• Health Policy and Management
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.253-263
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• 2023

Background: The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between the local extinction index and total medical service utilization. Methods: A fixed effects model in panel analysis was performed for the 228 administrative districts in Korea. The statistical yearbook on the usage of medical services by region and Korean Statistical Information Service data were used from 2010 to 2019 for analysis. Medical service utilization was represented by the number of visits day, the number of inpatient days, and medical charges. Control variables were selected by using an Anderson model. The local extinction index was calculated using resident registration population data. Results: Descriptive statistics showed that the number of areas at risk of extinction increased from 61 to 95 for the study years. In addition, the number of visits, the number of inpatient days, and medical charges all increased during the study years. After controlling for variables affecting medical service utilization and doing a panel fixed effects model, the result suggested that a one-step increase in the local extinction index was significantly associated with a 12.29% decrease in medical charges of inpatients, a 7.33% decrease in medical charge of outpatient, a 5.21% decrease in the number of inpatient day, and a 5.54% decrease in the number of visits day. Conclusion: This study showed that the higher the region's extinction risks, the higher the region's total medical service utilization. The results of this study suggested that there was a disparity in medical service utilization between areas at risk of extinction and areas not at risk of extinction, so measures should be taken to address this disparity.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.22-30
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• 2021

Objectives: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a public health emergency posing unprecedented challenges for health authorities. Social media may serve as an effective platform to disseminate health-related information. This study aimed to assess the extent of social media use, its impact on preventive behavior, and negative health effects such as cyberchondria and information overload. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted between June 10, 2020 and August 9, 2020 among people visiting the outpatient department of the authors' institution, and participants were also recruited during field visits for an awareness drive. Questions were developed on preventive behavior, and the Short Cyberchondria Scale and instruments dealing with information overload and perceived vulnerability were used. Results: The study recruited 767 participants with a mean age of about 45 years. Most of the participants (>90%) engaged in preventive behaviors, which were influenced by the extent of information received through social media platforms (β=3.297; p<0.001) and awareness of infection when a family member tested positive (β=29.082; p<0.001) or a neighbor tested positive (β=27.964; p<0.001). The majority (63.0%) of individuals often searched for COVID-19 related news on social media platforms. The mean±standard deviation scores for cyberchondria and information overload were 9.09±4.05 and 8.69±2.56, respectively. Significant and moderately strong correlations were found between cyberchondria, information overload, and perceived vulnerability to COVID-19. Conclusions: This study provides evidence that the use of social media as an information- seeking platform altered preventive behavior. However, excessive and misleading information resulted in cyberchondria and information overload.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.113-133
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• 2007

The present study was conducted to measure health-related utility for post-menopausal symptoms among Korean woman. A survey questionnaire was developed to measure utility based on visual analogue scale(VAS) and time trade-off method (TTO). From January 29 to February 3, 2007, a face-to-face interview was conducted with 274 women aged 45 to 60 to ask about their subjective utility for hypothetical health status of mild or severe post-menopausal symptoms. Among the participants, 160 were recruited from outpatient departments of 3 hospitals and 114 from 2 sports centers located in Seoul. For mild symptom, the average utility score of the respondents was $0.63{\pm}0.14$ based on VAS and $0.61{\pm}0.26$ based on ITO. For severe symptoms, the average utility was $0.39{\pm}0.16$(VAS) and $0.44{\pm}0.27$ (TTO). For severe symptom, a higher utility score was observed for TTO than for VAS, which is consistent with earlier studies and thus supports the validity of the utility measurement in this study. Overall, the severity of post-menopausal symptoms of the respondents themselves was not significantly associated with the utility score that the respondents answered for hypothetical health status. Multiple regression analysis results showed that the utility score was significantly higher among respondents with older age, higher education, higher family income, and from hospitals. It is expected that the utility score measured in this study will enhance the understanding of the quality of life of women after menopause and will be used to conduct cost-utility analysis of health care interventions to treat post-menopausal symptoms.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.435-445
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• 2017

