• 보건행정학회지
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• 제9권2호
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• pp.139-156
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• 1999

Recent changes in the health care environment have directed increasing attention to the number and specialty mix of practicing physicians. A major concern identified in Korean health care system is the serious oversupply of specialists and a relative lack of primary care physicians. Currently only 21% of Korean physicians are primary care physicians(general practitioners and family physicians), and less than 10% of recent medical school graduates are choosing to enter primary care. More primary care physicians are needed to deal with major problems in the current health care system, such as cost and access. The infrastructure that relies on primary care physicians is needed to deliver cost-effective and efficient care. To achieve a better balance of primary care to non-primary care physicians. more medical students need to choose careers in one of the primary care specialties(family medicine. internal medicine and pediatrics). This paper suggests the necessity of reforming the Korean graduate medical education system, that is, establishing the path of training primary care physicians in internal medicine and pediatrics residency training programs.

• 한국의료질향상학회지
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• 제25권2호
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• pp.16-25
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• 2019

Purpose:The healthcare system of South Korea is at the extreme of the dispersed system. Few regulations limit patients from directly visiting higher-level medical institutions for primary care sensitive conditions. As a result, similar to local clinics, general and tertiary teaching hospitals also provide diverse primary care services. Our study aimed to examine the general public's perceptions of their primary care performance. Methods: Face-to-face surveys were conducted with 1000 adults who were living in South Korea with the aid of a questionnaire that included the Korean Primary Care Assessment Tool (KPCAT). The KPCAT consists of five domains, which are the main indicators of primary care performance: first contact, comprehensiveness, coordination, personalized care, and family/community orientation. One-way analysis of variance and post hoc tests were used to compare the KPCAT scores across the three types of medical institutions. Results: Domain-wise analyses revealed two different patterns. With regard to first contact and its subdomains, the highest and lowest scores emerged for local clinics and tertiary teaching hospitals, respectively. However, the other four domain scores were significantly lower for local clinics than for the other two types of medical institutions. Conclusions: Local clinics were perceived to be medical institutions that are responsible for providing primary care. However, the general public perceived only one domain of their primary care to be superior to that of the other two types of medical institutions: first contact. National efforts should be taken to strengthen their other four domains of primary care by training their workforce and providing appropriate incentives.

• 동의신경정신과학회지
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• 제34권4호
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• pp.359-368
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• 2023

Objectives: This study aims to establish a Korean medicine doctor's range of services in the dementia relief primary care system based on the previously developed dementia clinical practice guidelines (CPGs). Developing a dementia relief primary care Clinical Pathway (CP) can aid clinically when the Korean medicine primary care doctor conducts treatment. Methods: We analyzed Dementia Korean Medicine Primary Care Model Data and then applied CP Methodology to develop the configuration of the Korean Medicine Primary Care Model. For patients with Alzheimer's dementia (AD), vascular dementia (VD), and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), the Korean Medicine Primary Care Model focuses on improving cognitive function, everyday living abilities and easing symptoms through interventions described in CPGs. The contents of the draft model later include references to already-existing CPs. Results: The study sites were chosen as Korean medical clinics connected to primary care physicians in the dementia-friendly model. The CP used a time task matrix version to arrange the clinical chronology, which included all examinations, diagnoses, and treatment procedures, from the initial appointment to follow-ups and the end of therapy. Conclusions: It anticipates that Korean primary care doctors familiar with dementia can use the offered therapies for the first time by creating the dementia Korean medicine primary care model in this study. This is expected to maximize the range of medical services provided by Korean medicine and improve the standard of medical treatment.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권13호
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• pp.5499-5505
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• 2015

Background: Providing care for hematologic cancer patients may lead to many negative complications in different aspects of life in their family caregivers. Based on a wide review of relevant literature, there are limited data about the burden of giving care for hematologic cancer patients on their primary family caregivers in Iran or other Middle Eastern countries. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the cancer care burden on primary family caregivers of hematologic cancer patients, in terms of physical, psychological, social, spiritual, and financial aspects. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, 151 primary family caregivers of hematologic cancer patients referred to two cancer care centers in East Azerbaijan Province in northwest of Iran participated. The Financial Distress/Financial Well-being Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Vaux Social Support Questionnaire, Spiritual Well-being Scale, and SF-36 were used for data collection. Data analysis was performed with SPSS software. Results: The findings of this study indicated that the primary family caregivers experience a high level of financial distress and a significant percentage of them suffered from anxiety and depression. In addition, the physical quality of life in these caregivers was moderate. On the other hand, spiritual health and social support of participants was at an acceptable level. Conclusions: Iranian primary family caregivers of hematologic cancer patients experience many problems in physical, psychological, and financial aspects of their life. Therefore, developing care plans for reducing these problems appears necessary.

