• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.125-148
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• 2011

Although the patient's problem with access to health information has been improved due to rapidly developing information technologies, such as the internet, some patients still do not have enough ability to understand, interpret, and analyze the health information. Given this view on the patient's asymmetric information problem, if a doctor provides sufficient effort to help patients understand and interpret medical information, the efficiency of patient's medical care use could be improved. This paper shows firstly that the patient's inefficient use of medical care originates from his information problems, such as the misperception of the effectiveness of medical care and secondly suggests that if the doctor makes sufficient effort to correct patient's information problems, the inefficiency can be ameliorated. This paper also suggests the manipulation of a doctor's payment method can lead a doctor to provide optimal level of efforts which can in turn lead patients to use the optimal level of medical care. With an optimal level of effort, a doctor can more easily achieve a patient's compliance with the newly recommended amount of medical care.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• no.37
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• pp.5-33
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• 2008

This study examines the use of medical care by the poor through analysing KNHANES III databases, and the focus of the study is on under-satisfaction of medical needs and the impact of the medicare system. The results of analysis are summerized as follows; the poor had generally suffered from poor health condition, and did not have economic resoure to satisfy the medical needs. But, the beneficiaries of the medicare used much more medical care than non-poor. The result of logistic regression suggest that the medicare affected significantly on increase of uses. Consquently, the medicare system effectively made up the lack of economic resoure of the poor. However, the Medicare did not sufficient to satisfy all the medical needs of the poor. Over 20% of the poor had experinced the abandonment of meical care uses, "the lack of econmic resource" was most important reason. The result of logistic regression suggest that all the poor such as Medicare I and Medicare II beneficiaries, and near-poor class had much more probabilities of giving up the use of medical care than non-poor. It is necessary to raise up the benefit level of the current medicare system such as the reduction of non-secured medical cost, the alleviation of user's burden etc.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.24 no.4 s.36
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• pp.485-495
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• 1991

This study examined the effects of referral requirements for insurance patients which have been enforced since July 1, 1989 when medical insurance coverage was extended to the whole population except beneficiaries of medical assistance program. The requirements are mainly aimed at discouraging the use of tertiary care hospitals by imposing restrictions on the patient's choice of a medical service facility. The expectation is that such change in the pattern of medical care utilization would produce several desirable effects including increased efficiency in patient care and balanced development of various types of medical service facilities. In this study, these effects were assessed by the change in the number of out-patient visits and bed-days per illness episode and the share of each type of facility in the volume of services and the amount of expenditures after the implementation of the new referral system. The data for analysis were obtained from the claims to the insurance for government and school employees. The sample was drawn from the claims for the patients treated during the first six months of 1989, prior to the enforcement of referral requirements, and those of the patients treated during the first six months of 1990, after the enforcement. The 1989 sample included 299,824 claims (3.6% of total) and the 1990 sample included 332,131 (3.7% of total). The data were processed to make the unit of analysis an illness episode instead of an insurance claim. The facilities and types of care utilized for a given illness episode are defined to make up the pathway of medical care utilization. This pathway was conceived of as a Markov Chain process for further analysis. The conclusion emerged from the analysis is that the enforcement of referral requirements resulted in less use of tertiary care hospitals, and thereby decreased the volume of services and the amount of insurance expenses per illness episode. However, there are a few points that have to be taken into account in relation to the conclusion. The new referral system is likely to increase the use of medical services not covered by insurance, so that its impact on national health expenditures would be different from that on insurance expenditures. The extension of insurance coverage must have inereased patient load for all types of medical service organizations, and this increase may be partly responsible for producing the effects attributed to the new referral system. For example, excessive patient load for tertiary care hospitals may lead to the transfer of their patients to other types of facilities. Another point is that the data for this study correspond to very early phase of the new system. But both patients and medical care providers would adapt themselves to the new system to avoid or overcome its disadvantages for them, so as that its effects could change over time. Therefore, it is still necessary to closely monitor the impact of the referral requirements.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.368-380
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• 1990