This study was conducted to overcome the limitations of prior research on the equity of medical care performed by identifying simple differences in the use of medical care or using limited medical needs and medical utilization indicators. Specifically, we used activity limits, chronic diseases, and subjective health status as medical needs, and used outpatient, inpatient, and emergency services as medical uses. In addition, we used concentration index, concentration curve, and Le Grand factor to analyze the equity of medical use considering medical needs. The main results are as follows. First, the amount of medical care for the low-income class is higher than that of the high-income class when considering the concentration of medical use. In particular, the number of hospitalization days for low-income households and hospitalization fees were higher than the fees of outpatient medical consultation and emergency room usage. Second, medical needs were concentrated in the low income class. In other words, low-income group is not as healthy as the high-income group. Third, the Le Grand factor was calculated in order to confirm the fairness of the medical uses considering the medical needs. Even if medical needs are taken into consideration, the high-income earners will have a large amount of medical care. In addition, when considering the limitation of activity and the number of chronic diseases, the medical use of the high income class was more frequent. However, when the subjective health condition and the chronic illness were considered, medical use of the low income class was more frequent. This may be due to the underestimation of the medical needs of the low-income earners by neglecting their own health status and perception of chronic diseases.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.27 no.2 s.46
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• pp.366-376
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• 1994

Patients' evaluation of hospital care is one of the most important aspects of quality assessment. Survey allows patients to judge sujectively the events that occur during their hospital visit if performed properly. This study describes the result of a research effort to develop outpatient questionnaire that has sufficient validity and reliability to be used to measure patients' perception of satisfaction in Korea and to investigate influencing factors on patients' satisfaction. Self-administered questionnaire was developed for outpatient and the survey was conducted covering 827 outpatients in a tertiary hospital. It was confirmed by factor analysis that patients evaluate several components of ambulatory care distinctly ; hospital environment, administration and ancillary services, and medical care. We found strong evidence of construct validity and internal consistency for the above three dimensions of hospital process. On the contrary, reliability of overall outcome measures was low. It suggests that three items concerning overall outcome measures have some different meanings in patients' perception. Using logistic regression analysis it was found that previous health status, cost evaluation, and improvement in health status have significant influences on the level of patients' overall satisfaction and that patient's sex, experience of previous visit, expectation for improvement, cost evaluation, and improvement in health status are strongly related with intention to recommend hospital. In spite of some limitations the results of this study can be used helpfully as baseline informations for developing self-administered questionnaire and for exploring the influencing factors on patients' satisfaction. Further comprehensive research efforts should be made on the measurement of ambulatory patients' satisfaction and its related factors in current Korean situation.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.63-76
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• 1999

