• Health Policy and Management
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.68-90
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• 2007

Nurse staffing level is an important factor that influences the quality of health service and patient outcomes. This study was carried out to examine the current state of acute hospital nurse staffing and find out factors that affect the nurse staffing level. Nurse staffing of individual hospitals was measured using the number of registered nurses per 100 beds. Descriptive and multiple regression analyses were conducted using 592 acute care hospitals' data. Regression model included structure factors such as referral level, ownership, medical and general staffing, and financial outcome factors such as occupancy rate, inpatient and outpatient revenues. Market characteristics included strength of competition, supply of nurses, and income and health status level of consumers. The average number of nurses per 100 beds was 28 and showed a great variation according to the referral level. Regression model explained this variation as much as 76.87%. Hospital structure variables which affecting the hospital nurse staffing level positively were ICU bed ratio, the staffing level of specialist, training doctor and employees except doctor and nursing personnel, while the negative factor was nurse aid staffing level. General hospitals employed more nurses than hospitals. Among outcome characteristics, occupancy rate and the amount of health insurance inpatient revenue affected positively on the hospital nurse staffing level. The more supply of the new nurse and the higher consumer income and health status in the medical service markets, the more nurses were employed by the medical institutes. According to the study result, hospitals employed more nurses when they had more financial incentive by increasing nurses. This means appropriate hospital incentive policy and regulation policy, which hospital violate nurse staffing level have to pay penality, should be needed. Clarifying job description between nurses and nurse aids and the reentry program for unemployed experienced nurses will be helpful to increase nurse staffing level.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.21-32
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• 2018

Purpose: This study attempted to identify regional disparities of self-rated health among Korean wage workers and to investigate the influencing factors on them. Methods: The study subjects were 25,069 workers in 16 regions who were extracted from the 2014 Korean Working Condition Survey (KWCS). A multilevel analysis was conducted by building hierarchical data at individual and regional level. Results: In this study, 'financial autonomy rate' and 'current smoking rate' were identified as regional factors influencing the workers' self-rated health. When the socio-demographic and occupational factors of the workers were controlled, 'current smoking rate', a health policy factor, explained the regional disparity of workers' health status. Conclusion: We found that the health status of workers can be affected by the health behavior level of the whole population in their residential area. In order to improve the health status of working population and to alleviate their regional health inequalities, it is necessary to strengthen macro and structural level interventions.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.69-90
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• 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of healthcare accreditation and to provide empirical evidence to validate positive effectiveness. Methods:Six electronic databases (KERIS, KoreaMed, NDSL, Ovid-medline, Embase, Cochrane library) were accessed in May 2016. Keywords used were 'accreditation' and 'Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization (JCAHO)'. Of the initially identified 3,008 articles, 60 studies on healthcare accreditation were selected based on inclusion criteria that are hospital accreditation, accreditation by disease and clinical center accreditation. These were retrieved and analyzed. Result: The 60 study results were on the impact of healthcare accreditation. Results were classified into four perspectives of Balanced Score Card (Financial, Customer, Internal Process, Learning & Growth). In internal process perspective, results revealed that healthcare accreditation has made a positive impact on "care process and procedure". In learning & growth perspective, healthcare accreditation has made a positive influence on "leadership", "organizational cultures" and "change mechanisms". However, it revealed that healthcare accreditation does not directly affect financial performance. It is also difficult to reach a definitive conclusion that healthcare accreditation programs affect patient satisfaction of customer and clinical outcome of the internal process. Conclusion: Healthcare accreditation programs provide positive impact on change of care process and building communication-oriented hospital culture. However, more rigorous and diverse research is needed on financial effects and clinical outcomes of healthcare accreditation.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.2616-2623
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is investigate the sociology population variable and social support system(emotional, financial, informal and evaluative support) with regards to the death anxiety and provide a basic data to relieve the fear of death in the elderly special nursing service. 300 old people who are living in Daeg-gu city and Kyong-buk province were selected and interviewed under their agreement which they are fully aware of the purpose and the intention of this study. Interviews for study were performed by structured questionnaire which consists of general area(11-question), social support area(emotional support 7-question, financial support 6-question, informal support 6-question and evaluative support 6-question) and death-anxiety(20-question). Statistical analysis was carried out with SPSS 12.0 program, which was applied to descriptive statistics and regression analysis to analyze the questionnaire.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.111-133
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• 2010

