• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.56 no.1
• /
• pp.12-20
• /
• 2023

Quantitative and qualitative research explore various social phenomena using different methods. However, there has been a tendency to treat quantitative studies using complicated statistical techniques as more scientific and superior, whereas relatively few qualitative studies have been conducted in the medical and healthcare fields. This review aimed to provide a proper understanding of qualitative research. This review examined the characteristics of quantitative and qualitative research to help researchers select the appropriate qualitative research methodology. Qualitative research is applicable in following cases: (1) when an exploratory approach is required on a topic that is not well known, (2) when something cannot be explained fully with quantitative research, (3) when it is necessary to newly present a specific view on a research topic that is difficult to explain with existing views, (4) when it is inappropriate to present the rationale or theoretical proposition for designing hypotheses, as in quantitative research, and (5) when conducting research that requires detailed descriptive writing with literary expressions. Qualitative research is conducted in the following order: (1) selection of a research topic and question, (2) selection of a theoretical framework and methods, (3) literature analysis, (4) selection of the research participants and data collection methods, (5) data analysis and description of findings, and (6) research validation. This review can contribute to the more active use of qualitative research in healthcare, and the findings are expected to instill a proper understanding of qualitative research in researchers who review qualitative research reports and papers.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.30 no.2 s.57
• /
• pp.413-427
• /
• 1997

This research is based on the Consumption Values Theory proposed by Sheth(1991). The purpose of this research is finding the factors related to the process of hospital choice. The expectation of six hospital outpatients 600 was analyzed by six consumption values categories: functional value, social value, emotional value, rarity value, condition value, health related values. The main results of this research is as following; 1. In the result of factor analysis 22 consumption value factors which affect the hospital preference were extracted; kindness/clearness, service speed, comfort of space, technical competence in functional values, high income/active social life, low income/blue collar unmarried/man, middle aged/big family, woman/married, introvert in social values, high-class, comfort, reliability in emotional value, newness, classiness in rarity value, social relationship, close to residence, social reputation in conditional values, priority on health, health behavior, active sense of value on health in health related values. 2. The difference of consumption values among hospital types were analyzed. The critical factors in reference for corporate hospitals newly established were kindness/clearness, service speed, convenience, classiness, comfort, and newness. University hospitals were preferred by the factors of reliability, and social reputation. In general hospital, convenience and close to residence were critical factor. 3. In logistic regression, age, marital status, education level and income as socio-demographic variables were significantly related to general hospital choice. Also service speed and close to residence were positively and high income/active social life and high class value were negatively related to general hospital choice. On university hospital choice, age and marital status, education show posive relationship whereas income showing negative relationship. Kindness/clearness, service speed, comfort of space, unmarried/man, comfortable feeling, newness and close to residence showed negative relationship with university hospital selection whereas technical competence, reliability in emotional value, classiness in rarity value, social relationship in functional values showed positive relationship. Lastly kindness/clearness, comfort of space, high income/active social life, unmarried/man, high-class, comfort and newness were positively related to corporate hospitals newly established choice in contrast to negative relationship in reliability in emotional value and classiness. In summary, we found that hospital user also choose to hospital in base of various consumption value. Further studies to investigate the hospital consumer behavior will be needed.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
• /
• v.45 no.2
• /
• pp.166-173
• /
• 2002

Purpose : The aim of this study is to find out the distribution of illness, patterns of medical care utilization and factors determining medical care utilization in elementary school children. Methods : We performed the questionnaires in Gwangju city on 2,036 children of two elementary schools from June 1 to June 30, 1998. Results : The prevalence rate of illness was 32.3%. The distribution of illness was respiratory disease(64.7%), gastrointestinal disease(12.8%), injury & poisoning. The rate of persons having received medical treatment when they were sick, was 89.8%. The selection distribution among various medical facilities was pediatric hospital(46.7%), otolaryngologic hospital(19.8%), pharmacy (13.2%) and internal medicine in the decreasing frequency sequence. The major factors influencing the selection of medical facility were geographic accessibility and good results. The most common reason for the first visit to the pediatric hospital was geographic accessibility. The most common reason for a visit and to otolaryngologic hospital was a good result. The most frequently utilized medical facility for respiratory symptoms and gastrointestinal symptoms was pediatric hospital. The persons influencing the selection of medical facility in the children were mother(73.3%), father( 10.8%), doctor and others in decreasing sequence. The persons answering the questionaire thought that the optimal age of pediatric care was from 0 to 12 years(47.8%), to 10 years(22.4%) and to 15 years(18.5%) in decreasing rate. Conclusion : Other departments instead of pediatrics have treated children. Children have particular growth and development process, which is different to those of adults. So, it is necessary to choose special medical care and adequate medical facilities for children.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.23-35
• /
• 1983

Since the national health insurance was introduced in 1978, the increased utilization of hospitals and the growing importance of pharmaceutical services to hospital patients have made the administration of these services a very complex and specialized responsibility. The pharmaceutical services has always been an essential component of comtemporary hospital care. In the hospital, the pharmaceutical services is the professional department which concerns itself with the evaluation, selection, control and utilization of drugs. The director of this service must be a versatile professional person who can work effectively in a heterogenous society of educated persons. However, graduate education in hospital pharmacy has not been introduced yet in Korea. The necessity of graduate education hospital pharmacy has been discussed in this research. Graduate education in hospital pharmacy emphasizes preparation for assumption of responsibility as the senior hospital pharmacist or the director of pharmaceutical services. Graduates should also be prepared as administrators of a department that must operate with great efficiency. They should be prepared serve as a consultant on drugs for the medical and allied health professional staff, organizing and disseminating a large and dynamic body of information in their interest and to establish professional roles that emphasize procurement, storage, manufacturing, packaging, distribution, control and evaluation of drugs. Senior hospital pharmacist is a teacher charged with responsibility fer formal and informal instruction of other hospital personnel in pharmaceutical sciences. In addition, the graduates have the opportunity to be a researcher dealing with aspect of hospital care and are intensively educated in the professional aspects of hospital pharmacy practices. The curriculum of graduate education in hospital pharmacy should be established detailly and carefully to fit the educational objective.