The main objective of this study was to develop a concept of service marketing promotion in nursing that is derived from the concepts of service marketing theory. This research was a descriptive study, at the factor isolation level. The principle of concept derivation suggested by Walker and Avant (1988) and the Hybrid model suggested by Schwarz-Barcott and Kim (1993) were employed as the research method. The data were collected from December, 1997 to April. 1998 at a large general hospital located in Seoul. The procedures of this study were as follows: First. at the theoretical phase: the meaning, attributes, and definition of service marketing promotion were identified through an extensive review of the literature. Second, at the empirical phase: fieldwork was done to identify the promotional activities and events in nursing. Top nurse managers from 4 units (Director of Nursing, Head nurses of inpatient nursing unit, outpatient nursing unit. and home care nursing unit) were interviewed and the content of the interview was analyzed to identify the meaning and attributes of promotion in nursing. Other methods such as brochures and other audio-visual materials which were relevant to nursing promotion were used to supplement the interviews. Finally, the results of the theoretical and empirical analyses were intergrated to develop a concept of service marketing in nursing practice. A final definition of service marketing promotion in nursing was identified as follows. 1. Promotion as a marketing function in nursing service is concerned with communication to target markets on all information related to nursing service in order to satisfy the objectives of both a nursing service organization and the target markets. 2. The goals of nursing service promotion include: 1) increasing visibility of nursing services and delivering the information on nursing services, 2) affirming the value of nursing services, so it can contribute to formulation of reimbursement policy for nursing services. 3) advancing the general image of the nursing profession and nursing services. 4) achieving and attaining a desirable positioning for nurses among health care professionals. and 5) creating and stimulating the demand for nursing services. 3. In order to obtain these goals it is necessary to provide information on nursing services, to persuade target markets. to remind them about nursing services. and to establish a collaborative relationship with related departments. 4. The tools used to carry out the above functions of promotion in nursing are the providing nursing services, public relations and publicity. QA of nursing, advertising, and sales promotion. 5. The target markets of nursing service include the nursing customer markets. the internal markets, the influence markets. the recruitment markets. the supplier markets. and the nursing referral markets. In conclusion, the concept of promotion in other service marketing areas can be applied to the promotion of nursing service marketing. The promotion of nursing service is more than just effective communication in nursing service. it is the effective use of the concepts of service marketing promotion. Promotion of nursing service will contribute to create and expand nursing services.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.5430-5441
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• 2015

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of Medicaid case management (CM) performed by Medicaid case managers on health management and to examine the overall health care utilization with high risk Medicaid beneficiaries. The subjects involved in this research were 113 Medicaid beneficiaries who were recipients CM in Y-gu between October 1st, 2012 and March 31th, 2013. The results show that there were significant differences in 'recognition of own disease', 'understanding of Medicaid policy', 'medication' and 'healthy lifestyle'. Also there were significant differences in 'appropriateness of health utilization', 'number of medical institutions', 'level of social isolation' and 'general health status'. In addition, significant differences were found in Medicaid days, outpatient days, medication days and Medicaid costs. It was found that the Medicaid CM had a positive effect on health care utilization. The study suggests the need of strengthening and diversifying Medicaid CM as well as supporting the management and monitoring after the termination of Medicaid CM.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.108-135
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• 1996

This paper investigates the current feature of management strategy of hospitals in Korea, and examines the relationships between adoption of a particular strategic orientation and the hospitals environmental and organizational characteristics, strategic behaviors and management improvement activities, and financial performance. Data were collected from CEOs of 88 hospitals among 650 hospitals for a 13.5% response rate using the self-administered questionnaire by mail survey. The major findings that obtained are as follows: 1. Only 37.2% of response hospitals carried out strategic planning, Most of these hospitals established the first strategic planning in 1991(81.3%) and renovated strategic planning by 4 or 5 years(56.3%), and modified strategic planning with flexibility(59.4%). Most strategic plans were documented, but informalized(68.8%). And only 29.0% of these hospitals had independent planning division. 2. Hospital services that CEOs assessed rank ordered for their impact on profitability are as follows: i)diagnostic ultrasound facility, computerized tomography scanner, obstetric inpatient unit, therapeutic X-ray, and physical therapy at present. ii)diagnostic ultrasound facility, physical therapy, computerized tomography scanner, emergency department, and health screening at future. And the services rank ordered that CEOs hoped to introduce are as follows: emergency department, physical therapy, health screening, volunteer services, and computerized tomography scanner. 3. Using a typology developed by Miles and Snow(l978), the strategic orientation of response hospitals are shifting significantly from defenders in the past to analyzers in the present, and to prospectors in the future(p<.01). 4. With regard to hospital environmental and organizational characteristics such as ownership, physician training, location, bed size, and hospital management training career and specialty of CEOs, the four strategic orientation archetypes varied not significantly. But, hospitals with a analyser orientation in the present and a reactor orientation in the future perceived competition significantly higher than the other three archetypes(p<.05). 5. The four archetypes rank ordered in terms of appling strategic behaviors and management improvement activities are as follows: prospector, analyzer, reactor, and defender. 6. The four archetypes differed significantly in terms of their financial performance using revenue per bed(p<.05). Reactors and prospectors in terms of total revenue per bed, prospectors in terms of outpatient revenue per bed, and reactors and prospectors in terms of inpatient revenue per bed had the best performance.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.60-66
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• 2024