• 한국농촌간호학회지
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• 제1권1호
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• pp.5-10
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• 2006

Purpose: This study was done to identify strategies for the reform of the primary health care delivery system in rural areas. Methods: Official documents on changes in the rural health care environment were reviewed along with previous articles on reform of the health care delivery system in rural areas. Results: The primary health care system in rural areas of South Korea has not been well developed by the government. The government has mainly invested in hardware like facilities and equipment but, not in software like the delivery system or personnel. Nowadays every country is confronted with an aging society, which means an increase in the prevalence of chronic disease. Thus they have again become interested in primary health care delivery system. Further, characteristics of the primary health care system have changed to be more comprehensive and to focus on chronic disease. The primary health care system in rural areas should have basic health care functions and a visiting medical officer(doctor) connected with basic health care. Conclusions: The primary health care delivery system is the best strategy when adjusted to the characteristic of the chronic diseases that are prevalent today. Cooperation of the central government and local government is important if these changes are to be realized.

• 보건의료기술평가
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• 제6권2호
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• pp.88-94
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• 2018

This review aims to provide implications for relevant domestic policies and researches from Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH), a reinforcement model for primary care and its evaluations in the United States. As chronic diseases became dominant, changes in the health care delivery system in which primary care is central was required. The United States initiated primary care-reinforcing policies based on the PCMH following the increased demand for evidence-based health care policies. The current activities of the United States such as sharing research tools used to evaluate primary care interventions and circulating evaluation findings provide examples to Korea. Systematic evaluations for primary care interventions are required and appropriate methods using various types of data to reflect the real-world settings should be prepared. It is necessary to conduct policy assessment studies of public interests considering regional context. Support for the researches to make and advance from the existing environment must be examined.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권6호
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• pp.2901-2904
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• 2014

The incidence of colorectal cancer has been increasing in many Asian countries including Malaysia during the past few decades. A physician recommendation has been shown to be a major factor that motivates patients to undergo screening. The present study objectives were to describe the practice of colorectal cancer screening by primary care providers in Malaysia and to determine the barriers for not following recommendations. In this cross sectional study involving 132 primary care providers from 44 Primary Care clinics in West Malaysia, self-administered questionnaires which consisted of demographic data, qualification, background on the primary care clinic, practices on colorectal cancer screening and barriers to colorectal cancer screening were distributed. A total of 116 primary care providers responded making a response rate of 87.9%. About 21% recommended faecal occult blood test (FOBT) in more than 50% of their patients who were eligible. The most common barrier was "unavailability of the test". The two most common patient factors are "patient in a hurry" and "poor patient awareness". This study indicates that colorectal cancer preventive activities among primary care providers are still poor in Malaysia. This may be related to the low availability of the test in the primary care setting and poor awareness and understanding of the importance of colorectal cancer screening among patients. More awareness programmes are required for the public. In addition, primary care providers should be kept abreast with the latest recommendations and policy makers need to improve colorectal cancer screening services in health clinics.

• 보건행정학회지
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• 제3권2호
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• pp.100-129
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• 1993

This study is designed to find out some intra-clinic factors affecting the content of practice provided by primary care physicians in Korea, and proposed factors in this study are characteristcs of each private clinc --- physician-related variables(age, sex, specialty), bfed-related variables for inpatient care, laboratory-related variables for precise diagnosis. We have tried to estimate the difference of disease entities cared by each primary care physician according to above factors by analyzin gdisease data claimed during one month(April, 1992) to National Federation of Medical Insurance. The diagnosis codes by ICD-9 in the research disease data were reclassified to 'diagnosis clusters' by virtue of clinical similarities for effective analyses. We have converted frequent-tsing ICD-9 codes to 86 diagnosis clusters, which incorporated 97.4 percents of all ambulatory visits to private clinics. This result means proposed diagnosis-cluster method is effective tool for analysis of the content of ambulatory medical care carried out by primary care physicians. Comparisons and analyses of multiple diagnosis-clusters made on the basis of presented factors were done and the results were as follows; - Major factors affecting the difference between diagnosis-cluster pattern by each variables were phyusician's age, sex, specialty and bed counts of each private clinic for inpatient care and the size of laboratories of each clinic. - Middle aged(30th to 40th) group physicians are providing more comprehensive care than 20th or above 50th aged groups. Male physicians are more adequate for comprehensive care than female physicians, because woman-doctors are providing narrow-spectrum care. The content of practice of obstetricians and gynecologists shows much difference from primary medical practice, and they cannot be included in primary care physician, this study suggested. Pediatricians are also providing short-spectum acre, and nearly all visits to pediatricians were incorporated only 2-3 diagnosis-clusters. General surgeons' practices are very similar to general practioners' or family physicians' practices, the means they are providing primary care rather than special surgical care. And small number of beds(under 5 beds) and only basic(2-3 sorts of)diagnostic apparatuses are sufficient for primary physicians' clinic to carry out primary care. In conclusion, to reinforce primary care department in Korea, there must be support with health policy to expand office-based primary care practice-- with small number of beds for inpatient care and only basic laboratories-- provided by general practitioner of family physician.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제17권1호
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• pp.37-45
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• 1984

