• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.143-164
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• 2010

Although word-of-mouth (WOM) has been regarded as one of the very important topics in consumer research, its effects on other aspects of consumer behavior have been scarcely investigated in the context of health-care service industry. The WOM literature also suggests that it is essential for medical care service organizations in fierce competition to adopt WOM communication as a competitive weapon so as to be able to stay ahead of competition. The goal of this research was set to empirically study various relationships between antecedent variables, WOM acceptance, and purchase of medical care services. Specifically, drawing on the WOM literature, eight antecedents to WOM acceptance were selected first. Based on the relevant literature, seven sets of hypotheses on the relationships among antecedents to WOM, WOM acceptance, purchase intention and purchase of medical services were developed. Data were collected via an on-line survey. A total of 571 out of 600 responses turned out to be usable. The major findings of this study can be summarized as follows: First, 6 out of 8 antecedent variables to WOM acceptance were found to be positively affect WOM acceptance. However, the effects of (1) "newness of technology" pertaining to medical care service characteristics and (2) "involvement in health", one of receiver characteristics, were found to be insignificant. Second, most moderating effects on the relationship between purchase and purchase intention of medical care services were found to be insignificant with one exception. That is, elapse of time was found to be a marginally significant moderator on the relationship between purchase and purchase intention of medical care services. Third, it was found that the higher the WOM acceptance, the higher the purchase intention of medical care services. Finally, the effect of WOM acceptance was found to be particularly strong when WOM contents were perceived as useful and positive. Overall, it seems essential for hospitals to actively adopt WOM communication as a competitive marketing tool if they plan to improve their business performance. In this respect, the current study may serve to improve the business performance of hospitals by way of providing theoretical and empirical evidence on the effects of WOM communication variables on WOM acceptance and medical care service purchase.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.323-329
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• 2022

Background: This study aimed to identify the characteristics of the referral and return of patients to clinics in the endocrinology and cardiology departments at the National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital to evaluate the "referral and return of patients to clinics" program and reduce the rate of returning patients. Methods: From May 2018 to December 2020, we identified the number of visits to referral hospitals and hospital usage status at Ilsan Hospital after returning to clinics. We also identified the patients who returned to Ilsan Hospital within 6 months, defined as "failure to transport," among those recommended to be transported to clinics of the Medical Cooperation Center. Additionally, we evaluated the characteristics of the "failure to transport" patients. Results: Among the returning patients, the rate of visiting Ilsan Hospital within 6 months was higher in cardiology than in endocrinology (25.1% vs. 16.7%). Older age, more severe disease, and more number of visits to the department were associated with a high rate of failure to transport. The rate of failure to return was low in cases diagnosed with hyperlipidemia/lipoprotein metabolism disorder. With respect to diabetes, the rate of failure to transport differed according to each type of diagnosis of diabetes. Conclusion: The success rate of the "referral and return of patient to clinics" program differed based on each patient's characteristics, department of visit, and diagnosis. Individualizing according to the visit department and diagnosis is required to ensure successful transfers, and infrastructure expansion and institutional arrangements must be facilitated.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.455-461
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• 2007

Purpose: To examine patient satisfaction with nursing care and the difference of patient satisfaction by the characteristics of emergency care service in the center for emergency medicine. Method: We surveyed 145 patients who visited Pusan-Wide Emergency Medical Center from Nov 01, 2003 to Nov 30, 2003. Patient satisfaction was assessed by asking patients and medical records reviewed to obtain the characteristics of emergency care service. Results: The mean score of patient satisfaction with nursing care was 3.12. For patient satisfaction, 'The nurse seemed earnestly concerned about my pain, fear, and anxiety' represented highest score (3.58). Patient satisfaction according to the general characteristics of patients was revealed as significantly high for the higher educated and the older. Patient satisfaction by the characteristics of emergency care service was significantly higher in no-wait group. Conclusion: Also, the fundamental of nursing, like respect for human, was maintained in emergency setting, the hospital's administration has implemented service for a high level of satisfaction with nursing care up to the expectations of the patients for with the staff and medical equipment.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.43-53
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• 2020

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors of importance in the medical field from the perspective of the consumer, using "Consumption Life Indicators in Korea." Methods: We examined the general characteristics, economic conditions, information acquisition, complaint-provoking experiences, cognitive score on dispute resolution, and factors affecting medical domain importance selection, using SAS 9.4. software. Results: It was found that "age" among general characteristics and "income" among economic conditions were important factors in selecting medical domain importance. Thus, it was possible to reaffirm the poor health of socioeconomically vulnerable people and their socioeconomic difficulties. Conclusions: The medical domain selection group needs the attention of the government, medical institutions, academia, consumer groups, community service groups and professional organizations, and needs substantial economic support and customized education.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.159-169
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• 2014

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of case management for patients with hypertension on their health status and medical service utilization. Methods: This study was a secondary analysis of data collected for a larger study of chronic disease management in 2008 using the National Health Insurance Corporation database. A total of 12,944 patients who received case management for hypertension were included in this analysis. The subjects of case management were classified into subgroups, namely, over-use, under-use, and non-use groups according to the amount of medical service utilization. To compare the medical service utilization, a control group was selected randomly. The data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, McNemar test, and ANOVA. Results: All the subgroups displayed significant differences in blood pressure, self-management, social support, and their characteristics of medical service utilization. The total medical expense of the under-use and non-use groups increased after case management. However, there was no decrease in the medical expense of the over-use group. Conclusion: This finding suggests that there is a need to re-examine why patients overuse medical services and to supplement specific strategies for encouraging appropriate medical service utilization, and enhancing case management efforts for the over-use group.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.77-86
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• 2012