A central issue in the development of nursing practice is to describe the phenomenon with which nursing is concerned. To identify the health problems which can be diagnosed and managed by the nurse is the first step to organize and ensure the development of nursing science. Therefore the academic world has been discussing the application of the nursing diagnosis in nursing practice as a means of improving quality of care. The objectives of this study were to develop a standardized nursing care plan for ten selected nursing diagnoses to form a database for computerized nursing service. The research approach used in the study was (1) the selection of the ten nursing diagnoses which occur most frequently on medical-surgical wards, (2) the development of a standardized nursing care plan for the ten selected nursing diagnoses, (3) application of the plan to hospitalize patients and evaluation of the content validity by the nurses, and (4) evaluation of the clinical effects after the use of the standardized nursing care plans. The subjects were 56 nurses and 395 hospitalized patients on two medical and two surgical unit. The results of this study were as follows ; 1) The ten selected nursing diagnoses for the development of the standardized nursing care plans were “PAIN, SLEEP DISTURBANCE, ALTERED HEALTH MAINTENANCE, ALTERATION IN NUTRITION, ANXIETY, CONSTIPATION, ALTERED PATTERNS OF URINARY ELIMINATION, DISTURBANCE IN BODY IMAGE, POTENTIAL FOR ACTIVITY INTOLERANCE AND ACTIVITY INTOLERANCE”. 2. The developed standardized nursing care plans included the nursing diagnosis, definition, defining characteristics, etiologic or related factors that contribute to the condition, recording pattern, desired outcomes and nursing orders (nursing interventions). 3. The plan was used with hospitalized patients on medical - surgical wards to test for content validity. The patient's satisfaction with the nursing care and nurses' job satisfaction were investigated to evaluate the clinical effects after the use of the standardized nursing care plans. A comparison of patient satisfaction with nursing care before and after the introduction of the standardized nursing care plans showed a statistically significant higher level of satisfaction with the standardized care plans. There was no difference in the level of job satisfaction expressed by the nursing staff before and after the standardized nursing care plans were introduced. However, when opinions about the use of the standardized nursing care plans were examined it was found that there was a positive effect on clarity in defining the nursing problems, determining nursing cost, more feasible goal setting, effective and systematic nursing records and indications for nursing research. The results of this study suggest that in order to increase the use of nursing diagnoses in the clinical area, it would be effective to select some wards as a pilot project, give the nurses training in the use of nursing diagnosis and develop and use the standardized nursing care plans. In addition to the ten diagnosis used in this study it is recommended that continual development of nursing diagnoses be done using diagnoses that are appropriate to Korea and testing them for validity through standardized care plans.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.641-653
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• 2000

A quantitative descriptive survey was conducted to assess the needs of elderly people in relation to accessibility of medical care. Identifying their functional status was done and accessibility of medical care was ascertained. Using a convenient sampling method, 856 elderly aged 65 and over in Taejon-city participated. A multi-dimensional questionnaire containing sections on health status, Activities of Daily Living(ADLs) and accessibility of medical care in terms of use, time, distance, transport, cost and feeling at ease was developed by the researchers of this study to collect data. Data were collected between October and December, 1999. In general, the result of the self-reports from this study found that approximately 40% of participants had difficulties with their health status and ADLs while about 45% of the population did not access medical care. The majority of respondents stated that they had no difficulties with time distance and transport to access medical care. About two-thirds of the respondents felt that they had many or some difficulties with expenses and strategies for emergency to access medical care. Even though these findings need to be generalized, several recommendations for appropriate medical care delivery for the elderly still can be outlined from the study findings. Recommendations suggested are: To identify impediments to access medical care in emergency in elderly people and to remove those factors preventively are required. Responsible governmental involvement for solving problems of the medical care cost and additional costs in relation to separation of dispensary from medical practice for the elderly is required. More constructive and practical uses of public health community centers are recommended.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.229-232
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• 2014

A 55 year-old man hit a vehicle while riding a bicycle. He was diagnosed as left hemopneumothorax, multiple rib fracture, cerebral hemorrhage, and skull fracture. Initially he suffered from hypoxia requiring 100% oxygen with a mechanical ventilator. Finally he became hypotensive. Venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) was initiated to support patient's gas exchange. Because hypotension and left ventricular dysfuction persisted, we converted the mode of support to veno-arterio-venous ECMO. Over four days of intensive care, we could wean off ECMO. The patient went to rehabilitation facility after 45 days of hospitalization. Although trauma and bleeding are considered as relative contraindication of ECMO, careful decision making and management may enable us to use ECMO for trauma-related refractory heart and/or lung failure.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.28 no.1 s.49
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• pp.207-223
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• 1995

