• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.199-208
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to investigate the strategies and the experiences of 3 university hospitals relevant to environmentally-friendly strategy in their hospitals and to find out the implication for spreading the environmentally-friendly hospital management to other Korean hospitals. The study was progressed from October to November 2010 through the in depth interview with middle manager of the hospitals. Interview items about environmentally-friendly hospital management were selected from ISO 14001, Korean Green Management Certification Scheme, Green Guide Operation Version 2.2 of GGHC, Eco-ChecklistTM, Self-Assessment Tool of "Practice Greenhealth" and some accreditation credits of LEED, BREEAM, GreenStar. The case study result implies that the following strategies are so critical to settle environmentally-friendly hospitals in Korea: 1)understanding about fundamental concept of environmentally-friendly hospital, 2)organizing green teams, 3)purchasing environmentally-friendly goods, 4)benchmarking other successful hospitals, 5)adopting easy & reasonable policy first, 6)managing accumulated data & performance about energy efficiency, and 7)educating the employee about environmentally-friendly hospitals strategies. Hospitals have to keep in pace with the change in government policy and scheme like as GHG & Energy Target Management System, Korean Green Management Certification Scheme, ESCO, and so on for achieving the successful environmentally-friendly hospitals.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.174-182
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• 2014

As patients prefer large scale hospitals recently, the interior design of general hospitals are conspicuously improving. In the past, most patients visit hospitals to get treatment on diseases; however, recently patients visiting hospitals for the early prevention of disease is rapidly increasing. Accordingly, contemporary hospitals should meet the wish of patients who want to get medical service in more clean and comfortable environment. The existing studies on hospital interior design were mostly limited on analyzing the functionality of each space; however, studies on the interior design of common use space, which is open to all hospital users, are required now. Accordingly, this study classified the common use space in contemporary general hospitals into lobby space, corridor space, waiting space and resting space. The interior design characteristics of each space were classified into; connectivity with external environment, level change by void, introduction of natural elements, dynamics of space and variety of color. Then a case analysis was done by selecting 12 common use spaces in overseas general hospitals. According to the analysis result, the interior design characteristics were more conspicuous in the sequence of corridor space, lobby space, resting space and waiting space. The interior design elements such as overall space arrangement and material-finishing were relatively acceptable; however, the aspect of a user's environmental behavior, in other words, the psychological aspect, which can lead a patient to natural healing, was relatively insufficient. It is believed that an in-depth interior design focusing on practical users would enable various spatial behaviors. It is hoped that this study would be a help to the interior design of domestic general hospitals as a guideline.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.63-72
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• 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to review the material handling system of the Airborne Infection Isolation Hospitals which is the one of the key elements of infection control and to improve the basic data for the planning and design of those facilities. Methods: Research was conducted by literature reviews and case studies for the material handling system of domestic and foreign Isolation hospitals. Results: The result of this study can be summarized into three points. First, a general isolation unit and a high level isolated unit need to be distinguished in terms of efficiency and safety. In particular, it is desirable that a high level isolated unit have to completely separate clean and soiled circulations, and soiled corridor should be installed by those means. By doing this, the medical staff can observe patient rooms and supply clean materials directly in the clean zone without wearing PPE, so that safety and work efficiency can be improved at the same time. Second, for the safe disposal of wastes, it is desirable to install a dedicated sterilizer per ward and sterilize it at least in the ward. In addition, It is desirable to install a central waste treatment room and a dedicated soiled corridor in consideration of the inadequate handling capacity and emergency situation. Third, the characteristics of material flow chart in the negative pressured isolation hospitals and the corresponding material handling system have been presented. Implications: Infection control is very important in safety, but it is necessary to respond to the symptoms of the patient.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.209-224
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• 2015

Previous studies provided that limiting the number of services provided in hospital had influences in decreasing cost in delivering medical services. Hospitals could have positive effects on their profit by concentrating small number of services which they have comparative advantages. This study purposed to analyze the relationship between the concentration status of hospitals and medical charge for inpatients. National Inpatient sample data provided by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) for three years, 2009 to 2011 was used to compute the three concentration indices (Information Theory Index (ITI), Internal Herfindahl Index (IHI), and number of distinct Diagnosis-Related Groups (DRGs) treated) and total medical charge per inpatient case in each year. It was also used to select the control variables such as bed size, number of doctors per 100 beds, and locations. The ordinary least square regression models were developed and tested for hospital and general hospitals separately. The results showed that the total medical charge per inpatient case was significantly differed depending on the concentration indices, and there were positive relationships in ITI and IHI. The number of distinct DRGs had different directions in regression coefficients depending on the locations and hospital types. Hospitals had larger absolute standardized regression coefficients compare to those of general hospitals. However, their effects could be varied by the hospital types, number of doctors, and locations. It seems that hospitals have more influences on medical charges by concentrating their services than general hospitals. Study results provide knowledges to hospital administrators that concentration strategy can positive influences on the performance of small size hospitals.