Objective of the study represents experiences of medical utilization of Psychiatric Outpatients. This research draws on information obtained from the 2008 National-wide sampling study of the Korean Healthcare Panel(KHP) conducted. The results of our study suggest the significance of variables such as the gender(p<.001) in the social demographical characteristics, the medical security type(p<.016), medical institution utilization(p<.012) treatment type(p<.004) in the utilization factors. In the case of medical utilization cost, the financial support factor(p<.018) showed a significant relationship. Depending on the particularities of gender, medical security type, financial support, medical institution utilization, treatment type were determined through a multiple logistics regression analysis. Gender showed that, among Psychiatric outpatient age of 30-59 level was 5.358 times and 60 years and older, their the second medical examination level was 4.490 times higher than Psychiatric outpatients under the age of 29. Health insurance type showed for the others medical allowance was 6.712 times higher than job health insurance and the other treatment was 0.395 times lower than drug treatment. Psychiatric outpatients utilization are rooted in the thoughts and factor levels of the Psychiatric patients and must be understood from the Psychiatric outpatients's perspective. The point is not only to gauge the patients research during Psychiatric medical utilization. The important of social community mental healthcare services levels goes beyond the goal of enhancing healthcare.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.26-36
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• 2021

Purpose : This study aimed to present the incidence of pressure ulcers and identify different associated factors according to the time of occurrence of pressure ulcers in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Methods : The participants were 313 patients who reported pressure ulcers among 2,908 patients in ICUs at a large tertiary hospital in Gyeonggi-do. Among them, 220 patients (70.3%) had a pressure ulcer before admission, and 93 patients (29.7%) reported newly developed pressure ulcers after admission to the ICU. Data were collected between August 2018 and April 2019. Along with the time of occurrence and characteristics of pressure ulcers, diverse associated factors were gathered through electronic medical records. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t-tests, and 𝑥²-tests. Results : Different risk factors associated with pressure ulcers in ICU patients according to the time of occurrence were main diagnosis, score of acute physiology and chronic health evaluation, score of Richmond agitation sedation scale, level of consciousness, administered sedatives, use of a ventilator, insertion of a feeding tube, and the duration of fasting period. Conclusion : Based on the results of this study, healthcare providers, especially ICU nurses, should try to detect early signs and symptoms of pressure ulcers, taking into account the derived factors associated with pressure ulcers in ICU patients. Practical intervention programs and strategies considering the factors associated with pressure ulcers must be developed to prevent and alleviate such ulcers in ICU patients in the future.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.126-147
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• 2000

This paper empirically explores the nature of the medical service industry and its various propagation effects on the economy in the input-output model, as revealed by a comparative analysis between Korea and Japan. The main findings of the paper are as follows; First, the growth of medical industry induces above-average effect on employment. Second, the industry is of the characteristics of weak both backward and forward linkage effects implying a 'final demand dependency industry'. When compared with public service sectors, however, the medical services industry shows stronger backward linkage effect than those sectors. Furthermore, it has strong repercussion effects on the goods industries. Third, in order to produce per unit of services, the medical services industry of Korea uses relatively more drugs and medical devices than that of Japan. In general, it has been shown that production structure of medical service industry in Korea is 'hardware-oriented' one; on the other hand, 'software-oriented' in Japan which means that, as intermediate inputs, outsourcing and informatization has been used than those of Korea. From the findings of the paper it could be emphasized that the medical organizations in Korea should put more efforts on shifting the current hardware-oriented production structure to strengthen core competence by enhancing productivity and by outsourcing to improve efficiency of production process. However, the medical organizations in Korea would not have enough incentives for high value-added production structure because they enjoy high operating surplus. Therefore, it would be necessary that government policy should be taken into account of these environments.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.155-159
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• 2019

Radiological properties of newly introduced and existing 3-dimensional (3D) printing materials were evaluated by measuring their Hounsfield units (HUs) at varying infill densities. The six materials for 3D printing which consisted of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), a unique ABS plastic blend manufactured by Zortrax (ULTRAT), high impact polystyrene (HIPS), polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG), polylactic acid (PLA), and a thermoplastic polyester elastomer manufactured by Zortrax (FLEX) were used. We used computed tomography (CT) imaging to determine the HU values of each material, and thus assess its suitability for various applications in radiation oncology. We found that several material and infill density combinations resembled the HU values of fat, soft tissues, and lungs; however, none of the tested materials exhibited HU values similar to that of bone. These results will help researchers and clinicians develop more appropriate instruments for improving the quality of radiation therapy. Using optimized infill densities will help improve the quality of radiation therapy by producing customized instruments for each field of radiation therapy.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.268-277
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• 2021

Background: Most antipsychotic drugs studies have been mainly conducted on side effects, randomized clinical trials, utilization rates, and trends. But there have been few studies on the influencing factors in elderly patients. The purpose of this study was to analyze the influencing factors on the outpatient prescription of antipsychotic drugs in the elderly patients. Methods: Active ingredients of antipsychotic drugs in Korea were selected according to the Korean Pharmaceutical Information Center (KPIC)'s classification. Data source was Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) claims data in 2020 and target patient group was the elderly patient group. We extracted patients who have been prescribed one or more antipsychotic drugs and visited only one medical institution. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square, t-test, negative binomial regression. Results: A number of outpatients were 245,197 and prescriptions were 1,379,092. Most characteristics of patients were 75-85 year's old, female, health insurance type, no disease (dementia, schizophrenia), atypical drugs, cci score (>2) and characteristics of medical institution were neurology in specialty, rural region, general hospitals. Results of regression showed that patient's characteristics and medical center characteristics had significant effect on the outpatient prescription of antipsychotic drugs in the elderly patients. Conclusion: This study suggests that national policy of antipsychotic drugs in the elderly patients, with the consideration of the patients' and medical institutions' characteristics, is needed.