A new medical delivery system which regulated outpatient department(OPD) use from tertiary care hospitals was adopted in 1989. Under the new system, patients using tertiary care hospital OPD without referral slip from clinics or hospitals could not get any insurance benefit for the services received from the tertiary care hospital. This study was conducted to evaluate the Patient Referral System(PRS) with respect to health care expenditures and utilization. Two data sets were used in this study. One was monthly data set(from January 1986 to December 1992) from the Annual Report of Korea Medical Insurance Corporation(KMIC). The other was monthly joint data set composed of personal data of which 10% were selected randomly with their utilization data of KMIC from January 1988 to December 1992. The data were analyzed by time-series intervention model of SAS-ETS. The results of this study were as follows: 1. There was no statistically significant changes in per capita expenditures following PRS. 2. Utilization episodes per capita was increased statistically significantly after implementation of PRS. The use of clinics and hospitals increased significantly, whereas in tertiary care hospitals the use decreased significantly immediately after implementation of PRS and increased afterwards. 3. Follow-up visits per episode were decreased statistically significantly after implementation of PRS. The decrease of follow-up visits per episode were remarkable in clinics and hospitals, whereas in tertiary care hospitals it was increased significantly after implementation of PRS. 4. There was no statistically significant changes in prescribing days per episode following PRS. Futhermore, clinics and hospitals showed a statistically significant decrease in prescribing days per episode, whereas in tertiary care hospital it showed statistically significant increase after implementation of PRS. 5. Except high income class, the use of tertiary care hospitals showed statistically significant decrease after implementation of PRS. The degree of decrease in the use of tertiary care hospitals was inversely proportional to income. These results suggest that the PRS policy was not efficient because per capita expenditures did not decrease, and was not effective because utilization episodes per capita, follow-up visits per episode. and prescribing days per episode were not predictable and failed to show proper utilization. It was somewhat positive that utilization episodes per capita were decreased temporarily in tertiary care hospitals. And PRS policy was not appropriate because utilization episodes per capita was different among income groups. In conclusion, the PRS should be revised for initial goal attainment of cost containment and proper health care utilization.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.130-134
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• 2021

In the era of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), social distancing and strict visitation policies at hospitals have made it difficult for medical staff to provide high-quality end-of-life (EOL) care to dying patients and their families. There are various issues related to EOL care, including psychological problems of patients and their families, difficulties in EOL decision-making, the complicated grief of the bereaved family, moral distress, and exhaustion of medical staff. In relation to these issues, we aimed to discuss practical considerations in providing high-quality EOL care in the COVID-19 pandemic. First, medical staff should discuss advance care planning as early as possible and use the parallel planning strategy. Second, medical staff should play a role in facilitating patient-family communication. Third, medical staff should actively and proactively evaluate and alleviate dying patients' symptoms using non-verbal communication. Lastly, medical staff should provide care for family members of the dying patient, who may be particularly vulnerable to post-bereavement problems in the COVID-19 era. Establishing a system of screening high-risk individuals for complicated grief and connecting them to bereavement support services might be considered. Despite the challenging and limited environment, providing EOL care is essential for patients to die with dignity in peace and for the remaining family to return to life after the loved one's death. Efforts considering the practical issues faced by all medical staff and healthcare institutions caring for dying patients should be made.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2007

The application of the knowledge from the Human Genome Project to clinical medicine will be through both industrial drug development and the application of pharmacogenomics (PG) to patient care. The slow uptake of clinical innovations into clinical practice can be frustrating, but understanding the history of acceptance and sustaining medical innovation is critically important to position PG to succeed. This primarily means that PG tests must have legitimacy; they must be thoroughly validated, must be cost-effective, must be widely accepted by medical practitioners, must be supported by public policy, and must have a way of being easily incorporated into current medical practice. They must also lead to actionalble decisions by health care providers for their patients. Innovative PG assays should be tested in the best US laboratories, and reimbursement for testing must be accepted at the federal and state level. The companies providing these PG tests should be capable of sup-porting the interpretation and use of the test throughout medical practice. Advances such as the addition of PG information to drug labeling and the routine use of validated biomarkers to determine choice of cancer chemotherapy have been made. The PG research community must pay attention to the principles that have been previously described for acceptance and sustaining medical innovations in order for PG to be widely accepted in clinical medical practice.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.61-99
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• 2017

Medical practices such as surgery often need to accompany anesthesia, which frequently causes medical accidents. In order to determine whether a medical accident related to anesthesia was caused by a doctor's fault, it is necessary to understand what is the duty of care required for the medical staff such as a doctor through all stages of anesthesia. This paper analyzed Supreme Court decisions since 1990s and recent lower courts' decisions in order to understand standard of care with respect to anesthesia. While numerous medical accidents were related to inhalation anesthesia in the past, it turned out that recent medical accidents were often related to the use of intravenous or local anesthetics. In particular, legal disputes with respect to medical accidents related to propofol have considerably increased since 2007. However, because Supreme Court decisions as to anesthesia accidents are mostly related to inhalation anesthesia, they seem to be insufficient to set standard of care as to other types of anesthesia accidents. In light of the fact that medical accidents related to the use of propofol have been increasing, it is critical to establish and maintain clinical guidelines on the use of each anesthetic in the medical field. However, The Courts can present the standard of care suitable for medical reality to serve as a compass for medical practices.