Marketing financial services used to be easier. Today, the competition in financial services is fierce. Not only has the competition become more intense, financial services have also changed structurally. In an environment with various customer needs and severe competitions, the marketing in financial services industry is getting more difficult and more important than before. However, there are still not enough studies on financial services marketing in Korea whereas lots of research papers have been published frequently in some international journals. The purpose of this paper is (1)to review the literature on financial services marketing, (2)to investigate current marketing activities based on in-depth interview with financial marketing managers in Korea, and (3)to suggest some implications for future research on the financial services marketing. Financial products are not consumer products. In fact, they are not products at all in the way product marketing is usually described. Nor are they altogether like services. The financial industry operates in a unique way, and its marketing tasks are correspondingly complex. However, the literature review shows that there has been a lack of basic studies which dealt with inherent characteristics of financial services marketing compared to the research on marketing in other industries. Many studies in domestic marketing journals have so far focused only on the general customer behaviors and the special issues in some financial industries. However, for more effective financial services marketing, we have to answer following questions. Is there any difference between financial service marketing and consumer packaged goods marketing? What are the differences between the financial services marketing and other services marketing such as education and health services? Are there different ways of marketing among banks, securities firms, insurance firms, and credit card companies? In other words, we need more detailed research as well as basic studies about the financial services marketing. For example, we need concrete definitions of financial services marketing, bank marketing, securities firm marketing, and etc. It is also required to compare the characteristics of each marketing within the financial services industry. The products sold in each market have different characteristics such as duration and degree of risk-taking. It means that there are sub-categories in financial services marketing. We have to consider them in the future research on the financial services marketing. It is also necessary to study customer decision making process in the financial markets. There have been little research on how customers search and process information, compare alternatives, make final decision, and repeat their choices. Because financial services have some unique characteristics, we need different understandings in the customer behaviors compared to the behaviors in other service markets. And also considering the rapid growth in financial markets and upcoming severe competition between domestic and global financial companies, it is time to start more systematic and detailed research on financial services marketing in Korea. In the second part of this paper, I analyzed the results of in-depth interview with 20 marketing managers of financial services companies in Korea. As a result, I found that the role of marketing departments in Korean financial companies are mainly focused on the short-term activities such as sales support, promotion, and CRM data analysis although the size and history of marketing departments to some extent show a sign of maturity. Most companies established official marketing departments before 2001. Average number of employees in a marketing department is about 58. However, marketing managers in eight companies(40% of the sample) still think that the purpose of marketing is only to support and manage general sales activities. It shows that some companies have sales-oriented concept rather than marketing-oriented concept. I also found three key words which marketing managers think importantly in financial services markets. They are (1)Trust in customer relationship, (2)Brand differentiation, and (3)Rapid response to customer needs. 50% of the sample support that "Trust" is the most important key word in the financial services marketing. It is interesting that 80% of banks and securities companies think that "Trust" is the most important thing, whereas managers in credit card companies consider "Rapid response to customer needs" as the most important key word in their market. In addition, there are different problems recognition of marketing managers depending on the types of financial industries they belong to. For example, in the case of banks and insurance companies, marketing managers consider "a lack of communication with other departments" as the most serious problem. On the other hand, in the case of securities firms, "a lack of utilization of customer data" is the most serious problem. These results imply that there are different important factors for the customer satisfaction depending on the types of financial industries, and managers have to consider them when marketing financial products in more effective ways. For example, It will be necessary for marketing managers to study different important factors which affect customer satisfaction, repeat purchase, degree of risk-taking, and possibility of cross-selling according to the types of financial industries. I also suggested six hypothetical propositions for the future research.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 1997

A systematic health promotion project had been carried out for 3 months (from May 13 to August 4, 1996) in collaboration with nurses of a health center, professors and students of colleges of nursing, and members of senior centers in the community. The outcome was fairly positive : new techniques of public health nurses for health promotion services were developed and those, among the members of senior centers, who had a power of mobility made much progress in their maintenance and enhancement of health through the active use of health equipment. Through this project, we could reconfirm that desirable policies were fundamental tactics for the promotion of health : comprehensive approach to health promotion services, if provided with more or less financial support, would contribute greatly to the activation of public health services by the local administrative organizations.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.308-315
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• 2005