• The Korean Journal of Applied Statistics
• /
• v.28 no.5
• /
• pp.965-976
• /
• 2015

Determining relevant variables for a regression model is important in regression analysis. Recently, a variable selection methods using a penalized likelihood with various penalty functions (e.g. LASSO and SCAD) have been widely studied in simple statistical models such as linear models and generalized linear models. The advantage of these methods is that they select important variables and estimate regression coefficients, simultaneously; therefore, they delete insignificant variables by estimating their coefficients as zero. We study how to select proper variables based on penalized hierarchical likelihood (HL) in semi-parametric frailty models that allow three penalty functions, LASSO, SCAD and HL. For the variable selection we develop a new function in the "frailtyHL" R package. Our methods are illustrated with breast cancer survival data from the Medical Center at Chonnam National University in Korea. We compare the results from three variable-selection methods and discuss advantages and disadvantages.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.33 no.2
• /
• pp.246-255
• /
• 2003

Purpose: This study was designed to compare direct cost and indirect cost between home care and hospital care according to subject's characteristics. Method: The subjects of this study were patients with cerebrovascular disease. They were 50 patients in six university hospitals and 49 in four home care centers. Data were collected by using two type of questionnaires and reviewing medical records, home care service records and medical-fee claims from April 4th to September 13th, 2001. Result: The results were as follows; First, there was a statistically significant difference of direct cost between home care and hospital care, however, there was not a statistically significant difference of indirect cost. Second, according to subject's characteristics, six variables had statistically significant differences; sex, age, marital status, economy, job and diagnosis. Conclusion: It was found that cost-saving effect of home care was affected by subject's characteristic factors. More study needs to be done to develop a more detailed selection criteria for home care subjects.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.6 no.1
• /
• pp.109-116
• /
• 1988

The Alcyon Co-60 gamma rays was studied for electron contamination. The surface dose, attributable almost entirely to contamination electrons, has a linear dependence on field width for square fields and an inverse square dependence on distance from the bottom of the fixed head assembly Build-up and surface dose measurements were taken with and without an acrylic blocking tray in place. Further measurements were made with a copper filter designed to reduce secondary electrons emitted by photon interactions with the acrylic tray. The results are discussed in relation to skin sparing effect for radiation therapy Patients. And to achieve the maximum skin sparing effect, the selection of the optimum SSD and TSD is needed.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
• /
• v.60 no.3
• /
• pp.294-300
• /
• 2017

Hypothalamic hamartoma (HH) is a benign indolent lesion despite the presentation of refractory epilepsy. Behavioral disturbances and endocrine problems are additional critical symptoms that arise along with HHs. Due to its nature of generating epileptiform discharge and spreading to cortical region, various management strategies have been proposed and combined. Surgical approaches with open craniotomy or endoscopy, stereotactic approaches with radiosurgery and gamma knife surgery or radiofrequency thermos-coagulation, and laser ablation have been introduced. Topographical dimension and the surgeon's preference are key factors for treatment modalities. Endoscopic disconnection has been one of the most favorable options performed in treating HHs. Here we discuss presurgical evaluation, patient selection, surgical procedures, and complications.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.53-64
• /
• 2015

Our objective was to evaluate differences in linear regression versus multilevel(cross-level interaction model) modeling for affecting factors lumbar discectomy. The data were used in 2011 patients with HIRA sample data. Total number of analysis is 3,641 patients and 248 hospitals. The results of research model showed that the type and location of the hospital-level factors were significant. However, all factors of patient-level were similar in the two models. Therefore, it requires the selection of an appropriate model for a more accurate analysis of the influencing factors in the daily medical charge.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
• /
• v.25 no.9
• /
• pp.773-787
• /
• 2024

Local ablation for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a non-surgical option that directly targets and destroys tumor cells, has advanced significantly since the 1990s. Therapies with different energy sources, such as radiofrequency ablation, microwave ablation, and cryoablation, employ different mechanisms to induce tumor necrosis. The precision, safety, and effectiveness of these therapies have increased with advances in guiding technologies and device improvements. Consequently, local ablation has become the first-line treatment for early-stage HCC. The lack of organized evidence and expert opinions regarding patient selection, pre-procedure preparation, procedural methods, swift post-treatment evaluation, and follow-up has resulted in clinicians following varied practices. Therefore, an expert consensus-based practical recommendation for local ablation was developed by a group of experts in radiology and hepatology from the Research Committee of the Korean Liver Cancer Association in collaboration with the Korean Society of Image-guided Tumor Ablation to provide useful information and guidance for performing local ablation and for the pre- and post-treatment management of patients.