의료보호사업의 의료이용 현황을 파악하고 그동안 시행과정에서 나타난 문제점을 발견하여 이에 대한 합리적인 개선책을 마련하는데 도움을 주고자 경산군의 전 의료보호대상자 17,527명이 1981년 10월 1일부터 1982년 9월말까지 1년동안에 진료증을 사용하여 진료를 받은 의료이용과 상병상태를 일차진료기관의 진료기록부와 매달 각 의료기관에서 군에 제출한 진료비청구서 및 내역서 기타 군과 읍, 면의 각종 행정통제자료에서 조사분석하였다. 경산군의 의료보호대상자는 전인구의 12.7%로서 전국의 9.5%보다 높았다. 대상자들의 의료이용율은 1차진료의 경우 대상자 100명당 월간 환자수는 9.3명, 방문회수는 14.0회, 투약일수는 42.9일이었다. 2,3차 진료의 경우는 연간 대상자 100명 당 입원이 1.7건, 외래이용이 9.3건이었다. 1종대상자가 2종대상자에 비해 1차진료 및 2,3차 진료 모두에서 의료이용이 월등히 높았다. 성별이용율은 1차진료는 여자가, 2,3차 진료는 남자가 많았다. 월별이용율은 7월이 가장 높고 1월이 가장 낮았다. 1월이 가장 낮은 것은 진료증의 갱신때문인 것으로 생각된다. 2,3차 진료기관의 연간 이용자수는 1,931명이고 이중 84.4%가 외래진료이었고 15.6%가 입원이었다. 전문과목별로는 정신과 환자가 66명중 55명이 입원으로 가장 높은 입원율을 나타내었으며, 이비인후과, 안과, 피부과, 비뇨기과 등은 연 입원환자가 $1{\sim}4$명으로 아주 낮은 입원율을 나타내었다. 2,3차 진료기관의 평균입원일수는 21.2일, 외래평균치료기관은 4.7일, 입원과 외래전체의 평균치료기간은 8.6일이었다. 정신과 환자의 평균 입원일수가 74.4일이나 되어 정신과를 제외할 경우 평균 입원일수는 9.3일이었다. 질환군으로 분류한 환자분포는 1차진료는 호흡기질환(35.4%)이 가장 많고, 2,3차 진료는 신경감각기질환(20.1%)이 가장 많았다. 연간 의료보호대상자 1인당 평균 진료비는 9,821원(1종: 24,240원, 2종: 7,464원)이고, 가구당 평균진료비는 40,531원(1종: 66,605원, 2종: 33,559원)이었다. 일차진료기관의 건당진료비는 3,901원, 일당진료비는 840원이고, 2,3차 진료기관의 건당진료비는 49,875원, 일당진료비는 5,822원이었다. 본 조사결과 다음과 같은 의료보호제도의 개선책을 제시하고자 한다. 첫째, 의료보호증의 연초에 일제갱신시 재발급절차를 신속히 할 수 있는 방안이 마련되었으면 한다. 둘째, 전문과목별로 1차지정의료기관을 지정함으로(관내에 전문의료기관이 없을 경우 인근 진료권에 지정) 2,3차 진료기관으로 이송되는 환자를 줄여서 예산의 절감과 이용자의 불편을 덜어주어야 한다고 생각된다. 셋째, 1차지정의료기관과 2,3차 지정의료기관의 진료비 산출방법이 좀더 합리적으로 개선되어야 한다고 생각된다.

• 농촌의학ㆍ지역보건
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• 제20권1호
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• pp.51-60
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• 1995

This study was to examine the awareness of health and the utilization of primary health care in rural areas. The data were obtained from self-administered questionnaire conducted 450 parents of Mi Gum md Su Dong middle school students in Nam yang Ju city, Kyung Gi-Do, Korea, from December 15 to 20 in 1993. The results were as follows : 1) Among the causes of disease, 'insufficient health care' was the highest(39.1%), and 'bad environment'(28.9%), 'complexity of life style'(17.8%) in next order. 2) In the priority between 'daily farm work' and 'primary health care', only 45.6% of respondents answered that primary health care is more important than the daily farm work. The 29.8% of respondents answered 'daily farm work', and the 23.1% answered 'the equal of the both'. 3) The 63.6% of the respondents recognized correctly, the meaning of primary health care. And the rate of information source in primary health care were 'TV and Radio'(42.2%), 'medical facilities'(23.3%), and 'newspaper and magazine'(11.3%) in order. 4) In the choice rate of medical facilities for primary health care, 'drug store' was the highest(34.9%), and 'local private clinic'(34.7%), 'health (sub)center'(15.8%), 'hospital'(10.2%) in next order. 5) The 53.5% of the respondents had experienced to visit the health (sub)center more than once. And the disfavorite reasons of health (sub)center were 'insufficient equipment'(36.7%), 'inavailable time to visit'(26.9%), and 'poor treatment'(9.1%). 6) Among the preference of the physicians for primary health care, 'specialist' was the highest rate of the respondents(54.2%), and 'general practitioner'(32.4%), and 'family doctor'(9.8%) in next order. The major obstacles in utilizing the medical facilities for primary health care were 'daily farm work'(41.6%), 'distance'(21.1%) and 'medical cost'(10.4%) in order. 7) The weakened reasons in health (sub)center function were 'insufficient medical equipment'(44.4%), 'the lack of resident's understanding for health (sub)center'(21.8%), and 'short thought of duty in health (sub)center personnel'(16.9%) in order.