Purpose: This descriptive study was conducted to examine the status of the health examination in child care centers. Method: The participants in this study were 631 child care centers. A self report questionnaire on health examination which has been examined for content validity, was distributed by mail to 2,000 child care centers using randomized sampling. Result: Of the sample, $76.2\%$ child care centers had done health examination for children. Height & weight, urinalysis, dental check, anemia test and visual acuity were the most frequently performed items. The rate for maintaining a health record was highest in the national/public child care centers. Child care centers more closely related to community health centers, showed higher rates of health examination. Conclusion: Health care personnel and financial aids should be provided for child care centers to enhance the level of health management of children.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.312-322
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• 2019

Background: Since 2003, Korea has consistently shown the highest suicide rate among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries, and suicide remains the major cause of death. In particular, men are 2-3 times more likely to commit suicide than women, which called the 'gender paradox of suicide.' The areas with frequent suicide have spatially clustered patterns because suicide with a social contagion spreads around the neighborhood. The purpose of this study was twofold. The first was to estimate the hotspot areas of age-standardized male suicide mortality from 2008 to 2015. The second was to analyze the relationship between the hotspot areas and the regional characteristics for study years. Methods: The data was collected through the Korean Statistical Information Service. The study areas were 227 si gun gu administrative districts in Korea. The hotspot area was used as a dependent variable. Socio-demographic variables (number of marriages per 1,000 population, number of divorces per 1,000 population, and urbanization rate), financial variables (financial independence and social security budget), and health behaviors (EuroQol-5 dimension [EQ-5D], and depression experience rate) were used as independents variables. Results: The hotspot areas were commonly located in Gangwon-do, Chungcheongnam-do, Gyeongsangbuk-do, and Chungceongbuk-do. According to the results of panel logit regression, the number of divorces per 1,000 population, social security budget, and EQ-5D were statistically significant variables. Conclusion: The results of hotspot analysis showed the need for establishing a prevention zone of suicide using hotspot areas. Also, medical resources could be considered to be preferentially placed in the prevention zone of suicide. This study could be used as basic data for health policymakers to establish a suicide-related policy.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.193-204
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• 2012

This paper deals with an empirical analysis of the structural relationship among the factors such as quality management activities, organizational learning and firm performance of manufacturing corporations. The findings of the analysis are expected to make lots of contribution to manufacturing corporations establishing strategies for quality management activities and organizational learning. From the analysis, following conclusions and suggestions could be drawn: First, an analysis of the relationship between quality management activities and organizational learning showed that most activities of quality management turned out to exercise great influence upon the factors of organizational learning. This means that the activities of quality management will prompt the members of an organization to actively engage in learning activities individually, by team and organizationally, motivating them to spread such activities across the whole organization, leading ultimately to fundamental renovation of the very organization. Second, from an analysis of the relationship between organizational learning and firm performance, that is, financial and non-financial performances of a company, it was found that most factors of organizational learning have tremendous impact upon financial and non-financial performances of the company. Such result implies that decision and management of the things to be performed in the process of organizational performances are essential to determining firm performance because firm performance depend largely on the outcomes of organizational learning.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.21-38
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• 2008

This research aimed to analyze the differences in financial variables classifying chain restaurants. A total of 126 samples were drawn from financial statements for $2001{\sim}2006$. As a result of analysis, there was a significant difference in Pillai's Trace, Wilks' Lambda, Hotelling's Trace, and Roy's Largest Root values at the significant probability value(p<0.05) based on F value in terms of stability among chain restaurants. Difference was found only in current rate and liabilities in ANOVA. There was a great difference in current rate among institutional restaurants, fast food restaurants, and cafeterias. There was a significant difference in Pillai's Trace, Wilks' Lambda, Hotelling's Trace, and Roy's Largest Root values at the significant probability value(p<0.05) based on F value in terms of restaurants' profitability. In ANOVA, difference was found only in net profits to net sales. It was revealed that all factors showed no significant differences in multiple comparison. All multi-variant test statistics showed a significant difference in growth and turnover. ANOVA showed a significant difference in net sales growth rate, net profit growth rate, and total assets growth rate.