Purpose: This study investigated changes in interpersonal violence and utilization of trauma recovery services during the COVID-19 pandemic. At an urban level I trauma center, trauma recovery services (TRS) provide education, counseling, peer support, and coordination of rehabilitation and recovery to address social and mental health needs. The COVID-19 pandemic prompted considerable changes in hospital services and increases in interpersonal victimization. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted between September 6, 2018 and December 20, 2020 for 1,908 victim-of-crime patients, including 574 victims of interpersonal violence. Outcomes included length of stay associated with initial TRS presentation, number of subsequent emergency department visits, number of outpatient appointments, and utilization of specific specialties within the year following the initial traumatic event. Results: Patients were primarily female (59.4%), single (80.1%), non-Hispanic (86.7%), and Black (59.2%). The mean age was 33.0 years, and 247 patients (49.2%) presented due to physical assault, 132 (26.3%) due to gunshot wounds, and 76 (15.1%) due to sexual assault. The perpetrators were primarily partners (27.9%) or strangers (23.3%). During the study period, 266 patients (mean, 14.9 patients per month) presented before the declaration of COVID-19 as a national emergency on March 13, 2020, while 236 patients (mean, 25.9 patients per month) presented afterward, representing a 74.6% increase in victim-of-crime patients treated. Interactions with TRS decreased during the COVID-19 period, with an average of 3.0 interactions per patient before COVID-19 versus 1.9 after emergency declaration (P<0.01). Similarly, reductions in length of stay were noted; the pre-COVID-19 average was 3.6 days, compared to 2.1 days post-COVID-19 (P=0.01). Conclusions: While interpersonal violence increased, TRS interactions decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic, reflecting interruption of services, COVID-19 precautions, and postponement/cancellation of elective visits. Future direction of hospital policy to enable resource and service delivery to this population, despite internal and external challenges, appears warranted.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.70 no.4
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• pp.307-314
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• 2011

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major cause of death and disability worldwide and one of the most prevalent diseases in Korea. We examined trends and risk factors of health care utilization for COPD in Korea. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the database of Patient Surveys from 1990 through 2008, which were nationwide surveys of health services utilization through outpatient department (OPD) visits and hospitalization. Physician-diagnosed COPD patients whose ages were 45 years and older were included. Results: OPD visits and hospitalization of COPD patients between 1990 and 2008 were estimated to be 68,552 and 17,774 persons, respectively. Trends in OPD visits and hospitalization for COPD significantly increased from 1990 through 2008 (p=0.019, p=0.001, respectively). The increment rate for OPD visits was 2.0 fold over those years; for hospitalization it was 3.3 fold. Risk factors for OPD visits for COPD were male gender (odd ration [OR], 1.41; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.39~1.43), those aged 65 years and older (OR, 1.50; 95% CI, 1.47~1.53), residential area other than a metropolis (OR, 1.08; 95% CI, 1.07~1.010) and access to a physician's office (OR, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.14~1.21). Risk factors for hospitalization were male gender (OR, 2.15; 95% CI, 2.07~2.23), those aged 65 year and older (OR, 2.86; 95% CI, 2.72~3.00), residential area other than a metropolis (OR, 1.98; 95% CI, 1.90~2.07) and access to a hospital (OR, 2.88; 95% CI, 2.59~3.22) (p<0.001, both). Conclusion: Health care utilization for COPD subjects increased from 1990 to 2008. Risk factors for the utilization were male gender, older age, and residential area other than a metropolis.