were positively correlated (r=0.75, p=0.03). Conclusion: When organizing a rehabilitation workforce capacity training program, it is important to identify trainees' needs, ensure accessibility, organize courses effectively, enhance English proficiency, and expand practical lectures to increase trainees' knowledge and understanding of rehabilitation.

• Journal of Korean Gerontological Nursing
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• v.20 no.sup1
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• pp.137-143
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• 2018

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine effectiveness and usefulness of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in communication between physician and visiting nurses who provide visiting nursing services under long-term care insurance. Methods: Structured questionnaires were used to measure usefulness and satisfaction of the system, both accessibility and convenience to visiting nurses (31 people) and users (182 people). Results: From the user perspective, accessibility and convenience in terms of service users were both satisfactory as shown by users' percentage. No statistically significant difference was found for satisfaction between before and after using the system. The usefulness of the system for visiting nurses was satisfactory for most the nurses. Also most nurses answered that the system is needed and is very useful. Most of the participants (both visiting nurse and service users) were satisfied with use of the ICT system. However, there was no statistically significant difference in satisfaction between the pre and post service because the service provision period was too short (three months). Conclusion: The consensus from both users and service providers is that an ICT based visiting nursing system needs to be introduced but a more user - friendly environment for system development will be needed.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.217-224
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• 2021

The objective of this study is to investigate the healthcare status of South Korea and other member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) using OECD health statistics 2020. We employed the position value for relative comparison index to measure the healthcare status in five following components: demand, supply, accessibility, quality, and cost. The Mann-Kendall test was used to analyze for increasing or decreasing trend of the position value for relative comparison values from 2000 to the recent year. Results showed that Korea was positioned above than the OECD median values in most of components, but lower than the median values in certain indices including healthcare employment, primary care, and mental health care. This study sheds some light on healthcare issues to be improved and the policy-makes can take into account for prior setting process.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.54-69
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• 2024

Purposes: This study aims to analyze the location patterns, concentration, and accessibility of clinics in Seoul with the grids of a geographic information system(GIS) and provide useful indicators for research on hospital and clinic management and policies based on the results. The study especially sets out to identify areas falling behind in the service of the essential medical care departments based on an analysis with 250m×250m grids and contribute to efficient medical business management and public healthcare policies based on the results. Methodology: The study analyzed clinics in Seoul in terms of concentration, distribution and clustering patterns, accessibility, and hot spots by dividing the entire city into 500m×500m cells and generating grids. The accessibility analysis for the essential medical care departments was especially in detail based on grids in a 250m×250m cell size. Findings: The Herfindahl results show that plastic surgery and rehabilitation medicine recorded the highest concentration level. General medicine and dermatology recorded the highest Moran's I value, and internal medicine was the highest in hot spots. Obstetrics and gynecology capable of child delivery showed considerably lower accessibility in the grids corresponding to Gangseo-gu, Yangcheon-gu, and Gwanak-gu. Surgery had low accessibility in the grids corresponding to the northern parts of Gangseo-gu for the total population. Practical Implication: Unlike previous studies whose analyses covered wide areas, the present study examined minute spatial patterns, concentration, and accessibility based on an analysis with 500m×500m or 250m×250m grids. Based on its findings, the study expects a more minute analysis for future research on medical business management and policies.