• Korean Management Science Review
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.145-158
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• 2000

The medical records of diagnostic and testing information include sensitive personal information that reveals some of the most intimate aspects of an individual's life. The hospital information system (HIS) operates in a state of high risk which may lead to the possible loss to the IS resources caused by various threats. This research addresses twofold : (1) to perform asset identification ad valuation and (2) to recommend countermeasures for secure HIS network using case studies This paper applied a risk management tool CRAMM (Central Computer and Tele-communications Agency's Risk Analysis and Management Method) to assess asset values and suggest countermeasures for the security of computerized medical information of two large hospitals in Korea. CRAMM countermeasures are recommended at the reference sites from the network security requirements of system utilized for the diagnosis and treatment of patients. The results of the study will enhance the awareness of IS risk management by IS managers.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.7-16
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• 2011

This study is a part of the architectural planning to meet the military healthcare development project according to the Korea national defense reform 2020. At this time, it is intended to identify the overall issues and to set the improvement directions of military hospital planning. Literature reviews, such as military healthcare development project, Korea national defense reform 2020, etc., and case studies for the advanced foreign military hospitals and several Korean private hospitals is analyzed. And also, field surveys, such as questionnaire collections for patients and workers, interviews with surgeons and department officials, and observation survey were conducted in order to be realistic improvement suggestions for military hospital planning issues.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.113-128
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• 2012

In this article, three cases of speciality hospitals, Songdo hospital, Bucheon Sejong Hospital, and Wooridul Hospital, are described and analyzed. They have shown outstanding performances and have high reputations. Success factors are drawn out from the cases: innovative founder, technological innovation, team medicine, and customer satisfaction. Implications and limitations are discussed, and suggestions for the future studies are suggested.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.358-369
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• 2019

Objective: This study aimed to introduce cases of exposure to humidifier disinfectant (HD) in hospitals and to present their exposure characteristics. Methods: We used data from 4,393 subjects who participated in the fourth assessment survey of environmental exposure to HD conducted by the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute. In this study, we selected 301 subjects who reported their place of use of HD as a hospital. Then, we classified cases as 'Hospital-provided'. 'Probably hospital-provided', 'Individual purchased', and 'Unknown' according to the supply sources of HD. Also, we introduced detailed exposure characteristics for the selected cases. Results: Of the 4,393 subjects, 301 (6.9%) reported the use of HD in 392 hospitals (including duplicate answers for the use in ${\geq}2$ hospitals). The 301 hospital-user subjects included 139 survivors and 162 non-survivors. When we classified the 392 cases by supply sources, 'Hospital-provided' was 12.2% (48 cases), 'Probably hospital-provided' was 25.5% (100 cases), 'Individual purchased' was 59.7% (234 cases), and 'Unknown' was 2.6% (10 cases). Among the 'Hospital-provided' cases, we selected six cases and provided a detailed description of the HD use in this study. Additionally, we reported details for six cases that had purchased HD upon a doctor or nurse's recommendation and for three cases that had purchased it at hospital stores. Conclusion: This study presents various cases of HD exposure in hospitals. Because there may be a considerable burden of HD exposure in public spaces, including hospitals, further studies are necessary to assess HD exposure in hospitals and public places.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.26-37
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• 2024

Background: The purpose of this study was to compare and analyze the differences in charges and length of stay per case between spine specialty hospitals and non-specialty hospitals, and to identify the factors that influenced them. Methods: This study used claims data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, including inpatient visits from January 2021 to December 2022. The healthcare facility status data was used to identify the characteristics of study hospitals. Multilevel analysis was conducted to identify factors associated with the charges and Poisson regression analysis was conducted to analyze the length of stay between spine specialty hospitals and non-specialty hospitals. There were 32,015 cases of spine specialty hospitals and 17,555 cases of non-specialty hospitals. Results: For four of five common spinal surgeries, specialty hospitals shaped longer length of stay than those of non-specialty hospitals. Multilevel and Poisson regression analysis revealed that regardless of the type of surgery, higher age and higher Charlson comorbidity index scores were significantly associated with an increase in both the charges per case and length of stay (p<0.05). However, when hospitals were located in metropolitan areas, there was a significant decrease (p<0.05). Conclusion: This study found that specialty hospital had higher inpatient charges and loner length of stay contrary to the previous study results. Further studies will be needed to find which contribute to the differences.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.548-557
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to understand how vegetarian diets in Taiwanese hospitals are well established and provide suggestion for successful implementation in Korea. Micro-ethnographic case study with in-depth interviews, field observations, and paper reviews were used for this study. Experiences of doctors and nutritionists from Taiwanese hospitals where deliver vegetarian hospital diets were analyzed. This research found out Taiwanese life respect culture has influence on introducing vegetarian diets in hospital, besides most Participants agreed to use vegetarian diets for the medical purpose according to their clinic experiences and research results. Meanwhile there is no restriction to compel patients to keep vegetarian diets. All participants answered food has a large effect on the human body and further study on vegetarian diets' efficacy is required. The hospital chief's decision making is crucial to introduce vegetarian diets in hospitals. For the bigger picture, social supports, organizational supports and national policy supports are all important factors for it. The implications and recommendations for Korean hospitals were discussed. The public awareness for vegetarian diet for medical purpose along with research on its efficacy would be needed. In order to make good use of a vegetarian diet for medical purposes, we first need to build a vegetarian-friendly environment, go deep into the study of a diet's effects using diverse methodologies, and combine the diet with traditional medicine theory. Based on the results of this primary study, more related studies should be carried out in the future.